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FireChat, a mobile messaging application for iOS and Android users, launched an off-the-grid private messaging technology called OM, with which its users can send private messages without internet or a cellular network.
The app uses a peer-to-peer mesh networking technology and has store and forward capabilities to send messages. FireChat transmits encrypted messages from phone to phone until the messages reach the intended recipient. Tha app ensures that only the sender and recipient can read a private message.
For example, if all networks were down in a city, it would take less than five per cent of the city’s population on FireChat to cover the entire city with an average message delivery time of 10 minutes, the company said. The app uses Bluetooth and Wifi connections of a smartphone to connect it with other smartphones on the app and likewise the messages are passed on.
Open Garden, the San Francisco-based startup that developed FireChat, said the technology delivers a brand new way to create communication networks that do not require capital, scale infinitely and can spread rapidly.
FireChat was extensively used by protestors during the Hong Kong protests last year. Currently, it has a user base of five million globally. India is the second largest market for the app with about one million users. The OM technology is available now as a free application for Android and iOS compatible devices.
