Bitchat: Jack Dorsey’s Offline Messaging App Takes Off in France

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

Bitchat Tops the French App Store: What the Rankings Say

Bitchat Mesh held the first place in “Social Networks” and the general top 10 on October 22, according to France 24. According to Journal Coin, it was second among free apps, behind Claude, on October 23 around 7 A.M. On Android, Google Play shows over a million downloads, all countries combined.

However, these rankings reflect a recent download flow, not a user base. Also, no official figure for France has yet been identified.

How Does an Internet-Free Messaging Work?

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

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

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

Orange Outage, Threat of Shutdown, Protests: Why Now?

Several events are converging:

• The protests against the high cost of living on October 17 escalated into looting in several cities. Additionally, calls to install the Bitchat app have circulated.
• On October 21, Orange and Sosh experienced an outage of about ten hours according to iGeneration.
• That same day, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez mentioned before the Senate a possible suspension of social networks.
• Government sources later softened the stance, according to BFMTV.

Blast actually states that Sébastien Lecornu asked operators to be ready to block platforms on October 24. They reportedly found this difficult. However, this information is not independently confirmed in the consulted sources. Moreover, no shutdown occurred that day.

Limits of Bitchat: Security, Reliability, and Foreign Precedents

At its launch, Bitchat had received no external security audit, Jack Dorsey admitted. A researcher, Alex Radocea, had even reported an authentication flaw. We also found no published independent audit since. Génération NT also mentions sometimes high battery consumption as well as difficult-to-send messages.

Elsewhere, authorities have targeted the Bitchat app. For example, India obtained its removal from the Indian App Store on October 3. The same for China in April. Removing from stores does not, however, prevent an already installed app from functioning.

In any case, Bitchat currently benefits from a specific context: operator outage, debate on 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.