India Removes Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat: The Offline Messenger That Works Without the Internet

What happens when a messaging app is designed to keep working even when the internet is switched off? In India, that question has turned into a major technology and digital-rights debate surrounding Bitchat, the decentralized messaging app associated with Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.

Bitchat has attracted attention because it does something unusual: it allows nearby phones to communicate without requiring an internet connection, cellular network, phone number, or centralized server. Instead, devices can communicate through Bluetooth Low Energy and form a local mesh network.

The technology became particularly relevant during protests and periods of internet disruption in New Delhi. As interest in offline communication grew, Bitchat's downloads in India surged dramatically.

What Is Bitchat?

Bitchat is a decentralized messaging application designed around peer-to-peer communication. Unlike traditional messaging platforms that depend on cloud servers to deliver messages, Bitchat can use nearby devices to relay communications.

That means the system can remain useful in situations where conventional mobile data or Wi-Fi is unavailable. Each participating device can effectively become another point in the network, helping extend communication beyond the range of a single Bluetooth connection.

Why Did Bitchat Suddenly Become Popular in India?

The app's popularity accelerated during protests in New Delhi, when authorities temporarily suspended internet services in parts of the city.

When normal online communication becomes difficult or unavailable, offline messaging tools suddenly become much more interesting. Bitchat and similar applications such as Briar and Bridgefy saw increased attention during this period.

Data reported by TechCrunch from Sensor Tower showed that India accounted for around 85% of Bitchat's global downloads between July 17 and July 23, compared with roughly 1% during the previous 30-day period. More than 91,000 downloads were recorded in India over five days, while daily active users later exceeded 330,000.

Why Did Indian Authorities Object to Bitchat?

The main issue was not simply that Bitchat was another messaging app. It was the way the application communicates.

Because Bitchat can operate without the internet or cellular networks, authorities argued that its decentralized architecture could make lawful interception, attribution and investigation more difficult. The July government notice concerning Bitchat's repositories specifically pointed to the app's ability to operate during internet shutdowns.

From the government's perspective, such technology could potentially be misused during public disorder or other unlawful activities, particularly when conventional communications infrastructure is restricted.

Digital-rights groups, however, challenged the reasoning and legal basis for the restrictions. The Internet Freedom Foundation argued that blocking a communication technology because of its functionality raises significant constitutional and free-expression questions.

India Also Targeted Bitchat's Open-Source Repositories

The controversy did not initially stop at app stores.

In July 2026, India's Cyber Crime Coordination Centre reportedly directed GitHub to restrict access to repositories associated with Bitchat. The order cited concerns that the application's architecture could allow communication to continue during network restrictions while making interception and tracing more difficult.

Authorities also sought action involving other offline messaging applications, including Briar and Bridgefy.

Now Bitchat Has Disappeared From India's App Stores

The latest development came in October 2026.

Apple removed Bitchat from the Indian App Store after India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued a demand under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. Apple said the application would remain available outside India, while TestFlight access was also affected in the country.

Bitchat was also no longer available through Google Play in India when checked by TechCrunch and other outlets around the same time. The exact mechanism behind Google's removal was not immediately clear from the available reporting.

But Removing the App Doesn't Necessarily Shut Down the Network

Here's the interesting part.

Removing an application from an app store is very different from shutting down the technology itself.

If someone already has Bitchat installed, removing the listing does not automatically delete the application from their phone. And because Bitchat's core communication model does not depend on a central messaging server, existing installations can potentially continue communicating locally.

Digital-rights advocates have therefore questioned how effective a conventional app-store takedown can be against decentralized and open-source software. TechCrunch reported that the underlying code and repositories could also be copied or mirrored, creating additional challenges for attempts to remove the technology completely.

Why This Matters Beyond Bitchat

The Bitchat controversy highlights a much bigger issue in modern communications: what happens when people can communicate without depending on centralized infrastructure?

Offline mesh communication can have legitimate uses. It can be useful during natural disasters, crowded events, network outages, remote situations, or emergencies where traditional infrastructure is unavailable.

At the same time, the same characteristics can make these networks harder for authorities to monitor or control. That creates a difficult balance between public safety, lawful investigation, privacy, resilience and freedom of communication.

The Bigger Picture

Bitchat's story is therefore about much more than one app being removed from an app store. It represents a growing tension between centralized digital infrastructure and decentralized technologies.

Governments have traditionally been able to regulate communication platforms by targeting companies, servers, app stores and internet infrastructure. Decentralized systems challenge that model because communication can move closer to the devices themselves.

Whether that makes decentralized messaging the future of communication remains to be seen. But Bitchat has already demonstrated why technologies capable of working without the internet can become extremely important — and politically sensitive — during periods of disruption.