We all use messaging apps like WhatsApp, Viber, WeChat, SnapChat and various others in our daily routine. All these apps use internet connection, but FireChat app lets users chat each other without having a working internet connection. The app has now got an update which will let users chat privately.

This app has become very popular with users gathering in large crowds, such as at protests and music festivals, where cellular signals may be overloaded. The offline messenger was used by Hong Kong people during the height of their pro-democracy protests.

Micha Benoliel, Chief Executive Officer at Open Garden said:

“We end up having a network that’s comparable to any mobile carrier’s. It’s a completely new form of routing. We see the beginning of this new mobile Internet that’s enabled by people. People have the capacity to build these completely dynamic networks that don’t require infrastructure.”

Earlier the conversations via the FireChat app were based on the chatroom and public. The move by Open Garden to enable end-to-end encryption makes app the first widely used social mesh network and the company also claims to offer private communications.

The FireChat app links phones via their WiFi and Bluetooth signals and can also use multiple local networks. It creates a peer-to-peer mesh network that takes the user’s message from phone to phone until it reaches the intended user but with encryption.

“Firechat’s announcement that it will seek to provide end-to-end encrypted messaging is a positive step for privacy. However, it remains to be seen whether the quality of these implementations actually lives up to the claims,” said Richard Tynan, a technologist at Privacy International to the BBC.

According to the app developers, messages send via FireChat app can be delivered within 10 minutes if at least five percent of a city’s population uses the service. The app is available for both Android and iOS users.