Thanks to its peer-to-peer mesh networking technology and “store and forward” capabilities, FireChat can transmit messages from phone to phone, the San Francisco-based company said.
Advertisement
All communication apps today require Internet access and protocols.
FireChat, a popular off-the-grid messaging app from Open Garden, has been lately upgraded to include a new feature that will allow users to chat in groups even in the absence of a data plan or an Internet connection.
Firechat works by linking phones using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections, but it can also tap into mobile connections when necessary. Open Garden, the start-up which designed the app, initially allowed FireChat users to communicate via chat rooms, with no possibility of sending private messages to a member.
According to the company, if all networks were down in a city, it would take less than 5% of the city’s population on FireChat to cover the entire city with message delivery time of 10-20 minutes.
As the spirit of rebellion was rekindled on the streets of Hong Kong during last year’s Occupy Central pro-democracy protests, it was an app called, fittingly, FireChat that helped the demonstrators stay in contact when their phone or internet signals went down.
But now, having solved technical issues for private messaging such as off-the-grid identity, routing, encryption and interoperability between operating systems, the company is hoping its app will become much more ubiquitous for everyday communication. Makers of the app believe that FireChat could one day tie together numerous devices that have built-in radios and that it could allow users to be online without the need to spend a price in order to gain access. Only the sender and recipient can read a private message.
“Forget SMS and IM, here comes OM”.
The messenger was originally created for use at concerts or in rural areas where internet access is limited.
This technology is available now as a free application for Android and iOS devices. Open Garden, the startup that will produced the apps, at first permitted FireChat subscribers to converse utilizing forums, that have lost their…
Advertisement
Open Garden says FireChat will always be free, and hopes to see humanitarian organizations make it part of disaster resilience plans in parts of the world with fragile communications infrastructure. FireChat has often been used at live events, such as South by Southwest, where it received an Innovation Award in 2015.
