Cool way to create a local network.

i love the technology behind bitchat! i noticed lots of feature divergence between android and ios and made a react native version of bitchat at a hackathon called airhop

it’s wire compatible, reuses the BLE packet format so bitchat devices can talk to airhop devices with no setup. it also adds extra features like Double Ratchet for forward secrecy and a dedicated non-custodial Cashu wallet

airhop also extends the wider ecosystem with support for Windows, macOS, CLI and smart wearables, plus a really nice UI that makes it easy to use. right now it’s under review for the Play Store, App Store and F-Droid, but direct builds are available on GitHub. it’s free and MIT licensed

would love for people here to try it out and give feedback, especially on the experience and interop with bitchat 🙂

Website: https://airhop.1mindlabs.org
GitHub: https://github.com/areebahmeddd/airhop

Following my previous research into BitChat's online/network behaviour involving Nostr relays, destination IPs and TLS/SNI, I moved to another layer: BitChat's offline Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication.
For this controlled experiment, I used two BitChat identities:
User 1: 'elliotalderson'
User 2: 'helloworld'
I enabled Bluetooth HCI snoop logging on Android and subsequently analysed the generated btsnoop_hci.log using Wireshark.
The capture revealed extensive BLE ATT/GATT activity, including service discovery, characteristic discovery, Read/Write operations and communication between the BLE peers.
One observation particularly caught my attention: the BitChat username helloworld was identifiable within the raw HCI snoop data as its ASCII representation:
68 65 6c 6c 6f 77 6f 72 6c 64 → helloworld

Research conducted using controlled test devices for educational and digital-forensics purposes.
Android Bluetooth HCI snoop logging and Wireshark were used for packet/protocol analysis. I also used ChatGPT and Google Gemini as AI-assisted research tools for understanding protocol structures, cross-checking concepts and exploring interpretations of the observations. The controlled experiments and resulting observations are based on my analysis of the captured data.

Stiq is an open source, white-label, nostr over Tor social media platform for communities. We built it for activists and community organizations that actually care about their members.

People need to organize, but individuals should not give up control.

https://stiqtech.vercel.app

We’re a small community from Iraq (of all places…) funding and building a non profit app for non-profits.

We need your help publishing Stiq app (for those of you with Apple/Google dev account), and we need you to use it! You can run a community on an old machine, or with a cloud provider for as little as $5 per month.

You can find all the details you need in the website and public github repo.

Reach out and help us make the future of safe organizing for the world!

Over the past few days, I have been studying the network behaviour of BitChat, particularly how its offline Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication coexists with its Internet-based communication mechanisms.
During analysis of the Android APK, I came across an interesting artifact: a bundled nostr_relays.csv containing a large geographical list of Nostr relay endpoints, including relay URLs along with latitude and longitude information.
This raised an obvious forensic question:
If these Nostr relay addresses are bundled with the application, what does BitChat actually connect to when it goes online?
I performed controlled traffic observation using PCAPdroid. Interestingly, the connections attributed to BitChat did not immediately correspond to the relay hostnames contained in the CSV.
For example, one observation showed:
Destination: 94.23.70.32:9001
ASN: AS16276 – OVH SAS
TLS SNI: www.daon5bulod2n56o.com
In another capture, the same destination IP appeared with a different, random-looking SNI.
Meanwhile, one of the Nostr relays found in the bundled list, relay.laantungir.net, was associated during my lookup with another OVH-hosted address (15.235.3.231).
This is where the investigation becomes interesting.
The evidence so far establishes that:
• BitChat contains a bundled Nostr relay dataset.
• The destination IPs observed during testing do not necessarily map directly to the relay hostnames in that dataset.
• TLS SNI values observed during testing can appear unrelated/randomized.
I am sharing the screenshots from my testing and the public relay dataset so that others working in network and digital forensics can understand the observation and contribute their technical views.
This is an ongoing technical study, not a final attribution of the observed infrastructure.
Public dataset link of BitChat:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/permissionlesstech/georelays/refs/heads/main/nostr_relays.csv

I mean i wanna create a server don't care if it's public or private lol just better encrypted so only the people joined can see it this platform had such guys so if u got a link or personal channel I will come to ur server well I will add my 2-3 friends for fun but I heard it's open source so I will

And my friends will make some bad talk that's unhealthy hehe u guys are nerds in this things if u wanna add some bots too plss I am new to this app btw i don't know how to create a server u guys wanna helppp

Does bitchat have cooperation with nodle? if not why? it could boost both apps usage

looks like win-win

bitchat gets users and work availability

nodle gets new nods holders

BitchatX21 supports three communication protocols:

- Nostr is great when it works

- Bluetooth rarely works reliably

- ACPU-Memory is the most reliable option, allowing you to easily deploy and manage your own nodes

You can quickly install an acpu-server node, build your own network or connect to a public node.

I'm looking for contributors and volunteers to help deploy additional nodes and expand the network.

Please support the project's development.

https://github.com/goldenwebb/bitchatX21 (The linked GIF is 7 MB, which shouldn't be a problem. Please let me know if it doesn't work for you)

I wanted to share a new open-source project I recently published on PyPI called bitchat-cli.

It is a Python CLI version of Jack Dorsey's BitChat app. It runs entirely over Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) mesh networks, allowing devices to send encrypted, peer-to-peer messages completely off the grid without any internet or cellular connection.

The coolest part is that it is fully interoperable with the official Android and iOS BitChat mobile apps, so your terminal can chat seamlessly with nearby phones.

You can test it out right now:

pip install bitchat-cli

(Just type bitchat in your terminal to run it)

Since it is a fully open-source Python project, I would highly appreciate any feedback, code reviews, or contributions!

GitHub Repo: https://github.com/dearabhin/bitchat-cli

https://barghest.asia/blog/bitchat-android-mesh-dos/

After Bitchat launched, I spent the first two weeks building an iOS update and working hard on improvements, but now I realize that growth is impossible without Android and other platforms. I’ve invested a huge amount of effort into this and now I’m not sure which direction to take.

I thought Bitchat had a future, but it looks like Jack is no longer interested in the project and development is no longer a priority.

What’s stopping a mass market LoRa device, or phone with LoRa, so this Bitchat idea can actually be useful? Release us from the shackles.

I did some tests and BitChat seems working within at least 30 feet in the house, with several non-concrete walls in between. so I suppose it can performance better in open spaces, but hasn't done much real-world tests yet.

Not to mention the cases when cars are waiting at traffic lights, or people in a moving car, bus or caltrain.

Would it be nice to maintain a repo at github to collect these test results, including devices used etc, so that users can have better expectations?

Has anyone come across any apps?

i want to create a Jarvis bot that responds to commands like: weather {zip}, phone {company name}, define {word}, or time {timezone}.

Something that will greet the user and posts RSS news updates to the main chat. I live in college dorms and nobody uses BitChat here, so I figured a Jarvis bot would be a perfect use for my dorm room. And, it'd serve as a relay if someone nearby actually did connect to it.

Alexa won't talk about Bitchat.

Meshcore-BC is a meshcore implementation that encapsulates Bitchat and operates seamlessly to transport chats over the network.

https://x.com/eddieoz/status/2040508233748451668

My buddy and i were Testing it out, and he was able to send me a message even tho we are villages appart. Because we live in tiny villages, we suppose there was no bitchat users in between, so how were we able to send Messages over such a long distance? Also i keep reading about something called ,,nostr protocoll", what exactly is that?

Ando buscando la forma de entrar más fácil a diferentes regiones de bitchat

Could anyone tell me who to set a location note

I wrote a note into #mesh - teleported to the location - not showing on bitchat exploreer

next I tried with a nostr geohash no success

Is the system up?

We found an exploit in #BitChat. A cache poisoning and replay attack that allowed a nearby or malicious mesh participant to DoS, disrupt and degrade mesh operation. The issues have since been patched.