Bitchat: Jack Dorsey’s Internet-free messaging appeals in France

Bitchat, Jack Dorsey’s Bluetooth messaging, rose to the top of the “Social Networks” category of the French App Store on October 22, 2026. This rush follows an Orange outage as well as the mention of a suspension of social networks before the mobilization of October 24.

Bitchat at the top of the French App Store: what the rankings say

Bitchat Mesh occupied first place in “Social Networks” and the overall top 10 on October 22, according to France 24. According to Journal Coin, it was second among free applications, behind Claude on October 23 around 7 a.m. On Android, Google Play displays more than a million downloads, all countries combined.

These rankings nevertheless reflect a stream of recent downloads, not a user base. Moreover, no official figures for France have yet been identified.

How does messaging work without Internet?

Bitchat was launched in July 2025 by Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and head of Block. He connects smartphones to a mesh network using Bluetooth Low Energy. Its operating principle remains relatively simple: each phone relays messages to its neighbors. No account or number is required.

Of course, private messages are end-to-end encrypted. However, the public channel remains readable by all users within range. When a connection exists, the Bitchat app can go through the decentralized Nostr protocol.

As the range is limited to a few tens of meters per device, the Bitchat network is therefore only of interest if the crowd is equipped.

Orange outage, threat of outage, demonstrations: why now?

Several events combine:

• The demonstrations against the high cost of living on October 17 degenerated into looting in several cities. Furthermore, calls for install Bitchat app circulated.
• On October 21, Orange and Sosh suffered an outage lasting around ten hours according to iGeneration.
• The same day, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez spoke to the Senate about possible suspension of social networks.
• Government sources then tempered, according to BFMTV.

Blast indeed claims that Sébastien Lecornu asked operators to be ready to block platforms on October 24. Which they would have found difficult. This information, however, is not independently confirmed in the sources consulted. Besides, no outage took place that day.

Bitchat Limits: Security, Reliability, and Foreign Precedents

At its launch, Bitchat had not received no external security auditJack Dorsey admitted. A researcher, Alex Radocea, even had reported an authentication flaw. We have also not found an independent audit published since. Génération NT also mentions sometimes high battery consumption as well as messages that are difficult to send.

Elsewhere, authorities targeted Bitchat app. For example, India got its removal from the Indian App Store on October 3. Same thing for China in April. However, removing it from the stores does not prevent an already installed application from working.

In any case, Bitchat is today benefiting from a specific context: operator failure, debate on a network shutdown and mobilization. It remains to be seen if the enthusiasm lasts, if an independent audit is published and if the government revives the idea of ​​a suspension.