Lantern Download on theApp Store Coming soon
Works with no signal, no Wi-Fi, no power

When the power goes,
the street keeps talking.

Lantern turns the phones on your street into a small radio network. Neighbours check in, ask for help and share what they have, passed phone to phone over Bluetooth.

Download on theApp Store Coming soon to the App Store
01 9:47 pm, a Tuesday

Then the power goes.

The lights go out house by house. The mobile mast is down, the router is dead, and nobody can check on anybody.

No ServiceWi-Fi off
02 Lantern wakes up

Every phone becomes a lantern.

Lantern notices the cut by itself. Each phone finds the ones around it, about 30 metres a hop, and the street links itself into a mesh. No server, no account, nothing to set up on the night.

~30 m
per hop
7
hops max
0
servers
03 Hop by hop

A call for help crosses the street.

No. 14 is too far away to reach you directly. The Rectory and Mill Cottage pass it along, and it lands on your phone three hops later, signed and verified.

NEED HELP · No. 14 “Out of candles, Mum's with me”
3 hops via Mill Cottage · verified

04 Try it

Your turn.

Tap a button and watch it travel. You can also click any house to send from there.

  1. Your phone's feed appears here.
Three buttons

In a power cut, nobody wants to type.

The three buttons that matter sit at the bottom of the screen, and every phone on the street sees them.

I'm OK

Stop the worrying

Everyone sees a green dot by your house. One tap, and nobody needs to knock to check on you.

Need help

Get seen fast

Your house pulses red on every phone nearby, with a note if you add one. It reaches neighbours even when Lantern isn't on screen.

Lantern isn't an emergency service. If you can reach 999, 112 or 911, call them first.

Have generator

Share what you've got

Water, heat, a charger, a gas hob. Tell the street what you can share, so it finds whoever needs it.

Under the hood

Small, sturdy, and built for a long night.

0servers

Nothing to go down

No server and no account. Two Lantern phones near each other are already a network.

7hops

Reach the whole lane

Each phone covers about 30 metres. Seven relays later, a short chain of houses covers a whole lane.

12hours

Late arrivals catch up

Phones keep recent messages and pass them on to anyone who comes into range, like someone getting home from work.

30sec

It notices the cut

When mobile data and Wi-Fi have both been gone for 30 seconds, Lantern switches to outage mode by itself.

Gentle on your battery

In outage mode the radio listens for 2 seconds, then sleeps for 14. It stays connected to the street and uses far less battery than searching nonstop.

listen 2 ssleep 14 s, repeat

Works with your phone locked

Lantern keeps relaying from your pocket. A neighbour's help call arrives as a notification even when the app isn't on screen.

21:47
Lantern now

Need help · No. 14: Out of candles, Mum's with me

Your street, in 3D

Lantern draws your street as a little voxel world that grows with it: one house when it's just you, then a hamlet, a village, a town and a city as neighbours join. Every home with a Lantern phone gets a house, and each neighbour's status glows above it. The app counts down to the next size, like “3 more homes to Village”, and sets off fireworks when your street gets there.

Lantern's street drawn as a voxel village of about twenty homes at dusk, with phones glowing above them.

A second radio, on newer iPhones

On iPhone 12 and later, pair phones once through Apple's own sheet and they talk over Wi-Fi Aware as well as Bluetooth: direct phone-to-phone Wi-Fi, no router, no internet. It carries the same signed, encrypted messages. Everything still works on Bluetooth alone.

Bluetooth
Every Lantern phone nearbyNo setup · keeps relaying with the screen locked · about 30 m a hop
Messages
Word out of the streetFrom any phone with signal, or by satellite on iPhone 14 and later where Apple offers it

On your wrist and your Home Screen

Lantern on Apple Watch shows your street and your household at a glance, and how many neighbours need help, right on your watch face. Check in with a tap, reply privately, and answer a help call with “On my way”. On iPhone, widgets and Control Center let you say you're OK without opening the app. Your iPhone does the radio work, so keep it nearby.

  • Tap to check inI'm OK, Need help, Have supplies
  • On my wayStraight from the help notification
  • ComplicationsYour status, and who needs help
  • Widgets & Control CenterI'm OK in a tap; Need help asks first
Household

Your home comes first.

The first phone in the house starts the household and names the house. Everyone else scans its code once, with Lantern or the iPhone Camera, and adds just their own name. That's the whole setup.

  • One house, however many phones. On the street your household is one home, on your phones and on your neighbours'. They see “Sarah · Mill Cottage” and “Tom · Mill Cottage”, not three houses.
  • A private channel for the house. Household messages and check-ins are sealed with a key only your household's phones hold. Neighbours' phones carry them without being able to open them.
  • Know who's home. The House tab lists everyone in the household the mesh can hear, and when each of them last checked in.
Private messages

One to one, end to end.

Pair with a neighbour by scanning each other's code in person, or message anyone in your household. Only the two phones in the conversation can read it.

  • Post-quantum encryption. A Signal-style handshake (ML-KEM and X25519) and a new key for every message. Phones in between carry it but can't open it.
  • Check it's really them. Compare a 60-digit safety number side by side, any time.
  • Disappearing messages. Set a timer from five minutes to a week, from either phone.
  • Delivered, even late. Messages wait and retry until the other phone is in range, then say “delivered”.
  • Find them in the dark. On iPhones with Ultra Wideband, an arrow and the distance lead you to a contact who has agreed to be found, phone to phone. Ask for help, and your contacts can find you without you having to answer.
Beyond the street

Get word out to family.

The street can talk without the network. Your mum, three towns away, can't. Lantern helps you reach her the moment any route opens up.

Send news out

Lantern writes a short report of your house and street, and you send it to the people you choose with Messages. No signal on your phone? Ask a paired neighbour, or someone in your household, who has signal to send it for you.

Lantern 21:47: Mill Cottage OK. Home: Priya has power bank, Grandad OK. Street: 5 phones, 1 needs help (No. 14).

By satellite, where Apple offers it

On iPhone 14 and later, Apple's Messages can send texts by satellite in some countries. Lantern keeps the report short enough for that and tells you when it's worth a try. Lantern itself doesn't use satellite: Messages does.

Privacy, plainly

No account. No location. Nothing leaves your street.

Lantern has no servers to collect anything on. The only thing that ever leaves the street is news you choose to send yourself, with Messages. Here's exactly what it does with your data.

Your key stays on your phone

Lantern makes a signing key the first time it opens. It lives in the iPhone Keychain and never leaves the device.

Every message is signed

Neighbours see your messages as verified. Nobody can send a “need help” pretending to be you.

Private means private

Household chats and one-to-one messages are end-to-end encrypted. Check-ins to the street are open on purpose, so a help call reaches everyone.

Never your location

Lantern needs only Bluetooth. Notifications, the camera and Ultra Wideband are optional. It never uses GPS. Your street name only reaches phones on the mesh nearby.

Safety

You're in control.

Anyone nearby can be on the mesh, so Lantern gives you the tools to decide who you hear and who sees what.

Block and report

Block anyone in a tap, from their card or your conversation. Report abuse to us the same way, and they're blocked straight away.

Choose who you hear

See street messages from everyone, from verified senders only, or just from neighbours you've paired with and your household.

Lock it

Face ID or a passcode on Lantern, message previews kept off the lock screen, and a cover in the app switcher.

Erase everything

One step removes your keys, household, pairings and messages from this phone, and starts Lantern fresh.

Before the lights go out

Set it up on a sunny afternoon.

A mesh is only as good as the phones in it. Five minutes now means your street is ready when it matters.

  1. 1Install Lantern

    Get it on your iPhone and allow Bluetooth when the app explains why.

  2. 2Start or join your household

    The first phone in the house starts it and names the house. Everyone else scans its code once.

  3. 3Add your name

    The street sees “Sam · Mill Cottage”. Live on your own? Name your house instead.

  4. 4Tell the neighbours

    Every extra phone is another relay. Print a door card from the app, stick an NFC tag on your gate, or send them this page.

Questions

Fair questions.

Does it need the internet or mobile signal?

No. Lantern talks phone to phone over Bluetooth, and over Wi-Fi Aware between iPhones you've paired. It works with no masts, no router and no server, which is the whole point.

Is it a replacement for emergency services?

No. Lantern helps neighbours reach each other when nothing else works. If you can reach 999, 112 or 911, call them first.

How far does a message go?

About 30 metres between two phones, depending on walls and weather. Each phone passes messages on, up to 7 hops, so range grows with every neighbour who installs it.

How do I add my family?

On the first phone in the house, start a household and name the house. Everyone else taps “Join my household”, scans that phone's code, and adds just their own name. Your whole household then shows as one house on the street.

Can I reach family outside the street?

Yes, as soon as any route opens up. Send news out writes a short report that you send with Messages. If your phone has no signal, a paired neighbour or someone in your household who has signal can send it for you. On iPhone 14 and later, Messages may also offer satellite where Apple supports it.

What if my neighbours don't have it?

Two Lantern phones in range are already a network, so start with your household. Then invite the houses either side: print a door card with your code from the app, or share this page. Lantern is built for a village street, not a stadium.

Will it drain my battery?

When Lantern detects a cut it drops into a slow listen-and-sleep cycle, which uses far less power than scanning nonstop. It's designed to keep you on the mesh through a long night.

Does it work if I close the app?

Leave Lantern running in the background and it keeps relaying with your screen locked. If you swipe it away in the app switcher, iOS stops its Bluetooth until you open it again.

Does it work on Apple Watch?

Yes, as a companion to your iPhone. It shows your street, your household and your private messages, and lets you check in, reply and answer a help call with “On my way”. Your iPhone is the one on the mesh, so keep it nearby.

Is there an Android version?

Not yet. Lantern is on iPhone first, and Android is on the list.

What does it cost?

Nothing, and it will stay that way: no ads, no tracking, no in-app purchases, no account to create.

Free for iPhone

Light your lantern before you need it.

Install it today, set up your household, and tell the house next door.

Download on theApp Store Coming soon to the App Store

Requires iOS 26 or later · Works between two or more iPhones · Android coming later