{{Short description|Mobile messaging app}} {{about|the app|the widget|Firebase#Firechat}} {{Infobox software | name = Firechat | logo = FireChat_logo.png | logo size = 200px | screenshot = | caption = | developer = Open Garden |latest release version = Discontinued |latest release date = |operating system = | platform = Android, iOS | genre = mesh networking | license = Proprietary | website = {{URL|https://web.archive.org/web/20140901121753/https://opengarden.com/firechat|opengarden.com/firechat}} }}
'''FireChat''' was a proprietary mobile app, developed by Open Garden, which used wireless mesh networking to enable smartphones to pass messages to each other peer-to-peer via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or Apple's Multipeer, without an internet connection.<ref name=Bloomberg>{{cite news|last1=Milian|first1=Mark|title=Russians Are Organizing Against Putin Using FireChat Messaging App|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-30/russians-are-organizing-against-putin-using-firechat-messaging-app.html|website=Bloomberg|date=30 December 2014 |access-date=1 January 2015}}</ref>
Though it was not designed with the purpose in mind, FireChat was used as a communication tool in some civil protests.<ref name=":0" />
FireChat is now discontinued. The official URL displays a 404 error page, and apps have not been updated since 2018.
==History== The app was first introduced in March 2014 for iPhones,<ref name="technologyreview">{{cite web |url=http://www.technologyreview.com/news/525921/the-latest-chat-app-for-iphone-needs-no-internet-connection/ |title=FireChat Could Be the First in a Wave of Mesh Networking Apps |work=MIT Technology Review |last=Simonite |first=Tom |date=28 March 2014 |access-date=29 June 2014 |archive-date=27 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151127150930/http://www.technologyreview.com/news/525921/the-latest-chat-app-for-iphone-needs-no-internet-connection/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> followed on April 3 by a version for Android devices.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/04/07/298925565/how-one-app-might-be-a-step-toward-internet-everywhere |title=How one app might be a step toward internet everywhere |last=Yu|first=Alan |date=7 April 2014 |work=NPR|access-date=29 June 2014}}</ref>
In July 2015, FireChat introduced private messaging. Until then, it had only been possible to post messages to public chatrooms.<ref name="technology-33718318" />
In May 2016, FireChat introduced FireChat Alerts, which allowed users to "push" alerts during a specific time and in a specific place.<ref name="Toor"> {{cite web |url=https://www.theverge.com/2016/5/19/11711686/firechat-alerts-app-natural-disaster-mesh-network |title=This app lets rescue workers send offline alerts when disaster strikes |website=The Verge |last=Toor|first=Amar |date=19 May 2016 |access-date=9 February 2018}} </ref> This feature was added for the benefit of aid workers doing disaster relief and stemmed from a partnership with the city of Marikina.<ref name="Stinson"> {{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/2015/10/giant-network-for-free-messaging/ |title=This App is Building a Giant Network for Free Messaging |magazine=Wired |last=Stinson|first=Elizabeth |date=12 October 2015 |access-date=10 February 2018}} </ref>
==Usage== FireChat became popular in 2014 in Iraq following government restrictions on internet use,<ref name="KuchlerKerr">{{cite web |url=https://www.ft.com/content/ef9602b0-f807-11e3-90fa-00144feabdc0 |title='Private internet' FireChat app grows in popularity in Iraq |last1=Kuchler|first1=Hannah |last2=Kerr|first2=Simon |work=Financial Times |date=22 June 2014 |access-date=29 June 2014}}</ref><ref name="Hern">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/24/firechat-updates-as-40000-iraqis-download-mesh-chat-app-to-get-online-in-censored-baghdad |title=Firechat updates as 40,000 Iraqis download 'mesh' chat app in censored Baghdad |last=Hern |first=Alex |work=The Guardian |date=24 June 2014 |access-date=29 June 2014}}</ref> and thereafter during the 2014 Hong Kong protests.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://boingboing.net/2014/09/29/faced-with-network-surveillanc.html|title=Faced with network surveillance, Hong Kong student demonstrators go P2P|date=29 September 2014 |publisher=Boingboing.net|access-date=5 October 2014}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/29/firechat-messaging-app-powering-hong-kong-protests|title=FireChat – the messaging app that's powering the Hong Kong protests|work=The Guardian|first=Archie|last=Bland|date=29 September 2014}}</ref> In 2015, FireChat was also promoted by protesters during the 2015 Ecuadorian protests.<ref name=GVOinternet>{{cite web|last1=Velazco|first1=Alfredo|title=The Internet, a Staging Post for Protests in Ecuador, is Under Threat|url=http://globalvoicesonline.org/2015/06/28/the-internet-a-staging-post-for-protests-in-ecuador-is-under-threat/|website=Global Voices Online|date=28 June 2015 |access-date=28 June 2015}}</ref> On September 11, 2015, during the pro-independence demonstration called Free Way to the Catalan Republic, FireChat was used 131,000 times.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Borràs|first1=Enric|title=L'aplicació amb què et podies comunicar a la Via Lliure també et servirà en una catàstrofe|url=http://www.ara.cat/societat/aplicacio-podies-comunicar-via-lliure-servira-catastrofe_0_1432056955.html|access-date=17 September 2015|publisher=Ara|date=17 September 2015}}</ref> In January 2016, students protested at the University of Hyderabad, India, following the suicide of a PhD student named Rohith Vemula.<ref>{{cite web|title=Hyderabad university shut after protests over Dalit student's death|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35349789|website=BBC News|publisher=BBC|access-date=28 January 2016|date=19 January 2016}}</ref> Some students were reported to have used Firechat after the university shut down its Wi-Fi.<ref>{{cite news|author1=TNN|title= Firechat comes to UOH students' rescue|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Firechat-comes-to-UoH-students-rescue/articleshow/50691376.cms|work=The Times of India|publisher=The Times Group|date=23 January 2016|access-date=27 January 2016}}</ref>
==Security== In June 2014, Firechat's developers told ''Wired'' that "[p]eople need to understand that this is not a tool to communicate anything that would put them in a harmful situation if it were to be discovered by somebody who's hostile ... It was not meant for secure or private communications."<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Baraniuk|first1=Chris|title=FireChat warns Iraqis that messaging app won't protect privacy|url=https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-06/25/firechat|magazine=Wired|publisher=Condé Nast|access-date=28 January 2016|date=25 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150917061844/http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-06/25/firechat|archive-date=17 September 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> By July 2015, the FireChat developers claimed to have added end-to-end encryption for its one-to-one private messages.<ref name="technology-33718318">{{cite web|title=FireChat launches new offline private messaging option|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-33718318|website=BBC News|publisher=BBC|access-date=28 January 2016|date=30 July 2015}}</ref>
==See also== * Mobile ad hoc network (MANET) * Smartphone ad hoc network
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{official website|https://www.opengarden.com/firechat}}
{{Instant messaging}}
Category:2014 software Category:IOS software Category:Android (operating system) software Category:Internet-related activism Category:Mesh networking Category:Defunct instant messaging clients