Jack Dorsey's offline messaging app Bitchat vanishes from app stores in India
On a government order, Bitchat was pulled from Apple's and Google's app stores in India. The open-source app sends messages over Bluetooth, with no internet needed.
Bitchat, the messaging app from Jack Dorsey that works without internet, has become largely unavailable in India. According to TechCrunch, it was pulled from Apple’s and Google’s app stores in the country after a government order, confirmed on Friday, October 3.
What Bitchat is
Bitchat is a decentralized messaging app. Instead of going through a central server, it uses a Bluetooth mesh network: nearby phones exchange encrypted messages directly, and each device helps carry the message further. That is why the app keeps working with no cell signal and no internet, including during network shutdowns. The software is open source, so anyone can read the code and check how it works.
The app launched in July 2025.
The Indian government’s order
Per TechCrunch, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology ordered Apple to remove Bitchat from the Indian App Store under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. That section is the main legal tool that lets the government order online content blocked in the country.
Apple’s notice was shared by Dorsey himself on X. It says the app stays available outside India and that access to the beta through TestFlight, Apple’s testing service, will also be blocked in the country. TechCrunch confirms the app disappeared from Google’s store as well.
Not the first restriction
TechCrunch notes that in July 2026 Indian authorities had already ordered GitHub to take down repositories tied to the app, though under different provisions aimed at intermediaries.
Indian interest in Bitchat had also stood out. Between July 17 and 23, 2026, India accounted for roughly 85% of the app’s global downloads, compared with about 1% before that.
What Apple, Google and the government say
When TechCrunch reached out, Apple, Google and India’s IT ministry declined to comment. The article does not detail the official reasons for the order, so any explanation of why would be speculation.
Why it matters
Apps that work without the internet matter most where networks can be cut, and that is exactly what makes Bitchat hard to block on the connection side. India’s move hits a different point: distribution. Without the official stores, the most common way to install the app disappears for most people in the country.
Outside India, nothing points to a change. Bitchat remains available there, according to the Apple notice Dorsey shared.
