What Is BitChat?

[LazyPooky]

Jack dorsey launched a proto type of BitChat in early of July 2025. BitChat is an open-source messaging platform designed to work on Bluetooth mesh networking. It allows users to send and receive messages without requiring internet, SIM cards, or centralized servers.

BitChat provides a modern take on decentralized communication, offering
- Peer-to-peer messaging via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
- Multi-hop relay, so messages can hop across several users
- End-to-end encryption using AES-256-GCM and X25519
- No account registration, no phone numbers, no tracking, no internet

The project is publicly available on github.com/permissionlesstech/bitchatGitHub

Its goal? To empower offline-first, encrypted communication, especially in high-risk, high-value, or high-censorship environments.


Screen:



Seems there is an Android version available:
https://github.com/permissionlesstec...droid/releases

---

[boredjedi]

Looks like the IRC chat box

[Presence]

Is this as interesting as it sounds? The old IRC channels were fun but have mostly gone quiet. I was in the middle of running successful trivia night over on Classic Nick and Discord people shut me down for “misinformation”.

What does this even mean: “since version 1.3.0, Geohash-based location channels are available via Nostr.”

[LazyPooky]

Is this as interesting as it sounds? The old IRC channels were fun but have mostly gone quiet.

This looks like IRC indeed. IRC was there when there were no Chat apps yet. General Chat apps don't work without internet connection, and Bitchat does.

I was in the middle of running successful trivia night over on Classic Nick and Discord people shut me down for “misinformation”.

I don't know what you mean by this.

What does this even mean: “since version 1.3.0, Geohash-based location channels are available via Nostr.”

I have no idea what this means. As long as it works that's fine.

I use Bitchat sometimes to chat with friends that are close by. It's using Bluetooth so your connection with them is lost when there's a larger distance.

[chuft]

The Geohash thing probably means there are channels specific to an area (on Nostr whatever that is), so you could join a chat with others in your physical location like your city or province.

[Presence]

I love this. So the #mesh channel is the people in bluetooth range of you. Then to extend beyond that range, it’s done according to geohash ranges via the internet. So if anyone wants to chat with me in my apartment later hit me up on pm because no one’s around.