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Technology

India orders Apple and Google to pull Jack Dorsey's offline messaging app Bitchat

Jack Dorsey said India ordered Apple to remove the Bluetooth mesh messaging app Bitchat from its App Store under Section 69A of the IT Act; the app has also vanished from Google Play and its website is unreachable across Indian ISPs.

By Priya Raman · · 2 min read

Apple and Google store logos displayed side by side
Photo: ThePrint

Jack Dorsey said on Saturday that the Indian government has ordered Apple to remove Bitchat, his decentralised messaging app, from the App Store in India — months after New Delhi first moved to restrict the open-source software.

Dorsey posted Apple’s App Review notice on X, showing India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued the takedown demand under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, the country’s main provision for government-ordered online blocking. Apple said the app would stay available outside India, but its TestFlight beta service would also be blocked in the country.

TechCrunch confirmed on Saturday that Bitchat was no longer downloadable from Google Play in India, and its website was unreachable across several Indian internet providers. It is not yet clear whether Google and the ISPs received separate government orders. Apple, Google and the IT ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Launched in July 2025, Bitchat uses Bluetooth mesh networking so nearby phones can exchange encrypted messages without mobile networks, internet access or central servers. In July 2026 India ordered GitHub to take down Bitchat repositories, saying its architecture made it hard for law enforcement to intercept messages or trace users — and that it keeps working during internet shutdowns.

The Internet Freedom Foundation called the new order unconstitutional, arguing Section 69A permits blocking unlawful information, not an app targeted for functioning during shutdowns, and noting neither the order nor the allegedly illegal content has been made public.

The move comes amid a fresh wave of youth-led protests in India over voter-roll changes. Police detained demonstrators in New Delhi on Saturday, and authorities suspended internet services around Jantar Mantar for 12 hours on Friday. During July’s protests, demonstrators reportedly turned to Bitchat and rival app Briar after shutdowns; India accounted for about 85 per cent of the app’s global downloads between 17 and 23 July, according to Sensor Tower.

More on this topic: all Technology stories

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