Telegram replacement from Twitter creator: Jack Dorsey presents BitChat — messenger without the Internet and censorship

Twitter creator and Block chairman Jack Dorsey has unveiled a beta version of BitChat, a messenger that works without the Internet via Bluetooth. Is this a challenge to Telegram?

BitChat is actually a completely autonomous system without servers, accounts, or phone numbers — with end-to-end encryption and temporary storage of messages. About the launch of Jack Dorsey saidwho spent the weekend learning about mesh networks, relaying, encryption, and a few other things». He described the messenger as something with «an IRC» — classic text chatting vibe from the late 90s.

The way the messenger works is quite unusual compared to competitors, but it uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). The technology connects devices into a mesh network, meaning that each device is both a client and a repeater. Messages are exchanged between devices by hopping between nodes and bypassing the central infrastructure. The transmission range is short — up to 30 meters, and bridge nodes can connect clusters at a greater distance.

The app supports group chats with hashtags, optional passwords, and ephemeral messages (i.e., messages that disappear). By default, they are stored only in the device’s memory and are not sent to any cloud. All messages are encrypted — depending on whether they are private, room, or broadcast — and large packets are fragmented into 500-byte chunks. If users are offline, the system can cache messages and deliver them later.

The app is designed to be used in places where the Internet is unavailable or unstable — at protests, in natural disaster zones, in remote regions, or during lockdowns. Dorsey already had experience with decentralized platforms: it supported Bluesky — open-source the social network on an alternative protocol. But he resigned from Bluesky’s board of directors in May 2024 without explanation.

For now, BitChat only works over Bluetooth, but Wi-Fi support is planned for the future, allowing for larger messages. The beta is already available on iOS via TestFlight. We can summarize that the creator failed to create a competitor to Twitter — BlueSky — so he took up the direction of messengers, where Telegram is one of the strongest players.

Source: GitHub