Will Jack Dorsey's Bitchat Usher in New Era of Connectivity?
Jack Dorsey is one of the most prolific tech businessmen of the 21st century.
Most people will know him for his role in founding and leading Twitter, but his CV is far more extensive than that.
Just three years after launching Twitter, Dorsey founded Square, an online payments platform that would go on to be rebranded as Block.
He has also sat on the boards of the Walt Disney Company, the Berggruen Institute and Bluesky, while investing in a handful of cryptocurrency projects too.
Since Elon Musk's US$44bn takeover of Twitter in 2022, it would have been understandable had we never heard from Dorsey again, though such a huge pay out has not dampened his ambitions, it seems.
This week he announced his latest "personal experiment", a decentralised, peer-to-peer instant messaging app known as 'Bitchat'.
Interestingly, Bitchat is an IM service that can work entirely without an internet connection, phone numbers, email addresses or central servers of any kind. Instead, it uses the simple power of Bluetooth.
It works by connecting users' phones via local Bluetooth clusters, enabling messages to be sent and received by devices.
'Bridge' devices that connect overlapping clusters extend the mesh network over greater distances, creating a decentralised communications infrastructure.
An emphasis on privacy and connectivity
Dorsey's creation positions itself as a privacy-conscious rival to established messaging platforms, particularly Meta's WhatsApp.
The app's peer-to-peer encrypted messaging system operates without requiring identifiable accounts or data collection from users.
The app relies on Bluetooth and end-to-end encryption, unlike traditional messaging apps that depend on centralised servers and internet connectivity.
This approach mirrors technologies used during the 2019 Hong Kong protests, where mesh messaging apps provided communication channels despite network restrictions.
Dorsey has previously championed decentralised communications through his involvement in developing the social networks Damus and Bluesky.
Technology built on established foundations
Because of Bluetooth's technical limitations, this kind of app generally only works at a range of around 100 metres, making it particularly suited for localised communication scenarios.
The underlying Bluetooth technology traces its origins to developments at Nokia-owned Ericsson in 1994, with the first consumer device reaching market in 1999.
Named after King Harald, who united Denmark and Norway, Bluetooth technology has experienced remarkable growth over its lifespan.
From an estimated 800,000 Bluetooth-enabled devices shipped in 2000, the market expanded to 4.1 billion devices by 2020.
Despite a slight contraction in 2024, industry projections suggest shipments will approach 8 billion by 2029.
However, there are still questions to be answered regarding the app's security, with Dorsey himself acknowledging that the application has yet to undergo comprehensive security testing.
The open-source nature of the project allows for community scrutiny and potential security improvements through collaborative development.
What might Bitchat mean for the market?
The launch of Bitchat reflects growing interest in decentralised communication technologies amid increasing concerns about privacy and censorship.
Bitchat would operate over Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), allowing nearby devices to form a mesh network that relays messages hop-by-hop.
The application's offline functionality makes it particularly relevant for emergency situations, large gatherings, and regions with limited internet infrastructure.
While not positioned as a direct replacement for global messaging services, Bitchat offers an alternative communication layer for specific use cases.
The project's emphasis on user privacy and decentralised architecture aligns with broader industry trends towards giving users greater control over their digital communications.
