Apple removes Bitchat from India App Store after government demand

Apple has removed the offline messaging application Bitchat from its India App Store following a demand from India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, developer Jack Dorsey said in an X post on Saturday, October 3, 2026. Dorsey, the app’s developer and a co-founder of Twitter, posted what appeared to be a notice from Apple’s App Review team. The notice said the removal followed a demand from MeitY and cited content it described as illegal in India.

According to the notice, the demand was issued under Section 69(A) of India’s Information Technology Act, 2000. Apple said developers must comply with legal requirements in every jurisdiction where their applications are offered. Bitchat will remain available in other territories selected through Apple’s App Store Connect system.

Apple said the TestFlight version would also be unavailable for internal and external testing in India, and that public TestFlight links would no longer function there. The application had already faced government action in July. The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre, the Home Ministry’s cybercrime arm, ordered GitHub to remove the Bluetooth-based app, according to The Hindu.

The earlier action followed reports that people at a protest in New Delhi had used Bluetooth messaging applications during temporary internet restrictions. I4C said Bitchat’s decentralised mesh network could allow communication despite such restrictions and could be misused to evade lawful detection. The agency also cited possible risks involving unlawful assemblies, violent protests, misinformation, radicalisation and criminal activity.

Dorsey criticised that earlier action in an X post, saying the government did not want technologies such as Bitchat to remain available.