CicadaTAK turns your phone into a live tactical display for places with no
cell service and no internet — backcountry, disaster response, large
properties, search grids, event perimeters.
It is the companion app for CicadaTAK mesh nodes: 900 MHz radio gateways you
build yourself from a fully documented hardware recipe (parts list and
instructions at cicadatak.com). Nodes form a self-healing mesh that reaches
over a mile per hop and relays through every teammate, so coverage grows as
the team spreads out. Your phone joins a node's WiFi and the radios do the
rest.
WORKS WITH ATAK AND iTAK
• Nodes speak Cursor-on-Target in both directions — positions, chat and
markers pass between this app and ATAK or iTAK devices on the same node
• No TAK server, no data plan, no setup beyond joining the node's WiFi
• Run this app, run ATAK, or run both side by side on one team
LIVE TEAM MAP
• Teammates update live with callsigns, colors and breadcrumb trails
• A position that stops being current turns grey and shows its age instead of
vanishing, so you always know how old the picture is
• Offline maps — download aerial, topo and street layers onto the node and use
them with zero internet
• Drop markers, draw geofence zones, measure distance and bearing, save routes
ENCRYPTED TEAM CHAT
• End-to-end encrypted with your team passphrase — the key never leaves your
team
• Share photos from camera or gallery, carried over the radio, never through a
server
• Delivery receipts, canned quick replies, and roll call for fast
accountability
PUSH-TO-TALK VOICE
• Live streaming PTT to the whole team — real voice traffic, not recorded
clips
• Tuned to stay intelligible on marginal links
LONG-RANGE LoRa BRIDGE
• Nodes fitted with LoRa hardware bridge to Meshtastic radios, carrying
positions and text far beyond the main mesh
• Three privacy modes, from open interoperability to fully dark
RUN THE NETWORK FROM YOUR POCKET
• Set up a new node from the app — no laptop, no terminal
• Live topology graph of every radio link, colored by measured throughput
• Node list with signal, battery and hardware status; one-tap ping for
round-trip time
• Trade speed for range across the whole team at once, with automatic revert
if a node doesn't come back
• Update node firmware over the air
YOUR DATA STAYS YOURS
• No accounts, no sign-up, no cloud, no analytics
• Everything travels phone to your own radio to your teammates' phones
• There is no server in the path, so there is nothing for us to see
IMPORTANT
• Full functionality requires CicadaTAK node hardware. Without a node the app
runs in Standalone Mode: your own GPS on the map, offline map browsing, and
every screen navigable — mesh chat, PTT and team positions activate when you
connect to a node.
• Nodes operate in the 902–928 MHz license-free ISM band on the United States
channel plan, which is also licence-exempt in Canada,Mexico, and Australia. No radio
license required.
• Build your nodes at cicadatak.com — an open, fully documented hardware build
on an open-source radio and mesh foundation.
Ratings & Reviews
5.0
out of 5
1 Ratings
• Update your nodes to firmware 0.22.0 first.
• Markers travel over LoRa with their colour and icon, can be dragged to move, and expire after 24 h — or pick 1 h to Never.
• Bring a friend's Meshtastic radio onto your team from the LoRa page, and pick your node's own radio.
• Node problems now show in plain words with how to fix them, including a one-tap 2.4 GHz restart.
• Fixed: map dots vanishing, a black map after Bluetooth pairing, and follow mode fighting your fingers.
Version 1.2.46 (63)
The developer, Merbella Studios Inc, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
Seller
Merbella Studios Inc.
Size
30.7 MB
Category
Utilities
Compatibility
Requires iOS 15.1 or later.
iPhone Requires iOS 15.1 or later.
iPad Requires iPadOS 15.1 or later.
iPod touch Requires iOS 15.1 or later.
Mac Requires macOS 15.1 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.