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User Guide
| Tab | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Chats | One-to-one conversations and groups, with voice and photos |
| Network | Radar and the nodes currently in range |
| Map | Offline map with the positions shared with you |
| Nodes | Every node ever seen, with name, ID, verification state |
| Settings | Radio, position sharing, Wi-Fi Direct, maps, diagnostics, About |
Tap START RADIO once. The service keeps running when you lock the phone or leave the app. Stop it with STOP RADIO or the notification action. Stopping wipes all session keys. While it runs, a partial wake lock keeps the CPU awake (this costs battery) so other phones can still connect to you.
- Select a node and type: SEND goes to that node.
- ALL sends to everyone in range.
- Status:
sent,DELIVERED(the recipient's sealed ACK came back),FAILED. A failed message is resent automatically before giving up. - The first message to a node (or after the peer restarted) takes an extra round trip: the encrypted session is being set up.
Trust on first contact is not proof of identity. To confirm who a node ID belongs to:
- On their phone open the contact QR code (it holds their full public key and name,
nodewave://c/1/<key>/<name>). - Scan it with your phone.
- The key is stored as verified and pinned: a handshake under any other key for that node ID is refused.
Verification is one-way. They must scan yours to verify you. The code contains no secret.
- Up to 8 members, one admin (the creator). Group name up to 24 bytes.
- An invitation creates a pending group; messages show only after you accept. At most 8 invitations can be pending.
- Only the admin can rename the group or change the member list. A member can leave.
- Each message is sent as one separately sealed copy per member, so members who are out of range miss it (nothing is stored for them).
Use the microphone button in a one-to-one chat (clips up to 15 s). The clip is sent as encrypted chunks, resent when lost, and confirmed on delivery. Over slow links the codec drops to Codec2. Tap a failed clip to send it again.
Use the photo button: Camera, Photo library or Files. The app tries to open a Wi-Fi Direct link first; over Bluetooth only small photos are sent, and slow links refuse photos. Tap a photo to enlarge. Tap a failed photo to retry; the retry re-cuts it for the link as it is now.
Settings → Wi-Fi Direct chooses who may start a fast link with you: nobody, verified contacts (default) or everyone. Joining makes your phone leave its normal Wi-Fi while the link is up. This needs the nearby-Wi-Fi permission (Android 13+) or location (Android 10-12).
- Settings lets you share your position with nobody, verified contacts, or everyone in range. Only the newest position per node is kept.
- Download a map file for your country in the app (needs internet once). After that the map works offline.
- Received positions are stored on your phone in clear in the app database (see Security).
CLEAR deletes the chat history (and stored voice/photo files). The identity key remains.