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A decentralized peer-to-peer messaging application that operates over Bluetooth

bitchat.free

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Re: A decentralized peer-to-peer messaging application that operates over Bluetooth

#91

Post by mytailorisrich »

cedws wrote: post #54
boozelclark wrote: post #37

This is an interesting enhancement using Meshtastic to expand the range of bitchat https://github.com/meshtastic/firmware/discussions/7542

My fantasy is a P2P network that people can use from their everyday devices. The internet is becoming far too controlled, we need an alternative that is harder to monitor and censor.

I don't think Meshtatic, or any Lora-based solutions operating in regulated spectrum, works in practice for chat while also abiding by the rules. In Europe (868MHz) and the US (915MHz) the transmissions allowed are so restricted that while you may send alerts you can't really "chat" and even less so in a group chat.

Re: A decentralized peer-to-peer messaging application that operates over Bluetooth

#92

Post by budududuroiu »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #38
budududuroiu wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure about bitchat, but Briar is being used in Iran right now. https://byteiota.com/briar-offline-mesh-when-internet-shutdo... Tbf, if my government would be out to kill me for protesting, I'd use something that at least was security audited. Not to shit on bitchat, I haven't audited the code personally.

> Briar is being used in Iran right now Do we have evidence of this? The only concrete claim made in that post is that Briar 'hit 252 points on Hacker News," which is orthogonal to if it's actually being used.

Good call, I'd also like to know if this is actually true

Re: A decentralized peer-to-peer messaging application that operates over Bluetooth

#93

Post by cyxxon »

zenmac wrote: post #27
maqp wrote: post #9

Could someone please explain in what situation do you use a BlueTooth messaging app? Like, even BT5 range won't exceed 400 meters. What good is this? You're not going to send images to journalists from protests with it (you'd do wisely to keep it in airplane mode until you get home and then you'd upload them to their securedrop or whatever), and you don't need off-band security to let the kids know it's dinner time.

One of these bluetooth messaging app was made by a developer who was on a cruise ship with family, and the Internet over satellite costs an arm and leg. So he wrote an app to communicate with his families over bluetooth. Also why would one want to have the data go over some servers thousands miles away when the device is right next to you? Seems like bluetooth is the perfect way to communicate for devices that are cl…

I remember a different app thats was used on e.g. festivals where the local broadcast cells where overwhelmed when a quite rural area suddenly had to server 50000 to 100000 additional people and 3g and 4G basically stopped working. I think it was called Firechat or something.

Re: A decentralized peer-to-peer messaging application that operates over Bluetooth

#94

Post by rm30 »

I'd consider this app a proof of concept, with limited practical applications.

The story of using Bluetooth in a cruise ship to chat with family sounds like it’s pushing the limits of physics; communication in those conditions is highly unreliable. Most of our phones have onboard a class 2 device (the lower range, 10-20m), the real world has walls to reduce the range, and a cruise ship's metal structure creates a Faraday cage effect.

In case of protests, a jammer will silence all devices.

Anyway, I was thinking that in extreme cases we could modify our devices for communication at a community level—for example, creating a Wi-Fi mesh network with routers, or some other long-range protocol (e.g., LoRa).

Re: A decentralized peer-to-peer messaging application that operates over Bluetooth

#95

Post by tomtomtom777 »

zenmac wrote: post #27
maqp wrote: post #9

Could someone please explain in what situation do you use a BlueTooth messaging app? Like, even BT5 range won't exceed 400 meters. What good is this? You're not going to send images to journalists from protests with it (you'd do wisely to keep it in airplane mode until you get home and then you'd upload them to their securedrop or whatever), and you don't need off-band security to let the kids know it's dinner time.

One of these bluetooth messaging app was made by a developer who was on a cruise ship with family, and the Internet over satellite costs an arm and leg. So he wrote an app to communicate with his families over bluetooth. Also why would one want to have the data go over some servers thousands miles away when the device is right next to you? Seems like bluetooth is the perfect way to communicate for devices that are cl…

Still, wouldn't a wifi meshnet be a better choice for these scenario's?

Re: A decentralized peer-to-peer messaging application that operates over Bluetooth

#96

Post by Y_Y »

repelsteeltje wrote: post #90
immibis wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are.

That depends on where your live (and when), but: Protest is the cornerstone of democracy and in general you shouldn't need permission to organize a demonstration. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/can-democracy-exist-witho...

I prefer voting. I find protests annoying. They're a good way for people to let off steam, hang out with friends, get photos for the international press etc. but they're not the right mechanism for finding out what the people want.

They're definitely effective when most of the country wants the government out, but by that point a vote would certainly do just as well, and with fewer flying bricks.

Re: A decentralized peer-to-peer messaging application that operates over Bluetooth

#98

Post by Kina »

anidsiam wrote: post #68

Jack Dorsey is definitely a smart guy, I believe there is a big reason behind it. I wish he will surprise us to make it capable global communication. But my question is how long it will take to work it for a long distance?

I think he’s just a guy who got a lot of money who can pay people to implement his sometimes weird, sometimes useful, often ill-conceived obsession with decentralization and a very lame version of “freedom”.

Like, he quit BlueSky because he wanted it to be completely unmoderated which is, frankly, asinine. His view of what “censorship” means exists in a world along with spherical cows and no bad actors.

Re: A decentralized peer-to-peer messaging application that operates over Bluetooth

#100

Post by throwaway758439 »

j1elo wrote: post #29

This has released tags since back to July 2025. Does anyone know if it's being actively used to exfiltrate news from Iran right now? (if someone's been living under a rock: [1][2]) [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46667491 [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46573384

Living under the rock of meaningless political theater is not great [1]

[1] Washington’s War on Iran: The Importance of Defending Information Space https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiJm4zwZZHY

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