mc-webui

Marek Wojtaszek

About this app

mc-webui for Android is a companion app for mc-webui, an open-source web interface for the MeshCore mesh network.

IMPORTANT: this is not a standalone messenger. It does not join any network by itself and it has no service behind it. You need your own running mc-webui instance — on a Raspberry Pi, a home server or a NAS — connected to your own MeshCore radio device. The app asks once for that server's address and then becomes its full-screen client.

WHAT YOU GET

• The whole mc-webui interface full screen — no address bar, no browser tabs, its own icon in the app drawer
• Channel and direct messages, with mentions and message filtering
• Contact management: add by URI or QR code, approve pending contacts, clean up stale ones
• A map of the nodes your device has heard
• Path Analyzer — see which repeaters actually carried a message
• My Repeaters — administer the repeaters you own
• Device info, console access and system logs

WHAT THE APP ADDS OVER OPENING THE PAGE IN A BROWSER

• Native Android notifications about new messages, including when the app sits in the background — Android's WebView has no Web Notifications API at all, so the app supplies one and posts through Android's own notification system
• QR code scanning using the phone camera, wired into Android's permission flow
• Downloads — such as database backups — handled by Android's download manager and saved to your Downloads folder
• A native sign-in dialog for servers that sit behind HTTP authentication, with credentials remembered per server
• Your server address is remembered and never wiped by a failed connection or a stray Back press; Back on the first page asks whether to exit or switch servers
• Links pointing outside your server open in your normal browser, so the app stays on your own instance

WHAT YOU NEED

• Android 5.0 or newer
• A running mc-webui instance the phone can reach — on the same local network (for example http://192.168.1.100:5000) or published over the internet through a reverse proxy with HTTPS

PRIVACY

The app collects nothing. There is no analytics, no advertising, no tracking and no account system, and the developer runs no servers. What stays on the phone is the server address you typed, the login for it if your server asks for one, and the WebView's own cache. Everything else lives on your server and your MeshCore device.

OPEN SOURCE

mc-webui and this app are open source. The full source of the app, and instructions for building it yourself, are at: https://github.com/MarekWo/mc-webui

What’s new

First Google Play release of the mc-webui companion app.

Opens your own self-hosted mc-webui server full screen, with native Android extras a browser cannot give you: notifications about new mesh messages, QR code scanning with the camera, downloads handled by Android, and a sign-in dialog for servers behind HTTP authentication.

You need your own mc-webui instance and MeshCore radio device.