The Future and Benefits of the FireChat App

Courtesy of opengarden.net

FireChat is a new mobile messaging application empowering smartphone users to stay in touch even when roaming or with lack of internet connection.

The free messaging app harnesses a technology called wireless mesh networking.  Someday this may allow a myriad of devices to connect like links in a chain thus making communication more effective, secure and affordable.

What does this mean exactly?  In the future thousands of devices will be able to band together making it possible to be online without having to pay for access.  It could also enable online communications in remote areas or disaster zones lacking Wi-Fi or cellular signals.

“We are 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.

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.  In not so many words, the devices will feed off each other.

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.

Texts and photos transmitted through FireChat are not 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.

There still aren’t enough people using FireChat to ensure users will find someone nearby to message. To gain popularity and interest, 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.

“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.”

 The Future and Benefits of the FireChat App

Facts contributed by Associated Press.