XPRS, a Radio-Mesh Protocol for When the Network Is Gone

Why it surfaced

The protocol is designed for power cuts, storms, boats, and coverage gaps: devices relay plain-text packets over whatever is available, from Bluetooth and LoRa to ham radio and Wi-Fi. Its BitTorrent-style file sharing lets nearby devices pass along partial files, while private messages conceal content without hiding the relay metadata.

XPRS is a 250-byte text-packet format for carrying signed messages, files, and alerts across radio and mesh networks.