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servalproject.org is free (and open source)

P2P voice, chat and online status.

Uses Ad Hoc networking, which iirc FireChat uses bluetooth so servalproject should get better range.

I'm not affiliated with the project in any way (I'm not in Australia) but I've happily used it for some tests.

terrible name!!! They need a catchy name like FireChat.

this is interesting what is ad hoc networking and how does it work offline? Firechat uses bluetooth but doesn't work with iphone to android communication?

They somehow managed to do that: allow communication between two platforms. No one is quite sure how though. It's their secret source that they aren't open sourcing.

You could conceivably do this with Bluetooth Low Energy, which has pretty diverse support nowadays. Mesh networking is one of its touted capabilities.

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