As France Marches on 17 October, Protesters Turn to Bitchat, the Offline App China, India Has Blocked
As mass demonstrations fill Paris and other French cities on 17 October, protesters are urging each other to use Bitchat, Jack Dorsey's Bluetooth mesh messaging app, in case networks are jammed or overloaded. The same app was pulled from Indian app stores on 3 October.
As nationwide demonstrations got under way across France on Saturday, 17 October, protesters had spent the previous two days urging each other to install Bitchat. The offline messaging app, built by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, is meant as a fallback if mobile networks are jammed or overloaded.
"Use Bitchat, Not Monitored Messengers"
The calls came from individual accounts on X, not an organised campaign, and engagement was modest.
The message was consistent, however.
"Je rappelle que demain dans les manifestations, vous devez utiliser les applications #BITCHAT ou #BRIDGEFY, vous ne devez pas communiquer via les messageries électroniques écoutées." ("Remember, tomorrow at the protests you must use #BITCHAT or #BRIDGEFY. Do not communicate through monitored messaging apps."), @OlivierRimmel, 16 October
Other posts focused on network failure rather than surveillance.
They framed the app as a counter to police kettling, known in France as nasses, and to the jamming that protesters say accompanies it.
Some accounts added Bitchat to protest checklists alongside advice on filming and protecting biometric data.
On the day, posts from Paris described huge crowds starting from Place de la République.
French MP Clémence Guetté accused police of blocking thousands of people at a declared, legal march.
How It Works
Bitchat needs no internet, mobile signal or phone number.
Phones running the app connect over Bluetooth and relay messages for each other, so the mesh gets stronger as the crowd gets denser.
A Pattern That Started Elsewhere
France is the latest protest movement to adopt the app:
- Nepal: nearly 50,000 downloads in a single day on 8 September 2025
- Madagascar: about 70,000 downloads in one week in September 2025
- Uganda and Iran: usage rose during internet blackouts in January 2026
- India: in July 2026, after mobile internet was suspended around Jantar Mantar during the NEET paper-leak protests, India accounted for about 85% of global downloads between 17 and 23 July, according to Sensor Tower data, with more than 330,000 active users on 23 July
India Blocked It
The app's offline design has also drawn government action.
Apple removed Bitchat from its China App Store in early 2026.
On 3 October 2026, Apple and Google removed it from their Indian stores at the request of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.
Jack Dorsey publicly shared Apple's notice.
The developer of the rival app Bridgefy says it, Bitchat and Briar are now all banned in India.
Digital rights advocates argue that Section 69A allows blocking unlawful content, not a communication tool.
On 16 October, the Kerala High Court directed the government to respond within four weeks to a petition challenging the block.
Android users can still sideload the app, and Bitchat can pass itself from one phone to another without internet.
On iPhone, the App Store remains the only practical route.
What to Watch
Whether Bitchat moves from advice to actual use in France depends on network conditions on the ground and how many people installed it in advance.
For now, French protesters treat it the way crowds in Kathmandu, Antananarivo and Delhi did: not as an everyday messenger, but as the fallback when the network goes dark.