INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A service that connects people to Wi-Fi hotspots for free turned out to be one of China most popular apps, nestling in the top ranks with
Tencent WeChat messenger and Alibaba digital wallet affiliate Alipay
According to areport from app tracking service App Annie, WiFi Master Key was China fifth-largest app and the world ninth largest by monthly
activeusers in 2018, titles it also heldin 2017.
Report: The State of Mobile 2019, App Annie
The aptly named WiFi Master Key, which owns
the enviable domain wifi.com, is the product of a little-known startup called LinkSure in Shanghai that gets people onto the nearest
wireless networks without the need for passwords
In addition, the app also recommends news and video content based on users& past habits to lock them in, a feature similar to that of
ByteDance algorithm-drivenJinri Toutiao news app.
Like many consumer-facing services in China, the app is free to use and monetizes traffic
Itclaims 700 million MAUs in China and another 100 million around the world
WeChat and Alipay, by comparison, each has around 1 billion MAUs worldwide.
The internet connectivity service helped LinkSure secure $52
million from a Series A round and value the parent at $1 billion back in 2015, only two years after the firm had launched
LinkSure has not announced further fundings since then and has kept a relatively low profile, though its founder Chen Danian was a household
name from China early internet days
Along with his brother Chen Tianqiao, Chen founded Shanda Games, once China largest operator of online games before the rise of Tencent.
In
November, Chen resigned as LinkSure chief operating officer as former Shanda executive Wang Jingying took over the reins to become one of
the few prominent female CEOs in China tech sector.
Sharing passwords
The idea of freeloading on strangers& networks strikes one as dodgy
(or too good to be true), but the reality is more nuanced
WiFi Master Key keeps a database of passwords while it encrypts and hides them from users, the company explains on its site
How does it collect all the credentials in the first place Well, every time someone uses it to key in a login, the internet access app
transmits that piece of information to the cloud
When people use it to, say, enter the Wi-Fi passcode a barista just gave them, the data gets stored and shared to whoever at the cafe uses
the app.
Aside from bringing connectivity, WiFi Master Key also provides news, e-book and video content to lock users in
Screenshot: TechCrunch
Those inner workings enable the app to bill itself as a Wi-Fi &sharing& service and distance itself from anything
But its data practice still draws concerns over user privacy
Last April, the Chinese state television broadcaster ran a 25-minute featurelambasting the app for &stealing passwords.& That was followed
by an industry-wide crackdown from the state cybersecurity watchdog on all Wi-Fi crowdsourcing services with lackluster security
practices.
LinkSure rebuked the state report and said it always asked for user consent before gleaning their data
Chances are few people read the lengthy terms of use on any kind of apps in real life, and the less digital savvy may fail to grasp how the
A major source of debate is when users inadvertently make their house Wi-Fi publicly available after giving the credentials away to a guest
who happens to use the data-ravenous app to access the host network
WiFi Master Key has not responded to emailed questions about its security practices.
Aside from enabling strangers to crowdsource Wi-Fi,
LinkSure has also joined hands with two major Chinese telecommunication companies to offer a separate broadband card with appealing data
That puts it in competition with Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu and other tech firms that are working with big telcos to provide cheap or unlimited
data, enticing people to use their in-house apps.
Meanwhile, LinkSure is eyeing to beam down its own internet connection from space
The plan is to target the next few billion rural users who are just coming online and live in areas currently uncovered by terrestrial
LinkSure says it aiming to provide a free satellite network around the world by 2026, with the first of a constellation of 272 satellites
bound to launch later this year.
A government-backed report put the number of people with internet access in China at 802 millionin June,
leaving nearly 600 million who are still unconnected; 30 million people came online for the first time last year, including an expanding
base of elderly users who are increasingly embracing Alipay and WeChat to go about daily lives.
