PubNub and Speakfree Team to Deliver Instant Messaging App to Aid Communication Between International Humanitarian Organizations and Refugees During Global Crisis
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) October 01, 2015 -- PubNub, the leading Data Stream Network for mobile applications and the Internet of Things (IoT), today announced that it is working with speakfree, a free, location-based, instant messaging app that allows refugees to interact with their families, aid workers, local residents and other refugees in their immediate surroundings. PubNub is providing speakfree access to its global Data Stream Network and APIs to enable humanitarian organizations and NGOs to communicate directly with refugees, ensuring a consistent flow of communication to keep them updated with current news, photos and videos. The free app automatically translates messages from aid organizations into six languages and is available on both iOS and Android.
Originally launched in March 2015, speakfree was designed for users to communicate anonymously and in realtime with others in the same geographical area. With the escalation of the worldwide refugee crisis and the subsequent critical need for humanitarian organizations to disseminate accurate, timely information such as shelter locations and donation availability, new features were added. Aid organizations now communicate with refugees using verified accounts and automatic translations that enable immediate contact in languages such as English, French, Arabic, Urdu and Dari. The addition of chat rooms for individual languages enables refugees to also communicate with each other as well as with local residents in realtime.
“The current global refugee crisis is unprecedented and refugees benefit greatly from receiving up to date information about services that humanitarian organizations have to offer,” said Peter Muehlberger, founder and CEO of speakfree. “Without PubNub, we would not have been able to deploy this app so quickly and be able to scale it to hundreds of thousands of refugees and aid workers in a very short time. ”
“PubNub is thrilled and humbled to help refugees easily connect with the organizations that can offer them much-needed assistance and with their friends and family during this crisis,” said Todd Greene, CEO, PubNub. “We hope that, through our technology, we’re able to break down communication barriers and ease the hardship these refugees are experiencing.”
speakfree Availability
speakfree is available as a free download at the iTunes Store and Google Play. NGOs interested in using speakfree as their primary communication tool to facilitate humanitarian aid can email ngo(at)getspeakfree(dot)com.
About PubNub
PubNub is a secure global Data Stream Network (DSN) and easy-to-use API that enables its customers to connect, scale, and manage realtime applications and IoT devices. With over 70 SDKs for every platform, 250ms worldwide data transfer times, and scalability for hundreds of millions of devices, PubNub’s unique infrastructure provides the ability to easily connect and operate world-class realtime applications and IoT devices. PubNub is headquartered in San Francisco. Visit PubNub online at http://www.pubnub.com, Twitter, LinkedIn, Vimeo and Facebook.
Rebecca Metz, Metz Communications, (512) 560-5211, [email protected]
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