Meshtastic iOS Configuration – Iffy Books

[This post is under construction. It’ll be in better shape soon.]

Install Meshtastic (beta) using the TestFlight App

First, install the USB-to-serial drivers for your device:
https://meshtastic.org/docs/getting-started/flashing-firmware/#install-usb-to-serial-drivers

Now install the Meshtastic CLI tool:
https://meshtastic.org/docs/software/python/python-cli

You’ll use the Meshtastic CLI to update the configuration on your device. Create a file called config.yml using the example below as a guide. You can update the owner and owner_short values to help identify yourself on the network. The channel_url value below contains the key for the Iffy Books public chat channel.

owner: Iffy_Books

owner_short: Iff

channel_url: https://www.meshtastic.org/d/#CiQYAyIgvc0rL4ZyTGFD0qE7s2ptf9Mm6QQxXeedO2fpmBZ1xb0

user_prefs:
  region: US
  screen_on_secs: 60
  wait_bluetooth_secs: 120
  phone_timeout_secs: 1800
  position_broadcast_secs: 120
  mesh_sds_timeout_secs: 4294967295
  ls_secs: 300
  is_always_powered: 'true'

Now you’ll use the Meshtastic CLI app to update the preferences on your LoRa device:

meshtastic --configure config.yml

Make a new private channel

To start a new private channel, run the command below to choose a random AES-256 key and display a shareable URL containing the key. Copy the URL and send it to your friends to let them join the channel.

meshtastic --ch-set psk random --ch-index 0 --info

Note: Android users can scan a QR code to share a private key, but this feature isn’t available in the iOS app yet.