In-app chat keeps interactions on-platform, so users can collaborate and respond without switching to another app. Building or integrating top chat features into your app will give users even more of a reason to stay.
Let's say you're building a telehealth app.
Basic messaging functionality is enough for patients and doctors to discuss a condition, but it's not sufficient for sending images for accurate diagnoses or storing messages long-term for the patient to revisit. And without secure messaging, it's not compliant.
But with the amount of features to choose from, how do you know which will best serve your audience? Which ones should you prioritize and which should you skip completely?
In this post, we share the 14 top features for engaging in-app chat, helping you decide what to integrate and how they will add value to your product.
Why Chat Features Define the User Experience
In-app chat is now the central point of user interaction inside many modern digital products. Whether it's a buyer messaging a seller, a patient talking to a doctor, or gamers playing with each other in real time, the quality of in-app chat is shaped more by its features than its UI.
Typing indicators, read receipts, and notifications add to the lively back-and-forth users look for in dating and social media products. Additionally, group chat, media sharing, and voice and video calling add new, more natural dynamics to on-platform conversations.
From a product standpoint, these features drive customer satisfaction and engagement. When done well, feature-rich in-app chat becomes inextricable from the core experience.
14 Best In-App Chat Features
These are the top chat features that can make a modern in-app experience engaging and effective.
1. Typing Indicators
Typing indicators appear when a user is composing a message, signaling to the receiver that the response is imminent. They humanize digital conversations, keeping participants in the moment and reducing the chance that they'll close the app.
This small aspect can make a big difference for in-app chat.
Chemistry can be hard to gauge over text, so when one dating app user sees "Typing..." in the chat box, they know that their potential match is focused on them at that moment. It might not be enough to cause butterflies in their stomach, but it shows attentiveness.
In its absence, users may feel like they've been forgotten, ignored, or ghosted.
2. Read Receipts
A read receipt is a confirmation that a message has been opened. Paired with typing indicators, they prove to users that a conversation is active.
Many apps use simple visual cues for receipts, such as two checks or a smaller version of the recipient's avatar displayed under the message.
This gives users clarity on where the conversation stands.
In a learning app, a student can feel confident knowing their tutor has read a question, even if the reply comes later. Conversely, in a dating context, if a user's message is marked read without receiving a reply for a long time, it might confirm that the match has fizzled.
Without this feature, your users have no proof that their message was seen and may disengage from the app.
3. Push and In-App Notifications
Push notifications are messages that come up on a user's lock screen or notification tray, even if the app is not currently in use. They attract the users back to the app at the appropriate time.
Consider a marketplace application where a buyer messages a seller. A push notification on the seller's screen draws their attention to the app and allows them to respond while the buyer is still engaged. This maintains the flow and urgency of the dialogue.
Checkatrade, the UK's leading platform for home improvement, connects homeowners with trusted tradespeople for repair and renovation jobs. Homeowners post a job, and tradespeople receive push notifications, giving them a chance to respond before their competitors do. This way, homeowners aren't left waiting for replies, and tradespeople also get more work.
Push notifications are also useful in on-demand delivery apps. Users get real-time updates when their driver accepts an order, picks it up, or is nearby.
In contrast, in-app notifications make the user aware of something while actively using your product. They can take many forms, but real-time alerts are one of the most common for in-app chat. For instance, a student reviewing digital flash cards might receive a banner pop-up, informing them of their teacher's announcement in a homework channel.
4. Group Chats
While this feature might seem simple, group chats are still valuable because they create a dedicated space for wider connections, letting two or more people talk to each other in a single thread or chat window.
Family members, friends, coworkers, and more can converse in your app, using all the other features that make these chats special. Conversations feel more personal, and group decisions happen faster.
For example, in a social networking app, friends can create a group called "Friday Night Plans". Here, they can share new restaurants, drop location links, discuss the timings, conduct polls on their favorites, and pin discussions.
You can also get creative with your applications of this feature. Trendsetter dating app Tinder uses group chat functionality in-app to facilitate double dates between friend duos.
5. File Sharing and Media Messages
File sharing and media messages add more variety and value to chat than plain text alone. This can look like sending a product photo in a marketplace, sharing a PDF of notes in a study group, or exchanging a short video clip in a community app.
By keeping file and media sharing inside the chat, users stay on the platform instead of opening an email client to send an attachment. It also allows you to moderate the shared content, protecting your users from scams and other forms of harm.
For Gumtree Australia, a marketplace app, image sharing made it easier for sellers to showcase items and complete transactions easily and securely.
6. Voice and Video Calls
Text works for short updates, but in-depth conversations often need real voice or face-to-face contact. Many apps now embed voice and video features inside the chat interface, so users don't need to switch to third-party tools, keeping all communication centralized.
Multiplayer games often have built-in voice calling, letting teammates strategize matches and celebrate wins in real-time. This creates a more immersive experience, mimicking the feeling of in-person, on-the-couch gameplay.
Video calling also comes with supporting elements that enrich the experience, like screen sharing. Support agents can guide users through app settings or troubleshooting by sharing their screen, which saves time and prevents misunderstandings.
7. Secure Messaging
People expect their conversations to stay private and protected when using your app. Secure messaging helps meet these expectations, and there are several ways to implement it.
In-Transit and At-Rest Encryption
Most in-app chats encrypt messages traveling between devices and servers (in transit) and while stored on your infrastructure (at rest). This means flirty exchanges between potential couples on a dating app can't be intercepted or accessed without the proper authorization.
However, the app's backend, administrators, and other authorized parties can still decrypt and view messages. So, if a hacker compromises an admin account, they can, too.
End-to-End Encryption
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) prevents any third parties (including your servers) from reading messages, with decryption only happening between sender and recipient.
For privacy-focused audiences, E2EE is a fantastic selling point. This is why Signal is popular with law enforcement, security agencies, activists, and journalists.
For heavily regulated industries, in-transit and at-rest encryption (supported by other secure coding practices) is often enough to meet compliance with laws, including HIPAA.
8. Message History and Searchability
Message history lets users go back to past conversations without losing important context. Users often return days later or switch between devices, and they expect conversations to still be there, so they don't lose important information or memorable conversations.
In a fitness app, this can be as simple as scrolling up to check a coach's earlier workout tips or meal suggestions.
Searchability enhances this by allowing users to locate specific messages in the history.
The user can type "meal suggestions" in the search bar and find the diet plan their coach shared, whether it was two weeks or two years ago. This saves time, creates a sense of reliability, and reduces back-and-forth messages.
9. Reactions and Emojis
Reactions and emojis give users quick ways to respond without adding extra messages, keeping chats clear while still expressive. Users can place emojis like ✅ under a message to show agreement instead of typing out a full response.
Hudl is a sports app that added reactions into its chat. When a coach makes an announcement, players can react with a thumbs-up emoji instead of sending several "Got it" messages. This keeps the chat history clean and prevents notification overload.
These micro-interactions can seem small, but they're another feature that makes in-app conversations feel more alive and intimate.
10. AI-Powered Chat Assistance
AI-powered assistance takes many forms, but teams often add it to chat to handle repetitive tasks, generate text and other media, or offer guidance or support to users.
Consider how two apps can use the same underlying chatbot technology in different ways:
Digital marketplace: A chatbot enhances conversational commerce by answering customer service questions, providing shipping updates, or sending personalized product recommendations.
Dating app: An agentic wingman suggests first messages, intervenes if one party gets aggressive, and autonomously schedules reservations at nearby restaurants for dates.
Beyond assisting users, AI also helps companies maintain safe conversations at scale. AI can detect offensive messages, spam, or harmful links as they are sent, so human moderators don't have to review every conversation manually.
11. Multilingual Support
Multilingual support is another feature in many applications.
It might be as simple as including an option in your settings to change the language of the app, which localizes the UI into the user's native language and adjusts the formatting of timestamps.
You can also integrate artificial intelligence APIs to automatically translate chat messages in real time, like the Google Cloud Translation API.
For instance, in a global marketplace, a French-speaking buyer can message a German-speaking seller, with both parties seeing the conversation in their own language. This ensures that language differences don't impede smooth communication and makes the environment inclusive for a wider set of customers.
Multilingual content moderation is another way to appeal to users globally, using prebuilt tools to scan messages in supported languages for inappropriate content.
12. Slash Commands
Slash commands are shortcuts that enable users to perform actions directly within the chat.
Slash commands for a productivity app might look like:
/giphy happy instantly posts a GIF of a happy person
/invite @john adds someone to a group chat
/remindme "department meeting" 4pm sets a reminder without leaving the thread
These commands prevent users from going through multiple menus and keep interactions fluid.
13. URL Enrichment
URL enrichment transforms plain links into contextual previews that include:
Headlines
Thumbnails
Short descriptions
Rich media embeds like videos
Site names
Instead of just seeing a plain URL, link previews evoke curiosity, improve engagement by adding context, and build trust in shared links.
For example, in an online learning app, a teacher can share a link to a study related to a lesson. Students will see a clear preview with the title, snippet, and featured image.
14. Silent Messages
Silent messages are updates sent without triggering notifications. They happen subtly, in the background, like a project management bot marking a task as completed.
Silent messages reduce notification overload and prevent important alerts from being lost to noise. For users, this means they aren't disturbed by minor updates, while still having all relevant information accessible when they check the chat.
Feature Comparison Table
| Top Chat Feature | What It Solves | Real-World Example |
|---|---|---|
| Typing Indicators | Shows when someone is actively writing, keeping users engaged and reducing uncertainty. | A patient sees their doctor typing a response. |
| Read Receipts | Confirms when a message has been read, giving clarity on conversation status. | A student confirms their tutor has read their message. |
| Push and In-App Notifications | Ensures messages are noticed promptly, maintaining dialogue flow and engagement. | A customer receives a push notification about a shipped package. |
| Group Chats | Allows multiple users to communicate in a single thread, supporting collaboration and discussion. | Friends create a group chat to plan their weekend. |
| File Sharing and Media Messages | Adds functionality beyond text, allowing users to share images, videos, or documents. | Students upload photos of a project to a homework chat channel. |
| Voice and Video Calls | Enables richer, more natural real-time conversations. | Gamers coordinate strategies for competitive multiplayer games. |
| Secure Messaging | Protects conversations from unauthorized access and supports compliance requirements. | The platform encrypts user messages as they’re sent (in-transit) and stored (at-rest). |
| Message History and Searchability | Keeps past conversations accessible and easy to search, preventing information loss. | A user searches their chat history for their fitness coach’s meal plan. |
| Reactions and Emojis | Lets users respond quickly without adding extra messages, keeping chats concise yet expressive. | Employees react with eye emojis after reading a department announcement. |
| AI-Powered Chat Assistance | Automates repetitive tasks, monitors conversations for safety, and more. | An eCommerce chatbot offers personalized product recommendations. |
| Multilingual Support | Breaks language barriers and adds inclusivity while maintaining chat safety. | A translation API translates messages to a user’s language. |
| Slash Commands | Lets users perform quick actions from within the chat, reducing clicks and navigation. | Employees use the /remindme command to schedule an alert about an important meeting. |
| URL Enrichment | Converts plain links into previews with context, boosting engagement. | Students see a visually appealing and information-rich preview of a study link. |
| Silent Messages | Sends updates without triggering notifications, preventing overload while keeping info accessible. | A bot updates tasks silently on a project tracker. |
Other Notable Chat Features
Some chat features may be less interesting, but they can still help improve the overall user experience. Here are some more that you should consider adding to your app:
Unlimited Message Retention: Saves all messages over time, which is useful for apps that require audits or long-term reference.
Public and Private Channels: Organizes chats, so that public channels are available to all users and private ones are only accessible with the right permissions.
Threaded Conversations: Links replies under the original message, grouping related discussions and keeping the main channel clean.
Presence Indicators: Displays a visual to show a user's status, such as a green dot for online, a red for away, and a grey for offline.
@Mentions: Notifies specific users in a group, making them aware of important messages.
Unread Message Counts: Shows how many messages a user hasn't opened.
Pins: Pins messages or threads at the top of a chat, keeping key information visible and accessible to the users.
Role-Based Permissions: Limits access to actions, channels, and more, based on a user's predefined role.
Mute: Hides a user's messages from others, either temporarily or permanently.
Ban: Blocks a user from posting or accessing the chat. Some platforms use shadow bans, limiting the reach of their messages without notifying the user.
Flagging: Lets users report harmful or suspicious messages. Reports provide context to moderators for swift action by including the message, sender, and timestamp.
Turning Features Into Lasting Experiences
We covered the top in-app chat features, from read receipts and message history to slash commands, silent messages, and multilingual support.
While you don't need to add every feature to your app, these are what many users expect today.
Choose features based on your audience and app's purpose.
A one-on-one coaching app may not need group chat support, but users will expect voice calls for more direct guidance. Similarly, a dating app will need features that support lively yet safe interactions, like typing indicators, read receipts, emojis, and AI-powered moderation; slash commands might be more of a nice-to-have feature that the team can add in later.
Ultimately, the right combination of features helps your in-app chat feel intuitive, reliable, and engaging.
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