Hong Kong Protests Propel FireChat Phone-to-Phone App

The idea behind FireChat is to enable smartphones to speak directly to each other -- whether or not there is a working cellular or Wi-Fi connection -- through the small Bluetooth or Wi-Fi radios in the phones themselves.

To the tech-savvy democracy protesters in Hong Kong, FireChat has offered the potential to stay connected and organized even if the authorities shut down cellphone service. Thus far, cellphone service in Hong Kong has been untouched, but FireChat has come in handy nonetheless: The center of the city -- where thousands of protesters are concentrated -- has stressed and strained cellphone service. According to Open Garden, during the week of protests there have been millions of chats in Hong Kong through FireChat, and the app has been downloaded several hundred thousand times.