Jack Dorsey launched Bitchat Mesh, a brand new Bluetooth-based messaging app for iPhone, on Monday. The launch of the app comes shortly after the Twitter co-founder unveiled a brand new peer-to-peer (P2P) app that was developed as a weekend challenge and does not rely on the web, cellphone numbers, or e-mail addresses to perform. The app additionally helps end-to-end encryption (E2EE) in addition to identification verification. It’s now accessible by way of the App Retailer, whereas Dorsey has but to announce when Bitchat Mesh will debut on the Play Retailer.

Bitchat Mesh Makes use of Noise Protocol Framework for Finish-to-Finish Encryption

iPhone customers can now obtain Bitchat Mesh for iPhone by way of the App Retailer, Dorsey announced in a publish on X (previously Twitter). The outline for the app states that it permits customers to talk with out entry to the web, counting on a Bluetooth mesh community as a substitute. Bitchat Mesh helps direct connections between customers, nevertheless it additionally relays messages by means of different friends on the community, permitting customers to talk even when they’re out of Bluetooth vary.

Photograph Credit score: Jack Dorsey

The brand new Bitchat Mesh app has a really simplified interface that resembles a chat inside a terminal, just like older text-based Web Relay Chat (IRC) providers that have been fashionable many years in the past. It additionally lets customers mark sure customers as favourites, mentioning them, and blocking undesirable contact.

The whitepaper for Bitchat reveals that messages are E2EE protected utilizing the Noise protocol framework. It additionally permits customers to confirm the identification of the individual they’re chatting with by evaluating “fingerprints” of their accounts in individual or utilizing one other on-line channel, then mark them as “verified”.

It is also price noting that the App Retailer itemizing for Bitchat Mesh states that the app doesn’t gather any knowledge from the app, and that it really works with out accounts or servers. The app works on iOS 16 and newer variations, whereas smartphones operating Android 8.0+ can be supported.

A safety discover on the Bitchat website cautions customers that not like native messages, non-public (1:1) chats have but to obtain an exterior safety assessment and customers ought to chorus from utilizing them for delicate functions. 

iPhone customers can obtain Bitchat Mesh by way of the App Retailer, however the app has but to reach on the Play Retailer. In the meantime, technically inclined customers can go to the official web site, which hyperlinks to APK releases by way of the challenge’s GitHub web page, to check out the app earlier than it’s launched.