It’s better to be prepared than sorry. In this month alone, three strong earthquakes shook the country. Phivolcs has already appealed to fellow Filipinos to prepare for the inevitable 7.2 magnitude earthquake that’s to come when the West Valley Vault moves. When that happens, FireChat, a messaging app that works without data or Wi-Fi, may be the solution when attempting to contact your loved ones.
Cellular towers and Wi-Fi networks can fail, especially during natural disasters. Thankfully, the effectiveness of FireChat doesn’t rely on the signals of these towers. FireChat works even without an internet connection or cellular signal. The makers of the application, Open Garden Inc., integrated FireChat with the innovative technology of multi-hop and store-and-forward capabilities. Creating a mesh network with by using Bluetooth and peer-to-peer technology, the application is able to provide messaging capabilities between devices as long as they are within 200 feet of range.
In the mesh network, encrypted messages are transmitted to one device from another until it is reached by the intended receiver. However, when an internet connection or cellular network is available, Firechat uses these connections to reach recipients.
One thing to take note of is that the application’s effectiveness relies heavily on the density of users. Since it uses peer-to-peer technology, the more the people use the application, the better the service gets.
Already used globally, FireChat has aided countries such as India and Mexico in times of natural disasters. The application is free of charge and is available in Google Playstore and Apple’s Appstore.