Jason
Member • Jul 29, 2015
FireChat App Lets You Send Private Messages Without Internet Or Mobile Network
Mobile network and internet connections seem pretty great when they work fine. But once you are in a location that cannot access either of those then they become the greatest source of frustration. Till now we had no choice except to rely on these networks and neither did we ever imagine there would be one. But, here is something you’d never thought will be possible. Silicon Valley based Open Garden Inc. have developed an app named FireChat, using lets you send the messages without the need of an internet connection or mobile network.
FireChat isn’t new. It has been around for quite some time. It was used in Kashmir, in the month of March, when Kashmir received the harsh rainfall. There is (or was) a reason for which the app is not very popular. Simply put, the app didn’t had the feature of private chats. That means that the messages that you sent went to the local chat rooms or the people nearby and everyone could read it. Naturally, it wasn’t something anyone would prefer over instant messaging (IM). However, now the developers at Open Garden Inc. have made it possible to send private messages which can be read only by the intended user.
While the exact intricacies of how does the app work is not known, the basic technology used for this purpose is public. FireChat transfers messages via Bluetooth and Wi-fi radios installed in a smartphone. The private chats weren’t possible earlier because there was no way to confirm the identity of the user without message passing between the device and the servers. But the Open Garden developers have overcome this challenge and have solved the issue of off-the-grid identity, routing, encryption and interoperability between various OS, thus making it possible to add the feature of private chat.
According to Open Garden, even if all the networks in a city are down, which seems like a pretty rare situation, it will take less than 5 percent of the city’s mobile users to transfer messages from sender to receiver with the delivery time of 10-20 minutes. As the number of users grow, the network become stronger thus decreasing the delivery time substantially.
In the year 2014, the company received a Series A funding of $10.8 million. The global marketing head of the company Marina Azcarate stated that India is their 2nd largest market in the world with over a million users in the country already and with the inclusion of private chats, they are hoping to become as huge as WhatsApp and Facebook messenger.
Via: FireChat: This private chatting app works without a data plan or even a network - The Economic Times | FireChat now allows users to send messages without a data connection | Mint
FireChat isn’t new. It has been around for quite some time. It was used in Kashmir, in the month of March, when Kashmir received the harsh rainfall. There is (or was) a reason for which the app is not very popular. Simply put, the app didn’t had the feature of private chats. That means that the messages that you sent went to the local chat rooms or the people nearby and everyone could read it. Naturally, it wasn’t something anyone would prefer over instant messaging (IM). However, now the developers at Open Garden Inc. have made it possible to send private messages which can be read only by the intended user.
While the exact intricacies of how does the app work is not known, the basic technology used for this purpose is public. FireChat transfers messages via Bluetooth and Wi-fi radios installed in a smartphone. The private chats weren’t possible earlier because there was no way to confirm the identity of the user without message passing between the device and the servers. But the Open Garden developers have overcome this challenge and have solved the issue of off-the-grid identity, routing, encryption and interoperability between various OS, thus making it possible to add the feature of private chat.
According to Open Garden, even if all the networks in a city are down, which seems like a pretty rare situation, it will take less than 5 percent of the city’s mobile users to transfer messages from sender to receiver with the delivery time of 10-20 minutes. As the number of users grow, the network become stronger thus decreasing the delivery time substantially.
In the year 2014, the company received a Series A funding of $10.8 million. The global marketing head of the company Marina Azcarate stated that India is their 2nd largest market in the world with over a million users in the country already and with the inclusion of private chats, they are hoping to become as huge as WhatsApp and Facebook messenger.
Via: FireChat: This private chatting app works without a data plan or even a network - The Economic Times | FireChat now allows users to send messages without a data connection | Mint
