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AppleProduct change

Apple has removed the peer-to-peer messaging app BitChat from its App Store in India at the request of the Indian government.

What happened

Post: "India has now pulled BitChat from the App Store through Apple. BitChat works over Bluetooth with no internet, no phone number and no account. That is..."

Source

Extracted from these lines

  • India has now pulled BitChat from the App Store through Apple.

    From the post

  • That is exactly why Delhi wants it gone.

    From the post

reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1wwr8vr/india_has_now_pulled_bitchat_fr...Open the source

Comments on the post

5 of 61 comments
  • “Shit sounds hella dystopian”

    u/Embarrassed_Job_8048252 points · Oct 3, 2026View

  • “And that's why Google locking down Android is a big problem.”

    u/Shiedheda226 points · Oct 3, 2026View

  • “One of the reasons they are pushing "age verification" laws is so that governments can ban operating systems and apps they don't like. They can use remote attestation to enforce any draconian law they want. https://rudd-o.com/linux-and-free-software/what-is-going-on-with-age-verification-in-computers”

    u/magnusmaster103 points · Oct 4, 2026View

  • “I mean with the range Bluetooth has, you could just speak to people. I do wonder if there are alternative networks, eg walkie talkie + dialup modem tech that could be viable.”

    u/Chronotheos57 points · Oct 3, 2026View

  • “sidestore or altstore it is then lol or just simply switch country of the acct temporarily or switch to another media & purchases account used by appstore only temporarily, based on where it is permitted, install the app, switch back to original country….regional block is useless nowadays unless a paid feature or regional variant of the app differs not that difficult to circumvent”

    u/One_Elephant_891736 points · Oct 3, 2026View

Extracted by Autobound

From the Signal API record
Signal
Product change

What this signalsUser posts often show product pain before it reaches reviews or churn.

Subreddit
r/privacy
Stage
Confirmed
Event date
Oct 2026

Companies

  • BitChatAlso named

The full record

From the Signal API record

Numbers

Mentions
26

Details

Timing
Completed
Category
Policy change
Virality
Very high
Post kind
Link
Prominence
Core
Company's role
Subject
Signal category
Event

Topics and mentions

Topics

  • app store
  • censorship
  • government regulation
  • india
  • privacy

Flair

  • news

Extraction

Sentiment
Neutral
Detected
Oct 3, 2026
signal_type
reddit-company
signal_subtype
productChange

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This page shows a preview. The full reddit-company record in the Signal API and MCP can also have these 8 fields. Some fields are empty for some signals.

Company

  • linkedin_urlValue in the API
  • industriesValue in the API
  • employee_count_lowValue in the API
  • employee_count_highValue in the API
  • revenueValue in the API
  • descriptionValue in the API

Signal

  • signal_nameValue in the API
  • associationValue in the API
Show the full JSONThe record on this page and the API request

GET /v1/signals/13951304-589b-545f-a33d-6f10d502fe95 returns this record as JSON. POST /v1/companies/enrich returns every signal for apple.com.

{
  "signal_id": "13951304-589b-545f-a33d-6f10d502fe95",
  "signal_type": "reddit-company",
  "signal_subtype": "productChange",
  "detected_at": "2026-10-03T16:20:43+00:00",
  "company": {
    "name": "Apple",
    "domain": "apple.com"
  },
  "data": {
    "nsfw": false,
    "stage": "confirmed",
    "awards": 0,
    "timing": "completed",
    "topics": [
      "app store",
      "censorship",
      "government regulation",
      "india",
      "privacy"
    ],
    "post_id": "1wwr8vr",
    "summary": "Apple has removed the peer-to-peer messaging app BitChat from its App Store in India at the request of the Indian government.",
    "category": "policy_change",
    "comments": [
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1wwr8vr/comment/pdoq5hb/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 252,
        "author": "Embarrassed_Job_8048",
        "excerpt": "Shit sounds hella dystopian",
        "posted_at": "2026-10-03T21:12:53.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/Embarrassed_Job_8048/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1wwr8vr/comment/pdp1o3n/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 226,
        "author": "Shiedheda",
        "excerpt": "And that's why Google locking down Android is a big problem.",
        "posted_at": "2026-10-03T22:08:22.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/Shiedheda/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1wwr8vr/comment/pdpmz3h/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 103,
        "author": "magnusmaster",
        "excerpt": "One of the reasons they are pushing \"age verification\" laws is so that governments can ban operating systems and apps they don't like. They can use remote attestation to enforce any draconian law they want.\n\n https://rudd-o.com/linux-and-free-software/what-is-going-on-with-age-verification-in-computers",
        "posted_at": "2026-10-04T00:02:11.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/magnusmaster/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1wwr8vr/comment/pdoqdlt/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 57,
        "author": "Chronotheos",
        "excerpt": "I mean with the range Bluetooth has, you could just speak to people. I do wonder if there are alternative networks, eg walkie talkie + dialup modem tech that could be viable.",
        "posted_at": "2026-10-03T21:13:55.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/Chronotheos/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1wwr8vr/comment/pdp22o2/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 36,
        "author": "One_Elephant_8917",
        "excerpt": "sidestore or altstore it is then lol\n\n or just simply switch country of the acct temporarily or switch to another media & purchases account used by appstore only temporarily, based on where it is permitted, install the app, switch back to original country….regional block is useless nowadays unless a paid feature or regional variant of the app differs\n\n not that difficult to circumvent",
        "posted_at": "2026-10-03T22:10:25.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/One_Elephant_8917/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1wwr8vr/comment/pdpnpr0/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 25,
        "author": "Upstairs_Stuff_2145",
        "excerpt": "India is a bad place for privacy now",
        "posted_at": "2026-10-04T00:06:17.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/Upstairs_Stuff_2145/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1wwr8vr/comment/pdpd6y3/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 5,
        "author": "After-Cell",
        "excerpt": "Walled garden issue affects TestFlight too?",
        "posted_at": "2026-10-03T23:08:59.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/After-Cell/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1wwr8vr/comment/pdpzjse/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 2,
        "author": "puddingcakeNY",
        "excerpt": "But I can’t see it in the US store either what’s the apps name?",
        "posted_at": "2026-10-04T01:12:28.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/puddingcakeNY/"
      }
    ],
    "evidence": [
      "[post] India has now pulled BitChat from the App Store through Apple.",
      "[post] That is exactly why Delhi wants it gone."
    ],
    "link_url": "https://reclaimthenet.org/apple-removes-bitchat-india-government-request",
    "virality": "very_high",
    "post_date": "2026-10-03T16:20:43.000Z",
    "post_kind": "link",
    "sentiment": "neutral",
    "subreddit": "privacy",
    "event_date": "2026-10",
    "post_flair": [
      "news"
    ],
    "post_title": "India has now pulled BitChat from the App Store through Apple. BitChat works over Bluetooth with no internet, no phone number and no account. That is exactly why Delhi wants it gone. In July the government shut down the network around Jantar Mantar, and protesters used BitChat to keep talking.",
    "prominence": "core",
    "source_url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1wwr8vr/india_has_now_pulled_bitchat_from_the_app_store/",
    "entity_role": "subject",
    "post_author": "SignificantLegs",
    "upvote_ratio": 0.9645320197044335,
    "mention_count": 26,
    "mention_surge": true,
    "subreddit_url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/",
    "total_upvotes": 943,
    "comments_total": 66,
    "total_comments": 61,
    "event_date_text": "now",
    "other_companies": [
      {
        "name": "BitChat",
        "role": "partner",
        "domain": "bitchat.free"
      }
    ],
    "post_author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/SignificantLegs/",
    "signal_category": "event",
    "comments_included": 8,
    "products_mentioned": [
      "App Store"
    ]
  }
}

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