How to Implement Super Live Chat to Your App- ZEGOCLOUD

Developing a super live chat architecture is much harder than it looks — numerous technologies have to be employed to meet high real-time demands. How to implement super live chat into your apps? Here are the guide in steps-by-steps and just easy to complete!

Why Super Live Chat is Important

Super live chat is a service that allows users to communicate with each other in real-time over the Internet. It is an important function of popular apps on the market, such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

In recent years, driven by the rapid development of mobile technology and the growing trend for social features in the app market, it has been widely used for communication on social media platforms, and in scenarios as diverse as e-commerce, live streaming, customer service, etc.

Research shows that more than 60% of apps on the market have the super live chat feature, through which users can chat with each other in real-time, thus improving app engagement and user experience. For app developers, Super live chat implementation has become a must-have skill.

With more than 10 years of experience in developing super live chat apps, the author shares three options for super live chat implementation and hopes this article could be of help to developers.

5 Best Super Live Chat Apps for You

Here is an overview of five popular live chat apps:

1. WhatsApp

WhatsApp is a widely used super live chat app that allows users to send text messages, voice messages, images, and videos. It has end-to-end encryption, which means messages are secure and private. It also has a group chat feature, making it easy to chat with multiple people at once.

2. Facebook Messenger

Facebook Messenger is a messaging app that allows users to send text messages, voice messages, and make video calls. It also has a group chat feature, and users can share photos and videos. It integrates with Facebook so users can easily chat with their Facebook friends.

3. Slack

Slack is a messaging app for super live chat designed for teams and businesses. It allows users to create channels for different projects or topics, and team members can collaborate and communicate in real time. It also has features like file sharing, video calls, and integrations with other business tools.

You may also like: How to Build a Slack Clone App

4. Discord

Discord is a chat app designed for gamers, but it has expanded to include other communities as well. It allows users to create servers for different topics or interests, and users can chat with each other through text, voice, or video. It also has features like screen sharing and file sharing.

You may also like: How to Build a Discord Clone Chat App

5. Snapchat

Snapchat is another live chat app that allows users to send photos and videos that disappear after being viewed. Users can also send text messages and make video calls. It has a large user base, particularly among younger generations, and it has features like filters and lenses that allow users to add fun effects to their photos and videos.

3 Methods: How to Implement Super Live Chat

Developers may build a super live chat app via

open-source code
in-house development
commercial SDK integration based on the project needs.

Client-side development, server-side development, and O&M are the three key parts of turning an idea into an IM product and keeping it up and running.

Client-side development involves mobile apps, desktop software, webpages, and mini-programs. Server-side development is about the implementation of all super live chat functions, such as user access, relationship maintenance, sending/receiving messages, file and photo storage, and security audit.

Continuous O&M is required to ensure a stable and reliable environment on the server side for the IM app, such as scaling up the server in case of a surge in workload.

It’s not easy to realize any of the above from scratch. In particular, in-house development requires a highly capable project team and abundant resources. Generally, large companies would develop software entirely on their own while others use open-source codes or integrate a commercial SDK. Differences between the three methods are summarized as follows:

Table: 3 methods of Super live chat implementation

	Open source code	In-house development	Commercial SDK
Difficulty	Low	High	Medium
Functional scalability	Difficult; dependent on the open source project plan	Easy; independent of external conditions	Medium; dependent on SDK providers
O&M cost	High; in-house O&M	High; in-house O&M	In-house O&M not required
Product launch cycle	Medium	Long	Short
Target audience	Individuals learning app development	Large companies with strong R&D capabilities	Small and medium-sized enterprises and personal studios

Method 1: Use open-source projects

Using an open-source project is the fastest way to implement super live chat as you can embark on a fast-track product development by drawing on the wisdom of the whole community.

What should we focus on when choosing an open-source project for super live chat? The maturity of functions and the number of active users are two important aspects to consider when choosing an open-source project. Based on my experience, I would like to share with you two good open-source projects.

1. MongooseIM

Project URL: https://github.com/esl/MongooseIM

MongooseIM is Erlang Solutions’ robust, scalable, and efficient XMPP server, aimed at large installations. Specifically designed for enterprise purposes, it is fault-tolerant and can utilize the resources of multiple clustered machines.

2. OpenIM

Project URL: https://github.com/OpenIMSDK/Open-IM-Server

OpenIM was founded and developed by senior IM architects and IM/WebRTC experts, aiming at creating service value and developing lightweight, high-availability super live chat architecture through open-source technology. With OpenIM, developers can easily build multiple IM and real-time interactive audio/video scenarios in an app.

An open-source project is an excellent option for developers who have to meet a tight deadline and without too many needs for customization to realize fast IM implementation. However, the project provides only simple and basic functions and adding new parts relies heavily on its development progress. If you want to create a bespoke IM app, or if you expect a growing business, I advise you against using this method.

Teams with R&D capabilities usually prefer in-house development if they want a custom IM product. The next part will guide you through the technical difficulties and pitfalls in the process of in-house development.

Method 2: In-house development

Developing a super live chat product entirely by in-house teams requires a high cost and extensive, essential software development expertise within an organization. In addition, the development cycle may be lengthy. You need to make long-term planning to avoid missing business opportunities.

When developing a super live chat app in-house, we have met some technical difficulties in the following areas:

Reliability and order of messages.
Real-time messaging and pulling of messages in case of massive concurrent requests.
Message storage options: “pull” or “push” model.
Accurate calculation of unread messages.
Group chat acknowledgment messages.
Multi-data center deployment.

You may bundle some features of full-fledged products on the market into your app, such as file storage, security audit, and offline push notification, to accelerate the development. If you decide to develop such features by yourself in the future, you can easily replace them to maximize efficiency.

Deep-pocketed and technical-savvy enterprises that expect an enormous user base are advised to choose in-house development to fulfill their needs for functional scalability, fast iteration, and stable O&M.

Given the considerable financial and human resources required during this process, I recommend that in-house developers make a sound development plan to avoid unnecessary loss.

Here is a summary of the downsides of the two super live chat implementation methods we have discussed: If you choose an open-source project, it would be a bit difficult to add new functions and the O&M is complex, making it hard to support the product’s long-term development. In-house development takes time and costs a lot of money.

Is there a compromise solution that needs a short development timeline, requires less investment, and supports customization? Yes. Integrating a commercial SDK is the easiest and a popular way to develop software applications. Many companies would choose SDKs from full-blown providers.

Method 3: Integrate a commercial SDK

This method is appealing because it:

enables quick implementation of an IM product to gain competitive edges.
offers stability to reduce O&M work.
supports functional scalability: If a new function is required, just get your request to the SDK provider.
requires much less cost than in-house development.

Process of super live chat implementation When you choose to integrate a commercial SDK, follow the process below to implement super live chat:

Apply for a user account and get the password from the SDK provider.
Develop a service backend used to calculate the authentication information.
Integrate the SDK and develop your app.

Let’s take sending/receiving messages as an example. Modules interact with each other, as shown below:

To sum up, if you choose this method, all you need to do is develop a simple service backend, integrate the SDK, and develop your app. With all being done, you can launch your app quickly.

A Perfect Adaptation of Super Live Chat – ZEGOCLOUD

Efficient communication is the key to success in a company operating these days. For this, the use of multiple tools and platforms is cordially recorded. ZEGOCLOUD provides a dedicated API and SDK service to implement in-app super live chat within a platform. Subsequently, companies who wish to adopt a live chat system in their environment can try this intuitive feature in their system.

To return to this in-app chatting API service, the world-class experience offered by this platform is exceptional. Moreover, multiple functions such as one-on-one and group chatting can help you initiate excellent communication with your peers within your company and your customers.

Prominent Characteristics of ZEGOCLOUD Live Chat API/SDK

If you consider using this API service for your super live chat app, there are a few features that you should note down. Subsequently, this will help you out in settling down the best options for introducing live chat:

Proper Management System: ZEGOCLOUD has a complete management system in its in-app super live chat API. This includes allowing the users to set up individual profiles and create groups for communication.
Observe Message History: Where most messaging services do not provide the option of retrieving messages, ZEGOCLOUD helps its users recover past conversations of up to 365 days.
Low Latency: The impressive ZEGOCLOUD offers API services with a low latency rate of 100ms. Messages are delivered to the users in real time in a highly secure and controlled environment.
Infinite Support: Along with offering such extensive features, ZEGOCLOUD also holds server support for millions of concurrent messages. This helps users manage their applications with the API service without disruptions.

Final Thoughts

To conclude, the article has provided a comprehensive overview of setting up a super live chat app. While using services like ZEGOCLOUD, users can expect high-quality results with cohesive in-app chatting support. In summary, to get the finest results, you will be looking into adopting ZEGOCLOUD as your official API support within the system.