Thought this could have been used in Iran but I guess it was a bit immature still.

Considering that my Bluetooth headset disconnects when I even think about looking at my microwave, I can't trust Bluetooth any further than 10 feet...

If you want kilometers of range in wide open air, give anything lora based a try.

Bring back Cybiko's, we can message there instead.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybiko

I'd consider this app a proof of concept, with limited practical applications.

The story of using Bluetooth in a cruise ship to chat with family sounds like it’s pushing the limits of physics; communication in those conditions is highly unreliable. Most of our phones have onboard a class 2 device (the lower range, 10-20m), the real world has walls to reduce the range, and a cruise ship's metal structure creates a Faraday cage effect.

In case of protests, a jammer will silence all devices.

Anyway, I was thinking that in extreme cases we could modify our devices for communication at a community level—for example, creating a Wi-Fi mesh network with routers, or some other long-range protocol (e.g., LoRa).

Let's all install this and form a fail-safe (if you are in a populated area) and unregulated mesh. I would love to see how far into the Amazonas or Greenland it works.

I've heard about technology like this for over a decade. Have never encountered a use case (even no coverage at music festivals) where it once became viable.

is there an actual real good comparison of bitchat vs. briar from all sides? protocols, cryptography, supplychain, which software stack, usability and so on?

Someone build a commercial wrapper around this, and sell it at (huge) music festivals as alternative message tools???

What about a desktop web app? Using web standards, you can access bluetooth now (to some degree).

Isn’t this similar to Brair?

AFAIK, Brair relays messages through Bluetooth but also through Tor if possible.