How Jack Dorsey’s new app lets you chat without the internet and why it matters

Jack Dorsey’s latest project, Bitchat, radically reimagines messaging by enabling people to communicate entirely offline, no internet or phone number required. The app sidesteps the dependencies of traditional messaging services and brings peer-to-peer privacy and resilience to everyday conversations.

Bitchat creates a mesh network using Bluetooth Low Energy. Phones within range (up to 100–300 meters) connect directly, with each device acting as a node in the network.

If a message’s recipient isn’t within immediate range, the message hops device-to-device, relayed across the mesh until it reaches its target. This technique notably extends communication distance in crowded or mobile environments.

Messages never touch external servers or cloud infrastructure. All transmission and storage happen locally and temporarily on users’ devices.

Every message is encrypted using modern standards, ensuring that only sender and receiver can read it—even other relay devices in the mesh cannot decrypt the content.

Users don’t need to provide a phone number, email, or create any account. There’s no user profiling or collection of metadata.

Messages disappear quickly and are never stored in the cloud. A triple-tap emergency wipe erases all local conversations instantly in sensitive scenarios.

Users can create group chats (rooms) secured with passwords and hashtags, ideal for organizing meetups or managing discussions in events or crisis zones.

If a recipient is offline, Bitchat keeps the message in the mesh and delivers it next time the device comes in range—preventing loss of communication when signals are inconsistent. All of this happens without cellular networks, mobile data, or Wi-Fi.

Whether during natural disasters, internet blackouts, or government shutdowns, Bitchat can keep people connected when other apps can’t.

With no servers to block or accounts to compromise, the system is highly resistant to state censorship or surveillance interventions.

Freedom from phone numbers or any registration means user identity and whereabouts are protected by default.

It has local-only message storage and no external logging that greatly reduce hacking and privacy risks.

So, Bitchat turns messaging into a resilient, decentralized utility, enabling private chat when it’s needed most and setting a new standard for internet-free communication.

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