GUIDE

Video Chat

Video chat describes visual, remote communication between two or more parties, each equipped with a camera and microphone to see and hear the other participants.

Video chats are commonly delivered through smartphones or computers and will typically incorporate other features such as a chat conversation window or ‘whiteboard’.

Components needed to build a video chat application

When building video chat, you'll want to ensure your app can scale and work in real time to handle any number of users to provide true real-time engagement.

Here are a few factors to keep in mind in order to accomplish this.

  • Functionality: Having real-time functionality that your users expect like a lightning fast chat and emoji reactions.

  • Scalability: Ensure you have a robust backend that can support users and devices interacting simultaneously.

  • Security: Safeguard your video chat with end-to-end encryption for messages and utilize access controls and chat filters for moderation.

  • Integrations: Check that your video chat has the ability to work with third-party integrations so that you can easily add new real-time capabilities as needed.

Common video chat app features you can build

Incorporating engaging features into your video chat can create a memorable user experience which can ultimately lead to increased customer loyalty and retention.

Below are some common features you can implement to boost engagement:

  • Direct & group chat 

  • Viewer reactions

  • Live comments

  • Online/offline presence detection

  • Typing indicators

  • Chat history

  • File attachments

  • Emojis & reactions

  • Live trivia or polls

  • Push notifications

  • User & content moderation

How to build a video chat app

PubNub specializes in in-app chat. However, customers can take advantage of one of our strategic partnerships in the video communications space to deliver an end-to-end video chat solution.

If you want to learn more about getting started with video chat, book a demo.