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Stay connected beyond cell coverage
Message your group and see where your people, pets, and belongings are – even without cell service.
Free to download. No account required.
Used in 50+ countries worldwide
Don't have a radio yet? Offline maps, movement history and waypoints still work right away. Learn more →
Get started now, no radio needed.
Offline maps, movement history and waypoints work as soon as you install, free and with no account. With a compatible LoRa radio, you can start messaging, creating groups and using trackers.
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Worldwide offline maps
Download detailed maps for your trip while you have internet, then use them where there's no signal, anywhere in the world.
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Movement history
Your phone's GPS records where you go, even with the screen locked, so you can look back and find your way back. Your history stays on your phone.
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Personal waypoints
Mark campsites, parking spots, water sources or hazards. Personal waypoints are visible only to you.
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Light on battery in the background
Only a little over 1% battery per hour in the background, on both Android and iOS.*
* Our real-world tests: Galaxy S25 Ultra about 1.2% per hour, iPhone 13 Pro about 1.5% per hour. Each phone was measured for about 18 hours, mostly on the move, with background GPS on, the radio always connected, and 5G and Bluetooth on. Actual battery use varies by phone and settings.
Find loved ones, pets, and belongings without relying on nearby phones.
Active GPS tracking over LoRa. No cellular coverage needed, no crowdsourced phone networks, and no monthly tracking fees.
Active GPS tracking
Request fresh GPS locations from compatible trackers over LoRa. No need to wait for a nearby iPhone or Android phone to detect them.
Out searching? Switch on Find Mode and Nelos asks the tracker for new locations much more often, for a limited time.
See how active GPS tracking works →How the location reaches you
- Bluetooth trackers
- Depend on nearby participating phones to report their location.
- Nelos
- Your LoRa radio asks compatible trackers for their GPS location, directly or through repeaters, while they’re within radio range.
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Your devices
Choose compatible LoRa radios and trackers from different makers. No proprietary hardware lock-in.
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Your data
Messages and location history stay on your devices, not on our servers. No account or phone number needed.
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Your private network
Create encrypted groups for your family or team without relying on cellular infrastructure. Shared repeaters can relay your messages, but only your group can read them.
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No monthly fees
No SIM plans or mandatory tracking subscriptions. Optional one-time Pro upgrade.
What are you using Nelos for?
Whether it's your family, your travel group, or your field group, Nelos keeps everyone connected.
Family & camping
See your loved ones and pets on one map, whether out for a walk or camping.
Hiking & road trips
See your whole group's location, spot who's falling behind, and stay in touch when the signal drops.
Festivals & communities
Keep your crew together and reachable when the crowd overwhelms the mobile network.
Forest patrol & field groups
Keep your patrol connected with group locations and messages where cell service is unavailable.
Your phone talks to a radio. The radio talks to your group.
Nelos pairs with a compatible LoRa radio over Bluetooth. From there, radios exchange messages and locations directly with each other — no cell towers, no internet, no accounts. Some radios need a firmware update before first use. Offline maps, your own movement history and personal waypoints don't require a radio.
- Phone Runs the Nelos app
- Bluetooth Links your phone to the radio
- LoRa radio Carries messages over the air
- Your group Everyone stays in the group
Track loved ones, pets, and belongings. No SIM needed.
Loved ones can carry a compatible GPS tracking device. You can also attach one to a pet, backpack, or vehicle to see the latest location received in Nelos. It works even where cell service is available; the tracking device does not need a phone alongside it.
- Loved ones, pets, and belongings on one map
- Stored only on your device - never backed up to the cloud
Locations update when the tracking device can communicate with your radio over LoRa/mesh. History stores the locations received, so there may be gaps when the radio connection is lost.
How off-grid tracking works: Find Mode, Safe Zones and compatible trackers →
Know when they wander off. Find them fast.
Set a Safe Zone around home, camp, or a meeting point, and Nelos alerts you when a tracking device leaves it or comes back. If a loved one, pet, or bag goes missing, switch on Find Mode: Nelos asks the tracking device for fresh locations far more often, so you can follow it on the map while you search.
- Safe Zones around the places that matter - home, campsite, or trailhead
- Alerts when a tracking device leaves or returns, checked on your phone - no cloud server
- Find Mode keeps fresh locations coming while you search
Safe Zones and Find Mode work while the tracking device can reach your radio over LoRa/mesh. Out of range, Nelos keeps showing the last location it received.
Every group active at once.
Belong to more than one group - your family, your hiking crew, a volunteer group - and stay actively connected to all of them at the same time, on one shared map - no leaving one group to check another. Each person still shows up once, even when you share several groups, and every group keeps its own private, encrypted channel.
- All your groups together on one shared map
- Each person shows up once, even across several groups
- Hide or show each group on the map whenever you want
Let your group know you need help.
Send a Need Help alert with your location to your group.
- One tap alerts your group, right from the map
- Alerts go to your own groups only - never to emergency services
- Nelos can't guarantee a message arrives or a location is exact
Your identity is not your radio.
You are a person. Your radio is just a piece of hardware. Nelos keeps your identity with you, not with the radio carrying your messages.
Switch radios. Stay the same person in your team.
Tested outdoors, not just in the lab
What we've actually tried in the field, including what didn't go perfectly. These are trips and tests run by the Nelos team, not a customer list.
1,700 km
9-day, 5-rider motorcycle trip across central Vietnam, running Nelos the whole way.
20/20
messages confirmed "Delivered" in a repeater test on a mountainside. A small sample, not a long-term reliability measurement.
≈ 4 km
the distance two devices were still able to communicate at, in one specific test — not a maximum or guaranteed range.
Community feedback
Real comments from the LoRa and MeshCore communities on Reddit and Facebook.
I tried Nelos and it worked flawless on both iOS & Android. Really clean text features as well.
It would be awesome to use this as the only Meshcore app with all of the typical features of other apps out there but have this as the killer tracking feature.
Very interesting! This might be the EXACT usecase I was looking for, as I'm trying to get my whole neighborhood into setting up a Meshcore network.
When I first got into this a couple of months ago, it was to have alternate comms with my family. The more I learned (how complicated it can be) the more I thought that someone should develop a simpler app, easy for my family to utilize. Kudos.
This sounds really cool. I especially like that bit about ‘you are not your radio.’
Gonna flash my M1 to Meshcore today and try this out!
Get your family or group connected
Free to download, no account required. Start with offline maps and movement history today, and add a radio when you're ready.
Don’t have a radio yet? See compatible devices →