Where Does Bitchat Store Messages and Keys?
Bitchat keeps chats in app-private storage by design, with no account and no message file anyone can copy.
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Bitchat stores messages in app-private storage and nowhere else. There is no account, no phone number and no server copy: chats live as ephemeral mesh relay plus an optional per-channel cache, and the triple-tap panic button wipes them on the spot. That is the design, not a missing feature.
Your identity key sits in the system keychain or keystore, and Nostr fallback keys work the same way. No export exists, so nothing transfers to a new phone. Back up anything that matters by copying it out of the chat while the device is still yours.
Where Bitchat stores this, by platform
App-private internal storage (no user-accessible file)
Messages in internal storage, unreachable without root and invisible to file managers. Identity keys in the system keystore. Panic wipe clears everything; no export or migration path exists.
Sandboxed app container (not visible in the Files app)
Chats in the sandboxed app container, keys in the iOS keychain. Nothing syncs to iCloud. Losing the device means losing the identity; contacts must re-verify the new key.
~/Library/Containers (sandboxed app storage, no message files)
Native Mac app shares the iOS architecture: sandboxed container plus keychain identity. Same ephemerality, same lack of export.
Frequently asked questions
I lost my phone. How do I restore my Bitchat identity?
You cannot. There are no accounts, so a new install generates a fresh identity. Tell contacts to verify the new key, and treat device loss like losing a session, not an account.
What does the triple-tap panic wipe actually do?
It wipes local chats immediately by clearing app storage. Use it when a device might be inspected. There is no undo and no cloud copy to pull back afterward.
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