While you are travelling, why expend mobile data when there are now plenty of free public Wi-Fi hotspots? But locating these access points can be difficult. Once you have found one, getting connected can also be tedious as you have to fill in a number of basic personal details like name, mobile number, one-time password etc.
WiFire is an app that can simplify the whole process of finding out public Wi-Fi hotspots and getting connected to them. MobStac, the mobile engagement startup that's behind this popular application, recently brought out its iOS version.
Once installed, it shows the number of WiFire networks in the city, and also the Wi-Fi networks along with the distance from the location. Users can sign up by registering their email ID, first name, last name, mobile number, and creating a password. Alternatively, they can also use their Google or Facebook credentials. Once logged in, users will be able to connect to their favourite Wi-Fi networks with a single tap.
"WiFire basically crowdsources the information about public Wi-Fi networks," said Ravi Pratap, co-founder and CTO of MobStac. "Our technology in the backend figures out the type of network you are trying to get connected to. It automatically fills in particulars like name, mobile number, one-time password etc, saving users the trouble of manually filling them up each time.”
Users can share public Wi-Fi networks that they find with the app, and earn rewards for becoming a “WiFi Saviour”.
The app comes in handy at a time when there is a big push to set up public Wi-Fi networks. Google has partnered with RailTel to provide free internet access at 100 railways stations by the end of the year, and eventually roll out the service in as many as 400 stations across the country.
WiFire supports automatic login not only at the growing number of RailWire hotspots at railway stations, but also at thousands of other public hotspots offered by Tata Docomo, Ozone, BSNL, Reliance Jio, etc.
MobStac, founded by Ravi Pratap and Sharat Potharaju, who is the CEO, focusses on bringing online-type customer intelligence and engagement to offline retail through iBeacon and Wi-Fi technology. MobStac is backed by Accel Partners and Cisco, and it has offices in New York and Bengaluru.
Pan your camera to find out hyperlocal deals
Little, an app that locates hyperlocal deals, has been upgraded with a couple of new features.
One is the introduction of an augmented reality feature, AR Lens. As users pan the phone camera in their vicinity, all the deals from retailers who have partnered with Little begin showing up on the camera screen. This new feature eliminates the need for users to scroll down to find out the deals.
The upgrade also brings an option for users to play games within the app and earn coins, which can be used to redeem deals that have been discovered. The app, which has a Paytm integration, also understands the user behaviour with respect to the deals, and shows similar offers to the user.
Little, founded in July 2015, has currently 15,000 merchants on its platform across 11 cities offering more than 30,000 live deals every day. In September last year, it acquired a Chandigarh-based deal discovery platform, Trideal. The app, which occupies very little space on the phone, is equipped with level 7 security integration, according to the company.
‘Teen Patti Nights’ comes to Hike
Hike Messenger, India’s second largest messaging app, has launched ‘Teen Patti Nights’ , a fun online version of the Teen Patti game, also known as Indian Poker or Flash. Hike already had 10 other games.
The game, which is compact and light at 1MB, can be played live with people across the country from right within the app, which the company says has over 100 million users.
There are plenty avatars that appeal to users in the under-30 age group who make up over 90 per cent of Hike users.
The 10 other games on Hike are: Connect, India Puzzle, Number Rush, Word Search, Word Rush, Word Rush 2.0, Solitaire, Snake, Chess and Sudoku.
New way to keep up with fashion trends
Gurgaon-based startup Staqu has come up with an app Fashin that helps users discover the latest trends via music videos and images. It also compares prices across different platforms.
The app, that has the Artificial Intelligence technology working in the background, provides users options of outfits that match exactly with or that are close to ones of celebrities seen in videos or images.
It also has a feature, Snap & Buy It, that allows users to take a photo of their favourite outfit and upload from their gallery. The AI engine of the app will then look through the database and provide options that are exactly the same or similar to the one in the photo.
Users can also deploy filters to search for a different styles of the same colour and pattern.
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Google Wallpaper
Google has launched its own set of wallpapers, with the flexibility to pick images from a variety of categories, like Google Earth, Google Plus etc. Earth category comprises images from around the world. The app can be set to pick photos automatically from a specified category daily. You can also set it to show one wallpaper on your lock screen and another on the home screen. However, this feature requires Android 7.0 Nougat.
