Buzzbelt: Offline Group Chat

Buzzbelt is a group chat for trips with no signal — Bluetooth only, no SIM, no internet. Be upfront about the catch: Bluetooth's own range is short, tens of metres between two phones in the open and less through walls, a crowd, or a back pocket. That's why Buzzbelt isn't just phone-to-phone: every phone in the group passes messages on to the next one, so your reach is the whole group, not just whoever is standing next to you. It works for a school trip, a youth group, a hike, a festival — anywhere data drops out or roaming stops working. But someone who has walked off alone is reachable by nobody. It works because the group stays roughly together, not because the app has found a way around physics. WHAT IT DOES • Group chat with no internet required. One conversation for the whole trip, plus a direct message to any one person. Anything that can't get through yet waits on the phone and sends the moment there's a way. • An honest headcount. See how many of your group your phone can actually reach right now — not a guess. When it can't tell, it shows a dash instead of a false zero. • Buzz. Ring every reachable phone at full volume, even locked in a pocket, so you can get everyone to stop and look up at once. Limited on purpose, so it still means something when it happens. • Signed leader announcements. Instructions from you arrive in a frame nobody else's phone can draw, checked against a key made when you set up the group, so people can tell it's really from you. • QR join at departure. Show a code on your screen, they scan it as they file past. No accounts, no phone numbers, no invite links, and no signal needed to join. WHAT IT DOESN'T DO Buzzbelt is not a locator and it is not built for emergencies. It has no location permission and no map. "Reachable" means two phones can hear each other over Bluetooth — it is not a claim about where anyone is or whether they're safe. If someone is genuinely missing, call them, call for help, and do everything you would do without this app. Running Bluetooth all day costs battery. Plan for a power bank the same way you would for a phone going anywhere without a wall socket nearby. WHO IT'S FOR Buzzbelt is built for the person responsible for getting a group somewhere and back — a trip leader, teacher, scout leader, tour guide or coach. There's no account, no sign-up and no phone number to give up, and nothing you send goes to a server, because there isn't one. No ads, no analytics, no tracking.