Questions before you install

The files are the signed Android builds from the public GitHub release v2.0.1 of permissionlesstech/bitchat-android, published on 11 August 2026. bitchat.cc stores a copy so the download is available from this domain. The canonical release page remains on GitHub. Compare the SHA-256 on the download page with the file you received before you install it.

No. The project site is bitchat.free. The Android source is maintained by the permissionlesstech organization on GitHub. The Play listing has been published under the package com.bitchat.droid. bitchat.cc is an independent guide and file mirror. We do not run the mesh, the Nostr relays, or the app stores.

Choose the universal APK unless you know you want a smaller file. The project says most phones should use bitchat-android-universal.apk. The ARM64 build is smaller and fits modern 64-bit phones. The Wear OS build is only for a watch. The x86_64 build is for emulators.

The Android project builds for API 26 and newer, which is Android 8.0 and later. The phone also needs Bluetooth Low Energy. A watch needs Wear OS and the separate watch APK.

Local chat can travel over a Bluetooth Low Energy mesh, and on supported phones over Wi-Fi Aware, with no account and no central server. People nearby relay messages, up to seven hops in the design described by the project. Geohash rooms and other internet features use Nostr relays, so those need a network connection.

The app is built to start without an account, phone number, or central registration. You still choose a nickname inside the app. Private messages use the Noise Protocol. Read the privacy guide before you treat any mesh chat as anonymous.

Android requires a location permission before an app can scan for Bluetooth Low Energy devices. That prompt does not, by itself, mean the mesh chat is uploading a map of you. Geohash channels are a separate feature: they use a coarse location code to pick a room when you are online. You can read the difference in the geohash guide.

Private messages on the mesh use the Noise Protocol, XX pattern, with X25519 and ChaCha20-Poly1305, as documented by the Android project. Password-protected channel chats are documented with Argon2id and AES-256-GCM. Encryption covers message content. It does not erase every radio trace. A nearby radio can still observe mesh traffic metadata, including a persistent device identifier derived from the identity key.

Store listings change by country and by policy. If Play has no listing, the signed GitHub release is the sideload build the project publishes. Install only after the SHA-256 matches. Turning on installs from your browser is a per-app switch in Android settings. Turn it off again after the install if you do not need it.

Version 2.0.1 adds a Wear OS app, a choice of chat layouts, live push-to-talk, Cashu token preview, private conversations that survive a restart, an offline geohash globe, an in-app language picker, and local APK sharing with signature-checked updates. The project also describes this as its first reproducible full-app release. Details are on the changelog page.

No. Install the Wear OS APK on the watch. Install the universal or ARM64 APK on the phone. Mixing them up wastes a download and the package will not behave as a phone app.

When a newer signed release exists, download that version from GitHub or from an updated page on this site, check the new hash, and install it over the current app. Android keeps app data when the signing key matches. The 2.0.1 notes also describe sharing an installed APK with a nearby phone and resuming signature-checked update downloads inside the app.