Bitchat Pulled from India’s App Stores Following Government Order
India ordered Apple and Google to remove Bitchat under Section 69A on October 3, 2026; its website was also inaccessible through multiple ISPs. The Bluetooth mesh app, launched in July 2025, enables encrypted messaging without internet or cellular networks.
Jack Dorsey’s decentralized messaging app Bitchat has disappeared from Apple and Google’s app stores in India after the Indian government ordered its removal, adding to a series of restrictions on the open-source software.
Dorsey disclosed on Saturday, October 3, 2026, that India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had directed Apple to remove Bitchat from its App Store in the country under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act — the country’s primary legal provision for government-ordered online blocking. Bitchat was also no longer available on Google Play in India, and its website was inaccessible across multiple internet service providers. Apple confirmed the app would remain available in its App Store outside India, though access via its TestFlight beta-testing service would also be blocked within the country.
Launched in July 2025, Bitchat uses Bluetooth mesh networking to let nearby devices exchange encrypted messages without cellular networks, internet access, or centralized servers. The Indian government has previously cited this architecture as the basis for its concern, arguing it makes it difficult for law enforcement to intercept communications or trace users — and that the app can continue functioning during internet shutdowns.
This is not the first action taken against Bitchat in India. In July 2026, Indian authorities ordered GitHub to remove repositories associated with the app. The latest removal order comes as India experiences a wave of youth-led protests over changes to the country’s voter rolls. Authorities suspended internet services near New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar for 12 hours on Friday during demonstrations there. During earlier protests in July, users reportedly turned to Bitchat and rival app Briar when internet access was cut — a period when India accounted for roughly 85% of the app’s global downloads, up from about 1% in the prior 30 days, according to Sensor Tower.
The Internet Freedom Foundation, a New Delhi-based digital rights group, called the latest order unconstitutional, arguing Section 69A permits blocking of unlawful information but not an entire messaging app based on its technical capabilities. The group also noted that neither the blocking order nor the allegedly illegal content cited as justification had been made public. Apple, Google, and India’s IT ministry did not respond to requests for comment.