FlightChat: Offline Chat

New: FlightChat on iPad, voice messages, replies, Solitaire, a private journal and more free stickers. Chat and play on the plane, no internet needed.

Your family is on the same plane, but scattered across three rows. The in-flight Wi-Fi costs money, and your phones have no signal. FlightChat lets you talk anyway. Traveling with friends, a school trip or a team? It works the same way.

FlightChat connects your group's iPhones and iPads directly to each other, using the same peer-to-peer technology AirDrop uses. There's no internet, no server and no account. Turn on airplane mode as usual, switch Wi-Fi and Bluetooth back on, open FlightChat, and you're connected.

CHAT LIKE YOU ALWAYS DO • Group chats plus one-on-one chats with each person • Be in several groups at once, like family and friends on the same flight • Join in seconds: scan the group's QR code, or ask to join nearby and the person who started the group lets you in • Take photos and videos right in the app, or send ones you have, plus GIFs and files • Send a voice message: hold the microphone, talk, let go. Easier than typing for kids and grandparents • Reply to any message, so everyone knows what you're answering • React to messages with a heart, a laugh and more • See when each message is sent and delivered • Export any chat as a ZIP with its photos and videos to keep the memories

PLAY TOGETHER, OR ON YOUR OWN • Tic-Tac-Toe, Four in a Row, Rock-Paper-Scissors, Checkers or Backgammon with anyone in your group • Card games for two: War, Crazy Eights and Gin Rummy, with your hand kept to yourself • Crazy Eights and Gin Rummy for 3 or 4 in a group chat • Solitaire for when it's just you, Easy or Hard, with your best times kept on your device

MADE FOR THE TRIP • My Notes and Games: a private journal for gate numbers, packing lists and trip memories, kept only on your device • Free sticker packs for travel days, family, feelings and vacation: "Wheels up!", "Are we there yet?", "Miss you", "Yay!", "Beach time!" and more. They work with no internet. • Missed something while your phone was asleep? Messages and photos catch up automatically when you reconnect. • On iPad too, with your chats beside the open chat, in any direction or next to another app • Works on trains, ferries, cruises, road trips, campsites and anywhere else without signal

PRIVATE BY DESIGN • Your group is yours alone. Every new group gets a unique code nobody can guess, so two families on the same flight never end up in the same chat. • You decide who joins. People scan your group's QR code, or ask from nearby: you check that both screens show the same emojis, then tap Allow. • The code never leaves your group. It isn't broadcast, and it's sent only to the devices you let in, over an encrypted link. • Block or report anyone, right from the chat • No sign-up, no phone number, no ads, no tracking • Your messages never leave your group's devices. We don't have servers, so we couldn't read them even if we wanted to.

FREE, WITH AN OPTIONAL PRO Everything above is free. FlightChat Pro, a one-time purchase shared with Family Sharing, lets you start Backgammon, Crazy Eights and Gin Rummy (anyone can join) and gives each chat its own color theme.

HOW TO START

1. Install FlightChat on everyone's iPhone or iPad before you fly
2. One person creates a group; everyone else scans its QR code or asks to join nearby
3. On board: airplane mode on, then Wi-Fi and Bluetooth back on
4. Open FlightChat and start chatting

GOOD TO KNOW • Keep FlightChat open to send and receive. iOS pauses nearby connections when an app is in the background, and anything you missed arrives when you open it again. • Devices need to be reasonably close, for example in the same part of the cabin • Up to 8 devices can be connected at once • Works on iPhone XR, XS and newer, and on iPad (iOS 17 or later) • In English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew, Korean and Arabic

Have a great flight.