FireChat, a messaging app, has been upgraded with a new feature that allows users to chat in groups without an Internet connection or data plan. The new service, available for iOS and Android smartphones, uses Wi-Fi or Bluetooth installed on the mobile device. It provides a world of difference from messaging services on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
FireChat messages access a handset's radio tech, and its maximum range is 70 meters (230 feet), according to The Wiire. However, a Bluetooth application can boost the limit.
Open Garden, the app's developer, has the vision that one day the innovative tech could connect several gadgets with built-in radios. This would provide free Internet access.
Other applications are possible. They include users that live in remote locations, and those living in a disaster zone that has no cellphone or Wi-Fi signals.
Open Garden also noted that the conversations on the app are hard to hack, and cannot be shut down because of governments' free speech laws, according to Tech Times. In a sense the chats are "encrypted."
The company claimed that if at least five percent of a city's population is using the messaging service, the delivery time of messages is 10 to 20 minutes. More users exponentially make the service faster.
However, Richard Tynan, a technologist, told the BBC in a statement that whether the technology's quality equals its security claims has not been verified. Independent tests are required.
The app's developer noted that its service is free. That differs from the networks of tech giants such as Facebook and Google, which are increasing Internet access by using tools such as drones, balloons, and satellites.
FireChat currently has over six million users.