Amidst the Hong Kong protests, the government is sensoring the internet which is causing a vast amount of people to turn to a messaging app that uses no internet or cell service.
FireChat, which was released in March and is available for both the iPhone and Android, allows users to chat "off-the-grid." The app is designed for group discussions with people nearby (within 200-feet), according to the app's description in the Apple Store.
Over 100,000 new accounts were made in Hong Kong in the last 24-hours, Micha Benoliel, CEO of Open Garden, the firm that makes the app, tells BBC.
Benoliel says she has witnessed user spikes during protests in the past - such as during the ones in Tiwan and Iran earlier in the year - but the spike in Hong Kong is the largest she can recall.
"Protesters use it to, for example, announce what supplies are needed - goggles, surgical masks - or to announce protest tactics," Kyle Hui, a 19-year-old student from Hung Kong University of Science and Technology, explains to the New York Times. He adds that sometimes it could be overwhelming, however, because so many people in the area are using the discussion board-style messaging app.
Protesters in Hong Kong are likely looking for an "off-the-grid" mesaging app, such as FireChat, since the government is sensoring the internet.
The government also blocked Instagram in the country on Saturday, where the Chinese were sharing photos of the protest, reports the Times. Facebook, which owns Instagram, has already been blocked in China for about five years.
