Proximity

Okay so FireChat is this app that lets you message people near you—like within ten meters—without needing internet. It works through Bluetooth, using iOS 7’s peer-to-peer stuff. You’re at a festival, a concert, the beach, and suddenly you can text strangers around you. Or your friends if you got separated in the crowd.

There’s something perfect about the idea. You’re surrounded by people but your phone has no signal. Then this app shows up and says: you don’t need that. Just proximity. Just the people standing near you.

I doubt it became a thing. The fantasy of meeting someone at a concert through an app is better than the reality—everyone’s already distracted, already texting someone else. But the concept stuck with me: phones finally doing something interesting without the entire weight of the internet behind them.