FireChat, a messaging app that provides a safer and more affordable way of communicating to others even without mobile or Internet connection, is now available for Android devices.
Inspired by the popularity of SnapChat and WhatsApp, this free messaging app uses wireless mesh networking which facilitates communication among iPhones even in remote areas without Wi-Fi. It has become popular in different countries which made the developer, Open Garden, to develop it for Android as well.
The said technology might be able to interconnect thousands of devices, even non-smartphones, and make it possible to gain access online at no cost. The developer also claimed that it is protected from hackers and wiretappers.
The app was unveiled April 3 by Micha Benoliel, CEO of Open Garden, for Android devices.
"We trying to create networks built by the people for the people," said Benoliel to Associated Press.
FireChat has also adapted similar applications to Microsoft's programs including word processing, spreadsheets and image viewer. Compared to its rivals, Android phones have the upper hand in sales in second and third world countries where internet connection is unreliable or costly.
Boasting of a better platform user base and a demographic advantage, FireChat on Android is far from being a run-of-the-mill application, since it is said to have been installed on more than a million iOS devices.
Google, one of the biggest Internet companies, expressed interest to harness wireless mesh networking in efforts of bringing more people from all over the globe online. According to Sundar Pichai, Google's executive in charge of Android, their company sees full mesh networking as a viable means to interlink old software and provide a vast selection online, AP reports.
However, FireChat's connection off-the-grid is limited to sending text, photos and data between users 30 to 100 feet apart. It also does not save transmitted files and allows user anonymity. It also created an "everyone" option which allows 80 persons from the same country to partake in a digital chat room, but this option needs a Wi-Fi or cellular connection.
