September 2023 Summaries

Stream has experienced significant growth, becoming a preferred provider of APIs and SDKs for major companies like TaskRabbit, IBM, and Adobe, and now supports over one billion end users. The company has introduced new pricing strategies, including a free tier for chat and video services, to assist smaller customers affected by the economic downturn. Stream focuses on SDK quality and performance, providing migration services for customers transitioning from other providers, and is recognized as the fastest-growing chat API on the market. The company emphasizes vendor viability by ensuring API and SDK stability, security, and customer support, with plans to achieve profitability in 2024. Stream's roadmap includes enhancements like a Campaigns API, polls, advanced analytics, and a redesigned dashboard, alongside video capabilities supporting up to 10,000 participants. Their AI-powered content moderation tools aim to protect brands and ensure compliance with global regulations. Stream continues to innovate with its Activity Feeds API and plans to integrate frontend development workflows and improved feed moderation. The company remains committed to enhancing customer experience and invites feedback to further refine its offerings.

In the final installment of a three-part series, the article details the deployment of a NextJS project, which utilizes Stream Chat and Video for communication features and Supabase for authentication, onto Vercel. As Vercel maintains the NextJS framework, it offers a streamlined deployment process for NextJS-based projects. Readers looking to deploy the sample project must have active accounts and API credentials for Supabase and Stream, as well as access to a Vercel account, which can be set up through a provided link. Deployment requires setting specific environment variables and can be executed either by clicking a deployment button on the GitHub project's readme page or manually via Vercel's dashboard. Once deployed, the project's functionality is hosted online, seamlessly integrating Supabase and Stream's services. The complete project code is accessible on a GitHub repository, where users are encouraged to star the project, and further information on the services used is available through additional links provided.

In the first part of a series on building a WhatsApp web clone, developers are guided through setting up a project using NextJS and Supabase for user authentication and Stream for chat functionality. The tutorial emphasizes the importance of using NodeJS in an isolated environment to avoid system conflicts and introduces NVM for managing Node versions. Supabase is utilized for straightforward username/password authentication, while Stream Chat offers a robust backend and frontend SDK for managing chat messages, ensuring fast global delivery. Developers are shown how to integrate these tools into a NextJS project using a Supabase template and Stream's React SDK, allowing for a rapid setup of a chat interface with customizable UI components. The article provides code snippets for creating a WhatsApp-like user interface and includes styling tips to enhance the app's appearance. The guide concludes by encouraging developers to explore further features, such as video calling, which will be covered in subsequent parts of the series.

WhatsApp, launched in 2009, is renowned for its user-friendly communication platform that supports group chats, direct messaging, and audio/video calls, all while maintaining privacy through features like end-to-end encryption. This tutorial series offers a step-by-step guide to creating a browser-based chat application similar to WhatsApp using modern developer tools and frameworks, such as NextJS for web application building, Supabase for user authentication, and Vercel for deployment. Stream Chat and Stream Video & Audio SDKs are employed to manage in-app communication infrastructure, while TypeScript is used for code development, enhancing error detection and code reliability. The project is divided into three phases: initial setup and chat functionality, integration of video call support, and final deployment on Vercel, with all the code accessible on GitHub for developers to explore and contribute.

WhatsApp's recent update enables direct video calling from web and desktop clients, and this article explores replicating that feature using Stream's Video Calling API. The text details the process of integrating video calling into a pre-existing chat application created with Stream's Chat SDK and Supabase for user authentication. By utilizing Stream's Video SDK and UI components, the project aims to replicate WhatsApp's seamless transition from chat to video call without the complexities of building backend infrastructure. The implementation involves adding several custom components and styling files to create a user interface that mimics WhatsApp's, using tools like React and SASS for component and style management. The article highlights the ease and reliability Stream's components offer in developing scalable and performant applications while teasing future deployment on Vercel, a platform ideal for such cloud-based projects.

Connecting the World Through Code is a two-week virtual hackathon focused on fostering creativity in communication and connection through technology, running from September 26 to October 6, 2023. Participants are invited to develop innovative apps or websites using Stream's Chat and Video APIs, while integrating additional services such as AI tools or cloud platforms. The event encourages open-source contributions with an "MIT" License and emphasizes the importance of a social component in submissions. Projects are evaluated on criteria including code quality and uniqueness, with winners receiving prizes like a custom iPad Pro and custom Pro Max AirPods. The results will be announced at the Tech in Asia conference on October 18th, and participants are encouraged to engage with Stream's community through social media and a Stream Video API tour.

In September 2023, Stream, a global chat API provider, sponsored GDI London and hosted a discussion with Feeld, a dating app known for serving open-minded individuals. During the chat, Elaine McGlaughlin from Stream and Ross Gibson from Feeld discussed the evolution of Feeld's chat functionality, highlighting the transition from in-house management to partnering with Stream in 2018 following the closure of their previous chat provider. This partnership allowed Feeld to enhance its messaging capabilities and focus on developing unique features rather than maintaining core chat functionalities. Stream's responsive support and continuous feature updates were pivotal, allowing Feeld to integrate services like the React Native SDK and UI components, ultimately fostering better user experience and scalability. The collaboration also extends to moderation efforts, with Feeld beta-testing Stream's Auto Moderation, demonstrating a proactive approach to user safety and interaction quality. The event also featured a Q&A session where topics such as data ownership, messaging capabilities, and moderation practices were addressed, underscoring Stream's role in managing message content while Feeld maintains ownership of connection data.

Ajaib, a leading FinTech platform in Southeast Asia, sought to enhance its user experience and engagement by upgrading its in-app messaging and activity feeds but faced challenges with its former chat provider and in-house infrastructure. To address these issues, Ajaib migrated to Stream's Chat and Activity Feeds APIs, which offered more flexible pricing and scalability, allowing the company to support larger user groups without limitations. The integration of Stream resulted in a 30% increase in user engagement and a 30% reduction in development efforts, enabling Ajaib to scale confidently and enhance user interaction. Stream's support team facilitated a smooth migration, and the AI-powered moderation component helped Ajaib maintain a safe and engaging environment by efficiently managing spammers and inappropriate content. Overall, Ajaib's partnership with Stream has proven to be reliable and cost-effective, contributing significantly to its growth and user satisfaction.

Teamworks, a digital software platform for athletic organizations, sought to upgrade its in-house messaging solution to better support its global user base and reduce engineering costs. The company decided to integrate Stream Chat due to its reliable and scalable infrastructure, complete documentation, and robust support, which were evident from their initial sales interactions. Stream's chat API, along with its React and React Native SDKs, offered an extensive range of features, enabling Teamworks to provide a low-latency messaging experience crucial for accountability among sports teams. By choosing Stream, Teamworks avoided the complexities of maintaining their own messaging system, allowing them to focus on developing new features and enhancing user experience. The integration process was smooth, with responsive support from Stream, allowing Teamworks to achieve its goals of improving scalability and performance without incurring high operational costs.

The article provides a comprehensive guide to creating a live streaming app for iOS using SwiftUI, leveraging technologies such as WebRTC and HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) for low-latency video content delivery. It guides users in developing the AmLive app, which features animated emoji reactions akin to platforms like Facebook Live or TikTok Live, and explains how the app can be customized for various other use cases like video calling and audio chat rooms. The tutorial emphasizes the use of Stream's Global Edge Network for scalability and reliability, and discusses the integration of Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) using OBS Studio for flexibility in broadcasting. The step-by-step instructions cover the initialization of the iOS Video SDK, setting up the app to access the device's camera and microphone, broadcasting live video, and managing call states and participants. Additionally, it explains how to render the host's video, implement interactive features like comments and reactions, and utilize HLS for enhanced buffering capabilities despite a slight delay, providing a robust framework for developing a sophisticated live streaming application.

Stream has announced significant enhancements to its Video & Audio API, introducing new frontend SDKs for React Native and vanilla JavaScript, in addition to existing support for iOS, Android, React, and Flutter. The React Native SDK facilitates the development of real-time calling, live streaming, and audio room applications, providing features like background call support and native permission handling. The vanilla JavaScript SDK extends the API's capabilities beyond React projects, offering advanced features such as recording and broadcasting. An interactive API tour guides developers in integrating the Video API in less than ten steps, while backend improvements have enabled support for up to 400 call participants on a single server, with further scalability anticipated. Livestreaming has been enhanced with improved RTMP and HLS support, and iOS users can now share screens directly from mobile devices. Stream encourages developers to join its open beta and engage with its community to refine the API further.