App used in Gen Z protest installed without internet:Bitchat sends messages via Bluetooth; govt asks the company to remove it from Play Store

Jack Dorsey, the creator of Twitter, has rolled out a new feature for Android users in his offline messaging app ‘BitChat’. With this feature, Android users can now share and install this app directly from one phone to another without internet, Google Play Store, or GitHub. The company announced this on social media platform X. This update comes right after the Indian government’s demand to block the BitChat app from GitHub. The government stated that this app could be used by criminal groups, which could hinder legal investigations. This app came into discussion after it was used by Gen-Z youth during a demonstration by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) in New Delhi. APK File Will Be Shared via Bluetooth Ban on Online Platforms Will Also Have No Effect The BitChat team wrote in their post that the app can now “send itself to another Android phone without internet”. This means that even if the app is blocked or removed from online platforms like GitHub or Google Play Store, users can easily use it by sharing it from each other’s phones. In this way, every Android phone with BitChat installed will become a hub for distributing the app.
What are GitHub, BLE Mesh Network and APK?