Messengers without the internet are becoming an important trend, and a new project from Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, confirms it. The Bitchat app uses a mesh network, allowing devices to connect directly via Bluetooth without servers and operators, keeping messages only on users’ devices. Users can chat within a radius of 300 meters or forward messages through a chain of devices if the other person is farther away.
Solutions like these matter for privacy and independence: there is no need to register using a phone number or email, there is no tracking of activity, and the connection can work even when the internet is turned off. Bitchat uses end-to-end encryption, and chats can be protected with passwords.
Earlier, similar messengers such as FireChat and Bridgefy were used during protests in Hong Kong in 2019 to bypass blocks. Now Bitchat continues Dorsey’s direction toward free speech and decentralization, making private communication available to everyone.
Mesh messengers could change everyday communication by keeping people in touch even where there is no network, and by returning users control over their communication in an era of growing censorship.
