Back in in the fall of 2013 I was reporting that BitTorrent is working on BitTorrent Chat, an instant messaging application that will let you chat privately and message securely.

The news is that BitTorrent Chat became BitTorrent Bleep. And BitTorrent is now letting enthusiasts test the pre-Alpha version of Bleep for Windows.

Back in the fall of 2013, BitTorrent raised an interesting point: what happens to your messages and chats if they are stored on a server and there’s a data breach? The answer is simple: some stranger can see what you talked about with your friends; the privacy of your conversations is compromised.

To address this problem, BitTorrent started to work on an instant messaging application that uses distributed technology to let you chat privately and message securely: BitTorrent Chat.

BitTorrent Chat Features

• Private chats – none of your messages will be stored on a server. This means they are not vulnerable to snooping or data breaches.
• Secure messaging – all the messages you send out are encrypted. When you IM a friend, you’re doing so on an encrypted peer-to-peer network.
• No limitations – BitTorrent chat is a free instant messaging application that does not limit you in any way. It won’t ask for money, it will not limit the functionality it has to offer.

Back in 2013, Chat was presented as a BitTorrent Labs experiment; a pre-Alpha experiment in Labs to be more precise. The experiment is still featured in Labs and is still in pre-Alpha – just that it is called BitTorrent Bleep now.

“Why Bleep, you might ask? Well, basically, we never see your messages or metadata. As far as we’re concerned, anything you say is ‘bleep’ to us,” explained BitTorrent.

BitTorrent is letting fans try out the pre-Alpha version of Bleep for Windows desktops. Give BitTorrent your email address and they will send you an invitation to join the closed pre-Alpha.