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Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks

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Re: Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks

#81

Post by dewey »

lxgr wrote: post #75
dewey wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On top of that “It would be so easy” is almost never true for a billion users network with all kinds of edge cases. Seems like a very narrow use case when there’s things missing from iMessage that could be way more appealing for a bigger group of users.

I’d agree if Airdrop, which includes offline identification via users’ address books, didn’t already exist. That seems to be by far the hardest part.

The technical details are often not the tricky part of new features. You have to integrate it into the existing app that people know and use, explain how it works, maintain it forever etc.

Re: Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks

#83

Post by __MatrixMan__ »

Buttons840 wrote: post #69
__MatrixMan__ wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you're at a protest and the government shuts off the internet in response to the protest. It's happening right now in Togo, has been for ten days ( https://pulse.internetsociety.org/en/shutdowns/ ).

My eyes are opened as to how much more power the people would have if cell phones were all mesh network devices, especially as we enter a world where having a working cell phone is easier than having running water or food.

I'm not holding my breath--it would seem that keeping the people down is more profitable.

But if it happens we'll have to figure out how to write partition tolerant apps, which I think would be a lot of fun. It would also make "going viral" so much more apt, as you might catch the content from people you got physically close to.

Re: Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks

#84

Post by toomuchtodo »

potamic wrote: post #80
halfmatthalfcat wrote: post #12

Interesting try but Bluetooth LE is a non-starter when talking about building a truly decentralized mesh network at scale. The range isn’t there to build a network unless its very tight (in distance). You need sub MHz and eventually cubesats to build something robust, everything else is a toy.

Using the phone's RF modem itself would be the ideal choice. Why aren't there any userspace applications over this?

Baseband access limitations. External RF/SDR solves for this if you’re seeking long haul RF capabilities, but admittedly requires non native/external hardware.

Re: Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks

#85

Post by roshin »

sardine5 wrote: post #68

A bit different, as it's mainly for voice - but I made an app 'Murmur : Bluetooth Group Calls' - that lets you hold group voice calls and message via a mesh of Bluetooth LE connections. It's available on Android and iOS. https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/murmur-bluetooth-group-calls/i... Doesn't really get any downloads, so not sure there's much demand for this - but I use it with some shokz bone conducting headphones fo…

Cool technology, but what is the usecase? I can imagine traveling abroad without a sim and using it as described. But is it any better than using the cellular network (when you have access to it)?

Re: Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks

#86

Post by sardine5 »

roshin wrote: post #85
sardine5 wrote: post #68

A bit different, as it's mainly for voice - but I made an app 'Murmur : Bluetooth Group Calls' - that lets you hold group voice calls and message via a mesh of Bluetooth LE connections. It's available on Android and iOS. https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/murmur-bluetooth-group-calls/i... Doesn't really get any downloads, so not sure there's much demand for this - but I use it with some shokz bone conducting headphones fo…

Cool technology, but what is the usecase? I can imagine traveling abroad without a sim and using it as described. But is it any better than using the cellular network (when you have access to it)?

I possibly live more remote than you do - but mobile data isn't really a thing (in the UK at least) you can rely on continuously when you're cycling, or visiting the supermarket and you've lost your partner near the cheese aisle...

Re: Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks

#87

Post by toast0 »

roshin wrote: post #85
sardine5 wrote: post #68

A bit different, as it's mainly for voice - but I made an app 'Murmur : Bluetooth Group Calls' - that lets you hold group voice calls and message via a mesh of Bluetooth LE connections. It's available on Android and iOS. https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/murmur-bluetooth-group-calls/i... Doesn't really get any downloads, so not sure there's much demand for this - but I use it with some shokz bone conducting headphones fo…

Cool technology, but what is the usecase? I can imagine traveling abroad without a sim and using it as described. But is it any better than using the cellular network (when you have access to it)?

I've still got dead zones near me. If I were cycling with someone, and we wanted to chat on headsets, there's at least a few places I might ride where we'd hit dead air. If we're on different networks, then we both need coverage to communicate with cellular.

Might be more reasonable to use higher bandwidth, lower latency codecs over bluetooth as well?

Re: Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks

#88

Post by toast0 »

encom wrote: post #18
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #2

Looks pretty interesting. From what I can see, it's a native IOS/MacOS app (SwiftUI). I don't see an Android version. Also seems pretty spartan, but it looks like it could be embedded in "friendlier" apps.

>Universal App For Apple only. In what way is this universal?

Hey, could be worse. A universal Windows Mobile 10 app wouldn't run on Windows Phone 8 even though WP8 had many more installed devices than WM10.

Re: Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks

#89

Post by LWIRVoltage »

sardine5 wrote: post #68

A bit different, as it's mainly for voice - but I made an app 'Murmur : Bluetooth Group Calls' - that lets you hold group voice calls and message via a mesh of Bluetooth LE connections. It's available on Android and iOS. https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/murmur-bluetooth-group-calls/i... Doesn't really get any downloads, so not sure there's much demand for this - but I use it with some shokz bone conducting headphones fo…

Okay, this is neat! A true mesh networking bluetooth app- The other one that's notable, Briar is super impressive - but i think it doesn't actually have proper mesh capability due to difficulties with how devices handle things

(See: https://old.reddit.com/r/Briar/comments/gxiffy/what_exactly_...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43363031 }

Anyway, -Question: I take it Murmur is end to end encrypted fully? Also, just curious if this is open source?

This could become SUPER useful- having a actual mesh networking Bluetooth app , if it's open source/E2EE!

Re: Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks

#90

Post by suck-my-spez »

BluSyn wrote: post #14

FYI on X there is a TestFlight link to try it: https://x.com/jack/status/1941989435962212728 Surprised to see Jack pushing code himself. Love to see it.

Interestingly only a few commits were written by his account. Almost all were from https://github.com/nothankyou1
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