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Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks

(github.com)
778 points ananddtyagi | 3 comments | 07 Jul 25 00:05 UTC | HN request time: 0.715s | source
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sardine5 ◴[07 Jul 25 03:22 UTC] No.44486454[source]▶
A bit different, as it's mainly for voice - but I made an app 'Murmur : Bluetooth Group Calls' - that lets you hold group voice calls and message via a mesh of Bluetooth LE connections. It's available on Android and iOS. https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/murmur-bluetooth-group-calls/i...

Doesn't really get any downloads, so not sure there's much demand for this - but I use it with some shokz bone conducting headphones for talking to my wife when we're cycling (also for wrangling our two small girls)

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cpeth ◴[07 Jul 25 07:56 UTC] No.44487771[source]▶
Any chance it could use seamless transport switching? It would be so awesome if it could switch to cellular(if available) or wifi-direct as needed on the fly. I have been thinking about creating such an app but lacked the time.

If it's open source, I would love to help.

I will give your app a try.

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1. sardine5 ◴[07 Jul 25 08:19 UTC] No.44487924[source]▶
I actually have this kind of working on a branch - really don't fancy hosting any infrastructure myself though - so I was intending it to be a Windows service or docker container you have to setup and pair with. Once you've done that - the endpoint is included in any group you create, and treated as an extra node in the graph. If available and lower latency than other routes, it'll be used.

Was trying to keep things simple though - the separate server seemed a step too far for most people I talked to about it.

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2. cpeth ◴[07 Jul 25 19:05 UTC] No.44493620[source]▶
This sounds perfect for my use case. I'm a mountain biker who doesn't mind setting up hosting infra. It's fairly common when mountain biking to unintentionally get separated by line-of-sight or more than 75M even among very similarly skilled riders. Even on straight easy trails, just the dust cloud generated by the rider ahead can cause you to back off significant distance if it's dusty.

I've used these[0] in the past and they worked ok. I lost the pair I bought when traveling and thought using the plethora of radios I have with me anyway on my phone with an earbud headphone would be much better replacement. Would be great for group rides to just send an app link instead of suggesting they all buy $100 hardware.

Honestly I think a well marketed and polished commercial app would have both Sena and Cardo[1] both quite existentially scared.

[0]: https://www.sena.com/en-us/product/pi/ [1]: https://cardosystems.com/

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3. subscribed ◴[08 Jul 25 13:48 UTC] No.44499943[source]▶
App will be held down by the hardware. Smartphones are not meant to transmit with the necessary power, and you also don't get direct access to the radio, so you can't run custom protocols like Sena/Cardo, but you must transmit over the actual bluetooth or actual WiFi.

They're not really a competition.