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Privacy Best Practices

Position Privacy

By default, Meshtastic nodes broadcast GPS coordinates to the entire channel at regular intervals. Your approximate location is visible to all channel participants. If your node is on the Default public channel, your position also appears on aggregation sites such as meshmap.net.

Mitigations

  • Use a private channel: Position broadcasts on a private channel are only visible to nodes with the key.
  • Disable the position module: Navigate to Config → Position → GPS Mode → DISABLED. The node will not broadcast any location data.
  • Set a fixed imprecise location: Instead of live GPS, configure a fixed position — use the center of your neighborhood or a nearby landmark rather than your exact address. This allows you to appear on mesh maps without revealing your precise location.
  • Reduce position precision: Meshtastic supports configurable position precision levels. Setting a lower precision (e.g., nearest kilometer) reduces location exposure while still being useful for routing and map display.

Node Naming

Your node's long name is broadcast to everyone on the channel and appears on public mesh maps. Use a callsign, handle, or alias rather than your full real name if privacy is a concern. Your node's short name (4 characters) is used in the mesh and is also public.

Telemetry Data

If you enable device telemetry or environmental sensors, data such as battery voltage, temperature, humidity, and pressure are broadcast on the channel. This data can reveal:

  • Whether your device is plugged in or on battery (usage patterns)
  • Environmental conditions at your location (indirectly revealing location details)
  • When the device is active or idle

Disable telemetry modules you do not need, especially on nodes deployed in sensitive locations.

Public Mesh Visibility

If your node is on the Default channel, sites like meshmap.net automatically aggregate and display:

  • Node long name and short name
  • GPS position
  • Last-heard timestamp
  • Hardware model
  • Firmware version

This information is public and indexed. Consider the public mesh as a zero-privacy environment.

Sensitive Use Cases

For deployments where participant safety depends on privacy (e.g., domestic violence shelters, witness protection situations, activist networks operating in hostile environments), apply all of the following:

  • Use a private channel with a strong random PSK generated by the app.
  • Disable GPS entirely (Config → Position → GPS Mode → DISABLED).
  • Use an alias or callsign as the node name — never a real name.
  • Disable all telemetry modules.
  • Consider using MeshCore instead of Meshtastic (see below), which has a fundamentally different routing architecture that does not broadcast NodeInfo to the whole network by default.

Meshtastic vs. MeshCore Privacy Profile

The two platforms have meaningfully different privacy characteristics as a consequence of their routing architectures:

Meshtastic (Flood Routing)

Meshtastic uses a managed-flood routing model. NodeInfo packets — advertising each node's ID, name, and position — are broadcast to the entire reachable mesh. By design, all nodes on the channel learn about all other nodes. This is high-transparency by design and enables features like mesh maps, but it means even passive observers on the channel receive location and identity data for all nodes.

MeshCore (Path-Based Routing)

MeshCore uses a path-based (source-routed) architecture. Nodes primarily exchange routing information with nodes they have direct routes to; advertisements are directed rather than broadcast to the whole mesh. In dense networks, this means a node's existence and location may not be known to distant nodes that have no route to it. MeshCore can be more privacy-preserving in scenarios where blanket network-wide NodeInfo broadcasting is undesirable.

Neither platform should be considered a complete anonymity solution — LoRa transmissions are detectable by anyone with appropriate radio hardware, regardless of the software layer's privacy features.

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