FireChat now allows users to send messages without a data connection

Bengaluru: Want to send a message but don’t have access to the Internet or mobile network? It shouldn’t be a problem if you have the FireChat app on your cellphone.

A new feature introduced by the US-based mobile messaging app allows you to send personal messages, even without an Internet connection or local mobile network. Until now, the FireChat app enabled users to send messages to local chat rooms and people nearby, but these messages were public and were broadcast to everyone in the network. It became a popular means of communication during the Occupy Central protest in Hong Kong last year.

FireChat has introduced private peer-to-peer messaging, the company said on Thursday. With this new feature, FireChat pivots from being a chat room app and enters the realm of a messaging app.

FireChat, which raised $10.8 million in a Series A funding round in 2014, operates on a “mesh” network, which will allow people without a data connection to send messages to a particular person even if they are not in their local network. The message, which is encrypted and cannot be accessed by anyone except the intended recipient, will find the nearest person on the network, and will then travel from device to device until the end point is reached.

The app has been developed by Open Garden Inc., which develops free closed source apps for mobile operating systems that enable efficient peer-to-peer mobile Internet connections and data transfers.

“India is a key market for us: it is currently our second largest market globally with one million users,” said Marina Azcarate, head, global marketing, Open Garden. “Going forward, we will work with sports teams, cricket teams in particular, to introduce FireChat to fans at sports venues. We will also continue to work with large music festivals to enable fans to stay connected and also to connect to their favourite bands, like we did last year during Bacardi NH7 Weekender,” said Azcarate.

Azcarate said that communities used FireChat to exchange information during the Kashmir floods last year, and that they are interested in partnering with non-profits and disaster management authorities to put their technology to use “for good”.

The company does not think any of the existing messaging apps, including giants like WhatsApp and Facebook messenger, will pose a competition to it.

“We do not have competition. All other apps require Internet access or cell coverage to function. The technology is the culmination of years of work and it is not easy to replicate. We’ve solved challenging technical problems such as creating offline identities that do not require user authentication through servers, addressing, routing, encryption, and inter-operability between OSes,” Azcarate said.