Jack Dorsey's Bitchat - messenger without internet: Bluetooth networking, encryption and decentralisation

Twitter co-founder and Block CEO Jack Dorsey has developed "Bitchat", a decentralised instant messaging application that works over Bluetooth mesh networks. This solution can transmit a message without the internet over a distance of up to 300 metres by relaying it through intermediary devices.

What is Bitchat

• Works completely without the internet: apps communicate via Bluetooth Low Energy mesh network, the devices themselves automatically relay messages, extending coverage up to 300 metres.
• Privacy and security: end-to-end encryption (E2EE), messages aren't stored on servers - they're temporary and disappear upon delivery
• Nothing superfluous: no accounts, no centralised servers, no phone numbers - just code and communication between phones
• Beta test via TestFlight: access for first 10,000 users (test is currently full), rollout is still frozen in the testing phase

Why it's needed

For offline environments: festivals, protests, disconnected areas, extreme situations - the concept of decentralised communication is ideal.

Against censorship: Peer-to-peer connectivity enables communication that is difficult to track and block - as was the case with Bridgefy at the Hong Kong protests.

Dorsey's policy is decentralisation: after Bitcoin, Bluesky and Nostr, Bitchat becomes another step in his philosophy of rejecting centralised platforms.

Source: @jack | TechCrunch