stolo
A woman on a rooftop smiles at a message on her phone above a city with every window dark.

Lights out.
Still talking.

Stolo is a free, end-to-end encrypted messenger for text, files, voice and live location. It keeps working when cell service and power are gone.

Get Stolo free Pre-order Stolo Radio, $60

What you can do.

Everything you’d expect from a messenger, built to keep working when the network doesn’t.

  • Family check‑ins

    A family on their porch during a power outage, lit by a lantern, reading a message together.

    One tap tells everyone you’re ok, with your location shared only with the people you choose.

  • Live location

    A father in a parked car on a dark street checks where his family is on his phone.

    See your people on the map, updated over the mesh, even where no cell tower reaches.

  • Groups, photos and voice

    Three friends by a campfire laugh as one records a voice note.

    Group chats, photos and voice notes. Text gets through on radio alone.

  • Messages that wait

    An older woman in reading glasses at a candlelit kitchen table smiles at a message that just arrived on her phone.

    Out of range? Your message waits, sealed, and sends itself the moment a path opens, even days later.

One message.
Every path.

A single message can cross radio, Wi‑Fi and cellular on its way. Stolo picks the best link for each hop and joins them on its own, switching mid-conversation if a link drops.

A mountain valley at blue hour: a hiker on a ridge, a trailhead below, a small town with its lights out, and a farmhouse with one lit window.

Your phoneNo towers on the ridge.

Your message leaves the ridge by radio.

Mom’s phoneArrives sealed, in order.

* Range depends on terrain, buildings, antenna position and radio settings; performance may vary.

Three steps. No setup.

  1. Download

    Get Stolo free for iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows or Linux. No sign-up, no email, no company in the middle.

  2. Connect

    Your phone uses whatever path is there: a Stolo node’s Wi‑Fi, a paired Stolo Radio, cellular or the internet. Stolo picks it on its own.

  3. Message

    Chats, groups, files, voice and live location, like any messaging app, and it keeps working past the edge of coverage.

Private by design.

Your messages are sealed on your phone before they leave it, and only the person you wrote to can open them.

End-to-end encrypted
AES-256 on every message, photo, file and voice note.
Keys stay on your phone
Stolo can’t read your chats, and neither can the phones, radios or relays that carry them.
No account, no number
No sign-up, email or phone number. Your identity lives on your device.
Sealed on the way
When a message waits for a path, it waits sealed and signed, so nobody can read or change it.

Try it: type your own message

On your phone

Meet at the trailhead at 6

What a phone, radio or relay in between sees

7c1e 9a04 e2b7 51fd 0c3a 88e9 b4d2 16af 3e70 c95b

Illustration. Real messages are sealed with AES-256 before they leave your phone.

Next to the networks you have.

Cellular and satellite are great where they work. Stolo isn’t here to replace your phone plan. It’s what keeps working when they don’t.

CapabilityStoloCellularSatellite
Works without towers or dishesYes, by designNeverNeeds open sky
Who can read your trafficNobody. Keys stay on devicesCarrier sees metadataOperator sees traffic
When someone goes offlineMessages wait, then deliverDrops on outageDrops on outage
What the data costsFree, no carrierPer GB, per linePer MB, per terminal

Everything it runs on.

Transport
Wi‑Fi, cellular, TCP and radio, at once. Not fallbacks: the mesh picks the best medium for each packet and switches mid-session. Ethernet works too.
Self-configuring
Routes form without a controller. No central server, no dispatch. When a link drops, the mesh finds a new path on its own.
Accountless
No sign-up. No middleman. Your identity lives on your device. There’s no cloud account and no company in the path.
Encryption
AES-256, end to end. Keys live on the devices. Not on our server, not on anyone’s.
Long range
A few kilometers per hop in open country.* With a Stolo Radio, or an RNode you already own, paired over Bluetooth. Hops chain for longer reach.
Store and forward
Survives multi-day outages. Messages queue on the device, signed and sealed, and deliver unchanged when the other person is back in range.
Live location
See your people on the map, off-grid. Positions travel over the mesh, even where no cell tower can reach.
Platforms
Every platform. iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and Linux, all talking to each other on the same network. Desktop builds can also run relays and self-hosted nodes. All downloads

* Range depends on terrain, buildings, antenna position and radio settings; performance may vary.

Plans and prices

The app

For everyone you want to reach.

Encrypted messaging, groups, live location, photos, files and voice notes on iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and Linux. No account, no SIM.

$0forever

Get the app
The Stolo Radio, a card-sized radio with the Stolo wordmark.

Stolo Radio

For when there are no towers at all.

A card-sized LoRa radio that pairs with iPhone over Bluetooth and plugs into Mac, Windows and Linux over USB. A few kilometers a hop in open country,* rechargeable, on pre-order now.

$60each, paid once

2
Pre-order 2 · $120

Reserve now, pay later: your card is charged only when we place the hardware order. Pre-order terms

More radios in development. Coming soon

* Range depends on terrain, buildings, antenna position and radio settings; performance may vary.

Built for crews, too.

The app is free for everyone. For organizations, managed radios and relays are in development. Tell us about your deployment.

  • First responders
  • Police and public safety
  • Mining and heavy industry
  • Construction sites
  • Maritime
  • Cities and municipalities

Talk to us about your deployment.

We only use your email to reply. No list, no tracking. We answer within one business day.

Fair questions.

Is Stolo really free?

Yes. The app has no subscription and no account. Organizations pay for managed deployments and hardware, and the Stolo Radio is an optional $60, paid once.

Do I need internet or special hardware?

Not internet, but you do need a path. That can be a Wi‑Fi network such as a Stolo node’s hotspot, a Stolo Radio paired with your phone (or an RNode you already have), or cellular when it’s up. Stolo picks whichever is there.

Can Stolo read my traffic?

No. Messages are end-to-end encrypted with AES-256 and the keys stay on your devices.

What if someone is out of range?

Messages queue on nearby peers and deliver when they’re back. You see “pending” until it lands.

Which platforms?

All of them: iPhone (iOS 15+), Android (7.0 and up), Mac (Apple silicon), Windows 10/11 and Linux. Everyone can message everyone, whatever they use. Get them all on the downloads page.

Does it replace 911?

No. Call emergency services whenever you can get through. Stolo is for reaching your own people when the network can’t.

A teenager in a tent at night reads a message, a radio beside her.

Install it before the storm.

Free on iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and Linux. Takes a minute.
Works the first time the bars go.

Download Stolo