10 Ultimate Tools for Building Real-Time Apps

Real-time apps can put a smile on the user’s face. With just a tap, tap of a button, it will let you in on the latest private and public news. Not surprisingly, real-time apps, such as WhatsApp Skype, Evernote, Dropbox, Meerkat, or Cyfe, have been whetting the appetite of mobile app users like never before. And, with its roaring demand, developers seem more than happy to ride on the real-time app wave.

Talking about the live streaming real-time video app ‘Meerkat,’ the app has been unofficially declared the “App of the Year.” The app managed to achieve what YouTube or Livestream have failed to achieve so far: Live streaming of an event as and when it unfolds, and interacting with Twitter followers, simultaneously. Built on Twitter’s new development platform Fabric, the app has been around for less than a month and has already crossed over 300,000 users.

Wish to fast-track your business plans? We can exactly do that for you by putting your business in real-time mode with real-time apps. Some of the well-known app development tools we have been putting to use to develop real-time apps include:

Top 10 Ultimate Tools for Building Real-Time Apps

1. Pubnub

Harnessing cloud infrastructure, and other key aspects of real-time interactivity, PubNub helps Stream, Sync, Store, Protect, and Manage your data on any device, anywhere, anytime. Plus, developers can leverage this platform to build different real-time apps like live dashboards and data streams, 2nd screen synchronization, collaboration apps, and much, much more for all devices.

2. Pusher

Pusher is reckoned to be the leader in real-time technologies. The platform is the safest bet when it comes to adding interactive and engaging features to your apps. It does it through APIs, libraries, and developer tools in a matter of minutes. The platform is currently managing no fewer than 40 million monthly messages and also a good number of concurrent connections. On top of it, its powerful and flexible combination of APIs helps build great, scalable features and apps for live dashboards, 2nd screens, and more.

3. Tropo

Building a sophisticated communication app, and that too without any programming know-how? Impossible. Unimaginable. Well, Try Tropo and you will be singing a different tune. The elegant Tropo API can be used by non-telephony developers to build real-time communication applications. With the use of a few lines, you can not only add an instant voice but also SMS to your apps. If these weren’t enough, it also comes added with advanced features such as speech recognition, call recording, and conferencing.

4. Watchkit

Bet Apple Watchkit SDK is probably one of the best things that ever happened in this century in the ambitious iOS developer community. Because the kit makes it easy for any third-party developer to leave a stamp of identification on the Apple watch. Explicitly put, it lets a developer like your code and test apps for the upcoming Apple watch. Just like the SDKs, we have for iOS and various OS X features, this toolkit helps developers with some basic low-level hardware, like the heart rate sensors and accelerometer for the development of apps.

5. Socket. IO

It’s the golden key to building real-time apps in every browser and mobile device. Powered by a 100% Javascript Library, it makes use of a Websockets API. And, if at all, the web sockets do not find support in the users’ browser, it fallbacks on Ajax’s long polling. This special feature of Socket. IO makes it possible to use the app in as many browsers as possible. That said, the scope for Socket. IO to fallback on long polling scenario is almost nil with the latest browser versions supporting WebSockets.

6. Firebase

There’s no denying that data is the lifeblood of any app. And Firebase with its powerful cloud database is capable of powering real-time, collaborative applications. It has a scalable, real-time backend that helps build great apps faster. Simply, fix the Firebase library to your app and you easily get access to a shared data structure. And any change in the data gets automatically synchronized with the Firebase cloud and with other clients, within split seconds.

Firebase apps can be scripted entirely on client-side code, fetches updates in real-time out-of-the-box, ensure effortless scaling, and offers strong data security.

7. Meteor

In a literal sense, a Meteor means a ‘shooting star.’ And this open-source platform – Meteor – is no different, for it helps developers zoom through the app-making process. Within a matter of minutes, your high-quality web, phone, and tablet apps will be ready. The platform is built around small bunches of code that run on a client, inside a cloud service, or both. So you can easily build your app in 10 lines while others may take some 1000 lines.

8. ScaleDrone

Take your messages a notch higher with Scale Drone’s push messaging service. The platform comes bundled with a host of features including simple API, two-way data pushing, meaningful statistics, top security, and, on top of it, friendly pricing. Employing ready Javascript and Rest API, ScaleDrone can get your messages running back and forth in minutes. The best part is its two-way data processing; it not only helps to receive data, but also you can push data to others.

9. Beebotte

A cloud-based platform, Beebotte bets big on the momentum for the development of the Internet of Things and real-time connected applications. Beebotte packs in the much-needed punch in Rest, Websockets, and MQTT too, to connect all things in real time.

10. Koa

If you have bonded with the Express Framework really well, you can easily milk the Koa framework for all its worth. In fact, Koa’s offerings are far better than Express: it helps write smaller and more expressive middleware codes, allows you to ditch callbacks to the server, and also manages errors in a rather efficient way. More than anything else, it doesn’t bundle middleware. Conversely, it brings together a host of methods that makes writing servers fast and enjoyable.

Final Thoughts:

There are dime a dozen app development tools that help you build a business and other apps at lightning speed. If you wish to get some real real-time apps developed in no time, our app ninjas are just a click away.

OpenXcell is a market leader in app development and app marketing. So, if in case you are pursuing any serious app development and marketing plans for your organization, OpenXcell will be happy to help. We have the experience and wherewithal to make your app a super success.