I had the same experience and was disappointed. But a good mesh app is inherently difficult to monetize!
Combining mesh over some/several form(s) of 802.11, Signal protocol public key distribution "locally" via QR code, and Delay-Tolerant Networking (Cerf et al. 2007) would be the holy grail (and would have no reliance on SMS or phone number) and also could not be monetized. Which is a damn shame, because it's eminently technically feasible, but complicated enough that I'd probably need a professional team to implement.
Most businesses do not care about the technical details of the platforms they use. Look at adoption of the PSTN (centralized) & Email (federated and interoperable) among businesses, they migrate to where their customers are most reachable.
Combining mesh over some/several form(s) of 802.11, Signal protocol public key distribution "locally" via QR code, and Delay-Tolerant Networking (Cerf et al. 2007) would be the holy grail (and would have no reliance on SMS or phone number) and also could not be monetized. Which is a damn shame, because it's eminently technically feasible, but complicated enough that I'd probably need a professional team to implement.