Bitchat disappears from app stores in India after government order

Bitchat, Jack Dorsey’s decentralized messaging app, has disappeared from Apple and Google’s app stores in India. TechCrunch reports the app has become largely unavailable in the country as a result of restrictions, and Bitchat’s website was also inaccessible across various internet service providers in India. Apple’s notice said Bitchat would remain available outside India, while access through TestFlight would also be blocked in the country.

Dorsey said the Indian government ordered Apple to remove Bitchat from the App Store in India. The notice he posted cited Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, described by TechCrunch as India’s primary legal provision for government-ordered online blocking. It was not immediately clear whether Google and internet service providers had also received directions from the federal government.

Bitchat uses Bluetooth mesh networking to let nearby devices exchange encrypted messages without relying on cellular networks, internet access, or centralized servers. Earlier in July 2026, Dorsey said Indian authorities had ordered GitHub to take down repositories tied to the open-source messaging app. At that time, the government said Bitchat’s architecture made it hard for law enforcement agencies to intercept communications or trace users, and pointed to the app’s ability to keep operating during internet shutdowns.

The Internet Freedom Foundation, a New Delhi-based digital rights advocacy group, called the latest order unconstitutional and argued that Section 69A allows blocking unlawful information, not a messaging app because of how it functions. The restrictions come amid youth-led protests over changes to India’s voter rolls, with authorities suspending internet services around New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar for 12 hours on Friday during protests there. TechCrunch also reported that India accounted for about 85% of Bitchat’s global downloads between July 17 and July 23, up from roughly 1% in the previous 30 days, citing Sensor Tower data.