Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat disappears from app stores in India after government order

Bitchat, Jack Dorsey’s decentralized messaging app, is no longer available on Apple’s App Store or Google Play in India. The app is designed to work without an internet connection.

Dorsey said Saturday that the Indian government ordered Apple to remove Bitchat from its App Store in the country. An Apple notice he posted on X cited a demand from India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. Apple said the app would remain available in its App Store outside India, but access to its TestFlight beta service would also be blocked in the country.

TechCrunch said Bitchat was unavailable on Google Play in India when it checked Saturday. The app’s website was also inaccessible through various internet service providers in the country. It was not immediately clear whether Google or the providers had received government directions. Apple, Google and the ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Launched in July last year, Bitchat uses Bluetooth mesh networking to let nearby devices exchange encrypted messages without cellular networks, internet access or centralized servers. In July 2026, Dorsey said authorities had ordered GitHub to remove repositories associated with the app. That order cited a different provision of Indian information technology law.

The Internet Freedom Foundation called the latest order unconstitutional, arguing that Section 69A permits blocking unlawful information, not a messaging app because it can operate during internet shutdowns. The group also said the blocking order and allegedly illegal content cited as its basis had not been made public.