Systems, apparatuses, methods, and computer-readable media are provided for MulteFire (MF) and/or Narrowband (NB)-Internet of Things (IoT) operation in unlicensed spectrum. Disclosed embodiments include NB physical channel signaling, and in particular, support and optimization for generating and transmitting and/or receiving NB Physical Uplink Shared Channel (NPUSCH) format 1 and NPUSCH format 2 messages. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.