Group business overview
Group chat is a common feature in instant messaging apps, allowing two or more users to communicate. RC’s group chat service offers robust group member management, mute controls, offline message push, and historical message roaming. It’s ideal for interest groups, work teams, and customer service communication.
Key features of group chat:
- The IM service delivers messages to all group members but doesn’t maintain member profiles (avatars, names, etc.) by default.
- Without RC’s hosting service, group management tasks like creating, disbanding, joining, or leaving a group must be handled by the App server via the IM server API. The client SDK doesn’t provide these methods. For details, see Group management functions.
- RC’s hosting service offers advanced group management, accessible via both server API and client SDK.
- There’s no limit to the number of groups under an App Key, with up to 3000 members per group.
- A single user can join an unlimited number of groups.
- Enable the cloud storage for one-to-one and group messages service from the Chat pricing plans page in the console to use RC’s message storage for historical message roaming. Available for IM Premium Plan or IM Ultimate Plan. For details, see the billing documentation.
Service configuration
Basic and premium group chat features can be enabled and configured in the [Basic free features] and Chat pricing plans pages in the console.
Client SDK usage notes
tip
- Global IM UIKit provides ready-to-use group chat UI components. IMLib doesn’t include these components. Global IM UIKit depends on IMLib, so it inherits all IMLib capabilities.
- Groups created via the hosting service support group management through the client SDK, starting from SDK version 5.12.0.
- For groups not created via the hosting service, group management must be handled by the App server using the RC server API. Alternatively, import existing groups into the hosting service via the server API to enable client SDK management.
Group management functions
By default, RC doesn’t host user information or manage group logic, so all group logic must be implemented on the App server. Without the hosting service, features like group owner, admin, announcements, invites, and group ID search must be handled by the App. To host group and member profiles on RC, enable user information hosting.
tip
- With the hosting service, group members receive notifications for management actions like creation, joining, removal, disbanding, and role changes. These notifications count toward group message distribution and downstream data stats.
- For groups created without hosting, use the "import group hosting data" interface to set the group owner and permissions before using hosting features.
The table below lists basic group management interfaces provided by the IM server for non-hosted groups. Group management must be handled by the App backend via the IM server API. With the hosting service, the client SDK can manage hosted groups.
| Function category | Description | RC server API |
|---|---|---|
| Create, disband group | Provide the creator’s user ID, group ID, and group name to create a group. Disbanding a group removes all member relationships. | Create group, Disband group |
| Join, Quit group | Joining a group allows viewing new messages. Leaving stops receiving new messages. | Join group, Quit group |
| Modify group information | Update group info used in RC’s push service. | Refresh group info |
| Query group members | Get user IDs of all members in a specified group. | Query group members |
| Query user’s groups | Get all groups a user has joined, returning group IDs and names. RC doesn’t store group profiles. App servers must maintain group and member info. Use this interface to verify user-group relationships. | Query user’s groups |
| Sync user’s groups | Sync a user’s groups with the RC server to prevent inconsistencies. Use this interface to sync existing user-group relationships when integrating RC services. | Sync user’s groups |
| Mute a user in a group | Mute one or more users in a specified group. Muted users can receive but not send messages. | Mute a user |
| Mute all users in a group | Mute all members of a group. Only users in the mute whitelist can send messages. | Mute all users |
| Group mute whitelist | Users in the mute whitelist can send messages even if the group is muted. | Group mute whitelist |
Group chat message functions
Group chat message functions are similar to one-to-one chat, sharing some APIs and configurations.
| Function | Description | Client API | RC server API |
|---|---|---|---|
| Send message | Send regular and media messages, like text, images, GIFs, or custom messages. Supports @ mentions. | Send message | Send group chat message |
| Send group directed message | Send messages to one or more specified group members. Other members won’t receive the message. | [Send group directed message] | [Send group chat directed message] |
| Receive message | Listen and receive messages in real-time, or receive offline messages when the client comes online. | Receive message | Not applicable |
| Group chat message read receipt | After sending a group message, check its read status by sending a read receipt request and getting the recipient’s response. | Read receipt for one-to-one and group chat | Not applicable |
| Offline message | Supports offline message storage, configurable for 1 to 7 days. By default, all group messages within the last 7 days are stored. Adjust storage duration and message count. | Manage offline message storage | Not provided |
| Offline message push | Push notifications for new group messages when offline. | Android push guide | Not provided |
| Recall message | Recall a successfully sent message. | Recall message | Recall message |
| Local message search | Search locally stored messages (on mobile devices) by keyword or user. | Search message | Not provided |
| Get historical messages | Get historical messages from the local database or remotely. Remote access requires enabling the cloud storage for one-to-one and group messages service, with a default storage duration of 6 months. | Get historical messages | Not provided |
| Get history message logs | RC server saves all conversation history messages in the app. History messages are provided as compressed log files. Use the server API to get or delete history message logs for a specific app. | Not provided | Get history message logs |
| Insert message locally | Insert a message in the local database. Locally inserted messages aren’t sent to the server or the recipient. | Insert message | Not applicable |
| Delete message | Delete specified messages or all history messages in a conversation locally and on the server. | Delete message | Message clear |
| Message extension for one-to-one and group chat | Add status identifiers (extension data as KV key-value pairs) to original messages. Add, delete, and query extension information. | Message extension | Message extension for one-to-one and group chat |
| Custom message type | Customize message types if built-in ones don’t meet your needs. Supports custom ordinary and media message types. | Custom message type | Not applicable |
By default, new group members only receive messages sent after joining. To view history messages before joining, enable these two services for your App Key (note the difference between development and production environments):
- Enable Cloud storage for one-to-one and group messages from the Chat pricing plans page in the console. Once enabled, use RC’s message storage service for message history roaming. Available for IM Premium Edition or IM Ultimate Edition. For specific features and pricing, refer to the Billing instructions.
- Enable New user get history messages before joining group from the Free basic features page in the console.
Group chat features
Group chat features are similar to one-to-one chat, sharing some APIs and configurations.
| Feature | Description | Client API | RC Server API |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get conversation | SDK generates conversations in the local database based on sent and received messages. Get the conversation list from the local database. | Get conversation | Not provided |
| Get unread messages in conversation | Get unread messages from a specified conversation. Useful for jumping to the first unread message or displaying all unread @ messages. | Get unread messages in conversation | Not provided |
| Handle unread message count in conversation | Get or clear the unread message count in a conversation for UI display. | Handle unread message count in conversation | Not provided |
| Delete conversation | Delete one or more conversations from the conversation list generated by the SDK. | Delete conversation | Not provided |
| Conversation draft | Save a draft to a specified conversation. | Conversation draft | Not provided |
| Typing status | Set whether to receive reminders for new messages in a specified group chat. Default is to receive reminders. | Typing status | Not provided |
| Manage conversation tags | Create and manage tag information data for marking and grouping conversations. Each user can create up to 20 tags. Tag information data created by app users is synchronized with the RC server. | Manage conversation tags | Not provided |
| Set and use conversation tags | Use conversation tags to group conversations. | Set and use conversation tags | Not provided |
| Pin conversation | Pin a specified conversation to the top of the conversation list. | Pin conversation | Pin conversation |
| Conversation do not disturb | Control whether users can receive push notifications for offline messages when the client device is offline. Supports setting do not disturb by conversation or conversation type. | Do not disturb feature overview | Do not disturb feature overview |
| Multi-device synchronization of do not disturb/pin status | SDK provides a conversation status (pin or do not disturb) synchronization mechanism. By setting a conversation status synchronization listener, changes made on other devices can be monitored in real-time on this device. | Multi-device synchronization of do not disturb/pin status | Not applicable |
| Multi-device synchronization of read status | Actively synchronize the read status of conversations across multiple devices under the same user account. | Multi-device synchronization of read status | Not applicable |
Differences between chatrooms and ultra groups
Understand the differences and all features between business types through these documents: