New | 'Off-the-grid' messaging application FireChat continues to ride Occupy boost

FireChat, a mobile messaging application that does not rely on data networks or Internet connections to operate, has seen explosive growth in Hong Kong since it became the app of choice last week in the city's Occupy Central pro-democracy movement. 

Over the last week, FireChat has been downloaded 460,000 times in the city, according to Christophe Daligault, vice-president of sales and marketing of the app’s developer Open Garden.

With a poulation of just over 7 million, Hong Kong has now become the second-largest market for the application in terms of downloads, behind the United States and ahead of India. Mainland China ranks fifth, while Taiwan ranks ninth in downloads.

Protest organisers in Hong Kong had first called on demonstrators to download the app as rumours circulated on Sunday that the government might shut down mobile phone networks and Internet connections in districts hit by protests. 

FireChat connects users to chat rooms via Bluetooth or Wi-fi, even if they are not connected to mobile phone networks. Messages go online and can reach a global audience if individual users in chat rooms gain access to the internet.

While there was no evidence of large-scale Internet or mobile network outage in Hong Kong in the past week, participants and supporters of Occupy Central continued to download and use the app.