To get the most out of your Meshtastic setup at Burning Man, it’s important to understand camp channels and how location sharing works. This guide explains how group chats work, how to share your location automatically, and what the limits are.
🔑 TL;DR: You can join 8 encrypted channels, but only 1 of them gets your auto-updating location. If you want your campmates to see where you are, you need to create and configure a camp channel properly.
You must give the Meshtastic app location access if you want to share location — always.
This is critical. If you only allow location while the app is open, your updates will be delayed or inaccurate. Here’s how:
Without this, automatic updates won’t work — and that defeats half the purpose.
Think of it like a group chat. A camp channel lets you:
You can be in up to 8 channels at once, and still DM people individually. You can join a camp’s channel before the burn (by scanning a QR or clicking a link), or someone can send it to you on the playa.
The camp channel is where your location gets automatically shared with friends. Everyone in the same channel can see each other’s messages and locations (if enabled).
All channels are encrypted with their own key. That means:
🔒 Only people in the same channel can see your messages or location.
There’s no limit to how many people can be in a channel.
You can:
🔄 Only CampChat (channel 1) gets your live location.
“Friends” will have to request it manually.
"TutuTuesdayGroup" Will be able to chat with each other but not see each others location
This is why it's smart to make your camp's shared channel the first one you create after the default.
In the Meshtastic app (Android or iOS):
CampChat or PlayaBuddies
You’ll now see this new channel in the messaging tab of the app.
Anyone can join a channel if you send them:
Once they tap the link or scan the QR, their app will join the channel automatically.
The interface is slightly different between Android and iOS, but in general:
✅ If you're managing multiple channels, double-check you're sharing the right one.
This ensures everyone is in the same chat and sees live location updates.
Yes, you can DM anyone — even if they’re not in your channels.
BUT:
Location sharing does not work in DMs. If you want to see each other’s location, you must create a channel, even if it’s just the two of you.
Just make a quick private channel, share it via QR, enable location sharing, and you’re good.