MeshCore App 1.51: Quick Messages and More DM Retries

The official MeshCore app has a new version, 1.51.0, dated November 4, 2026 in its changelog. It adds quick messages (canned messages), gives direct messages four flood attempts instead of one, adds a buzzer toggle for companion firmware that hasn’t shipped yet, and fixes a bug that could delete a message you tried to resend while disconnected.

Notes below come from the app’s changelog. The app is closed source, so the changelog is the record of what changed. Where we explain why something works the way it does, that comes from MeshCore’s open-source firmware and protocol docs, and we say so.

Where it’s out. The web app is already on 1.51.0. The App Store listing still showed 1.50.0 when we checked on November 3. Store releases go through review on their own schedule, so if you don’t see the update yet, check again in a few days.

Quick Messages

New in the message composer’s menu: quick messages, which the changelog also calls canned messages. A canned message is saved text you send without typing, like “On my way” or “All OK.” On a phone in a car or in gloves, that’s the difference between sending a check-in and not.

Direct Messages Try Harder

When you message a contact, the app first sends it direct, along the stored path through specific repeaters. If that doesn’t get an acknowledgement, it falls back to flood, where every repeater in range passes the message along. Until now that meant four direct attempts and one flood attempt. In 1.51.0 it’s four direct and four flood.

Both numbers are now settings. The changelog adds message settings for how many direct and how many flood attempts a direct message gets. Each flood attempt goes out through every repeater that hears it, so on a busy mesh, fewer flood attempts mean less airtime. On a sparse mesh where paths go stale, more of them mean a better chance of getting through.

Two related changes:

• You can cancel retries on a message to a contact that’s still trying.
• Resending while disconnected now marks the message failed. Before, trying to resend with no radio connected could delete the message. That bug is fixed.

Hop count and path hash size now show under channel messages by default. If you haven’t met path hashes yet, our path hash explainer covers what the 1, 2 and 3 byte sizes mean and why they matter.

Why They Have to Add You First

1.51.0 adds a banner to make a long-standing rule harder to miss: a contact message only works if the other person has added you as a contact first.

The reason is in MeshCore’s packet format. A direct message doesn’t carry your full public key. Its header holds a one-byte source hash, the first byte of your public key, next to the encrypted text. The receiving node matches that byte against its contacts and uses your full key from its contact list to verify and decrypt the message. If you’re not in its contacts, it has nothing to decrypt with.

They get your key from your advert, or from a contact link or QR code, which carries the full key in a meshcore://contact/add address. 1.51.0 has a new popup for adding contacts from those links.

Buzzer Alerts Wait on Firmware 1.19

Notification settings have a new buzzer alerts checkbox that turns the companion’s buzzer on and off. Per the changelog it needs companion firmware 1.19.0 or newer. As of this post, the newest MeshCore firmware release is 1.18.0, from October 15; our release tracker will show 1.19.0 when it lands.

On the firmware side, buzzer control is already moving. A pull request merged into MeshCore’s development branch on October 29, #3603, adds get buzzer and set buzzer on|off commands for companions that have a buzzer. Its description says the point is muting the buzzer from the app instead of with the T1000-E’s triple press.

Map and Contact Changes

• Jump to your position. Map screens get a button that centers on your current location, using your phone’s GPS.
• Your node on the discover map. The discover map now shows a marker for your own companion, and a long press on the map updates your own position and copies the coordinates.
• Forget last advert timestamp. A new button in a contact’s details. MeshCore’s firmware ignores an advert from a contact unless its timestamp is newer than the last one stored, as protection against replayed packets. If a node’s clock jumps backward, say after it loses its time and restarts on an old date, its new adverts get dropped. Forgetting the stored timestamp clears that block.

For the rest of the app, contacts, channels, repeater login and backups, our MeshCore app guide walks through each screen.

Requirements

The changelog lists macOS 12 or newer as required. Version 1.48.0 had already listed macOS 12 alongside iOS 15 and Android 7, after app library updates for Apple and Google’s policies.

Should You Update?

Yes, once it reaches your store. The resend fix alone is worth it if you send direct messages, and the extra flood attempts help most on a mesh where paths change often. The buzzer checkbox won’t matter until firmware 1.19.0 is out.

If you’d rather run an open-source client, MeshCore Open is a free alternative that talks to the same companion firmware.