Meshtastic vs Bitchat and Briar

A LoRa radio mesh against two phone-only messengers: Bitchat's Bluetooth mesh and Briar's Tor and Bluetooth peer-to-peer messaging.

At a glance

	Meshtastic	Bitchat	Briar
Transport	LoRa radio	Bluetooth LE mesh, with Nostr relays as an internet fallback	Tor online; Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or memory cards offline
Multi-hop	Yes: default 3 hops (see hop limit), maximum 7	Multi-hop relay, maximum 7 hops	Described as decentralised with direct encrypted connections, not a multi-hop mesh
Encryption (documented)	AES-CTR channels, X25519 direct messages	Noise Protocol, X25519, ChaCha20-Poly1305, Ed25519 signatures; Nostr fallback uses XChaCha20-Poly1305	End-to-end encryption; contact list encrypted on the device
Metadata caveat	Packet header never encrypted	Whitepaper says the mesh uses a persistent per-device identifier derived from your identity key, visible to nearby radios	Independent audit status not confirmed here
Platforms	Android, iOS, web	iOS, macOS, Android	Android (iOS not discussed on the download section)
Extra hardware	Yes, a LoRa board	No	No
Licence	GPL-3.0 firmware	Unlicense (public domain)	Open source; licence not confirmed here

Key differences

Radio versus phone

Meshtastic reaches further because it uses a dedicated LoRa radio, but you must buy and flash a board; see hardware buyer's guide and flash Meshtastic. Bitchat and Briar run on the phone you already have. That also means no coverage until enough people nearby run them. If you want to learn without buying anything, see zero-hardware start.

Mesh versus peer to peer

Bitchat relays messages through nearby phones for up to seven hops. Briar, by its own description, makes direct encrypted connections between users, syncing over Tor when online and over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or memory cards when not. It is a different design, not a mesh with a different radio.

Metadata and encryption

Content encryption is documented for all three, but metadata differs. Meshtastic never encrypts the packet header. Bitchat's whitepaper says nearby radios can see a persistent per-device identifier. Briar claims metadata protection, but we did not confirm an independent audit. See privacy and encryption.

Prior art: Bridgefy

Bridgefy, a similar Bluetooth mesh app, was shown by Royal Holloway researchers in August 2020 to allow tracking and interception of users. Its later fixes were judged insufficient in follow-up work (IACR ePrint 2021/214; Royal Holloway news item). The lesson is to ask what a project's threat model is, not to treat the word "encrypted" as the end of the discussion. See resilience in practice.

In the UK

Bluetooth LE and Wi-Fi are licence-exempt consumer bands, so these apps should raise no Ofcom licensing question. Meshtastic uses the 868 MHz band (region EU_868).

We found no sourced range figures for Bitchat or Briar over Bluetooth. For LoRa links, use the link budget tool.

Which should you choose?

Range of kilometres and you will buy a radio: Meshtastic. See Meshtastic and which mesh is right for you.
A phone-only Bluetooth mesh on iOS or Android, with no purchase: Bitchat.
A privacy-focused Android messenger that works online over Tor and offline over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or memory cards: Briar.
The mesh only helps if people near you run the same thing; check find a local mesh.

FAQ

Does Bitchat need internet?

No for the mesh: it uses Bluetooth LE between nearby phones. It has Nostr relays as an internet fallback.

Is Briar available on iPhone?

Briar's download section covers Android only, and iOS is not discussed there.

Can Bitchat replace a Meshtastic radio?

Not for distance. Bitchat depends on Bluetooth between phones, and we found no sourced range figure. Meshtastic uses LoRa radios and is documented as working over kilometres in good conditions; see LoRa vs Wi-Fi mesh.

Is a Bluetooth mesh app private?

Content may be encrypted, but metadata can still leak. Bitchat's whitepaper describes a persistent identifier visible to nearby radios, and Bridgefy was shown to allow tracking.