PawMesh

iOS app for tracking off-leash dogs in remote (no-cell) areas over LoRa mesh radio. Connects to a companion mesh node (Heltec V3) running Meshtastic® firmware via BLE and displays dog positions on a USGS topographic map — fully offline.

License: GPL-3.0 (due to vendored Meshtastic® protobuf dependency).

PawMesh is an independent project. Meshtastic® is a registered trademark of Meshtastic LLC. PawMesh is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Meshtastic LLC.

Features

• Topo map with live dog markers (USGS US Topo, public domain)
• Compass pointing toward selected dog with distance + fix age
• One-tap Ping to request immediate position from any tracker
• Offline maps — download USGS topo regions as MBTiles before heading out
• Up to 3 dogs with photo, name, and color
• Background BLE — keeps receiving positions with the screen off
• Works with stock Meshtastic® firmware (no custom firmware needed)

Hardware setup

[Dog tracker]  ──LoRa mesh──►  [Heltec V3 with you]  ──BLE──►  [iPhone app]

• Dog tracker: any mesh node running Meshtastic® firmware with position module enabled, broadcast_secs = 120
• Companion: Heltec V3 (or any BLE-capable node running Meshtastic® firmware) paired to your iPhone

First-time setup

1. Point xcode-select at your Xcode (not Command Line Tools):

   sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
   

2. Install XcodeGen:

   brew install xcodegen
   

3. Generate the Xcode project:

   ./tools/regen.sh
   

4. Open DogTracker.xcodeproj in Xcode, pick a simulator or device, ⌘R.

Regenerating protobufs

Only needed if you update the vendored Meshtastic .proto files:

brew install protobuf swift-protobuf  # one-time
./tools/generate_protos.sh

Project layout

project.yml                    XcodeGen spec — edit this, not the .xcodeproj
tools/
  regen.sh                     Regenerate .xcodeproj from project.yml
  generate_protos.sh           Generate Swift from vendored .proto files
Vendor/
  meshtastic-protobufs/        Pinned at v2.7.21 (GPL-3.0)
DogTracker/
  DogTrackerApp.swift          @main, SwiftData container, service wiring
  Info.plist                   BLE/location/photos permissions, BG modes
  Assets.xcassets/             AppIcon, AccentColor
  Generated/                   *.pb.swift (auto-generated, committed)
  Models/                      SwiftData @Model: Tracker, Fix, TileRegion
  Radio/                       BLE transport, Meshtastic handshake, RadioController
  Mesh/                        MeshService, MeshNode (NodeDB, position routing)
  Map/                         MapLibre wrapper, MBTiles writer, tile downloader
  Compass/                     BearingMath, LocationProvider
  Utilities/                   Color hex parsing
  Views/                       SwiftUI screens (Map, Compass, Dogs, Tiles, Settings, Radio)
DogTrackerTests/               Unit tests (12 passing)
DESIGN.md                      Architecture + build plan
LICENSE                        GPL-3.0

The .xcodeproj is not committed — regenerate with ./tools/regen.sh after pulling.