Open Garden, the creator of FireChat, said it has introduced a new off-the-grid private messaging technology (OM) that allows sendin private messages to people anywhere, even if you aren´t connected to the Internet or to a cellular network.
Thanks to its peer-to-peer mesh networking technology and “store and forward” capabilities, FireChat transmits messages from phone to phone until the messages reach the intended recipient. For example, if all networks were down in a city, it would take approximately five percent of the city´s population on FireChat to cover the entire city with an average message delivery time of 10 to 20 minutes.
This technology delivers a brand new way to create communication networks that do not require capital, scale infinitely and can spread rapidly.
Enabling large scale offline messaging required solving challenging technological issues including: off-the-grid identity, addressing, routing, encryption, and interoperability between operating systems. All FireChat private messages are encrypted from end to end. Only the sender and recipient can read a private message. No one else has access to the content of private messages.
Open Garden Inc. is a San Francisco-based startup dedicated to connecting the next five billion mobile devices with peer-to-peer connections. FireChat is the first off-the-grid messaging app. It enables people to communicate even without any Internet or cellular connection, by allowing mobile phones to create their own peer-to-peer mesh network. Launched in March 2014, FireChat has reached the top 10 amongst social networking apps in 124 countries around the world.
