Jack Dorsey’s latest tech venture, Bitchat (which sounds like a weekend project) is incredibly intriguing as it offers hints at the growing trend of secure and decentralized communication. In early July, the Twitter co-founder released a beta version of Bitchat through TestFlight, which also included supplementary whitepaper on GitHub. All 10,000 tester slots were filled within hours, indicating a significant interest in offline, peer-to-peer messaging solutions.
Bitchat’s platform is built on BLE mesh networks, which enables iPhones located within 100 meters to create chat rooms similar to traditional IRC channels or exchange encrypted private messages. Messages don’t transit through global servers; instead, your phone functions as a node, transmitting data through interconnected devices and automatically deleting messages after quota.
No registration, phone number, or email are necessary; only a password-protected room or direct private message is present.
The weekend learning experience of “Bluetooth mesh networks, relays, store-and-forward models, message encryption models,” and a few other things was how Dorsey described Bitchat.
The internet’s absence or censorship could transform what seems like an experimental concept into vital infrastructure in situations where it is not available. This can vary from disaster zones to music festivals and geopolitical flashpoints.
I believe that Bitchat is more than a mere tech toy; it’s merely stating the obvious. The use of messaging tools has become crucial for public safety, social coordination, and free expression. Take into account FireChat and Bridgefy, which were both utilized in the 2019 season. Hong Kong protests against internet restrictions. With a background in decentralized models, Dorsey has worked with Bluesky, Nost, and Web5, while Bitchat is perfectly aligned with his philosophy of protocols over platforms.
It’s not just the servers that matter when using Bitchat. The aim is to embed privacy through design. By utilizing Curve25519 and AES-GCM, the app employs end-to-end encryption techniques and injects dummy traffic randomly to conceal user behavior. The difficulty in distinguishing boundary-pushing actual messages arises from this technical aspect.
When you consider the lack of metadata and permanent message logs, it creates a communication channel that is impervious to surveillance or censorship.
Bitchat isn’t perfect, by the way. Its range is limited to 100-300 meters, and it only supports text-based media like images or voice and video. Despite the beta testing of iOS, Android compatibility is still being worked on. As the model is built without any interaction with infrastructure, it only works when smartphones are physically in close proximity to form mesh clusters.
The “store-and-forward” method of forwarding messages enables messages to be sent while your friend is temporarily out of range, and when your devices reconnect, the message will still be delivered. It is more durable than typical peer-to-peer tools.
From my perspective, internet-based services such as WhatsApp and Telegram are convenient, but they also involve centralization, tracking, and potential shutdowns. It is now essential to have offline tools in areas with conflict and intermittent service, such as rural regions where services are limited.
Despite not being on par with WhatsApp in the near future, Bitchat fulfills a different function: security, anonymity, and centralization. People require tools that are not just for the purpose of facilitating moderation, but also to make it challenging to restrict, monitor, or suppress speech.
Dorsey claims that a future version of the app will be compatible with WiFi Direct, which could significantly increase the range and data capacity.
In the future, Bitchat could be a valuable tool for emergency communication, with the ability to facilitate voice or location sharing and offline file transfers. The fact that it doesn’t require phone numbers or email lowers the barrier for those wary of surveillance—even privacy-conscious citizens or field journalists.
