Hike Direct launched today; now chat and share files with friends without Internet or data charges

Indian internet company Hike Messenger today announced the introduction of Hike Direct that allows users to chat, exchange stickers, transfer photos and heavy files of any type, without the Internet or incurring data charges. According to a statement the company claimed that Hike Direct allows mobile devices to connect with one another directly within a 100 meter radius completely by passing the telecom networks. Once connected, users can chat and share files like they would using any other messaging app. In fact, these transfers can happen directly with a speed of up to 40Mbps. Effectively, if you have to transfer 100MB of data, it would take less than 10 seconds on hike direct, without any data charges. Speaking on the launch, Kavin Mittal, Founder & CEO hike messenger added “Today is the day we completely redefine messaging. Hike Direct has been built on breakthrough technology that adds a whole new dimension to messaging enabling hikers to chat and share files with their friends without the internet and without incurring any data charges. One can get speeds up to 40 Mbit/sec when chatting and sharing files through hike direct. Data or no data, hike will always work. It’s incredibly powerful.” According to the company, hike direct is built ground up with a new generation of network solutions. It adds, that hike direct uses Wi-Fi Direct technology systems that help establish peer to peer network connection between two phones. To use hike direct, you need to start a conversation with a friend and choose Hike Direct from the 3 dot menu on top right of the screen. Hike automatically pairs up with the other phone and lets you chat and share files with your friends without the internet. Users can get this feature by upgrading to the latest version of hike, version 4.0.6 and above, which is available free on the Google Play Store starting today. Hike Direct on iOS, Windows to follow next year. The company also announced that it crossed 70 million users last month with 20 billion messages being exchanged per month making it by far the 2nd largest messaging app in the country. An average user on hike spends over 140 minutes per week on the application. With the latest version 4.0 of hike messenger, users now have access to news, Hindi news bytes, localised stickers in 30 languages, automatic sticker suggestions, Group calling, Group chat upto 500 members and 100 MB file sharing among other features.