Three ways to keep talking when the network goes. Bitchat is a free, open-source chat app that carries text over a Bluetooth mesh between nearby phones. goTenna Pro is a dedicated radio each person carries, paired to a phone app, that sends short data bursts — positions, map markings, text — over its own VHF/UHF mesh. O-LINK is team comms on the phones people already carry: text, push-to-talk voice, calls, positions and SOS, over whatever link survives.
The difference is what each one assumes. Bitchat assumes a crowd of phones within Bluetooth range. goTenna assumes every user carries its radio. O-LINK assumes nothing: it uses internet when there is some, Wi-Fi with no internet, phone to phone, a pocket LoRa radio or satellite SMS, switching on its own, and adds a radio only where range demands one.
Bitchat and goTenna capabilities below come from their own published material (Bitchat’s official repository, goTenna’s product FAQ) or, where noted, a distributor; a dash means we found it not documented, not that it is impossible.
| Capability | O-LINK | Bitchat | goTenna Pro X2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Runs on the phones the team already carries — no extra device per person | ✓iPhone and Android; a pocket LoRa radio is optional, for range | ✓a phone app; no extra hardware | ✗each user carries a goTenna radio paired to the phone app |
| Uses whatever link survives, automatically | ✓internet, Wi-Fi with no internet, phone to phone, pocket LoRa radio or satellite SMS — every phone relays for the others, and an encrypted relay steps in when phones can’t link directly | ◐Bluetooth mesh, up to 7 hops; internet through Nostr relays when it is there | ◐its own VHF/UHF radio mesh |
| Voice: push-to-talk and calls | ✓push-to-talk in every chat, voice and video calls (up to 7), urgent voice that plays on arrival | ◐voice notes and live push-to-talk (added July–August 2026); no calls | ✗goTenna’s FAQ: the Pro X2 “does not support voice communications” |
| Live and last-known positions on a team map | ✓ | —location channels are for nearby public chat, not team positions | ✓positions and map markings |
| SOS, man-down and urgent alerts that ring through silent | ✓ | — | —not documented at this level |
| Organisation control: enrol by QR, revoke a device, remote wipe, distress code | ✓admin console | ✗no accounts, by design | — |
| Long range with no infrastructure | ◐with an optional pocket LoRa radio; otherwise the range of the link in use | ✗Bluetooth range per hop | ✓vendor-tested 100 miles point to point with an aerial relay |
| No radio licence needed | ✓phones, plus licence-free LoRa bands | ✓ | ◐goTenna’s FAQ: VHF/UHF operation “may require an FCC Part 90 license” in the US |
| End-to-end encryption | ✓post-quantum hybrid key agreement (ML-KEM-768) | ◐Noise protocol; its founder said it had not had an external security review | ✓AES-256, per a distributor datasheet |
| ATAK / iTAK | ✓Cursor-on-Target | — | ✓ATAK plugin and iTAK |
| Drone alerts from a counter-UAS sensor, on every phone | ✓from O-RING over SAPIENT: alert, live track, one tap to take it | — | — |
| Cost for a team of 50 | ✓free up to 50 users; $5 per user per month beyond | ✓free, open source | ◐a radio per user (the earlier Pro X listed at $849 each) |
Where O-LINK is stronger. A whole team’s comms — voice included — on the phones they already own, with no radio to buy, charge or license for everyone. It is built for an organisation, not an anonymous crowd: the admin enrols phones, revokes a lost one and wipes it remotely, and a distress code silently alerts the admin. And it is the comms half of a pair: the drone O-RING detects reaches every O-LINK phone.
Where goTenna Pro is stronger. Range and ruggedness in the radio itself. A purpose-built, IP68 / MIL-STD-810 radio on VHF/UHF reaches far beyond anything a phone does unaided, and goTenna has years of military and public-safety fielding behind it. Where every user needs kilometres of range with no phones in between, a dedicated radio is the right tool — O-LINK can carry that role with a pocket LoRa radio, but does not claim goTenna’s reach.
Where Bitchat is stronger. Simplicity and openness. It is free, open source and needs no account at all, which is exactly right for a protest or a festival. It now has voice notes and push-to-talk, but it is not built for a team that needs calls, positions, SOS or someone in charge, and its own founder has said it had not had an external security review.
Sources, as of November 2026: Bitchat — official repository and README, release notes (voice, August 2026), whitepaper, Wikipedia (security-review statement). goTenna — Pro X2 FAQ (voice, licensing, data types), Pro X2 product page, vendor range claim, distributor datasheet (AES-256, IP68, MIL-STD-810), Pro X launch (price). O-LINK — the O-LINK page. Corrections welcome via contact.
A pilot takes an afternoon: install O-LINK on a handful of Android phones and iPhones, switch off the cell network, and see what still gets through. Free for teams up to 50.