How Does Bitchat Work? \ stacker news ~tech

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535 sats \ 16 comments \ @kr 29 Jul tech

I've just stumbled across Jack Dorsey's new messaging project, and apart from reading the high level project description, I don't know anything about it.

I do like the idea of bypassing the internet, phone numbers, and other gatekeepers entirely, but I have a few questions...

Have you tried it yet?
Does this replace things like Signal/Telegram/WhatsApp?
What is the main innovation here (or why hasn't anyone done this yet)?
How does a bluetooth mesh network actually work (ELI5)?
Are there unsolved "scaling issues" with this approach? Or should the app work just as well whether there are 8 users or 8 billion users?

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10 sats \ 7 replies \ @0xbitcoiner 29 Jul

👀 #1047215

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0 sats \ 6 replies \ @kr OP 29 Jul

thanks - so not a replacement for long-range chats? basically for home/office discussions where people are within 300m of each other?

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10 sats \ 5 replies \ @0xbitcoiner 29 Jul

Yeah, it’s more like that. But if I got it right, this thing can go over three hundred meters. Like, if you’ve got people spaced out every 10 meters for 3 kilometers, you could actually talk to the person at the other end.

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26 sats \ 4 replies \ @kr OP 29 Jul

Oh, the image in the linked post says 300m is the total range, hope you're right about the infinite mesh idea, that would make the app super useful if dense cities like NYC adopted it in large numbers

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10 sats \ 2 replies \ @0xbitcoiner 29 Jul

from https://github.com/permissionlesstech/bitchat

TTL-based message routing (max 7 hops)

There’s a limit on hops, so yeah, there’s a limit on communication. But since it works offline, messages still get delivered once you're back in range. Still don’t get why there’s a hops limit though.

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33 sats \ 1 reply \ @ek 29 Jul

Same reason why any network has a hop limit:

In computer networking, TTL (Time to live) prevents a data packet from circulating indefinitely.

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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @0xbitcoiner 29 Jul

Can’t say for sure, I just don’t get why it’s limited to 300 meters.

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24 sats \ 4 replies \ @OT 29 Jul

I tried it for the first time today. We went into the city where I thought there might be a chance of having at least 1 other bitcoiner nearby. Sadly Bob found no one.

I'd like to try it at the next meetup. Hopefully they'll be keen.

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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr OP 29 Jul

I had the same experience with an empty screen.

Do messages only appear from people actively using the app? Or will your message be visible to people who download the app later on?

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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @OT 29 Jul

No idea. I just pulled it up again a minute ago and my msg's weren't there. The name was. I have a friend that I'll see in a few days, hopefully I can get him to download it and we can test out a few things.

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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @denlillaapan 29 Jul

poor bob, hard life

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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @OT 29 Jul

Bob will have frens on day

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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @zuspotirko 29 Jul

Since this is on the home page I have a question about Bitchat too:

Messages to nearby area seem to disappear. When do they do that? After time? Or after I leave the physical area via gps? Or after I closed the app and every recipient who would have "re-spread" the message?

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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @crrdlx 29 Jul

Range. There's not a huge point in phone-chatting with the person sitting on the couch with you.

will say this, one use case for close-up "chatting" via bluetooth would be a person to person ecash transfer, like a point of sale, no internet needed. But for chatting, range is a problem for bitchat. I understand "300 meters" range is if you leapfrog over 10 people, 30m X 10.