Who can see my location on the mesh?

How Position Data Spreads

When position reporting is enabled on a Meshtastic node, GPS coordinates are broadcast as position packets on the mesh. These packets travel through the network like any other message and are visible to all nodes that receive them.

Who Can See Your Position

• Anyone on your channel — If you're on the default channel, anyone with Meshtastic within a few hops can see your position in their node list and on their map
• meshmap.net — If you have MQTT uplink enabled to the public Meshtastic broker, your position appears on the global map
• MQTT operators — Anyone subscribed to the same MQTT topic receives your position packets

Controlling Position Privacy

Option 1: Disable Position Reporting

Turn off GPS or disable position broadcasts entirely:

meshtastic --set position.gps_mode DISABLED
meshtastic --set position.position_broadcast_secs 0

Your node will still relay messages and appear in node lists (by node ID), but without location data.

Option 2: Use Position Precision Reduction

Broadcast a less precise location rather than exact GPS coordinates:

meshtastic --set position.position_precision 10

Precision values: 32 = full precision (meters), 19 = ~100m, 16 = ~1km, 13 = ~5km, 10 = ~10km. Reduced precision appears as a rounded position — you appear "somewhere in Denver" rather than "at your exact street address."

Option 3: Private Channel with No MQTT

Create a private channel and disable MQTT uplink. Position data only travels within your private channel's encrypted bubble and doesn't appear on public maps.

Fixed Position vs GPS

For fixed infrastructure nodes (repeaters), configure a static position manually rather than using GPS. This gives you explicit control over what coordinates you publish, and you can choose a slightly offset position if you prefer not to reveal your exact rooftop address.