Wireless mesh mobile messaging app FireChat has seen a surge of downloads by Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters.
More than 100,000 new accounts were created from Hong Kong on Sunday (September 28), compared to only hundreds the day before, Micha Benoliel, CEO and co-founder of Open Garden, the developer of FireChat told Computerworld Hong Kong.
Benoliel added the network recorded 33,000 concurrent users from Hong Kong were connected to the network on Sunday early evening. The spike is a response to rumors that the SAR government is considering shutting down the mobile network in Admiralty in an attempt to disrupt the protests.
Launched in March 2014, FireChat is a mobile app developed by OpenGarden. It uses wireless mesh networking (WMN) to allow FireChat users to communicate with each other without a cellular or internet connection. Individual phones are connected to each other using Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, and serve as nodes in the greater network.
Benoliel added that FireChat uses a network protocol developed by Open Garden, creating an overlay network that is different from an IP network. Such a network of handsets is capable of supporting up to 10,000 simultaneous users to communicate through chatrooms within a distance 250 feet.
“It is a secure network,” he said. “There is no way for a user with bad intention to access [data in] your phone through this network.”
The application currently supports only iOS and Android devices, but the company has no plans to extend it to Windows phone, he added.