Offline maps. Live data. Anywhere.
Deadzone is three services that share one set of federal data. The iOS app puts offline topographic maps and an AI chat in your pocket. The web portal builds the trip before you leave. The SMS service brings the same AI back over Iridium, T-Satellite, or a one-bar cell pocket. All three pull from NWS, NOAA, USGS, USFS, and 18 other federal sources. None of them make anything up.
A field computer that fits in your pocket.
Three services sharing one set of federal data.
Offline maps + AI chat, in your pocket.
Topographic detail and overlay layers downloaded before you leave. Tap any feature for a sourced briefing. Save locations, ask anything — over Wi-Fi, cell data, or camp Starlink.
See the app →Build the trip before you leave.
Drop waypoints on a desktop map. Get a pre-trip briefing written from live conditions. Saved locations and trips sync to the iOS app before you go.
See planning →Text the same AI from offgrid.
Send a question over Iridium (Garmin inReach), Starlink (T-Satellite), or a one-bar cell pocket. The AI stays the same. The reply comes back as plain SMS.
See the channels →Live data from federal sources.
All three services pull from NWS, NOAA, USGS, USFS, and 18 other federal sources the moment you ask. Every claim is tied to a live source — never to model memory.
Topographic maps built for where signal ends.
Pre-download any region. Layer in the overlays that matter for your trip. Tap any feature and start a conversation with the data behind it.
USGS-grade topography, baked in.
10m contours, hillshade, and a vector basemap rendered locally — no tiles streaming over your hotspot at the trailhead.
An expanding set of overlay layers.
MVUM motorized routes, USFS roads & trails, BLM routes, PAD-US land jurisdictions, hydro, wildfires, cell-deadzone maps, curated peaks — and more shipping every quarter.
Region downloads sized for the trip.
Pan to your area, draw the box, set max zoom. Get a tile count and a megabyte estimate before you commit.
Tuned for the dark.
Night Ops dark mode dims landcover and brings contour lines forward in signal orange — readable through a tent vestibule at 3 a.m.
Tap any feature. Open its info card. Ask the AI about it.
Tap a wildfire perimeter, a USFS road, a peak, a hydro feature — the info card opens with what we know about it. One more tap launches a chat pre-loaded with the feature, your location, and the surrounding context. No copy-paste. No retyping coordinates. Every answer comes from the live federal source — InciWeb, USFS, USGS, NWS — never from model memory.
AI orchestrates the data. You read the source.
Build the trip on the web. Get a pre-trip briefing written from live federal data — every claim tied to its source. Carry the same chat in your pocket for everything you didn't think to ask.
Trip builder, on the web.
Drop waypoints, set dates, attach a route. Saves to your account and syncs to the iOS app before you go.
Briefings written from live conditions.
Frontier AI reads NWS weather, InciWeb fire perimeters, USFS road status, USGS river gauges, NPS alerts, and regulations — then writes a multi-section report you can actually use. Every fact is sourced.
Saved locations sync everywhere.
Nicknamed pins on the web become tap targets on the iOS map and shortcuts in chat.
Live data in your pocket too.
In-app chat uses the same AI and the same federal sources as the briefings — anywhere you have a data connection.
Four ways to reach Deadzone.
When you can't browse — but you can text — Deadzone still answers. Same frontier AI, same federal sources, four ways in.
(Garmin inReach) ● Reliable anywhere on Earth
True backcountry, offshore, deep canyons — anywhere with line of sight to sky. The channel to bet your life on.
A Garmin inReach or other Iridium-enabled device with two-way messaging active.
(T-Satellite) ● Reliable with open sky
Anywhere with open sky, no extra device. Standard SMS extended over satellite — your phone behaves the same as it would in coverage.
A supported iPhone or Android device on T-Mobile's T-Satellite plan.
(one-bar pockets) ● Where SMS gets through
Weak-signal pockets — your phone can send SMS but can't browse. Common in canyons, treelines, and the rim of a coverage hole.
Any phone with carrier SMS service. No special device, no special plan.
Camp Wi-Fi, town, Starlink at base, the airport before you fly — full chat with every data source wired in.
The Deadzone iOS app or web portal, and any data connection.
Plain-text questions work.
Type a question the way you'd ask a guide. No commands required.
Or use prefix commands for speed.
One-character prefixes for weather, route, tides, alerts, first-aid, and more — terse enough for a 140-character SMS. See the command reference →
Same AI, same federal sources.
Whichever door you come in, you get the same frontier AI with the same access to NWS, NOAA, USGS, USFS, BLM, NPS, and the rest.
22 federal sources, queried live the moment you ask. Cached so the answer is fresh when it matters and cheap when it doesn't.
Pick what fits the trip.
Every paid tier gets the full map experience. Tiers differ on chat, signals, and briefings — the things that actually cost us to run.
- Offline maps + overlays
- 25 chats/mo
- 25 SMS signals/mo
- 1 briefing/mo
- Custom AI context
- Offline maps + overlays
- 75 chats/mo
- 75 SMS signals/mo
- 2 briefings/mo
- Custom AI context
- Offline maps + overlays
- 250 chats/mo
- 250 SMS signals/mo
- 15 briefings/mo
- Custom AI context
Out of signals?
Top up your SMS quota without upgrading. Packs expire at the end of the month.
Honest answers to the questions you'd ask.
Does Deadzone work without a Garmin?
Yes. The iOS app's offline maps, trip planning, briefings, and in-app chat all work without any satellite device.
A Garmin inReach (or other Iridium device) is the most reliable channel from anywhere on Earth — true backcountry, offshore, deep canyons. T-Satellite (T-Mobile's Starlink direct-to-cell plan) covers the same anywhere-with-open-sky use case without a separate device. For weaker situations, a one-bar cell pocket is enough for plain SMS to land. The iOS app handles everything else.
Which phones can text Deadzone over satellite?
T-Satellite (Starlink direct-to-cell) is the phone-satellite path we recommend. T-Mobile's plan extends standard SMS over Starlink to supported iPhone and Android devices, anywhere with open sky. The behavior is identical to sending an SMS in a regular coverage zone — the bytes just take a different path.
iPhone Apple Satellite (Globalstar) we do not promote. The opportunistic satellite negotiation has been unreliable in our testing — Globalstar coverage and handset link acquisition are inconsistent enough that we can't recommend it as a real channel. If you have it and the link happens to land, the SMS will go through, but treat it as a best-effort backup, not a primary path.
Either path uses standard SMS once the link is up — no special app required.
How reliable is each channel?
Iridium (Garmin inReach): the gold standard. Designed for two-way messaging from anywhere on Earth — the channel to bet your life on.
Starlink (T-Satellite): reliable wherever the phone has line of sight to sky. Standard SMS extended over satellite — same experience as sending an SMS in a coverage zone.
Cell SMS in a one-bar pocket: reliable where you have any usable cell signal. SMS gets through long after browsing stops working.
iPhone Apple Satellite (Globalstar): unreliable. We do not promote it. Use T-Satellite or an inReach if you want a phone-or-device satellite path you can plan around.
How is this different from Gaia, OnX, or CalTopo?
They're map apps. Deadzone is a map app — and an AI that already knows your area, your trip, and the live conditions around you. You can tap a feature on the map and start a real conversation about it. You can get a pre-trip briefing written for the specific weekend you're going. You can text questions from places without a data connection.
If you only need a map, those are great products. If you want maps plus live federal data answered by AI, that's what we built.
What about Android?
The web portal works on any modern browser, Android included. A native Android app is on the roadmap but not in this beta — we wanted to ship one platform that's actually good before splitting our attention.
Do I need a subscription to use the map?
Every paid tier — Trail, Expedition, and Pro — includes the full offline map experience: all overlays, unlimited regions, saved locations, the works. We don't gate the map.
What scales with the tier is the AI-driven services: in-app chats, offgrid SMS signals, and pre-trip briefings. Those are the things that cost us to run, so those are where the tier differences live.
What data sources does Deadzone use?
NWS for weather, NOAA for marine and tides, USGS for water and elevation, USFS for trails and roads, BLM for routes, NPS for alerts and recreation, EPA AirNow for air quality, FAA AWC for aviation weather, NRCS for snowpack, NDBC for buoys, InciWeb and the federal wildfire feeds for fire perimeters, CMS for hospital data, Recreation.gov, OpenStreetMap, and more.
We cache aggressively and query only when you ask — so the data is fresh when it matters and cheap when it doesn't.
What happens when I hit a monthly limit?
For SMS signals, you can buy a top-up pack (Scout or Ranger) without upgrading. For in-app chats and briefings, you'll need to upgrade to the next tier — we're transparent about that because those are our most expensive services and a top-up model would muddy the pricing.
All limits reset the first of the month.
Pick a tier. Go offline.
Subscribe and Deadzone is ready for your next trip — maps downloaded, briefings written from live federal data, and four ways to reach the AI from offgrid.