Your No-Signal Plan
The storm has passed. Your phone says "No Service." The first thing you want to know is whether your neighbor is okay.
Why this matters
Cell towers go down in hurricanes and long outages. When they do, the people closest to you are the first help you have. A household that can still reach its neighbors is a stronger household. This page is a simple plan to get there before you need it.
What Bitchat is
Bitchat is an open-source app from Jack Dorsey's Permissionless Tech. It costs nothing to download. It sends messages from phone to phone over Bluetooth. It does not need the internet, a server, an account or a phone number.
The idea is called a mesh. Think of a bucket line at a fire: each person only hands the bucket to the next one. Your message hops from phone to phone until it reaches the person you are talking to. The app limits a message to seven hops.
iPhone and Android work together. The Android app is built to be fully compatible with the iPhone app, so a mixed block is fine.
The pair-up plan
- Install it now. You cannot download it once the towers are down. Search "Bitchat" in your app store.
- Pair up. Your household plus your next-door neighbors. On a normal day, send each other a test message.
- Pick your channel ahead of time. Channels use hashtag names. Deer Park default:
#deerpark. - Bring in one more neighbor. Every phone that joins extends everyone's reach. The mesh only works when enough phones are close together.
- Keep a charged power bank. The app runs on your battery.
The Resilience Ladder
Start on the first rung. Climb as far as you want.
Bitchat
No charge, no license, phone to phone, short range. Everyone starts here.
FRS and GMRS radios
FRS walkie-talkies need no license. A GMRS license lasts ten years, and one license covers your immediate family. The FCC sets the fee and the requirements. Check the current fee, requirements and how to apply at fcc.gov before you buy.
Amateur (ham) radio
The longest reach. Anyone may listen without a license. To transmit you need an FCC license; the entry license is Technician, and you earn it by passing a licensing exam. Local start: the Clear Lake Amateur Radio Club (K5HOU) runs the W5RRR repeater on 146.640 MHz, holds a weekly information net Wednesdays at 8:00 pm, and sponsors license exams most months (dates here).
The Council is building a neighborhood radio program for Rung 3. It is early. If you want in, tell us and we will tell you first.
Honest limits
- Range is short. Phones must be close enough to reach each other, so it works best with many phones on a block.
- It uses your phone's battery, so keep a power bank charged.
- No independent security audit has been published yet, and the project says so itself. Do not send anything you could not afford to have read.
- Messages to someone out of reach wait and retry. They are not guaranteed to arrive.
Bitchat also has an Emergency Wipe: triple-tap to clear all data from the app.
Help the project
Install it. Get your block on it. Tell us what works and what does not. If you build software, the project welcomes issues and contributions.
Gear for the ladder
Three things worth having before the storm: a weather radio, a pair of FRS/GMRS radios, and a power bank. These links go to Amazon search results.
Support us when you shop Amazon: click our link each time you shop and you support this work at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Want to do more than read about it? Join neighbors doing the work in The Remnant, our $5-a-month community. The Remnant (The Remnant is our own community.)
Think and Act Locally · Deer Park, Texas. Facts on this page were checked against the project's own pages and the FCC on October 20, 2026.