- Bitchat operates exclusively through Bluetooth Low Energy mesh networks, enabling secure peer-to-peer communication without internet.
- The app features end-to-end encryption, ephemeral messaging stored only in memory, and requires no user accounts, registration, or personal data.
Block CEO Jack Dorsey has created a new revolutionary decentralized messaging app called Bitchat, which uses Bluetooth mesh networks exclusively. The new platform enables secure communication without the need for an internet connection, making it a reliable alternative to traditional messaging apps.
Bitchat Aims To Transform Communication
Bitchat is a radical change in the traditional messaging applications as it uses Bluetooth low-energy mesh networks to communicate peer-to-peer. The system develops self-organizing networks in which any device acts as a client and a peripheral, and allows automatic relaying of messages among several devices. Messages can be relayed among devices over a 30-meter Bluetooth range, and bridge nodes can be used to connect different clusters together to increase coverage areas.
In an X post, Jack stated,
“My weekend project is to learn about Bluetooth mesh networks, relays and store and forward models, message encryption models, and a few other things. Bitchat: Bluetooth mesh chat…IRC vibes.”
The application values user privacy by applying several layers of security, such as end-to-end encryption and ephemeral messaging, which saves the content in memory only. In contrast to the major applications like WhatsApp and Messenger, Bitchat does not use central servers, accounts of users, or personal information registration. Such a decentralized model avoids infrastructure dependencies and offers network outage and censorship resistance.
In the white paper published by Dorsey, it is apparent that the system has integrated Internet Relay Chat features, which make it a room-based chat with group chats named with hashtags and optional password protection.
The platform has a store-and-forward system that stores messages offline for users at specific time intervals. To maximize the efficiency of transmission over the Bluetooth mesh network, large messages are automatically fragmented into 500-byte messages.
The app is aimed at various applications such as conferences, protests, disaster areas, and cases where internet infrastructure is not available or unreliable. The next stage of development will involve WiFi integration to allow more bandwidth to support messages of larger size and more features of multimedia sharing.
The launch is not the first time Dorsey has been associated with messaging protocols, as he was the Twitter CEO and also founded a decentralized social platform called Bluesky. His exit as a member of the board of Bluesky in May 2024 was followed by his attention to the development of this groundbreaking communication technology.
The beta version of Bitchat shows that secure, encrypted, and private messaging can be used successfully without centralized infrastructure, which can completely change the way people communicate in hostile conditions.
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