Apple Removes Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat From India’s App Store After Government Order

Highlights:

• Apple removed Bitchat from India’s App Store after a government takedown demand issued under Section 69A.
• The order also blocks Bitchat from TestFlight in India, affecting both internal and external app testing.
• Apple’s notice did not specify what Bitchat content Indian authorities considered illegal or why they targeted it.

Apple has removed Bitchat, the decentralized messaging app associated with Jack Dorsey, from the India App Store following a takedown demand from the Indian government. Dorsey disclosed the move on October 3, sharing an Apple App Review notice on X that said the request came from India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

According to the notice, MeitY issued the takedown demand under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Apple said the application included content considered illegal in India and therefore did not comply with its App Review Guidelines. Dorsey shared a screenshot of the notice and wrote that the Indian government had “officially” removed Bitchat from the App Store. The notice itself does not identify the specific content that triggered the government request.

government of India officially removes bitchat from the App Store pic.twitter.com/9oHHiwquec

— jack (@jack) October 3, 2026

Bitchat Removed From App Store and TestFlight in India

Apple told Bitchat that it removed the app from the India App Store while keeping it available in other territories selected by the developer. The restriction also covers TestFlight, Apple’s platform for testing unreleased or beta versions of apps. According to the notice, Bitchat will no longer be available for internal or external TestFlight testing in India. Existing public TestFlight links will also stop working for users in the country.

Apple cited the legal section of its App Review Guidelines, which requires applications to comply with laws in every country or region where developers make them available. The company directed Bitchat to contact MeitY directly for further details about the order.

Section 69A gives India’s central government authority to direct intermediaries to block public access to information under specified legal grounds. These include national sovereignty and integrity, state security, public order and several other circumstances listed in the law. The Apple notice shared by Dorsey does not say which specific Section 69A ground MeitY relied on in Bitchat’s case.

Bitchat Uses Bluetooth Mesh and Nostr for Messaging

Bitchat is designed differently from traditional messaging platforms that depend entirely on centralized servers. Its official GitHub documentation describes it as a decentralized peer-to-peer messaging application that can communicate locally through Bluetooth Low Energy mesh networks.

Nearby devices can pass messages across the Bluetooth network without requiring a normal internet connection. For internet communication, Bitchat also uses the Nostr protocol through external relays. The project says users don’t need accounts or phone numbers, and private messages can use end-to-end encryption. Its architecture is intended to provide communication in situations where normal internet access is limited or unavailable.

Apple’s action applies specifically to distribution through the India App Store and Bitchat’s TestFlight access in India. The notice does not announce a wider global removal, nor does it provide additional details about the content MeitY considered unlawful.