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.

It's not about you being in bluetooth range of the person you want to talk to, it's about all the people sitting in between you both that pass the message along without touching the internet.

So you can be on a cargo ship, or on a remote island, with 20 other people and all use chat. If 1 person has internet, then you can all chat globally as well.

It's the same basic method of how airtags work. Everyone with an iPhone connects to the airtag and passes data to Apple. It's just done in the background, so users don't ever notice.

No one has got it right yet though. Being apple only, he hasn’t either.

None of them cross the line yet to be “good enough” in practice for all the use cases of an offline messenger. Briar is probably the best, but not useful if even one of your group is on iOS.

There are plenty of situations where that’s useful, especially if you can have group chats with images. Think airplanes, weddings, concerts, sports arenas. And if you have meshing and store and forward when nodes are moving around, you can cover a large area that may not have internet. It’s a legitimate tool that no one has done right yet - and as apple only, this is t yet either.

That's a good point. And to add to it, I've tried using Briar as an emergency option if there's no Internet. And there seems to be a massive flaw in that scenario: you need the Internet to authenticate yourself on the app. So if there's no Internet it's useless. I just tried switching off WiFi and 5G on my phone and yup, can't log in, so can't use it.

For all those little bitches.