Techniques for communicating via exchanges of physical charms

One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

• receiving, by a first device from a first user device associated with a first user, a first request to read a first physical charm, wherein the first request specifies a first charm identifier associated with the first physical charm, wherein the first device comprises a bridge device that is separate from the first user device, and wherein the first physical charm comprises a physical object;
• in response to receiving the first request, determining, by the first device, that a connection from the first device to the first physical charm currently exists based on the first charm identifier;
• in response to determining that a connection from the first device to the first physical charm currently exists, reading, by the first device, a message and an authorization list that are stored in a memory included in the first physical charm, both the message and the authorization list having been written to the memory via a second user device associated with a second user, wherein the message and the first charm identifier are stored separately from one another in the memory;
• determining that the first user is authorized to read the message based on the authorization list;
• and
• transmitting the message to the first user device.

A system for communicating via a physical charm, the system comprising:

• one or more memories storing a software application;
• and
• one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories, wherein when executed by the one or more processors, the software application configures the one or more processors to:
• receive, by a first device from a first user device associated with a first user, a first request to read a first physical charm, wherein the first request specifies a first charm identifier associated with the first physical charm, wherein the first device comprises a bridge device that is separate from the first user device, and wherein the first physical charm comprises a physical object,
• in response to receiving the first request, determine, by the first device, that a connection from the first device to the first physical charm currently exists based on the first charm identifier,
• in response to determining that a connection from the first device to the first physical charm currently exists, read, by the first device, a message and an authorization list that are stored in a second memory included in the first physical charm, both the message and the authorization list having been written to the second memory via the first user device associated with the first user, wherein the message and the first charm identifier are stored separately from one another in the second memory,
• determine that a second user associated with the system is authorized to read the message based on the authorization list, and
• output the message via an output device.