Meet Bitchat, a WhatsApp rival that works without internet
What's the story
Twitter co-founder and Block CEO Jack Dorsey has unveiled a new peer-to-peer messaging app called Bitchat. The app works entirely over Bluetooth mesh networks, eliminating the need for internet connectivity, central servers, phone numbers, or emails. The beta version of Bitchat is now available on TestFlight, and a full white paper detailing its workings can be found on GitHub.
Innovation
How the app works
Dorsey described the development of Bitchat as a personal experiment in "bluetooth mesh networks, relays and store and forward models, message encryption models, and a few other things." The app enables encrypted communication between nearby devices. As users move around physically, their phones create local Bluetooth clusters that relay messages from one device to another. This way, they can connect with others beyond standard range even without Wi-Fi or cell service.
Privacy focus
Focus on privacy and censorship resistance
Dorsey's new app is all about privacy and censorship resistance. Messages are stored only on the device, disappear by default, and never reach any centralized infrastructure. This launch fits into Dorsey's larger plan to decentralize everything from social media to payments. Like the Bluetooth-based apps used during Hong Kong's 2019 protests, Bitchat can keep working even when the internet is blocked.
Features
Bitchat vs WhatsApp
Bitchat also offers optional group chats, or "rooms," that can be named with hashtags and password-protected. It has a store and forward feature to send messages to users who are temporarily offline. A future update will introduce Wi-Fi Direct for faster, longer-range communication. Unlike popular messaging apps like Meta's WhatsApp and Messenger which are owned by big tech companies and rely on personal data, Bitchat works entirely peer-to-peer without accounts or identifiers.