Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s co-founder and former CEO, has launched Bitchat—an experimental messaging app that works entirely through Bluetooth mesh networks, with no need for internet access, servers, SIM cards, phone numbers, or email addresses.
The launch reflects Dorsey’s continued advocacy for decentralized, privacy-first, and censorship-resistant technologies, following his involvement with platforms like Damus and Bluesky.
Bitchat is currently in beta and available on TestFlight for early testing and feedback ahead of its official rollout.
According to Dorsey, Bitchat allows encrypted, peer-to-peer communication between nearby mobile devices via Bluetooth.
As users move, their phones create temporary clusters that relay messages locally from one device to another. Messages can cover longer distances by hopping across “bridge devices” that link overlapping clusters.
“It’s a personal experiment in bluetooth mesh networks, relays and store and forward models, message encryption models, and a few other things,” he said.
This setup enables Bitchat to operate without Wi-Fi or mobile networks, making it especially useful during internet outages, blackouts, or in environments with heavy surveillance.
Messages are never stored on central servers; instead, they remain local to each device and vanish by default—reflecting a commitment to ephemeral messaging and user-controlled communication.
Bitchat requires no user accounts, ensuring that no personal identifiers or metadata are collected.
Current features include:
Encrypted one-on-one messaging, Optional group chats via password-protected rooms, searchable by hashtags,
Store-and-forward capability for delivering messages to offline devices once they reconnect.
An upcoming version of Bitchat will integrate WiFi Direct, enabling faster and broader communication without relying on internet infrastructure.
The concept is inspired by Bluetooth-based apps used during the 2019 Hong Kong protests, where demonstrators evaded surveillance and censorship by forming local mesh networks.
