This app lets you text from anywhere in the world without data or Wi-Fi

The moment you most need to send a text is often the moment you can't send one at all. Maybe you're in a foreign country and avoiding roaming charges, or you're in a crowded stadium trying to track down your posse and find yourself with no signal. Trust me, I once watched a Lady Gaga concert alone because of the latter, and it was a sad scene.

It turns out there's an app that could've saved me from pathetically weeping during "Papparazzi." FireChat uses a technology called mesh networking that allows users to text each other without Internet connection.

This is how it works: The Wi-Fi or Bluetooth from your device bounces the message to another device that's equipped with FireChat, up to 200 feet away. The encrypted message hops from device to device until it’s delivered to the device of your actual recipient. It's a process that can take up to 10 or 20 minutes and perhaps even longer if you're say, in Times Square or the main stage at Coachella. Successful delivery of your message also depends on whether enough people around you are running the app — only 5 percent of mobile users even have FireChat downloaded, currently.

Technicalities aside, FireChat has been proven to work. It was a driving force behind the Occupy Hong Kong protests, allowing protesters to organize even in locations where cell phone reception was slow or down. And according to Skift, more than 5 million people around the world use it.

The app's still got competition though, particularly from Facebook, which offers complimentary access to its website, including its Messenger, in 45 countries even without Internet. And if you've got a Wi-Fi connection, then you'll probably still be more inclined to use WhatsApp, rather than wait 20 minutes for a FireChat message to relay. Still, it's a good idea to prep your phone with FireChat before traveling abroad or to any other potentially low-signal destination, like a nature reserve or a Lady Gaga concert.