Twitter co-founder and CEO of Block Jack Dorsey launched the beta version of a new peer-to-peer messaging app on TestFlight. Unlike WhatsApp and others like it that rely on internet connectivity and central servers, Dorsey says that Bitchat operates entirely over Bluetooth mesh networks, promising true decentralization and privacy for its users. He made “an ugly whitepaper describing protocol” available on GitHub.
CNBC broke down the tech and its features. In essence, Bitchat allows users to communicate via Bluetooth-connected devices. But here’s where it gets interesting: “As users move through physical space, their phones form local Bluetooth clusters and pass messages from device to device, allowing them to reach peers