

If you have it set up on your router so that everything goes through the network, then you don’t need to do anything on your individual devices unless it’s going to be on your phone, which would be off of your Wi-Fi network sometimes and on cellular.
In that scenario, you’ll want an application to act as a local VPN tunnel such as the Tor VPN app or Invizible (fdroid)










It doesn’t absolutely require repeaters. There is an off-grid mode.
Plus, repeaters in meshcore are more like client base in meshtastic. You’re meant to put them up at your house. Is it good to put them on tall towers and mountains? Absolutely. But if you can’t do that, then you can put it at your house at, say, 30 feet, and it’s just fine. Because even with the 3-byte IDs, you still get 16 hops.