Serval Mesh vs ShellMS
Side-by-side comparison of two open source alternatives
Serval Mesh
The Serval Project is seeking funds to develop a mesh extender which aims to work around the limitations caused by the lack of AdHoc mode in Android. Visit the campaign website to the cause. N.B The app no longer asks for root by default although you can still try it in adhoc mode. Prebuilts are no longer in the source code. This is experimental software: it may not work as advertised. It may lose or alter messages and files that it carries; it may consume a lot of space, speed and battery, and it may crash unexpectedly. Mobile communications are useful, but depend on infrastructure that can be damaged, overwhelmed, or even absent. This app assumes zero infrastructure. The phones talk to each other using WiFi; relaying calls and messages and figuring out how to resolve numbers. In other words, it lets your phone communicate with other Android phones running Serval Mesh within WiFi range. Requires root: No. Basic Android still doesn't allow WiFi in AdHoc mode, so the app will ask for root if you try to enable adhoc mode. The Java/XML part is distributable under the GNU GPLv3 while the serval-dna (distributed number architecture) project is GPLv2.
ShellMS
ShellMS is the simplest and easiest ADB Shell Messaging Application. If you don't know what ADB or SDK is you definitely don't need this app. For the others it's useful tool to speed up messaging when you're working on your computer. Usage: * with mobile phone numbers: adb shell am startservice --user 0 -n com.android.shellms/.sendSMS -e contact +123456789 -e msg "Message" * with display names from phone: adb shell am startservice --user 0 -n com.android.shellms/.sendSMS -e contact "Contact's DISPLAY NAME" -e msg "MSG"
| Feature | Serval Mesh | ShellMS |
|---|---|---|
| License | GPL-3.0-only | GPL-3.0-or-later |
| Install sources | F-DroidGitHub | F-DroidGitHub |
| Categories | SMSMessaging | SMSMessaging |
| Features | Ad-FreeOpen SourceNo Tracking | Ad-FreeOpen SourceNo Tracking |
| Platforms | Android | Android |
| Website | ||
| Source code |