New iPhone app lets you send texts even without 'cellular signal'

A new app for iPhone reportedly allows users to send text messages to nearby users even when the mobile phone isn't detecting its signal.

A new app for iPhone reportedly allows users to send text messages to nearby users even when the mobile phone isn't detecting its signal.

FireChat app relies on Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to transmit messages and photos between users.

This means that users could open the app in the basement of a library and chat with others, even without a cell service, The Verge reports.

Creator Micha Benoliel explained that as long as there is a FireChat-enabled device to act as a node in the chain, there's really no geographic limit to how big the ad hoc network can be and with each new user that logs on, FireChat's range expands.

The app works by leveraging one of Apple iOS 7's lesser-known features called the Multipeer Connectivity Framework, which allows the apps communicate with each other locally over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, even without an internet connection.

The report said that FireChat could create facilitate texting communities in areas of the world with sparse cellular service or expensive SMS plans.