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

(github.com)
770 points ananddtyagi | 1 comments | 07 Jul 25 00:05 UTC | HN request time: 0.244s | source
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kragen ◴[07 Jul 25 03:53 UTC] No.44486602[source]▶
Technical whitepaper: https://github.com/jackjackbits/bitchat/blob/main/WHITEPAPER...

Presumably that is the key to getting out of the Apple ghetto.

replies(1): >>44487125 #
Tepix ◴[07 Jul 25 05:41 UTC] No.44487125[source]▶
From the whitepaper: "bitchat implements a custom mesh networking protocol over BLE"

I wonder why they didn‘t implement the BLE mesh networking standard released in 2017 by the Bluetooth SIG.

replies(1): >>44490354 #
Beretta_Vexee ◴[07 Jul 25 13:48 UTC] No.44490354[source]▶
There are already several open source implementations, but the Bluetooth SIG standard only supports flood propagation.

This is fine for managing a few hundred temperature sensors or lighting controls up to the building's floor concentrator, which is the main use case for this standard, but it is completely unsuitable for sending individual messages from user A to user B.

replies(2): >>44491766 #>>44500712 #
1. Tepix ◴[08 Jul 25 15:07 UTC] No.44500712[source]▶
Interesting. I looked at https://www.bluetooth.com/mesh-directed-forwarding/ and it seems like "Bluetooth Mesh Directed Forwarding" is an improvement over "Bluetooth Mesh Managed Flooding" for this scenario? It got added in v1.1 of the spec.