Virtual gifts have become one of the most engaging features in modern live streaming apps. They make interactions more dynamic and open up new monetization opportunities for both platforms and creators.
In this article, we will explore how to build a virtual gifting system using ZEGOCLOUD’s Live Streaming SDK, which allows developers to create secure, real-time, and highly interactive experiences with ease.
What Are Virtual Gifts in Live Streaming?
Virtual gifts are digital items that users send to live stream hosts during a session. These can be small icons like coffee cups or elaborate animations such as cars, fireworks, or hearts.
For users, they make interactions more personal and fun. For developers and businesses, they help increase engagement and provide a direct monetization model that rewards both creators and the platform.
ZEGOCLOUD provides all the APIs and real-time capabilities needed to build this experience efficiently.
How the Virtual Gift Process Works
A typical virtual gifting workflow includes the following steps:
- Gift Request — The viewer initiates a gift request through your business server API.
- Verification and Transaction — The server checks the user’s balance, processes the payment, and updates the host’s gift count.
- Gift Display — Once verified, the animation or icon is displayed immediately on the live screen.
- Broadcast Notification — The server uses ZEGOCLOUD’s in-room messaging API to notify all participants in the room that a gift has been sent.
This ensures synchronization between viewers and hosts while maintaining a smooth experience. You can find the full request and response format examples in the ZEGOCLOUD Live Streaming Documentation.
Ensuring Security and Reliability
Since virtual gifts involve financial transactions, ensuring the reliability of your system is critical.
Your backend should handle:
- Balance verification
- Transaction processing
- Gift count updates
- Message delivery to hosts and audiences
With ZEGOCLOUD’s real-time signaling network, you can securely deliver in-room messages that confirm gift delivery, even during peak usage or network fluctuations.
For detailed API reference and implementation flow, check out the ZEGOCLOUD Server Guide.
Creating Gift Rankings for Better Engagement
Gift rankings are a simple but effective way to increase user activity.
You can implement this feature by:
- Requesting the current gift leaderboard when users join the room
- Broadcasting new gift updates using ZEGOCLOUD’s message APIs
- Refreshing the ranking data in real time
If a user temporarily disconnects, ZEGOCLOUD provides room state callbacks to help resync ranking data seamlessly once the connection is restored.
Handling High Concurrency
During large events or PK sessions, gifts can flood the server in a short period. To maintain performance:
- Implement a message queue on your backend
- Combine multiple gift messages from the same room into a single update
- Use ZEGOCLOUD’s reliable message API to broadcast combined messages efficiently
This method keeps your app stable and responsive, even when thousands of users are sending gifts at the same time.
Adding Gift Animations
Animations are what make virtual gifts visually rewarding. You can use open-source animation libraries like Lottie or SVGA to display engaging effects for both hosts and viewers. ZEGOCLOUD’s message callbacks let you trigger animations instantly after a gift event is received.
For a working demo and animation integration examples, see the Virtual Gift Implementation Tutorial.
Implementing Virtual Gifts with ZEGOCLOUD
ZEGOCLOUD offers ready-to-use UI components through its UIKits, which let developers easily extend the live streaming interface.
To add a gift button, for example, you can use ZEGOCLOUD’s bottom menu customization API to add a new action button that triggers the gift-sending process.
Instead of writing the entire code here, you can view the full working example and source code in ZEGOCLOUD’s documentation.
Why Choose ZEGOCLOUD
ZEGOCLOUD makes it easy to integrate real-time engagement features into any live streaming or social platform. Developers benefit from:
- Reliable APIs for in-room messaging and synchronization
- Global low-latency network coverage
- Built-in UIKits for live streaming and chat
- Scalable infrastructure that supports high concurrency
These features allow you to create a complete, real-time gifting system without rebuilding your backend from scratch.
Conclusion
Adding virtual gifts to a live streaming app can significantly improve interaction and engagement. With ZEGOCLOUD’s Live Streaming SDK, developers can implement a full-featured gifting experience that includes secure transactions, synchronized animations, and reliable message delivery.
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