FireChat launches off-the-grid private messaging service

Open Garden, the creator of FireChat, today announced the introduction of its new off-the-grid private messaging technology (‘OM’). For the first time ever, you can now send send private messages to people anywhere, even if you aren’t connected to the Internet or to a cellular network.

Enabling large scale offline messaging required solving challenging technological issues including: off-the-grid identity, addressing, routing, encryption, and interoperability between operating systems. All FireChat private messages are encrypted from end to end. Only the sender and recipient can read a private message.

No one else has access to the content of private messages. This technology delivers a brand new way to create communication networks that do not require capital, scale infinitely and can spread rapidly.

“Forget SMS and IM, here comes ‘OM.’ Off-the-grid messaging allows any community to create their own network for instant public and private communications, regardless of available infrastructure and traditional centralized networks,” said Micha Benoliel, co-founder and CEO of Open Garden. “This innovation paves the way for the next evolution of the Internet: networks created by the people, for the people.”