SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A new mobile messaging application
called FireChat is empowering nearby smartphone users to stay in touch
even when there’s no cellular service or Internet connection.
In
just two weeks since its release on the iPhone, FireChat already has
provided a flicker of hope for people pining for more effective, secure
and affordable ways to communicate. That’s because the free messaging
app harnesses a technology called wireless mesh networking, which might
someday allow a myriad of devices to connect like links in a chain.
The
technique might someday be used to tie together thousands of devices
with built-in radios and make it possible to be online without having to
pay for the access. It could also enable online communications in
remote areas or disaster zones without Wi-Fi or cellular signals.
Furthermore, the conversations in these so-called "off-the-grid"
networks can’t be easily hacked into by spies and mischief makers or
shut down by governments trying to stifle free speech.
"We trying
to create networks built by the people for the people," said Micha
Benoliel, CEO of Open Garden, maker of the FireChat app.
Open
Garden, a San Francisco startup with just 10 employees, is taking
another step toward its ambitious goal with Thursday’s release of a
FireChat app for Android phones.
FireChat could be an even hotter
commodity on Android given the demographic differences between that
platform’s user base and the typical iPhone owner. The app already has
been installed on more than 1 million iOS devices.
Many
smartphones running on Google Inc.’s free Android software are cheaper
than Apple Inc.’s iPhone. That has made Android phones the top-selling
mobile devices in less affluent countries, including in regions where
Internet access is inadequate or expensive.
Google is among the big Internet companies intrigued with mesh networking’s potential to bring more of
the world online.
Sundar
Pichai, Google’s executive in charge of Android, has touted mesh
networks as a way to connect wearable computers, such as the company’s
Glass eyewear. Mesh networks also could be used to bring a wide variety
of everyday appliances online, helping to build an Internet of things
instead of just websites.
FireChat’s reach so far is limited. When
connecting off the grid, iPhone app users have only been able to send
text and photos to other FireChat users within a range of 30 to 100
feet.
Later this year, Open Garden plans to upgrade FireChat’s
iPhone app so off-the-grid users will be able to hopscotch through a
daisy chain of devices to extend the reach of a local network. If this
works, a FireChat user sitting in the right-field bleachers of a
baseball game would be able to text with a friend on the other side of
the stadium if enough other iPhone users in the ballpark also are on
FireChat.
This extended range will be available immediately on
FireChat’s Android app because Open Garden released a mesh networking
app for that operating system nearly two years ago.
FireChat’s
iPhone app piggybacks on an often overlooked feature called the
Multipeer Connectivity Framework that Apple Inc. included in its latest
mobile operating system, iOS 7, released last September. Apple says more
than 80 percent of people using its mobile devices rely on iOS 7.
For
now, Android phones and iPhones with the FireChat app won’t be able to
engage in off-the-grid conversation. Open Garden, though, believes it
will eventually be able to make mesh networking work on phones running
on different operating systems.
As the mesh networking software
improved, Benoliel realized Open Garden needed to come up with
application to demonstrate what the technology could do. In that
practical sense, FireChat is similar to the word processing and
spreadsheet programs that Microsoft released decades ago to help broaden
the appeal of its Windows operating system for personal computers, said
Christophe Daligault, Open Garden’s marketing chief.
FireChat’s
development was driven by the popularity of other mobile messaging apps
such as Snapchat and WhatsApp that enabled smartphone users to text and
send pictures to their friends and family without having to pay
smartphone carriers.
Like texts and photos sent on Snapchat,
nothing transmitted through FireChat is saved. All content evaporates
once the app is closed. FireChat also allows all its users to remain
anonymous, another feature that is becoming popular on a variety of
mobile messaging apps, such as Wickr and Rumr.
There still aren’t
enough people using FireChat to ensure users will find someone nearby to
message. To pique people’s interest in the app, FireChat offers an
"everyone" option that allows users to enter a digital chat room with up
to 80 other random users located in the same country. This option
requires a Wi-Fi or cellular connection.
Dailigault concedes FireChat’s chat room isn’t as high-minded as mesh networking.
"We
are finding a lot of people are using it when they are just looking for
something to do for a few minutes," Dailigault said. "Some of the
discussions there are turning out to be more interesting than anything
they can find on Facebook."
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