Bitchat Mesh by Jack Dorsey Now in the App Store

Jack Dorsey's latest project, the secure and network-independent messenger Bitchat Mesh, has been available in the App Store for the iPhone for the first time this week. The application can also be installed on Macs, although it initially remained unclear whether it would run on this platform in the same way as on mobile devices.

Not the first internet-free messenger

The basic idea behind Bitchat Mesh is not necessarily new – App providers have previously tried to establish peer-to-peer messengers based purely on the Bluetooth short-range protocol (in this case: BLE), such as Briar. Dorsey, once the founder of Twitter, who also co-founded Bluesky, is now hoping to achieve greater market penetration through his reach. The basic idea behind Bitchat Mesh among similar systems: Instead of using the internet (via WLAN or mobile radio) to relay messages, a (virtually) uncensorable Bluetooth mesh network is set up from device to device that can work offline.

However, this only works if there are enough devices on which the application is running. An example of a similar system that works extremely well is Apple's "Where is?" discovery network, which benefits from the enormous penetration of iPhones (plus iPads and Macs). Bitchat Mesh is visually very understated – it comes in a green terminal style.

Open source waiting for the network effect

The app offers various security features, including the ability to verify users by code. No phone number or email is required, but an anonymous account is created by default. Messages are encrypted. A "panic mode" allows all data to be deleted directly, and Dorsey also promises no tracking.

Anyone who has already installed Bitchat Mesh should make sure to update to version 1.1.1. Only this version provides an adequate connection to Android devices whose version has been available for some time. If you are interested in the project, you can find the source code on GitHub. Now it remains to be seen how quickly Bitchat Mesh will spread – Without the network effect, as mentioned, little to nothing will work here.

(bsc)