How to use FireChat

 

Have you heard of an app called FireChat? It’s basically an app with which you can communicate with people online without Wi-Fi, mobile data, or signal. Yes, you’ve read right! You don’t have to have Wi-Fi, mobile data, or even signal on your phone to stay connected and chat with your friends and other people on the grid! It’s a very simple and easy to handle app. And it is basically, how some experts say, one of the apps of the future!

When was it released?

The app was released in 2015 by one of the companies from the US called “Open Garden” that’s based in San Francisco. The app had its first signs of fame and popularity when people started to get scared that the government will turn off the Wi-Fi and cellular networks in their country, back in 2015. The first and the main purpose of the app was to promote some events that were happening near you or in the area that where you are, events such as festivals, live gigs, concerts, discussions, debates and etc.

How does this app work?

It really does work while your Wi-Fi or data are turned off and if you don’t have a signal! The app is actually based on peer-to-peer connections via Bluetooth between devices. So, you can turn your data and Wi-Fi off right after downloading it! The app can only be used and will work if the people you’re chatting with are not that far from you (the person should be within max 100 feet from you). Since that is a peer-to-peer connection, the chat users can stay anonymous and don’t have to tell something about their identity in the app, of course, they can if they want to.

How to use it?

It won’t be that hard to understand how to use the app. Basically, you post the message that everyone can see. Therefore the message is public. And it’s going to disappear from the servers after three hours have passed and you (and others in the server also) will no longer be able to see it or re-write it. The problem with the app is that there is no option for a private chat. Which repels many users, and that’s one of its biggest flaws. People just don’t want to have their conversations out there public so that everyone can read them. This technology will for sure need more upgrades and updates because many users have some complaints. Besides the no private chat option, some users say that they were not able to connect to people that were near them. Even if they were standing next to each other and both had their Bluetooth turned on, they still didn’t manage to connect to it. So that’s a bummer.

One of the great things about the app is that you do not need to log in or register, you just download the app from the store and you can immediately start chatting. You don’t need to give in any information about yourself.

It’s currently only available on IOS devices. But we really hope that it’ll be available for the android and Windows users as well so we could try it out.

Even though this kind of app is good, it has its downsides as well. Many people will and are posting harmful, or offensive content as messages. Be careful if you are using this app and always stay alert. You can never know what kind of person is behind a message!

We hope this article helped you with this app. And most importantly informed you everything you needed to know about it.