Do You Need Cell Service For Zello

The merits: Walkie-talkie app Zello can be used if you lot lose service during Hurricane Ida

Hurricane Ida made landfall on the Louisiana coast on Aug. 29 equally a Category 4 storm.

As residents sought ways to stay in touch during the storm, some social media users pointed to a walkie-talkie app equally a more reliable ways of communication.

"New Orleans friends not evacuating: There'south an app called Zello that turns your phone into a walkie-talkie if you lose service," reads a graphic shared in an Aug. 28 Facebook mail. "Delight download and inform your friends and family."

The post and like others have been shared on Facebook and Instagram, gaining over 5,000 likes, shares and comments, according to CrowdTangle, a social media insights tool.

Just this is bad advice. While the push-to-talk app simulates a radio's traditional ii-way communication, it can't work without internet access.

United states of america TODAY reached out to the Facebook and Instagram users for comment.

Can't use the app without cyberspace or jail cell service

Launched in 2011, Zello has gained popularity over the last several years particularly during Hurricanes Harvey and Irma in 2017, bouts of ceremonious unrest across the world and recently during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.

The app operates by assuasive users to join existing channels or create their own. In one case a channel is joined, alive audio transmissions from any member of the channel can exist heard together, much like with a police scanner.

Zello'southward channels can also exist used to instantly send voice messages, photos and live updates on the result being followed.

The aqueduct feature makes Zello somewhat like a handheld walkie-talkie, which converts a user's voice into radio signals transmitted over a shared radio frequency band, also called a aqueduct.

Simply dissimilar a walkie-talkie that relies on radio waves picked upward and transmitted by an antenna, Zello requires the point-conveying ability of nearby cellular towers, or the internet, to transmit sound or whatever data.

"Zello requires internet using either Wi-Fi or cellular data network of at least 2G," the company said in a Sept. 6, 2017, Facebook post, and reiterated again on its official Twitter account in 2018.

So if someone loses cell service amid a natural disaster, they'll probable also lose cell tower-based internet service. However, Zello could still exist used if the person has access to the net through Wi-Fi at a abode or business that is provided past an underground, fiber optic cable, which typically can endure extreme atmospheric condition events.

Our rating: Missing context

We charge per unit the claim that walkie-talkie app Zello tin be used if you lose cell service during Hurricane Ida, MISSING CONTEXT, based on our research, because without additional information it could exist misleading. Zello uses the internet to transmit audio and other content on the app. Information technology tin still function if users lose tower-based cell and internet service, but only if the person has access to a Wi-Fi network.

Our fact-check sources:

Us TODAY, Aug. 29, 'We volition get through this together': Hurricane Ida, stronger than Katrina, blasts Louisana later on landfall
WAFB9, Aug. 28, Hurricane Ida will be 'strongest storm' to hit Louisana since 1850s, governor warns
NOLA.com, Aug. 29, Nearly 600,000 without power, every bit Hurricane Ida rips through southeast Louisana
USA TODAY, Sept. 6, 2017, From Cajun Navy to Houston midwives, Zello is go-to app for Harvey rescues
Washington Post, Sept. seven, 2017, Hurricane Irma just made a digital walkie-talkie the No. 1 app online
NPR, March v, 2014, Zello App Gains Popularity With Globe'southward Protesters
The Guardian, Jan. 13, Revealed: walkie-talkie app Zello hosted far-right groups who stormed Capitol
Business organization Insider, Sept. seven, 2017, Hither's how to use Zello, the walkie-talkie app people are downloading alee of Hurricane Irma
How Stuff Works, accessed Aug. 30, How Walkie-talkies Piece of work
Zello, Sept. vi, 2017, Facebook mail
Zello, Sept. eleven, 2018, Twitter thread
Pilot Fiber, accessed Aug. xxx, The Perfect Storm: How Weather Affects The Internet

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Our fact-cheque piece of work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.