Meshtastic vs Magic Smoke
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
Magic Smoke
Establish custom TCP connections to send specific commands. Save up to ten commands for quick access, or type any message directly. This utility is ideal for testing network connections and embedded systems.
- Custom TCP connection setup
- Save up to ten custom commands
- Send any typed message
- Appends carriage return and linefeed
- Supports IP address and port input
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This app allows you to send custom commands via a TCP connection. You input the IP address and port number for the TCP connection you would like to create, and then you can customize the ten buttons to have ten saved commands. The “Any Command” text field can send any message that is typed into the text field. A carriage return and linefeed are appended to all messages. It was originally developed for the NCSU Embedded Systems course ECE 306, but it works for any TCP connection you would like to create!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Magic Smoke at 100% against Meshtastic's 44%. Magic Smoke also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.5). Meshtastic's advantage is update cadence (every 9 days vs every 5 months) and ratings volume (835 vs 11). 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.
Magic Smoke holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Meshtastic has 835 ratings behind it against 11, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 44% of Meshtastic's written reviews are positive against 100% of Magic Smoke's.
Meshtastic ships an update every 9 days, Magic Smoke every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Meshtastic | Magic Smoke |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.1 (835 ratings) | 5.0 (11 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 44.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 835 — better | 11 |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days — better | Every 5 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.5 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 144 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Meshtastic LLC | Caleb Barnett Wheeler |
Customer experience
Meshtastic
Magic Smoke
Bugs and 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
Magic Smoke
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Meshtastic
No in-app purchases
Magic Smoke
No in-app purchases
