I have no idea if this is correct. But imagine if you have a setup like Apple’s AirTag. Except when you receive a signal (message) you also relay it to whoever’s path you cross for the next X amount of time. The more people using the app the bigger the mesh network gets.

Bluetooth ranges are quite large now.

But an example even if someone is a foot away would be a concert or event where it's to loud.

You can blame whatever or whoever you want, the problem remains.

Beeper is like this, but the list of supported messaging apps is limited. It does have FB messenger though.

Could be useful on a plane: If you have different seats than someone and don't want to pay for your airline's ridiculous data prices. Although, most airlines I fly on(american, delta, air canada, united) all have free RCS/Facebook/Whatsapp, but not necessarily Signal, Telegram, Matrix, or your preferred secure service.

Have a look at meshtastic. Yes, you do have to get a separate device, but range on it can be several tens to hundreds of miles depending on the mesh density.

I once did some programming on the Cybiko, a device from 2000 that could form a wireless mesh network with peers. The idea was that you could have a shopping mall full of teens and they'd be able to chat with each other from one end to the other by routing through the mesh. It was a neat device!

This is a great idea, but it would be difficult to manage.

It reminds me of the instant messenger wars during the late 1990s/early 2000s.

AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) had a virtual monopoly on the industry, and so when Microsoft started breaking into it with MSN Messenger they cracked AIM's protocol so their users could communicate with AIM users. This enraged AOL, and there was a wild cat-and-mouse updates battle for a few months. AOL would push an update to block Microsoft, then Microsoft would push an update to get around that. Sometimes there were multiple updates from both sides per day.

And then there was Trillian messenger just sneaking through the middle providing access to both, mostly unnoticed (at least for a while).

Interesting. I wonder why Briar won't have an iOS client?

Ingenious name. I feel like Bitchat should be connected somehow with PenIsland.

In practice range seems to be a few kilometers, in places with lots of nodes.

There is already a really good foss app that does exactly that, it's called briar and is as secure and private as it gets. The downside with p2p communication apps being, that they eat your phones battery for breakfast. Still a good option for activists or journalists I think. It's a good way to get around the "server in the middle" problem. Still more convenient to run your own (xmpp) server at home imho...

Yeah my first thought when I read the headline was "why not just use meshtastic?"

I'm sure the background limitations are a big part, but I wonder if there's also limits to what they can do with bluetooth

** for Android (and Windows/macOS/Linux) but not iOS.

And apparently never going to be as some key component is written in Java. Other technical obstacles should be solvable (like f.ex. getting continuous running in bg by exploiting location services like iSH can do)

I wanted a cybiko so bad as a teen. It seemed like it would be so cool if everyone I knew bought one. Of course no one did, but I still think they are awesome.

If you want to bitch at someone, there's an app for that

I just changed the routing for local networks to ignore the VPN

don't nazis already have telegram

Now they have a second option.