BitTorrent Releases Secret Messaging App
‘Bleep’ goes public, with BitTorrent promising to keep user identity anonymous by storing encryption keys and messages locally
Popular file sharing service BitTorrent has made its private messaging app publicly available for users across iOS, Android and Windows Phone.
Called Bleep, the messaging app promises to keep your personal details safe from snooping and hacking by keeping messages and encryption keys stored locally on your device rather than in the cloud.
Hand-to-hand
A blog post written by the head of product for BitTorrent Bleep, Farid Fadaie, said: “Bleep’s logo represents a folded note – a message passed directly, hand-to-hand. In our implementation, we keep messages and the encryption keys for images stored on your local device, not the cloud.
“For messages and metadata, there is no server for hackers to target and because you hold the keys, images can’t be leaked to haunt you later. We’ve solved serverless peer-to-peer messaging, including the ability to get offline friends your messages when they come back online.”
Users start with Bleep by choosing a nickname. They can then share their Bleep key wherever they want, whilst still retaining personal information secret. “Optionally,” said Fadaie, “You can verify your email addresses and mobile numbers with Bleep, which will let your friends discover you through Bleep when they open an account.”
It’s been a busy few months in the private messaging space, with Facebook introducing video messaging and WhatsApp releasing video calling, but BitTorrent claims that its app is different to others.
“We’ve been listening. Listening to our community’s feedback as well as the dialogue that has been taking place around privacy, data-collection, and the social cost of technology bringing us closer together. We’ve decided that one of those costs should not be your identity. And by identity, we don’t just mean your personal details, but also what you choose to say and how you say it. And with that in mind, we are releasing our latest version of Bleep,” said Fadaie.
