Block CEO and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey wrote in an X submit on Sunday night time that he spent his weekend creating an app referred to as Bitchat (presumably a mix of the phrases “bit” and “chat,” and never the opposite mixture of phrases that it seems like).
Bitchat is a messaging app that operates by means of Bluetooth mesh networks, permitting customers to ship messages with out Wi-Fi or cell reception. Due to Bluetooth’s technical limitations, this type of app typically solely works at a spread of round 100 meters, making it helpful for conditions like discovering pals at a busy music competition the place cell service is spotty. Nonetheless, Dorsey claims that his app has an prolonged vary, relaying messages by means of friends to increase as much as 300 meters, or 984 toes.
Some of the standard Bluetooth messaging apps, Bridgefy, was notably used throughout pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, since its means to perform with out the web makes it more durable for Chinese language authorities to detect. Each Bridgefy and Bitchat say they’re end-to-end encrypted.
Coincidentally, Bridgefy is funded partly by one other Twitter co-founder, Biz Stone. However Dorsey’s newfound foray into growing Bitchat is smart, given his long-term pursuits in decentralizing tech — he’s an enormous proponent of Bitcoin, and he initially based the challenge that will turn out to be Bluesky whereas he was CEO of Twitter. Dorsey is now not affiliated with Bluesky because it operates now.
Dorsey opened Bitchat to beta testers through Apple’s TestFlight, however the take a look at is now full after hitting its 10,000-user most. He stated on X that the app continues to be beneath overview earlier than it will likely be launched.
