diff --git a/app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/MainActivity.kt b/app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/MainActivity.kt
index 2edcbb917..c3abeabe5 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/MainActivity.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/MainActivity.kt
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ import com.geeksville.concurrent.handledLaunch
 import com.geeksville.mesh.databinding.ActivityMainBinding
 import com.geeksville.mesh.model.Channel
 import com.geeksville.mesh.model.ChannelSet
+import com.geeksville.mesh.model.DeviceVersion
 import com.geeksville.mesh.model.UIViewModel
 import com.geeksville.mesh.service.*
 import com.geeksville.mesh.ui.*
@@ -613,6 +614,29 @@ class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity(), Logging,
         }
     }
 
+    /** Show an alert that may contain HTML */
+    private fun showAlert(titleText: Int, messageText: Int) {
+        // make links clickable per https://stackoverflow.com/a/62642807
+        // val messageStr = getText(messageText)
+
+        val builder = MaterialAlertDialogBuilder(this)
+            .setTitle(titleText)
+            .setMessage(messageText)
+            .setPositiveButton("Okay") { _, _ ->
+                info("User acknowledged")
+            }
+
+        val dialog = builder.show()
+
+        // Make the textview clickable. Must be called after show()
+        val view = (dialog.findViewById(android.R.id.message) as TextView?)!!
+        // Linkify.addLinks(view, Linkify.ALL) // not needed with this method
+        view.movementMethod = LinkMovementMethod.getInstance()
+
+        showSettingsPage() // Default to the settings page in this case
+    }
+
+
     /// Called when we gain/lose a connection to our mesh radio
     private fun onMeshConnectionChanged(connected: MeshService.ConnectionState) {
         debug("connchange ${model.isConnected.value} -> $connected")
@@ -629,33 +653,25 @@ class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity(), Logging,
                     model.myNodeInfo.value = info
 
                     val isOld = info.minAppVersion > BuildConfig.VERSION_CODE
-                    if (isOld) {
-                        // make links clickable per https://stackoverflow.com/a/62642807
-                        val messageStr = getText(R.string.must_update)
+                    if (isOld)
+                        showAlert(R.string.app_too_old, R.string.must_update)
+                    else {
 
-                        val builder = MaterialAlertDialogBuilder(this)
-                            .setTitle(getString(R.string.app_too_old))
-                            .setMessage(messageStr)
-                            .setPositiveButton("Okay") { _, _ ->
-                                info("User acknowledged app is old")
-                            }
+                        val curVer = DeviceVersion(info.firmwareVersion ?: "0.0.0")
+                        val minVer = DeviceVersion("1.2.0")
+                        if(curVer < minVer)
+                            showAlert(R.string.app_too_old, R.string.firmware_old)
+                        else {
+                            // If our app is too old/new, we probably don't understand the new radioconfig messages, so we don't read them until here
 
-                        val dialog = builder.show()
+                            model.radioConfig.value =
+                                RadioConfigProtos.RadioConfig.parseFrom(service.radioConfig)
 
-                        // Make the textview clickable. Must be called after show()
-                        val view = (dialog.findViewById(android.R.id.message) as TextView?)!!
-                        // Linkify.addLinks(view, Linkify.ALL) // not needed with this method
-                        view.movementMethod = LinkMovementMethod.getInstance()
-                    } else {
-                        // If our app is too old, we probably don't understand the new radioconfig messages
+                            updateNodesFromDevice()
 
-                        model.radioConfig.value =
-                            RadioConfigProtos.RadioConfig.parseFrom(service.radioConfig)
-
-                        updateNodesFromDevice()
-
-                        // we have a connection to our device now, do the channel change
-                        perhapsChangeChannel()
+                            // we have a connection to our device now, do the channel change
+                            perhapsChangeChannel()
+                        }
                     }
                 } catch (ex: RemoteException) {
                     warn("Abandoning connect $ex, because we probably just lost device connection")
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/service/DeviceVersion.kt b/app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/model/DeviceVersion.kt
similarity index 96%
rename from app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/service/DeviceVersion.kt
rename to app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/model/DeviceVersion.kt
index 13ef461e0..961524b66 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/service/DeviceVersion.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/model/DeviceVersion.kt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-package com.geeksville.mesh.service
+package com.geeksville.mesh.model
 
 import com.geeksville.android.Logging
 
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/service/MeshService.kt b/app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/service/MeshService.kt
index 9b40d025c..15b21f8e6 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/service/MeshService.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/service/MeshService.kt
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import com.geeksville.mesh.MeshProtos.ToRadio
 import com.geeksville.mesh.database.MeshtasticDatabase
 import com.geeksville.mesh.database.PacketRepository
 import com.geeksville.mesh.database.entity.Packet
+import com.geeksville.mesh.model.DeviceVersion
 import com.geeksville.mesh.service.SoftwareUpdateService.Companion.ProgressNotStarted
 import com.geeksville.util.*
 import com.google.android.gms.common.api.ApiException
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/service/SoftwareUpdateService.kt b/app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/service/SoftwareUpdateService.kt
index d7b3cc2dd..b9050105e 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/service/SoftwareUpdateService.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/service/SoftwareUpdateService.kt
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import androidx.core.app.JobIntentService
 import com.geeksville.android.Logging
 import com.geeksville.mesh.MainActivity
 import com.geeksville.mesh.R
+import com.geeksville.mesh.model.DeviceVersion
 import com.geeksville.util.exceptionReporter
 import java.util.*
 import java.util.zip.CRC32
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/ui/MessagesFragment.kt b/app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/ui/MessagesFragment.kt
index 92c1d0d73..668f789d3 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/ui/MessagesFragment.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/ui/MessagesFragment.kt
@@ -237,17 +237,22 @@ class MessagesFragment : ScreenFragment("Messages"), Logging {
         })
 
         // If connection state _OR_ myID changes we have to fix our ability to edit outgoing messages
-        model.isConnected.observe(viewLifecycleOwner, Observer { connected ->
-            // If we don't know our node ID and we are offline don't let user try to send
+        fun updateTextEnabled() {
             binding.textInputLayout.isEnabled =
-                connected != MeshService.ConnectionState.DISCONNECTED && model.nodeDB.myId.value != null
-        })
+                model.isConnected.value  != MeshService.ConnectionState.DISCONNECTED && model.nodeDB.myId.value != null && model.radioConfig.value != null
+        }
 
-        model.nodeDB.myId.observe(viewLifecycleOwner, Observer { myId ->
+        model.isConnected.observe(viewLifecycleOwner, Observer { _ ->
             // If we don't know our node ID and we are offline don't let user try to send
-            binding.textInputLayout.isEnabled =
-                model.isConnected.value != MeshService.ConnectionState.DISCONNECTED && myId != null
-        })
+            updateTextEnabled() })
+
+        model.nodeDB.myId.observe(viewLifecycleOwner, Observer { _ ->
+            // If we don't know our node ID and we are offline don't let user try to send
+            updateTextEnabled() })
+
+        model.radioConfig.observe(viewLifecycleOwner, Observer { _ ->
+            // If we don't know our node ID and we are offline don't let user try to send
+            updateTextEnabled() })
     }
 
 }
diff --git a/app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml b/app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml
index 33c6f745f..6a45820ed 100644
--- a/app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml
+++ b/app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml
@@ -89,4 +89,6 @@
     <string name="broadcast_period_too_small">Minimum broadcast period for this channel is %d</string>
     <string name="protocol_stress_test">Protocol stress test</string>
     <string name="advanced_settings">Advanced settings</string>
+    <string name="firmware_too_old">Firmware update required</string>
+    <string name="firmware_old">The radio firmware is too old to talk to this application, please go to the settings pane and choose "Update Firmware".  For more information on this see <a href="https://www.meshtastic.org/software/firmware-too-old.html">our wiki</a>.</string>
 </resources>