CJP's 'Sansad Chalo' march: Why protesters' Bluetooth chats are hard to intercept

Intercepting or tracing Bluetooth-based mesh messaging allegedly used by protesters on Sunday and Monday is likely to be extremely challenging for Delhi Police, according to sources cited by Times of India.

Messaging platforms such as Bitchat and Briar do not require phone numbers, SIM cards or email addresses to function. Since these apps operate without a central server, conventional investigative methods such as obtaining metadata from internet service providers (ISPs) or telecom operators, or seeking information from the companies behind the apps, are unlikely to yield results, the sources said.

The apps also rely on a hop-by-hop relay mechanism, making it nearly impossible to reconstruct communication paths. Each device anonymously forwards encrypted messages to nearby users, preventing investigators from identifying the original sender or intended recipient, even if a relay device is seized, the sources added.


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Bitchat, developed by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, describes itself on the Play Store as a decentralised peer-to-peer messaging application that operates entirely over Bluetooth mesh networks, allowing users to communicate with others nearby even when internet services are unavailable.

“Unlike traditional messaging platforms that rely on active internet connections, these offline apps operate by using the Bluetooth Low Energy mesh feature already built into modern smartphones. Instead of sending a message up to a cell tower and back down to a recipient, the app broadcasts the data directly to another nearby phone equipped with the same software,” said a cyber cell investigator to TOI.

According to investigators, such networks allow demonstrators to alter routes, warn others about police barricades and coordinate the distribution of emergency supplies without relying on the internet or mobile networks.

“If you want to send a text to a fellow protester who is further away, your phone will pass the encrypted message to the nearest user, who bounces it to the next, and so on. The message goes from device to device in the crowd and the phones act as a temporary router, helping others communicate without any fear of interception,” the officer added.

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The sources said these applications have gained traction among protesters because they leave no phone number or IP address trail for investigators to trace. As the network exists only through nearby devices, dispersing the crowd is effectively the only way to disrupt communication.

Law enforcement agencies around the world have struggled with such decentralised communication networks, which limit the effectiveness of traditional surveillance tools such as cellular data analysis, wiretaps and internet monitoring used to track crowd movements, identify organisers and gather intelligence during protests.

(With TOI inputs)