By Jack Dorsey, former Twitter CEO, has launched Bitchat, a new messaging app that works entirely without internet or mobile service.
Bitchat is a fresh experiment from Jack Dorsey, the tech leader known for pushing privacy and decentralization. The app lets people send messages using only Bluetooth, with no need for SIM cards, phone numbers, emails, or even Wi-Fi. This means users can chat even during internet blackouts, protests, or anywhere mobile networks are down.
Instead of relying on servers, Bitchat uses a mesh network. Phones connect to each other directly, passing messages from device to device. If users move around, their phones form clusters and can carry messages further using “bridge devices.” All messages are encrypted and stored only on users’ phones. By default, messages disappear after delivery, keeping chats private and temporary.
The app is now in beta testing on TestFlight for iOS. It supports: One-on-one encrypted chats, group chats in password-protected rooms, searchable by hashtags, store-and-forward delivery, so offline users get messages when they reconnect, no accounts are needed. Bitchat collects no personal data or metadata.
Dorsey says, “It’s a personal experiment in bluetooth mesh networks, relays and store and forward models, message encryption models, and a few other things.”
The idea for Bitchat comes from the Bluetooth-based apps used during the Hong Kong protests in 2019, where people needed to avoid surveillance and censorship. Dorsey has long supported giving users more control, backing other decentralized platforms like Damus and Bluesky.
A future update will add WiFi Direct, making communication faster and possible over longer distances, still without internet.
“It’s a personal experiment… in message encryption models, and a few other things,” Dorsey explained.
The app’s white paper is open-source on GitHub, inviting developers to test and contribute.
We’d love your thoughts on this article! Was the information relevant to you?
