Thursday 2 October 2014

How to chat locally without Internet using FireChat.

FireChat is a very interesting app, which allows you to chat with people near you without needing any internet connection. FireChat was first launched for iPhone. It was from the early adapters of ios 7's Multipeer Connectivity framework. Using that framework your app can use the local mesh network created by iphones to chat. Android version of the same app has also been launched. It is not quite the same, it features different interface. Functionally they are same. There are not any per-fabricated libraries or framework on mesh network like apples Multipeer Technology, but Open Garden the founder company of firechat has long worked with mesh networks for sharing connections. It is using that knowledge to run firechat on android. Initially android network can transmit data to about 30 feet, but due to the multi hop technology of firechat it allows us to cover a far wide range if used by enough number of people. it is widely used in countries like Brazil, Spain, Taiwan and chile. It has following features:
  • Sends instant message to anyone around network.
  • You can chat with group or single person.
  • You can switch to Everyone mode to see what people are talking about.
  • You can also create conversion private to people around you using Nearby mode.