And also them calling out Andy for they key? Stupid.

The official Android app (blessed by the "community") still has in-app purchases up. It gates the remote repeater management, afair one of the things Andy's MeshOS app for TDeck is gating.

The underlying protocol is open source, but the companion app isn't.

Yes, in the current version of Meshcore app it's possible to manage the repeater without the key, after a wait period, but that changed recently and they still nudge towards in-app purchase.

Similarly Andy's firmware* can be used for free, without purchasing a key, unless the user wants the full functionality.

*is it even his, considering it's been AI-generated?

A big mess. Also the network is a big mess, now I understand why.

It sucks how everything feels like a toy. I think meshtastic is the closest thing to a “product”. They made a bunch of bad architectural decisions that are haunting them now like how nodes broadcast its info.