CraftStrom vs Meshtastic
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CraftStrom
Easily set up, monitor, and control your home's renewable energy system. This app provides a user-friendly interface for managing solar panels and battery storage.
- Set up renewable energy systems
- Monitor solar panel performance
- Control battery storage
- User-friendly interface
- Manage home energy
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CraftStrom brings you an easy-to-use solar panel and battery system. With the CraftStrom mobile app you can easily set up, monitor and control your CraftStrom home renewable energy system.
Meshtastic
This app enables off-grid, decentralized communication via a low-power mesh network. Send text messages in areas lacking cellular or WiFi service.
- Off-grid communication
- Decentralized mesh network
- Low-power LoRa radio support
- Text messaging
- No cellular/WiFi required
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Meshtastic® is an open source, off-grid, decentralized, mesh network built to run on low-power Lora radios letting you send text messages in areas without reliable cellular or WiFi service.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: CraftStrom at 100% against Meshtastic's 44%. CraftStrom also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.5). Meshtastic's advantage is rating (4.1 vs 3.6) and update cadence (every 10 days vs every 2 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Meshtastic holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Meshtastic has 824 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 100% of CraftStrom's written reviews are positive against 44% of Meshtastic's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
CraftStrom ships an update every 2 months, Meshtastic every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | CraftStrom | Meshtastic |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.6 (5 ratings) | 4.1 (824 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 44.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 5 | 824 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 10 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 17.5 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 43 MB | 95 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | CraftStrom Limited | Meshtastic LLC |
Customer experience
CraftStrom
Meshtastic
Bugs and requests
CraftStrom
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Meshtastic
Reported bugs
4 issues- Canned messages configuration issues
- Location sharing and traceroute functions not working
- Settings screen bugs and crashes
- Inconsistent behavior when switching between devices
Requested features
5 requests- Offline maps support
- Ability to customize notifications
- More sorting and filtering options for nodes
- Apple Watch and Shortcuts integration
- Improved documentation and user guidance
In-app purchases
CraftStrom
No in-app purchases
Meshtastic
No in-app purchases
