We all know Signal, Matrix, Telegram, SimpleX, etc… But if you can’t access the internet you can’t communicate. Pretty logic. But would it be possible, at least theoretically, to create an app that permits to message people even if the internet goes down?
It might be a dumb question I really have no idea to be honest.
You must log in or register to comment.
There used to be one years ago that used WiFi radios or Bluetooth or whatever so you could chat to people near you… I totally forget what it was called though.
Bridgefy?
Briar?
I don’t thiiiiink that’s it, but like I said, I don’t remember the name, so it might be 🤷♂️
Briar is the one that was mentioned a lot when the protests were happening in Taiwan, if that helps 👍
deleted by creator
Yes, sorry. I woke up in the middle of the night, but apparently my brain didn’t…
I’ll correct it now 👍
Bridgefy was used more during protests since it’s available on both iOS and Android, while Briar is Android only.
deleted by creator
Yeah I’m not saying Bridgefy is better, just that it’s available on both major mobile platforms while Briar isn’t. I do prefer Briar on technical and privacy levels.
Yes, this is totally what I was thinking of!
The first thing that comes to mind is Meshtastic: https://meshtastic.org/
I mean this is a terrible answer, but DS pictochat fits that
pictochat FTW
No joke, I was talking about this recently. I feel like niche groups (me included) are just going full-circle back to the DS days
If you don’t want to use internet the only ways are to use radio or deploy your own network infrastructure (optic fiber or cell tower), so there’s no really any messaging app that can be used without internet. Briar can use Bluetooth but with a limited range, needing an actual dense mesh network.
I found Berty yesterday just after making this post. But as a neophyte in cryptography and everything, how am I supposed to know which one is better for my privacy ? (e.g. between Briar and Berty) Because right now the only thing that I have is what the apps are “telling” me so… Yeah I don’t know how to chose.
Honestly if you don’t want to think too much about it, go with Briar, it’s way more battle tested, while Berty seems like it hasn’t seen much adoption since it’s younger, both have a bit of development activity I saw, so I can’t say if one is more or less maintained than the other
As for the actual question of gauging which has the better cryptographical implementation, I don’t know either, beside the most surface level information I know very little.
I believe if you want to look into it, you’ll have to start from their whitepapers
Woah Briar is really cool. I think this is like what I want Signal to be.
Isn’t this what airdrop was?
wouldn’t a cheap walkie-talkie be more practical in that situation?
i remember using this app some time ago ☞ https://f-droid.org/packages/org.jsl.wfwt/
wouldn’t a cheap walkie-talkie be more practical in that situation?
That’s not secure or encrypted
deleted by creator
You can encrypt a radio.
Yes, but that requires you and the one(s) you’re communicating with to mod some radios and then to keep those radios secret, which won’t be easy once you start using them, especially in a situation like that where the government would probably be scanning those frequencies for exactly that
Meshtastic can be encrypted and is LoRa based. Can easily hit nodes dozens of miles away with a good line of sight. It also relays messages across nodes to reach even further distances.
Surprised nobody mentioned scuttlebutt yet https://scuttlebutt.nz/
SSB can use the internet to share encrypted messages via hubs/servers, but it also can share the same messages peer to peer in a mesh sort of setup without the internet using a ‘gossip’ protocol within a local network. It was invented by a sailor who was regularly away from WiFi due to being at sea.
yes, a lot of people were using those kinds of apps during the free hong kong protests, they go from device-to-device with no internet in between.
No idea what the app is called, but apps like those exist
This was a common thing that was developed for the international protests after Arab Spring, which would frequently have their Internet shut down as a State tactic to prevent communication amongst protestors.
Mesh net chat apps like FireChat were born in response
Check out Reticulum Network Stack using LORA radio. Works really well.
deleted by creator
Yea but there are android versions too. Its to send files over WiFi direct phone to phone with no network but some also have chat.
Oh interesting! I’ll take a look into it thanks.
