How Raven Mesh Works

No servers, by design

Raven Mesh does not have a backend. There is no account system, no message server and no company database of who talks to whom. The app works by connecting phones directly to each other over local Wi-Fi radios already built into your phone - the same underlying hardware used for Wi-Fi Direct file transfers or AirDrop-style sharing, not your home or office Wi-Fi network.

Joining a mesh

• Create mesh generates a mesh encryption key and a QR code / link that encodes it.
• Join mesh reads that QR code or link and adopts the same mesh key.
• Everyone who has joined the same mesh can decrypt messages sent within it; nobody outside the mesh, including us, holds that key.

Routing

When two phones are directly in Wi-Fi range, they connect and exchange messages immediately. When they’re not, Raven Mesh uses a managed-flood routing scheme (in the style of Meshtastic): a message hops from phone to phone across everyone currently in the mesh until it reaches its destination, with duplicate-detection so the same message isn’t relayed forever, and a hop-limit so it doesn’t propagate indefinitely. If a recipient is briefly unreachable, the message queues and is delivered once a path opens up.

Encryption

Messages, photos, voice notes, files and location shares are encrypted with AES-256-GCM before they ever leave your phone, using keys derived from the mesh key and per-device key pairs (X25519). Encryption and decryption happen entirely on-device.

What’s stored, and where

Everything - chat history, media, mesh membership - lives in an encrypted local database on your own phone (SQLCipher, key held in the Android Keystore). Nothing is uploaded anywhere. Leaving a mesh, clearing app data, or triggering the duress wipe removes it from your device. Full detail: Privacy Policy.