Twitter founder Jack Dorsey launches Bitchat, a decentralised messaging platform

Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, has developed a new messaging app called Bitchat, which lets users chat without internet access or mobile networks. Built over the weekend, the app works entirely through Bluetooth mesh networks and does not require phone numbers, emails, or central servers.

On Sunday, Dorsey revealed on social media platform X, as Twitter is currently known, that a beta version of the app is now live on Apple’s TestFlight, and a detailed white paper has been published on GitHub.

Calling it a personal project, he described the app as an experiment in “Bluetooth mesh networks, relays and store-and-forward models, message encryption models, and a few other things.



Dorsey has been a strong supporter of decentralised platforms. He also started Bluesky, a social media project that gives users more say over their data and what they see online.

Bitchat lets users send messages over short distances using Bluetooth, making it useful in crowded areas like concerts or festivals where mobile networks often fail. Typically, Bluetooth messaging apps work within a range of about 100 metres. However, Dorsey said Bitchat can extend up to 300 metres by passing messages through nearby users acting like relays.

Apps of this kind have been very useful in places where internet access is blocked or heavily monitored. For example, Bridgefy, a Bluetooth-based messaging app, became widely used during the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong because it didn’t rely on the internet, making it harder for authorities to track conversations.

Both Bridgefy and Bitchat claim to offer end-to-end encryption, which means only the people sending and receiving the messages can read them.