Seamless, Secure, and Everywhere: The end of WiFi friction

Purple is on a mission to make WiFi secure, seamless, and everywhere. In our recent "Free the Internet" webinar, we broke down exactly how we are achieving our global mission to improve how people connect in the real world. 

Purple was founded in 2012 out of frustration with poor guest WiFi, and our desire to eliminate barriers to getting online has not subsided. For the past 13 years, we have been driven by the need to perfect the captive portal, but now we want to go even further, creating truly seamless and secure online experiences for all. 

Why now?

Despite common assumptions that 4G and 5G have rendered public WiFi unnecessary, demand for high-quality connectivity is intensifying. For any venue, large or small, that relies on foot traffic or community engagement, providing reliable WiFi is crucial for customer and citizen satisfaction.

• Data shows that over the past year, searches for terms like "free WiFi" and "WiFi near me" have increased by 60%.
• Consumer decisions are directly influenced by access quality: 80% of people say they will visit, eat, or stay at places with the best WiFi, and sites like Booking.com use WiFi quality as a specific review point.
• The continuing necessity for public WiFi stems from mobile data plans that cap speeds after certain usage (even when labelled "unlimited") and the physical reality that 5G frequencies "don't penetrate indoors very well at all".

Digital inclusion

Purple is a certified B Corp with a responsibility to perform social good, and our key focus is tackling digital inclusion. Secure public WiFi addresses a profound societal impact: 2.1 million households in the UK and 40 million in the US lack connectivity. Individuals without connectivity rely on public WiFi for vital tasks, but "often feel uncomfortable doing banking, accessing government services, you know, health services, applying for jobs" on insecure public networks. By providing secure access in a public WiFi setting, "it changes the behaviours of those people and can have a major impact on society".

The Captive Portal: A universal headache

The number one barrier to a great WiFi experience is a long form on the captive portal. Our CEO, Gavin Wheeldon, founded Purple because of his intense dislike for these forms, noting a "universal dislike of these things across society, and no surprise your customers also hate them". Users are constantly stuck in the "doom loop" of filling in a long form, being told they already have an account, and going around in circles.

Purple’s mission has always been to remove this friction. We pioneered solutions like social login and introduced a unified Purple account that works like a single sign-on service, saving the end user from having to fill out forms repeatedly.

Introducing True Frictionless Connectivity

The ultimate evolution in eliminating friction is the Purple Connect app. This app transforms the WiFi experience from a series of annoying steps into one seamless event:

• Users download the app once and gain secure access to Purple’s global network. There are no forms, no messing.
• Purple is an approved identity provider with the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA). This allows our app to onboard users to OpenRoaming networks globally—estimated at around 5 million—for seamless roaming.
• Instead of forcing data collection, the app notifies users when they connect to a venue: "Would you like to share your data for special offers and rewards?" Users can choose to click and share immediately, or ignore the prompt and simply stay securely online. This complete removal of friction has led to over a 20% increase in the amount of data shared with venues.

Seamless Access is Secure Access

Crucially, this frictionless experience is built upon military-grade security. For users who rely on public access for sensitive tasks such as banking or government services, security is paramount.

The Purple Connex app installs WPA2/3 (802.1x) Enterprise credentials to ensure a secure, encrypted connection between the device, the access point, and our authentication servers.

This is infinitely more secure than standard WPA shared keys, which are the equivalent of an open network once compromised. All guest data is encrypted on our servers and held in appropriate regional locations.

Scaling the Seamless Experience

This platform is designed for frictionless scaling:

• For venues with existing enterprise hardware (Cisco, Meraki, Ruckus, Aruba), configuration is "extremely easy," and they can be "up and running literally in 30 minutes".
• This infrastructure facilitates city-wide scaling, creating a vast, unified network where users can "seamlessly roam around the public spaces and in and out of buildings". Newcastle, UK, is already live.
• Our partners can sign up directly online and receive free licenses, or even configure a mobile router as a demo product to take to the site and show customers.

The evolution of guest WiFi hinges on prioritizing secure, frictionless service to build community trust and enhance customer experience. By eliminating the captive portal and adopting the Purple Connect app, businesses and public providers ensure that connectivity is a source of satisfaction, not friction.

To watch our webinar “Free the internet: Join us on a mission to change the world” on demand, click here.