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Features · Comms

Talk to nearby Last Manual users over Bluetooth when the towers are down.

BLE mesh chat for The Last Manual: callsign, nearby peers, proximity, SOS broadcast. Free includes 5 chat sends. Premium is unlimited. Local — not end-to-end encrypted.

§ 01

The direct answer

Comms is Bluetooth Low Energy between phones that have The Last Manual open (and, when the OS allows, with background help). There is no cell network, no Wi-Fi AP, and no The Last Manual server in the middle. You set a callsign, enable Bluetooth, and see who is nearby.

Free includes 5 chat sends; SOS still works after that. Premium is unlimited chat. Range is Bluetooth range — rooms, a street, a clearing — not a county. Proximity is a hint, not a survey-grade distance. Messages are local device-to-device and are not end-to-end encrypted. Do not put secrets on this channel.

This is for “the tower is down and I need the people on this hill,” not for anonymous internet chat. If nobody else has the app, you will see an empty list. That is honest. The whistle, torch SOS, and Morse tools still exist for the rest of the world.

§ 02

What Comms is — and is not

BLE between Last Manual users. Not a satellite messenger.

Transport
Bluetooth Low Energy, phone to phone. No SIM required.
Free
5 chat sends; SOS broadcast still available.
Premium
Unlimited mesh chat.
Encryption
Not end-to-end encrypted. Treat it as a local shout.
Range
Typical BLE — not miles. Terrain and phones vary.
  • →Works with no cell service and no account
  • →Callsign + nearby peers + SOS
  • →Honest about encryption and range
§ 03

Related

Signaling guides →Morse translator →What works offline →

See all product surfaces on the features index.

Then get it on the phone

You’re reading this with a signal. The situation it describes is one where you won’t have one.