The basic model doesn't change: a phone connected to a small radio over Bluetooth. Nelos is the modern app that replaces the old goTenna app, with more features and hardware from multiple makers instead of one company. Here are the 5 steps to switch.
After that, day-to-day use is like goTenna: open the app, message, view the map - plus direct messages, an identity that stays yours if you ever swap radios, device trackers, location history, and a Need Help button. The Getting Started guide walks through pairing and creating a team.
With goTenna, you bought goTenna's device and had no other option. With Nelos, compatible radios come from several manufacturers, so you're not betting everything on one company's decisions again. If you ever stop using Nelos, the radio itself still has value in the wider ecosystem it belongs to; if you switch to a different compatible radio, you don't have to buy back into anything to keep using Nelos.
goTenna Mesh extended range by having every device relay for each other. With Nelos, ordinary radios don't relay for each other by default. To extend coverage over a wide or blocked area, you add a repeater placed high up - or switch a spare compatible radio to Companion Repeater mode, which uses more battery - but for a small group moving together, you usually don't need one.
If you used to clip a goTenna onto someone who couldn't carry a phone, Nelos supports small battery-powered trackers that report their location without a phone attached - useful for children, older adults, pets, or a bag. See the trackers section of the devices guide.
Trackers in Nelos are active: your phone requests their position, Find Mode asks much more often while you search, and Safe Zones alert you when one leaves an area such as camp. Using a SenseCAP T1000-E as a tracker walks through one setup, and the tracking overview covers the rest.
Nelos has worldwide offline maps: download the trip area in advance while you still have a connection, then view it with no internet, with everyone's shared location on top.
Most of it is the same: short messages to the group, everyone's most recent location on a map, no cell service needed. A few differences worth knowing: locations update at intervals, not continuously in real time; a message can take a few seconds to a few tens of seconds to arrive, depending on distance and conditions; and range still depends on terrain and device placement, so there's no fixed number that holds for every trip.
One note carried over from goTenna: this is a tool for a group to stay in touch with each other off the grid, not a rescue device. If a trip needs the ability to call for help from somewhere remote, a satellite communicator is still a separate thing to prepare.
Nelos is an independent product, not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by goTenna. Names mentioned belong to their respective owners.
Nelos brings group messaging, location sharing, and a shared group map with location updates to LoRa mesh — with no cell service, no server, and no account.
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