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Units, Measurement & Locale

The Meshtastic app automatically displays temperatures, distances, speeds, and times in the units your device is configured to use. If your device’s settings can’t express the units you want, an in-app Units setting overrides them.

How It Works

Meshtastic radios always transmit data in metric units (meters, °C, m/s, hPa, etc.). When the app receives this data, it converts and displays values in whatever unit system your device’s locale specifies.

On Android, your measurement preferences are determined by your system Language & Region settings. On Desktop (JVM), the app uses the JVM’s default Locale.

Units follow your device’s region, not the display language. Plain languages — like English in the app’s own Language setting or Android’s per-app language — keep the region your device is set to. A choice that names a region of its own, like English (Canada), overrides it and brings that region’s units with it. On Android 16+, the system-wide Measurement system preference overrides the region for distance, speed, and the other measurements — but not for temperature, which keeps following the region.

💡 Tip: By default there is nothing to configure — change your system measurement preferences and every screen in Meshtastic updates automatically. If your device offers no working region or measurement setting (some manufacturer builds don’t), set Settings → Units in the app instead.

The Radio’s Own Screen Is Separate

Settings → Device configuration → Display → Display units configures the screen on the radio, not the app. The Use 12h clock format and Always point north settings do too — all three apply to the radio’s display only. Temperature on that screen has its own setting, Environment metrics use Fahrenheit, on the radio’s Telemetry module — see the Telemetry module reference on meshtastic.org.

If your node list shows miles while the radio’s screen shows kilometers, this is why: the two are set in different places. Changing the radio’s setting never alters what the app displays. See the Display Config guide on meshtastic.org for the device-side options.

Temperature

Temperature values from environment sensors are transmitted as °C and displayed based on your device’s temperature unit preference.

Environment metrics with temperature

Your Setting You See
Celsius 22°C
Fahrenheit 72°F

This affects all temperature displays throughout the app: node environment telemetry, soil temperature, dew point, and telemetry chart axes.

Temperature follows your locale’s temperature preference, independent of the distance system. Locales that mix systems work correctly — a UK phone shows miles for distance but °C for temperature. On Android 14+, the Temperature regional preference (Settings → System → Languages → Regional preferences) overrides the locale default.

Distance & Altitude

Distances between nodes and GPS altitudes are transmitted as meters and automatically scaled and converted.

Distance info display

Your Setting Small Distance Large Distance Altitude
Metric 350 m 2.5 km 1,200 m
Imperial (US) 1,148 ft 1.6 mi 3,937 ft

The app uses natural scaling — short distances stay in meters or feet, while longer distances switch to kilometers or miles automatically.

Where these appear

  • Node list — distance and bearing to each node
  • Node detail — altitude, distance from your position
  • Map — waypoint distances, traceroute hop distances
  • Compass — distance to selected node

Speed

GPS ground speed is displayed in your locale’s preferred speed unit.

Your Setting You See
Metric 12 km/h
Imperial (US) 7 mph

Wind

Wind speed, gust and lull are transmitted by the sensor as m/s and converted for display — the app shows the unit weather forecasts use in your region, not the raw sensor unit.

Your Setting You See
Metric 18.0 km/h
Imperial (US) 11.2 mph

All three read in the same unit wherever they appear: the Node Detail environment section, the Environment Telemetry log, and the charts.

Weight

Readings from a connected scale are transmitted in kg and converted for display.

Your Setting You See
Metric 1.50 kg
Imperial (US) 3.31 lb

Rainfall

Rainfall measurements (1-hour and 24-hour totals) are transmitted as mm and converted for display.

Your Setting You See
Metric 12.0 mm
Imperial (US) 0.47 in

Units That Never Change

Some units are international standards and are displayed the same way regardless of your locale:

Measurement Unit Why
Barometric pressure hPa International meteorological standard
Heading / bearing ° (degrees) Universal navigation convention
Radiation µR/h Standard dosimetry unit
GPS coordinates decimal degrees Universal geographic standard
Humidity, battery, soil moisture % Universal

Date & Time

All timestamps throughout the app — last heard, message times, telemetry logs, chart axes — follow your device’s date and time preferences.

Setting What It Controls Example
24-Hour Time Clock format 14:30 vs 2:30 PM
Date Format Date ordering 09/05/2026 vs 05/09/2026

The app also uses relative time where it makes sense — for example, “5 min ago” or “2 hours ago” in the node list — which is automatically localized into your device language.

Changing Your Measurement System

By default the app follows your device, and your measurement system (metric vs imperial) is tied to your region setting:

  1. Open Android Settings → System → Language & Region
  2. Change your Region
  3. Return to Meshtastic — values update immediately

On Android 16+, the system-wide Measurement system preference overrides the region for distance, speed, and the other measurements — but not for temperature. Temperature is resolved separately, and on Android 14+ you override it on its own under Regional preferences → Temperature.

Not every English region is fully metric. English (United Kingdom) uses miles and feet for distance, so the node list shows miles and altitude in feet. For metric distances, set the app’s Units setting to Metric (see Overriding the Units in the App), or choose a fully metric region such as English (Canada), English (Ireland), or English (New Zealand).

Some phones do not offer the Regional preferences menu at all and list only English (United States). On those devices, use the app’s Units setting (see Overriding the Units in the App).

Overriding the units in the app

Not every device can express every preference — some manufacturer builds ship no regional preferences at all, some offer only one English variant, and UK regions are imperial for distance even if you’d rather read altitude in meters. For those cases the app has its own switch:

  1. Open Meshtastic Settings → Units
  2. Choose System default, Metric, or Imperial
  3. Every screen updates immediately — no restart needed

System default follows your phone’s or computer’s region and measurement settings. Forcing Metric or Imperial applies to everything, temperature included (metric → °C, imperial → °F), even where the system’s own regional preferences say otherwise. The setting exists on Android and Desktop alike.