Bridgefy, a software company based in California, USA, claim to fame is that it developed a mesh-networking technology for mobile apps which can be used for messaging while offline.
The technology relies on a device’s built in Bluetooth & Wi-Fi capabilities. The Bridgefy app is available for free download on both the Apple Apps Store, for IOS & on the Google Play Store for Android.
Recently, Bridgefy became famous for its use during the protests in Hong Kong because protesters were able to communicate with each other despite the crack down on Internet availability by the Chinese authorities. In both Thailand & Nigeria, the app is also, currently, being used to confound state efforts to prevent protesters from communicating with each other.
Bridgefy is also commonly used during natural disasters when the Internet goes down, to allow relief efforts to proceed unhindered & victims to remain connected to potential helpers.
The company has shared their innovative technology by developing an SDK, which is widely used by many other companies. This technique is a licensed effort & provides Bridgefy with their financing. The types of companies, currently, using Bridgefy’s technology are not limited to messaging platforms & include payments, gaming, social media, dating & natural disaster apps.
Bridgefy was founded in 2014 by Diego Garcia, Jorge Rios to alleviate the lack of Internet during the earthquake that occurred in Mexico in that year. They have raised over $250k in seed capital from various investors in the past, which include Alchemist Accelerator & Chetrit Ventures. It has been reported that their latest funding round has raised this figure to $800000.
The latest development for the company is that it has launched what it refers to as “end-to-end encryption”. This major update to the Bridgefy app was announced on their blog during October & claims that users will now be able to enjoy better security :-
- Users will not be able to impersonate others.
- Man-in-the-middle attacks done by modifying stored keys will no longer be possible.
- One-to-one messages sent over the mesh network will no longer contain the sender & receiver IDs in plain text.
- A third person will no longer be able to use the server’s API to learn others’ usernames.
- All payloads will be encrypted.
- Historical proximity tracking will not be possible.
All in all, these new updates should keep users’ identity private, which is often the major thing users of the app are after.
