access to FireChat was completely cut off without explanation.

After establishing that FireChat establishes its own, independent mesh network, I would have at least expected more details on how it was cut off? Did it simply became unavailable on the publishers distribution? The followup text seems to indicate otherwise. Did Google and Apple as app publishers actively revoke access to already installed apps? Did the Open Garden publisher have a disabling functionality in place? Did they publish an update to disable it?

Without any information, it's hard to say why FireChat disappeared. […]

FireChat is gone because FireChat was a threat to the systems it circumvented.

"Nobody knows anything, but let me claim this anyway."