Jack Dorsey’s new app to rival WhatsApp works with out web. What’s Bitchat? – Firstpost

Jack Dorsey has launched a brand new messaging app that works with out utilizing the web.

The app, referred to as Bitchat, has been constructed by the Twitter co-founder and CEO of Block.

Notably, it runs utilizing Bluetooth and permits individuals to ship messages immediately to one another.

The app has been made to proceed working even when web entry is blocked.

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So, what precisely is that this app, and the way does it work?

Right here’s a glance:

What’s the Bitchat messaging app?

Dorsey introduced on Sunday that the beta model of Bitchat is now obtainable on TestFlight, together with an in depth white paper on GitHub.

Bitchat is a brand new peer-to-peer messaging app that works utilizing Bluetooth mesh networks. It doesn’t require web, central servers, telephone numbers or e-mail addresses, CNBC reported.

In a publish on X, Dorsey described it as a private experiment exploring “Bluetooth mesh networks, relays and retailer and ahead fashions, message encryption fashions, and some different issues.”

The app permits close by gadgets to ship encrypted messages to one another.

my weekend mission to find out about bluetooth mesh networks, relays and retailer and ahead fashions, message encryption fashions, and some different issues.

bitchat: bluetooth mesh chat…IRC vibes.

TestFlight: https://t.co/P5zRRX0TB3
GitHub: https://t.co/Yphb3Izm0P pic.twitter.com/yxZxiMfMH2

— jack (@jack) July 6, 2025

As customers transfer round, their telephones type native Bluetooth teams and go messages alongside, reaching others even outdoors regular vary. This works with out Wi-Fi or cellular networks.

Constructed for short-distance messaging, Bitchat lets gadgets share messages which might be each encrypted and momentary.

It provides an possibility in locations with poor or no web, the place apps like WhatsApp might not work.

Dorsey says messages can journey as much as 300 metres, or 984 toes, by bouncing by way of different customers. Some gadgets can hyperlink separate teams, serving to messages transfer throughout wider areas.

Notably, messages are solely saved on customers’ telephones, disappear by default, and by no means go by way of central servers. This suits Dorsey’s deal with privateness and resisting censorship.

The app’s launch continues his work on tasks like Damus and Bluesky, which goal to make social media and digital funds much less centralised.

Much like Bluetooth apps used in the course of the 2019 protests in Hong Kong, Bitchat is constructed to work even throughout web shutdowns or surveillance, giving individuals a option to keep linked, the report mentioned.

Bitchat additionally provides group chats, referred to as “rooms”, which could be named utilizing hashtags and locked with passwords. It features a characteristic that saves messages and delivers them later if somebody is offline.

An upcoming replace will add WiFi Direct, serving to enhance each pace and distance. This pushes Dorsey’s bigger goal of constructing personal, user-controlled instruments that work with out counting on massive tech.

In contrast to apps like WhatsApp or Messenger, that are run by giant corporations and rely upon private information, Bitchat is totally peer-to-peer.

It doesn’t require any account, identifier or information assortment.

When will it’s launched?

Quickly after Dorsey shared the TestFlight hyperlink for Bitchat, all 10,000 beta spots had been taken.

Together with the beta model, he additionally posted hyperlinks to the mission’s GitHub web page and what he referred to as “an unsightly whitepaper describing protocol.”

The whitepaper describes the app as: “(…) a decentralised, peer-to-peer messaging software that operates over Bluetooth Low Power (BLE) mesh networks. It gives ephemeral, encrypted communication with out counting on web infrastructure, making it resilient to community outages and censorship.”

By eradicating servers from the equation, Dorsey hopes to supply individuals a extra personal option to message, probably encouraging greater platforms to undertake comparable instruments.

He talked about on X that the app is presently beneath evaluate earlier than its official launch.

It’s nonetheless unsure whether or not the thought will achieve consideration or stay a distinct segment instrument for individuals who are extra tech-savvy.

For the unversed, Dorsey is the CEO of Block, which is a monetary know-how firm he co-founded.

It owns Money App and Sq.. The corporate provides cellular cost providers for customers and in addition gives point-of-sale {hardware} and software program for companies.