Your conversations, settings and licence carry across without anything to do. The few things worth checking are at the bottom, in Updating from 3.0.

The cloud has a name: WordPlus Cloud#

The cloud behind the WebSocket version, which delivers messages, calls, push notifications, mobile app builds and Cloud AI, is now WordPlus Cloud, with an account of its own at www.wordplus.cloud. It serves every WordPlus plugin on a site, not only Better Messages.

On the first page load after the update, your licence moves there by itself, with the same key. In your account you find your licences and the sites that use them, your downloads, subscriptions and invoices, and a support form that takes files. In WordPress, Better Messages gets its own Licence, Upgrade and Support pages.

The plugin no longer loads the Freemius SDK. A licence bought through Freemius keeps renewing there at the same price, and new purchases are made at WordPlus Cloud. Introducing WordPlus Cloud explains the move in full, the Freemius part included.

Notifications, conversation by conversation#

Muting used to be on or off. In 3.1 each member chooses how much a group conversation or chat room notifies them, from the menu of the conversation: All messages, Mentions and replies or Nothing. A busy room can stay quiet until someone mentions you or replies to you, and Nothing can last an hour, a day or a week and then end by itself. The level decides the sound, the pop-up, the push and the email at once, and messages still count as unread at every level, so nothing goes missing.

Administrators choose the default for each kind of conversation under Notifications → Conversation Notifications: group conversations, the group chats of community plugins, course chats, and each chat room in its own settings. They all start at All messages, as notifications worked before.

More came with it:

• Replies notify like mentions. A reply to your message in a group conversation notifies you and marks the conversation the way a mention does.
• @all mentions everyone in a group conversation or chat room. Moderators can use it by default, and Notifications → Mention Everyone (@all) and each chat room decide who else may.
• Group call alerts, on the WebSocket version: when a group call starts, members get a pop-up, a push and an email with who started it, how many are in the call and a Join button, with a chime of its own. A cooldown for each conversation and a limit for each member keep them from getting noisy.
• A mark for new reactions to your messages, in the conversations list and in the conversation, with a button that jumps to each message reacted to.
• A choice of what you are emailed about, in the messenger settings: all notifications, only one-to-one conversations, mentions and replies, or nothing. Administrators set the default under Notifications → Default Email Scope.

Everything but the group call alerts is in the free version too. Notification levels has every setting, and the hooks and REST route for developers.

Live streams in chat rooms#

With the Live Stream plugin, on the same cloud, a chat room can host a live stream. A host goes live right from the room with a camera or a shared screen, or from OBS through the Live Stream studio, and the stream shows in the room the way a group video call does: beside the messages, opening by itself while the stream is live, with a Live banner to bring it back. Viewers get sound, quality, reactions, picture-in-picture and full screen in the call controls, and the room is the chat of the stream, with history, moderation and everything else a chat room has.

Start one from the room editor: Stream in this room sits below the group call settings of the room. Live streaming in chat rooms has the details.

Attachments in cloud storage#

Photos, videos, voice messages and documents that members send can be kept in Cloudflare R2, Bunny.net Storage, Amazon S3 or any S3-compatible storage, chosen per type of file under Attachments → File Groups. Files go straight from the browser or the mobile app to the storage, skipping your server, and members open them through links that expire. It works in the free version too. Chat attachments in cloud storage walks through the setup.

Max File Size by Type sets a separate upload limit for images, videos, audio and other files, and Media Optimization now converts a file the moment it is picked, so its preview shows what will be sent, and says so before sending if it is still too large.

An assistant in your admin#

Better Messages Assistant lives on Better Messages → Support, and Ask AI in every Better Messages page header opens it. It answers from the documentation and your settings, opens the setting it talks about, prepares setting changes for you to review and save, writes code snippets with links to the hooks they use, and fills in the contact form for anything a person should look at. It sends nothing until you press Start, and it is in the free version too.

Privacy: a key for each conversation#

What your site sends through the realtime server is now encrypted with a key for each conversation, which only its members get and which changes when someone leaves. Before, one key covered the whole site. Messages, files, conversation names and profiles cannot be read or changed on the way.

Calls#

• Group calls can be encrypted end to end. With Group Calls → End-to-End Encryption on, the sound, video and screen shares of group video and audio chats are encrypted in each browser and app with a key only your site gives out, so neither the media server nor WordPlus Cloud can see or hear them. It is off by default. Group video chat has the details.
• Sharper group video. The camera sends in a modern codec where the device encodes it in hardware, with a fallback every device can play, in three sizes up to 1080p, and each participant receives the size their screen shows.
• Your own camera shows the way the others see it, not mirrored, while the call rings, in a 1:1 call and on your tile in a group call, in the browser and in the mobile app. A shared screen is never mirrored.
• A Show Chat button in the call controls replaces the chevron on the edge of the call, which could cover the buttons of a participant.
• Moderator buttons in group calls show a spinner until the change takes effect.
• Calls work with the keyboard and screen readers: Answer, Reject and every call control can be reached with Tab and pressed with Enter or Space.

Smaller things#

• The admin pages lose their bp- prefix (admin.php?page=better-messages and so on). Old addresses keep working.
• Background jobs run on one scheduled worker that never runs twice at once.
• The bubble launcher opens and closes in one smooth piece, with its list at full height from the start.
• AI chat bots know the prices of the newest models, and the Web Search setting of OpenAI and Claude bots shows the price per search.
• Mobile app builds no longer stop at a firewall: your site sends the files of the messenger with the build request.
• The Voice and Video Messages add-on is offered where it is needed, in the Voice Messages and Video Messages settings and the AI bot editor.

3.1 also fixes AI bot costs for several models, a freeze when starting a conversation in a messenger sized by a page builder, the online count in chat rooms that hide their participants, the Messages and Chat Room blocks on WordPress 5.9 to 6.5, and texts that stayed in English on translated sites. The changelog has every change.

Updating from 3.0#

The update is in place, and your licence moves by itself. Four things to check:

1. A Content Security Policy needs the new addresses. The WebSocket version now connects to ws.wordplus.cloud and rest.wordplus.cloud, and group calls to video.rtc.wordplus.cloud. If your site sends a Content Security Policy, allow the addresses the changelog lists in its connect-src. A self-hosted server keeps its own addresses.
2. Bookmarks to the admin pages still work, but the new addresses have no bp- prefix.
3. The Voice and Video Messages add-on moves its licence over by itself from version 2.1. Update it when WordPress offers 2.1.
4. Chat rooms with notifications off now start at Mentions and replies, so their members hear when someone mentions them or replies to them. Set a room to Nothing in its settings to keep it as quiet as before.

If anything looks wrong after updating, please tell us at support@better-messages.com, or on the support forum if you use the free version.

Where to look next#

• Introducing WordPlus Cloud: the account, the move off the Freemius SDK, and what stays the same
• Notification levels
• Live streaming in chat rooms
• Your licence
• Cloud storage

If you run the WebSocket version, there is nothing you need to do. This post explains what changes, what stays, and why.

Why the cloud has a name of its own#

For years the Better Messages cloud did one job: deliver messages and calls for Better Messages. It now does more, for more than one plugin:

• One subscription for the whole site. WordPlus Cloud switches on realtime delivery, push notifications, calls, Cloud AI and mobile app builds for every WordPlus plugin on a site, not only for Better Messages. New plugins built on it are on the way.
• Live streaming. The Live Stream plugin broadcasts from the browser or OBS to an audience on your site, on the same cloud and the same subscription. With Better Messages 3.1 a chat room can host the stream: it shows the way a group video call does, beside the messages, and the room editor starts one.
• Open to developers. Other plugins, themes and custom code on a subscribed site can use the same realtime connection and calls through the WordPlus realtime SDK, and apps outside WordPress, such as Next.js, Laravel or Django apps, can use the cloud with a plan of their own.
• One account for everything you bought. Licences, sites, downloads, subscriptions and invoices, in one place, with support a click away.

Better Messages stays what it is: our messaging plugin for WordPress, and the first and biggest user of the cloud.

What changes with Better Messages 3.1#

Your licence moves over by itself. On the first page load after updating to 3.1, the licence of the WebSocket version moves to WordPlus Cloud with the same key. Realtime messaging, calls, push notifications and your mobile apps keep working without any action.

Your account is at WordPlus Cloud. Log in, or create an account, with the email address you bought with. Your licences show up on their own. From there you can:

• see each licence with the sites that use it, and take a site off a licence when you move to a new domain
• download the WebSocket version and its add-on, the newest release and the earlier ones
• see your subscriptions and invoices, and change or cancel a subscription
• write to support about a licence or a site, with files attached

Licences and updates come from WordPlus Cloud. The new Licence page under Better Messages shows the status of your licence and the sites using it, and updates of the WebSocket version arrive through the usual WordPress updates, from WordPlus Cloud.

The realtime addresses have new names. Browsers connect to ws.wordplus.cloud, the site talks to rest.wordplus.cloud, and group calls run on video.rtc.wordplus.cloud. If your site has a Content Security Policy, allow them as the 3.1 changelog lists. Sites on a self-hosted server keep their own addresses.

Every conversation has its own key. What your site sends through the cloud is encrypted with a key for each conversation, which only its members get and which changes when someone leaves. We relay it without being able to read it.

Leaving the Freemius SDK#

Until now, the WebSocket version loaded the Freemius SDK in your WordPress admin: its Account and Contact Us pages, its opt-in screen and its licence checks. From 3.1, Better Messages does without it, and WordPlus Cloud, our own service, does that work instead.

• Better Messages has its own pages in place of those from the SDK: Licence, Upgrade and Support, the same in every WordPlus plugin.
• Your WordPlus Cloud account takes the place of the Freemius customer dashboard for Better Messages: licences and their sites, downloads, subscriptions and invoices, under the same email.
• Your licence renews as before. A licence bought through Freemius keeps renewing there at the same price, and Freemius still handles its invoices and refunds, so your card statement and receipts name it.
• New purchases are made at WordPlus Cloud, on its own checkout page, card or PayPal, sold by our reseller Paddle, the merchant of record, which handles sales tax, invoices and refunds.
• Usage data. If your site shared usage data through the Freemius opt-in, it stays opted in, and the data now comes to WordPlus Cloud instead. A one-time notice says so. A site that skipped the opt-in stays skipped, and the free version can opt out at any time. While a licence of the WebSocket version is active, the site shares its address, its versions and which features and settings are in use, as the terms say. The rest, such as the list of its plugins and themes, stays your choice.

Why the change? One account now holds every WordPlus plugin and the cloud behind them. Each site connects with a key and a secret of its own instead of sending its licence key. Nothing from another company loads in your admin anymore. And knowing which features are actually used tells us what to improve next.

What stays the same#

• Your data stays in WordPress. Conversations, members and files stay in your own database and storage. The cloud keeps only what delivery needs.
• The servers. The main servers run in Germany, and group calls run on a mesh of media servers in several regions, close to your members.
• Your licence. Its key and its sites stay the same, and it renews as before.
• Sites still on 3.0. They keep working on their current addresses until they update.

New to the WebSocket version?#

Open Better Messages → Upgrade in WordPress, or the pricing page, and choose the plan for your number of sites. The WebSocket version includes WordPlus Cloud for WordPress, every service of the cloud for one price per site, billed monthly or yearly, and a staging or local copy of the site does not count as another site.

To read more about the cloud itself, see Introducing WordPlus Cloud on its own blog. Questions about the move? Write to us at support@better-messages.com.

Better Messages 3.1 can keep those files in cloud storage instead: Cloudflare R2, Bunny.net, Amazon S3, or any storage with an S3 API such as Backblaze B2, DigitalOcean Spaces or Wasabi. Members see no difference. Their files simply stop living on your server.

Cloud storage works in the free version and in the WebSocket version. Everything is set up under Better Messages → Settings → Attachments.

Which storage to pick#

Each one has a step-by-step guide, from creating the bucket to connecting it.

Choose where each kind of file goes#

Files are split into seven groups: images, videos, audio, voice messages, video messages, files from end-to-end encrypted conversations, and documents with everything else. Each group goes to the place you pick. Send photos and videos to R2 and keep documents on your own server, or send everything to the cloud. It is one dropdown per group.

Your server is always on the list. With File Protection on, files kept there still go through your website, which checks that the person opening one is a member of the conversation.

Private by default#

Chat files are private, so cloud files are too. By default the bucket stays private, and each member gets links that your website signs for them. A link works for a day or so and is renewed automatically. Without one, nobody can open or list the files, even with the bucket's name.

For files that are not private, a storage can serve them from a public address instead, such as a CDN on your own domain, and your website does no work at all when a file is opened.

Uploads that skip your server#

When a member sends a file, the browser or the mobile app uploads it straight to the storage, through a link your website signs for that one file. The file never passes through your server, so even a large video costs your hosting nothing, and it is in the storage the moment the message is sent. Large files go up in parts, several at a time.

The storage has to allow uploads from your site, which takes one CORS rule. On Cloudflare R2 and S3-compatible storages, the Configure CORS button saves it for you. Bunny.net needs none. If a storage ever refuses, uploads quietly go through your server instead, so sending never fails, and the storage's line on the settings page says so.

Bring the files you already have#

Changing where a group goes only affects new files. The settings page counts the files that are not where their group goes now, and Move Them moves them. To empty one storage into another, for example everything on your server into R2, choose Move all files from one storage to another.

Moves run in the background, with pause, resume and stop. Files keep opening the whole time, and the old copies are deleted a day or two after each file moves, once every device has the new links.

Every file in one place#

Better Messages → Administration → Files lists every file members have sent, wherever it is kept. Filter it by type, storage, sender, conversation or date, search by name, open or download any file, and delete what should not be there. A deleted file disappears from its message, and a message left with nothing in it goes too.

Safe with staging sites and backups#

A staging site is a copy of your site, storage settings included. Without care, deleting a test message on staging would delete the live site's file from the shared bucket. Better Messages marks each storage folder with the site that owns it. A copy that finds the live site's files there writes nothing to that storage and deletes nothing from it, and asks whether it is a copy or the site really moved.

Deletes are careful in the other direction too. A file deleted in Better Messages stays listed as pending until the storage confirms it is gone, and the delete is retried if the storage refuses. Once a week, Better Messages also looks for files in its storage folder that no message knows any more, such as files left after a database backup was restored, and removes them only after seeing them twice, a week apart.

Works with the rest of Better Messages#

• Mobile apps. The iOS and Android apps upload straight to the storage as well.
• Voice and video messages. With the Voice and Video Messages add-on 2.1, recordings move to the storage right after they are sent and play from there.
• AI chat bots. Bots read images and documents kept in cloud storage, so a member can still ask a bot about a file they shared.
• End-to-end encrypted conversations. Encrypted files are stored encrypted, wherever they are kept. Only the devices of the members can read them.
• Keys outside the database. Every key can be set in wp-config.php instead of the settings.

Getting started#

Update to Better Messages 3.1, open Settings → Attachments, and click Connect next to the storage you want. Then read Where files are kept for the full picture, or go straight to the guide for your provider.

• A meeting. Someone hosts a call at a set time and sends people a link: a webinar, a class, a consultation.
• Members calling each other. The people on your site, members of a community, buyers and sellers on a marketplace, students of a course, start a video call with each other whenever they want, the way they already send each other messages.

Most WordPress video chat plugins are built for the first. This guide walks through every way to add video chat to WordPress, what each one takes to set up and to run, and which one fits which kind of site.

The five ways at a glance#

1. Send a Zoom or Google Meet link#

The simplest way needs nothing installed. Create a meeting in Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams and put the link where people will find it: on a page, in a booking confirmation, in an email to members.

Good: everyone knows these apps, they handle large meetings and recordings, and there is nothing to maintain.

Not so good:

• People leave your site for the call, and the meeting knows nothing about your members. Anyone with the link can join unless you set a passcode or a waiting room.
• Members cannot call each other. Every call is a meeting that someone has to create and share first.
• The free plans cap how long a group meeting can last.

Fits: a weekly webinar, a scheduled class, a consultation booked through a form.

2. Embed a video room on a page#

Hosted video services give you a room that you embed into a page with an iframe, pasted into a Custom HTML block. Jitsi Meet is the open source option, and Whereby Embedded and Daily Prebuilt are hosted services built for this.

Good: the call happens on your page, in the browser, with no app to install.

Not so good:

• A room is a URL. Anyone who has it can join unless you build a sign-in on top, and the room does not know which of your members is in it.
• Hosted services bill by usage, usually per participant minute, once you pass their free allowance.
• The free public Jitsi server, meet.jit.si, no longer supports embedding. For an embedded Jitsi room you use Jitsi as a Service from 8x8, or run a Jitsi server of your own.
• It is still one room on one page. A member cannot call a specific person.

Fits: a consultation page with one host, a support page with a "talk to us" room, a small team room.

3. A meeting plugin for WordPress#

WordPress.org has plugins that connect your site to Zoom or Jitsi. You create meetings and webinars in wp-admin and show them on pages with a shortcode, and some plugins add booking or calendar sync.

Good: meetings are managed where your content is, and some plugins tie a meeting to a course lesson or a booking.

Not so good: these are still meetings with a host, like the first two ways. Check when a plugin was last updated before you install it, because several video chat plugins on WordPress.org have not been tested with recent WordPress versions.

Fits: course platforms with live lessons, coaches who sell scheduled sessions.

4. Video calls inside the chat of your site#

This is what Better Messages does. Members already message each other on your site. With the WebSocket version, every conversation also gets a video call and an audio call button, and group conversations and chat rooms get group calls.

What members get:

• One-on-one video and voice calls in any private conversation. The other person hears a ring in the browser, and with web push on, a notification reaches them even when your site is closed. Calls go directly between the two browsers whenever the network allows, encrypted by WebRTC.
• Group video chat for up to 32 people and group voice calls for up to 50, inside group conversations and chat rooms. Group calls can be encrypted end to end, and in Broadcast mode only moderators speak while everyone else watches.
• Screen sharing during any call.
• Calls on phones, in the mobile browser and in your own branded iOS and Android apps.

What you control:

• Who can call. Call Restrictions lists the roles that cannot place calls, and Friends Only limits calls to friends on sites with a friends feature, such as BuddyPress.
• Who can start or join a group call, by role, and for each chat room whether it has calls at all.
• Guests. Visitors without an account can call too, when guest chat is on and they are part of the conversation.
• A call button on any page. The [better_messages_video_call_button] shortcode puts a button for a video call with a given member on a profile, a listing or a sales page.

It works with the plugins your site already runs, such as BuddyPress, BuddyBoss, PeepSo, Ultimate Member, FluentCommunity, Dokan, WCFM, LearnDash, Tutor LMS, HivePress and Directorist, and members reach the messenger from the profiles, stores, courses and listings those plugins show.

Good:

• Calls happen between people who already have accounts on your site, with the permissions you set, and without links to share.
• The chat goes on during the call and after it. When a call ends, the conversation keeps a note that it took place and how long it lasted.
• The video servers are included in the license. There is no Zoom, Twilio or Daily account to open, and video and sound never pass through your WordPress server.

Not so good:

• Calls need the WebSocket version. The free version on WordPress.org has private messages, group chats and chat rooms, but no calls.
• Calls are not recorded.
• Group calls stop at 32 cameras. A webinar for hundreds of viewers needs a webinar tool.

Fits: communities and social networks, marketplaces, dating sites, membership sites, course platforms with office hours, coaching and telemedicine where clients have accounts.

5. Build your own on WebRTC#

Browsers have video calling built in through WebRTC, so building it yourself looks tempting. The browser part is the small part. You also need:

• a signaling server that tells two browsers how to reach each other,
• STUN and TURN servers for the many networks where browsers cannot connect directly,
• a media server for any call with more than two people, such as LiveKit, mediasoup or Janus,
• a call screen that works in every desktop and phone browser, and ringing for people who are not on the page.

Video APIs such as Agora, Daily, Twilio and Vonage run the servers for you and bill by the minute. Either way, you write and maintain the rest.

Fits: a product where video is the product, with a developer team behind it.

Setting up video chat with Better Messages#

1. Install Better Messages from WordPress.org and activate it.
2. Get a WebSocket version license. The WebSocket version is a separate download from your account, and it replaces the free version with all messages and settings kept.
3. Activate the license in Better Messages → Account.
4. Open Better Messages → Settings → Calls and turn on Video Calls and Audio Calls. Both are off on a new install.
5. For group video chat, open Settings → Group Calls and turn on Group Video Chat for groups, conversations or chat rooms.
6. Optionally, choose the roles that cannot place or join calls under Call Restrictions and Group Call Restrictions.

Your site must use HTTPS, because browsers give camera and microphone access only to secure pages.

Which way fits your site#

Frequently asked questions#

Is there a free video chat plugin for WordPress?#

Jitsi Meet is open source and free when you run your own Jitsi server, and some WordPress plugins connect to it. Hosted video services have free allowances. The free version of Better Messages covers private messages, group chats and chat rooms, and calls come with the WebSocket version.

Does video chat slow down my WordPress site?#

Not with Better Messages. Video and sound go between the browsers or through the media servers that come with the license, never through your WordPress server. Your site only decides who may join a call.

Can visitors without an account use video chat?#

Yes, when guest chat is on. A guest who is part of a conversation or a chat room can place and join calls, and the Guests entry in the call restrictions turns that off.

How many people can join a video chat?#

Two in a one-on-one call, up to 32 in a group video call and up to 50 in a group voice call.

Does video chat work on phones?#

Yes, in mobile browsers and in the iOS and Android apps you can build for your site with Better Messages.

Can I record calls?#

No. Better Messages does not record calls. If you need recordings, use a meeting tool for those sessions.

See also#

• WordPress video chat plugin — calls in Better Messages in detail
• Video calls — one-on-one video calls
• Group video chat — up to 32 people, restrictions and encryption
• Video call button shortcode — a call button on any page
• How to add a chat room to WordPress — rooms with group calls

Install Better Messages from WordPress.org →

Your conversations, settings and integrations carry across untouched, including the colors and sizes you had set in the Customizer. Three things do need your attention on upgrade, and they are listed at the bottom in Updating from 2.x.

Redrawn, not rearranged#

The conversations list, the conversation itself, mini chats, popups, pickers, the call surfaces — all of it is new. What did not change is where things are. The list is still on the left, the composer is still at the bottom, the same buttons do the same jobs. Members who used your site yesterday do not have to relearn it today. It simply looks like software from this decade.

Everything visual now lives on one tab#

2.x styled the messenger through the WordPress Customizer, plus a scattering of controls across the settings page. 3.0 replaces both with a self-contained design system at Better Messages → Settings → Appearance, with a live preview next to the controls.

Six sections:

A few things are worth calling out:

• Palettes. Six of them — Graphite, Evergreen, Sandstone, Indigo, Ocean and Rose. Applying one repaints colors only. Your sizes and layout are left alone. Touch any individual color afterwards and the selector switches to Custom.
• Light and dark are separate value sets, not one theme dimmed. Switch the preview between them and edit each.
• Colors are scoped. Messenger, mini chats, mini widgets and mobile each have their own tab. The last three follow the messenger until you give them their own values.
• Several fields are automatic. Text on the accent color, secondary text, field fills and subtle borders are blended from the colors you did set, until you override them.
• Nothing is written until you press Save changes. Discard throws away what you were trying, Reset design puts everything back to what the plugin ships with, and a Find an option search across the top handles the case where you know what you want to change but not where it lives.

Underneath, the whole thing is CSS custom properties — --bm-color-*, --bm-radius-*, sizes — which is also what makes the live preview honest rather than an approximation.

The design system is not WebSocket-only. It is there on the free version too.

Your font, without CSS#

Appearance → Typography picks the messenger's font: System, Classic sans-serif, Serif, Monospace, or Inherit from the theme. If your theme already loads a web font — Inter, Roboto, whatever it is — choose Custom and type its name.

A chat room can now look different from the rest of the site#

Each chat room's editor gained its own Appearance section with the same two choices the site has — Message design (Bubbles, Outlined, No bubbles) and Message side (mine on the right, mine on the left, all on one side) — each starting at Site default. A support room can read as a flat log while the rest of the site keeps its bubbles, without a line of CSS.

The design travels#

The Appearance tab exports what you built to a file and imports one back — including changes you have not saved yet, and telling you how many values the importing version had no place for. A design also rides along in the Tools settings export, so a look built on staging can be carried to production instead of rebuilt by hand.

What the migration carries over#

On upgrade a migration reads your old Customizer values and writes them into the new tokens: colors, sizes, avatar radius, density, the side conversations list width. Sites that were on the old Standard template come out as No bubbles + All on one side, which is the same look expressed as design options.

No stored setting was dropped in the move and no default changed — the controls relocated into the Appearance tab, so it is bookmarked navigation paths that need updating rather than values. The handful of things that genuinely went away are listed under What was removed below.

Messages can carry a location#

New Location tab, and a new addon behind it. It is off until you turn it on.

Sending is a map picker in the composer's attachment menu: search an address, pick from nearby places, or drop straight onto your current position. The received message renders as a map in the bubble with an open in maps action — OpenStreetMap, Google Maps or Apple Maps, your choice.

The providers are all configurable and all default to open services: OpenStreetMap tiles, Nominatim for address search, Overpass for nearby places. Point them at your own instances if you'd rather not depend on the public ones. There is a role restriction for who may send a location, and a precision control that rounds the coordinates before the message is stored, for sites that want the neighbourhood without the doorstep.

Works on both the free and the WebSocket version.

Video messages#

The Voice Messages add-on became Voice and Video Messages 2.0 and gained a camera button next to the microphone: record a short clip, round or square, and send it in the conversation. There is a new Video Messages settings tab for the shape, the maximum length, auto-deletion and which roles may send one.

That release has its own post — it also covers automatic transcription and talking to AI chat bots by voice.

A conversation in your own language#

Translation is no longer limited to private conversations. The Translation tab now reaches group conversations, chat rooms and chat bot messages, and can be on by default. A member turns it on for a conversation and every message arrives in their language, with the original one tap away.

Nothing is lost when the connection is#

Messages and files sent while offline are now kept on the device and sent by themselves once the connection is back — or cancelled before that, if the moment has passed. Previously they failed where they stood.

The device's copy survives the update#

Conversations cached on a device are kept across plugin updates and settings changes, and the oldest are trimmed automatically once the copy grows large. Members get a Storage on this device section in their own settings showing what is held, with Free up space and Clear local data. Administrators get a matching tool under Tools that makes every browser and app drop its copy and download it again — for the times when a change should reach every device at once.

The mobile app is out of alpha#

The Mobile App page was rebuilt, and the alpha label is gone with the rebuild. Three things about it are worth more than a line.

The page is in the free version now — the builds are not. Everything short of the build itself is there without a licence: app name and artwork, the App Store Connect connection, App IDs and certificates, the Firebase files, the Android signing keystore, the store screenshots. All of it is stored and waiting if you upgrade later. Creating a build still needs the WebSocket version, and that is the only screen on the page that says so — no locked tabs, no notice beside a field.

A readiness checklist tells you what is still missing, and why it matters. Each row names the thing and the consequence rather than a status code — a missing push key reads "without it the app receives no notifications" — so you find out before a build, not from a rejected one. Sharing a screen from the iOS app runs in its own broadcast extension, which needs its own App ID and an App Group, and the checklist tracks those rows too.

Store screenshots are generated for you. Apple and Google both refuse a listing without screenshots at their exact pixel sizes, and the app you are submitting is the one thing you cannot photograph before it exists. So the page photographs the messenger instead: the real thing, laid out as the app lays it out, at the sizes the stores accept, across five scenes — inbox, conversation, group chat, voice call, group call. The last two need the WebSocket version, because the free build does not carry the code that draws a call, so a free site photographs the first three. The conversations in them are fixtures, not anything from your live site, which is also the only content safe to publish on a store page.

The installed app also has better manners about updates: it says when one needs a restart, or when a newer version is waiting in the App Store or Google Play, and it replaces or rolls back a broken update by itself instead of sitting on it.

Smaller things you will notice daily#

• Uploads say what they are doing — conversion, optimization, type checks, per file, before the message is sent.
• A reply to a photo or file carries a thumbnail of it, so the reply makes sense on its own.
• The attachments list can jump to the message a file was sent in.
• Answering a call on one device stops the others ringing. They used to ring on until the caller gave up.
• Settings export to a file. Tools could already import settings. The export side is new, and both carry the design with them.

3.0 also fixes a crafted icon SVG that could smuggle markup past the sanitizer and run script on the icon preview screen, and carries every fix from the 2.15 line up to 2.15.35 — including the two security fixes released in 2.15.34.

What was removed#

• The WordPress Customizer integration, including Better_Messages()->customize. Snippets calling it stop working.
• The Classic design template selector — the Standard look is now No bubbles + All on one side on the Appearance tab.
• The follow-the-device color scheme option. The messenger is light or dark, because the rest of your page does not follow the visitor's device setting either.
• Settings → Mobile, folded into Appearance → Mobile.
• Mini Widgets → Layout, folded into Appearance → Mini widgets. The tab itself is now called Widgets.

Updating from 2.x#

The update is in place — no export, no migration step to run by hand. Three things to check afterwards:

1. Custom CSS needs rewriting. Every messenger class is now prefixed bm-, replacing bpbm- and bp-messages-. Rules written against the old names do nothing.
2. Update your caching or optimisation plugin's exclusion lists. The script and style files were renamed: bp-messages* → better-messages*, and bpbm-worker.js → bm-worker.js. An exclusion list still naming the old files stops protecting the new ones.
3. Customizer snippets stop working. Colors and sizes live on the Appearance tab now. The values themselves are migrated for you.

If something looks wrong after updating, please tell us rather than living with it. A redesign this size can behave differently on a theme or plugin combination we have not seen — contact support, or open a topic on the support forum if you are on the free version.

Where to look next#

• Easy customization — the Appearance tab in full
• Modern design — message design, alignment and messenger size
• Voice and video messages — the add-on's own documentation
• Mobile app — the iOS and Android build guides
• Changelog — the full version-by-version history
• Roadmap — what shipped, and what is next

Alongside it, Better Messages 3.0 picked up two things on the voice side that this post is the right place for — voice messages that transcribe themselves the moment they are sent, and AI chat bots you can talk to instead of typing.

Recording a video message#

While the composer is empty, a camera button sits next to the microphone. Press it and a live preview opens above the composer, in whichever shape the site is set to use, and recording starts as soon as the camera is ready — there is no second press to hunt for. A progress ring fills around the rim toward the maximum length, and recording stops on its own when it gets there.

Stopping turns that same circle into a replay preview with send and discard, so nothing goes out that the sender has not seen first. Camera and microphone can be picked from dropdowns on the recorder, and the choice is remembered for next time.

Watching one#

Received video messages play in place. Click to play or pause, watch the progress travel around the rim, drag around that rim to scrub. Scroll away or switch conversation and playback keeps going as audio in the player bar at the top of the messenger — the same bar voice messages use, which in 3.0 also carries a playback speed control for anyone who listens to long notes at 1.5×.

It works the same on phones, with both buttons in the same place in the composer.

Settings#

The add-on now has two settings tabs, one per message type. The new one is Better Messages → Settings → Video Messages.

Voice messages keep their own tab with the same shape of controls, set independently — a site can allow one-minute video notes and unlimited voice, or the reverse.

Recording honors the same role restrictions and thread permissions as everything else: someone who cannot write in a conversation cannot record into it either.

Voice messages that write themselves down#

Transcription is not new, but it used to wait for a tap. 3.0 adds Auto Transcription on the Voice Messages tab: switch it on and every voice message is transcribed the moment it is sent, with the bubble showing the transcription running instead of asking anyone to request it.

Transcription runs through Better Messages Cloud AI or your own OpenAI key, and you can pin the language and pass a prompt for names and jargon the model would otherwise mangle.

Bots that listen#

AI chat bots can now be spoken to. Send a voice message to a bot and it answers what was actually said — whatever model the bot runs on, not only the audio-capable ones, because the transcription happens before the model ever sees it.

Each bot has its own Voice Input switch in its editor. The one prerequisite is a transcription provider configured on the Voice Messages tab. Without it the switch stays disabled and says so.

Requirements and compatibility#

• Video messages need Better Messages 3.0. On older versions the add-on offers the microphone alone and nothing else changes — voice messages keep working on 2.x.
• Both work on the free and the WebSocket version. Neither recorder is WebSocket-gated.
• Files stay on your own hosting. Voice messages are compact Opus audio. Nothing is uploaded to a third-party service unless you turn transcription on.
• Voice messages are no longer listed by the WordPress media API. The add-on now marks its uploads as Better Messages attachments, which is what the core filter excludes, so a private voice note does not surface in the media library or in anything reading /wp/v2/media. Administrators still see them.
• Works in private conversations, group conversations and chat rooms alike.

Where to look next#

• Voice and video messages documentation — settings, transcription, playback in full
• Better Messages 3.0 — the release this add-on version was built against
• AI chat bots — what a bot can do once it can hear you
• Changelog — the full version-by-version history

A monetized messaging platform sells the conversation itself. Visitors browse profiles for free, but sending a direct message costs points — and so does opening a new thread or placing a call. The business model is paid DMs: the platform charges per interaction, the recipient (a creator, coach, or expert) earns a share, and the user tops up a balance to keep talking. Better Messages plus a points engine (GamiPress or MyCRED) implements this on WordPress — per-message billing, per-role pricing, per-call rates, with the balance shown inside the chat.

This guide covers the building blocks: per-message pricing, per-call billing, role-gated tiers, and the moderation layer that keeps spam and contact-sharing from draining revenue.

The monetized messaging stack#

A self-hosted DM platform on one WordPress install — no SaaS fee, no per-seat licensing, no platform cut.

Per-message pricing setup#

The pricing primitive lives at Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → Points Systems. Pick GamiPress or MyCRED as the provider, then choose the point type to charge against. Both engines share the same UI and per-role configuration.

The pricing matrix has three sections (New Message Pricing, New Conversation Pricing, Private Call Pricing) and a Conversation Types picker — Private Conversations, Chat Rooms, and one entry per community plugin you run (BuddyPress, PeepSo, Ultimate Member, FluentCommunity Group Chats) — that combine. New Conversation Pricing is charged in addition to the message price, not instead of it. A typical paid-DM configuration: 10 points per message in private threads, 0 in groups, 25 to open a new thread, 5 per call minute. Group and chat-room chatter stays free, DMs are the monetized surface.

The charge is gated by category — set "private threads only" under NewMessageChargeTypes and groups stay free regardless of role. The charge_for_message action fires after delivery, deducting points from the sender. If a message fails moderation or validation, no points are deducted.

Every charge type has a row per WordPress user role. The pattern that converts: free users pay the headline rate, paid-tier members pay zero or a discounted rate, founding members pay nothing.

Per-call billing setup#

Voice and video calls have their own pricing row. The GamiPressCallPricing / MyCredCallPricing setting (per role) sets the rate per call minute — not per call. It applies to one-on-one calls. Group calls are not charged.

How the per-minute billing works:

1. A user starts a call. The check_call_balance filter runs first — if the caller can't afford one minute, the call is blocked with the CallPricingStartMessage.
2. The call connects. Better Messages tracks confirmed call-traffic minutes in a message-meta counter. charge_call_usage fires once per minute and deducts the configured rate.
3. If mid-call the balance drops below one more minute, the call ends gracefully with the CallPricingEndMessage.

Billing covers one-on-one calls only — the setting is named Private Call Pricing, and the charging hooks fire from the one-on-one call addon, not the group one. Group calls are free however long they run, so a paid expert-AMA cannot be metered per attendee-minute this way. Gate the room by role and sell access to the role instead.

Role-gated tiers#

Monetized DM platforms usually run a tiered subscription model on top of per-message pricing — free users see profiles, paid tiers unlock the ability to send DMs at all. Better Messages handles tier gating with the restrictRoleBlock setting at Settings → Restrictions.

A common shape for a creator-economy DM platform:

The free Subscriber role is added to restrictRoleBlock so the Send Message button is hidden for it. Paid tiers progressively reduce the per-message cost via the per-role configuration. Combine with a membership plugin (MemberPress, Paid Memberships Pro, Restrict Content Pro) for the subscription side — it assigns the WordPress role on payment, Better Messages reads it on every send.

Spam, scam, and contact-sharing moderation#

A monetized DM platform attracts users trying to extract value without paying — spam DMs from bot accounts, scam / phishing links to high-value users, and contact sharing where users send phone numbers or social handles to continue off-platform.

Better Messages AI Content Moderation covers all three. The Cloud AI provider (included with the WebSocket version) covers 23 content categories — the OpenAI base set plus extended categories built for monetized platforms: Spam, Scam / Phishing, Contact Sharing, Doxxing, Commercial Promotion, Impersonation, Profanity, Threats, Drugs / Alcohol, and Minor Safety.

Two action modes per category — Flag Only (delivers, marked for review) and Hold for Review (held until a moderator approves). For a monetized DM platform, the high-leverage configuration is Contact Sharing → Hold for Review plus Spam → Flag Only.

On top of categories, Custom Rules let you define platform-specific rules in plain text:

Block any attempt to move conversation to email, SMS, Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord, or any external chat
Block sharing of phone numbers, emails, social handles, or external profile links
Block solicitation of payments outside the platform

The Cloud AI evaluates each rule against the message in context — it sees surrounding messages, not just one — useful for catching multi-message contact-sharing where a user splits a phone number across two sends.

Balance display#

The Balance Display section carries six independent toggles, one per placement: In Header, Above Conversations List, Below Conversations List, User Menu, User Menu Popup and Reply Area.

Most platforms enable In Header + Reply Area. The balance number links to the Balance Page URL you set below it — typically a WooCommerce product, a custom checkout, or a Stripe page. When a send is blocked, the message the user sees is the one in your points plugin's own setting: myCredNewMessageChargeMessage or GamiPressNewMessageChargeMessage, both defaulting to "Not enough points to send a new message."

Free vs WebSocket version#

Frequently asked questions#

Can I charge different rates for different user roles?#

Yes — every charge type (new message, new thread, call) has a row per WordPress role. Free users pay the headline rate. Paid-tier members pay discounted rates. VIPs can be set to 0. The role lookup happens on every send, so changes apply immediately.

How do users top up their balance?#

The points engine handles the wallet, not Better Messages itself. Most platforms run a WooCommerce product that grants points on purchase (both GamiPress and MyCRED have official WooCommerce add-ons), or a custom Stripe checkout that calls the points-engine API on success.

Does Better Messages support both voice and video call billing?#

Yes for one-on-one calls — the CallPricing setting covers voice and video alike, billed per connected minute to the caller, with the per-role matrix applying as it does for messages. Group calls are not billed at all: the charging hooks fire from the one-on-one call addon only, which is why the setting is named Private Call Pricing. If you need paid group sessions, gate the room by role and sell the role.

Can I block spam contact-sharing automatically?#

Yes — enable AI Content Moderation under Settings → Moderation and set Contact Sharing to Hold for Review (or Flag Only for less friction). The Cloud AI catches phone numbers, emails, social handles, and external chat-platform mentions even when split across two messages.

What happens if a user's balance hits zero mid-message?#

The send is blocked with the NewMessageChargeMessage shown as a toast — typically "You need 10 points to send this message. Top up your balance." Mid-call, the call ends gracefully with the CallPricingEndMessage. No charge is taken for the partial minute that pushed the balance negative.

Can the recipient earn from messages they receive?#

The default model deducts from the sender only. For revenue-share scenarios, the charge_for_message action is the integration point — a small functions.php snippet can trigger a parallel credit to the recipient via the points-engine API.

Is the platform GDPR-compatible?#

Yes — every message, points transaction, and billing log lives in the WordPress database on your server. The cloud WebSocket relay stores no message content (only routing metadata is written down), so the cloud version is GDPR-compatible by default. For stricter cases, the self-hosted WebSocket relay keeps even the routing metadata on your infrastructure.

See also#

• Pay-to-Message with MyCred and GamiPress — canonical feature reference
• GamiPress integration — provider-specific setup
• MyCred integration — provider-specific setup
• GamiPress pay-to-message — the GamiPress integration reference
• MyCRED pay-to-message — the MyCRED integration reference
• Patreon-style creator chat — tier-gated chat (membership model rather than per-DM)
• WordPress fan community chat — paid-tier chat rooms and live events
• AI content moderation — spam, scam, and contact-sharing filter
• End-to-end encrypted messaging — for confidential paid conversations
• Role-based access — for tier and free-user gating

Install Better Messages from WordPress.org →

The classic chat-rooms website — a list of topic rooms across the homepage, a public lobby for guests, a few private rooms behind a login, people drifting between them all evening — is one of the oldest layouts on the web. IRC servers, AIM rooms, and the small Java-applet chats of the early 2000s all hit the same shape. WordPress can host that site today with a single plugin and no external chat service.

This guide is for builders whose site's primary feature is chat rooms — a destination where the rooms themselves are the product, not a forum with a chat tab or a course with a discussion area. If you instead want to drop one chat room into an existing site, follow the shorter add a chat room tutorial — this post is its architectural sibling.

The chat-rooms website stack#

A chat-rooms-first site is light by design — one plugin doing the chat work and a theme that gets out of the way.

Everything lives in your WordPress database — messages, files, guest sessions, moderation rules — with no third-party chat vendor.

Site architecture: three tiers of rooms#

A chat-rooms website typically layers three tiers: public lobby rooms (open to everyone including guests, the front door of the site, one per major topic), member rooms (logged-in users with a specific role — quieter, more on-topic), and private rooms (invite-only or paid, the reason members sign up).

A chat room is a WordPress custom post type (bpbm-chat), but it has no public URL of its own — it always renders inside a regular WordPress page or post via shortcode. The standard pattern is one WordPress page per visible room: the page is what your menu links to, and [better_messages_chat_room id="123"] lives in the page content. You categorize, organize, and link to the pages — never to the rooms directly.

Creating rooms in WP-admin#

Every chat room is created from WP Admin → Better Messages → Chat Rooms → Add New. Give it a name, write an optional topic description, then scroll to the Chat Room Settings panel below the editor to set access rules.

Embed the room with the shortcode [better_messages_chat_room id="123"] (accepts a full_screen="1" attribute) or the Better Messages — Chat Room Gutenberg block. The standard pattern is one WordPress page per room with the page slug matching the topic (/general/, /coding/, /movies/) — the shortcode goes on each page and the menu links to them.

Public vs private rooms: the access toggles#

Every room has a can_join setting that tells the plugin who can enter — by WordPress role, plus an optional Guests slot for unregistered visitors. Typical configurations:

• Public lobby — all editable roles + guests allowed.
• Member-only room — subscriber / member / your custom role. Guests off.
• Private paywalled room — paid-member role from your membership plugin. Guests off. Only joined can read on so non-members can't lurk.

The plugin reads WordPress roles directly, so any role created by another plugin (memberships, WooCommerce, LMS, BuddyPress, BuddyBoss) appears in the same checklist — no separate permission system to maintain.

Guest access: the front door#

A chat-rooms site that requires registration before anyone can read a message rarely takes off. With Guests enabled on a room, an unregistered visitor sees a tiny "join as guest" form (display name, optionally email for lead capture), gets stored in the bm_guests table with a stable browser-side identity, and returns to the same display name across sessions. Guests can send messages, upload files, use reactions, get @-mentioned, receive notifications, and — on the WebSocket version — join a room’s group call. They authenticate on the REST API like any other participant, so nothing is closed to them by default. If you would rather they could not call, the Guests row in Settings → Group Calls → Restricted from Joining is where to say so.

Guest access is per-room, so the lobby can be guest-open while topic rooms require registration. The standard funnel: guest lobby → "create an account to join the other rooms" → registered member → paid upgrade.

What's inside every room#

Every room ships the full Better Messages conversation surface: persistent message history, file sharing with resumable uploads, emoji selector, sticker packs, GIF search via GIPHY and Klipy, Markdown formatting, @-mentions, reply / edit / forward, reactions, and an online users sidebar.

On the WebSocket version you also get presence indicators, typing indicators, instant delivery, and group voice and video calls — up to 32 participants on video, 50 on audio — with the call button in every room's header.

Mini widget: every page becomes a chat surface#

Beyond the room pages themselves, the Mini Widget pins a floating chat icon to every page on the site with a Chat Rooms tab listing joined rooms and unread counts. A visitor reads a post, sees a notification badge, opens the widget, finds two new messages in their favorite topic room, replies, and goes back to the post — no navigation to a room page required.

Moderation: keep the rooms healthy#

A chat-rooms site lives or dies by its moderation quality. Better Messages ships three composable layers:

• Pre-moderation — hold messages from designated users or roles until an admin approves. Configure under Better Messages → Settings → Moderation: hold first messages from new users, pre-moderate replies from specific roles, quarantine an individual.
• Bad words filter — a list of forbidden words. Block, asterisk-mask, or flag for review. It sits under Settings → Restrictions, not alongside the other two.
• AI Content Moderation (WebSocket version) — classifies messages across 23 content categories (hate, harassment, sexual content, violence, self-harm, illicit, and more), supports custom rules in plain text, and is aware of conversation context — it catches patterns split across multiple messages, like a phone number typed one digit per line. Choose Flag Only (deliver but mark for review) or Hold for Review (queue until approved).

Flagged output lands in the admin Messages Viewer where moderators read in-context, approve, reject, ban, or delete. A realistic combination: bad words on for low-effort spam, AI moderation set to Flag Only across all rooms, pre-moderation on for first messages from brand-new accounts.

Monetization options#

Three common revenue patterns:

1. Paid memberships — pair Better Messages with a membership plugin (Paid Memberships Pro, MemberPress, WooCommerce Memberships). The membership plugin creates the paid role. Better Messages restricts paid rooms to that role. Subscription start auto-adds the member. Cancellation removes them via the role change.
2. Pay-per-message — credit economy via the myCred or GamiPress integration. Members earn or buy credits and spend them per message in paid rooms.
3. Sponsored rooms — a brand sponsors a topic room, featured on your homepage or a curated landing. Standard WordPress content techniques apply — the room is just a custom post type.

The plugin doesn't take a cut of any of this.

Free version vs WebSocket version for a chat-rooms site#

Frequently asked questions#

How is this different from adding a chat room to an existing site?#

The add a chat room tutorial covers "I have a WordPress site and want to drop one chat room onto a page". This post covers the chat-rooms-first case — site architecture, monetization, and moderation are different even though the plugin is the same.

Is this a real IRC alternative on WordPress?#

For the "users hop between topic rooms in real time and chat all evening" use case, yes — the WebSocket version reproduces that experience with WordPress accounts as the identity layer and WordPress roles as the access layer. You lose IRC-specific features like channel modes and /commands, but you get message history, file sharing, voice and video, mobile apps, and a mainstream identity system.

Can I have hundreds of rooms?#

Yes. Each room is a separate bpbm-chat post in the database and is embedded on a separate WordPress page, so the scaling limit is the WordPress server itself. For large catalogues, build a directory page that lists your room pages — a manual list, a custom Gutenberg block, or a navigation menu — and link each card to the WordPress page that embeds that specific room.

How do I keep participant lists from filling up with ghosts?#

Every room has an Auto-remove inactive users option. Pick a signal (no site visit, no message in room, no room visit), set a day threshold, and the cleanup runs on the standard five-minute cron. Most chat-rooms sites scope this to Guests only.

Does the shortcode work in Elementor / Bricks / Oxygen?#

Yes — every page builder that accepts WordPress shortcodes (Elementor, Bricks, Oxygen, Beaver Builder, Divi). The Gutenberg block works in any builder that supports Gutenberg blocks.

Are conversations indexed by search engines?#

Container pages are indexable, but messages load via REST after page render, so Google doesn't index message content. This is usually the right behavior — chat is ephemeral, not canonical SEO content.

Can members DM each other on the same site?#

Yes — Better Messages serves both surfaces from the same install. Members can DM through the main messenger while chat rooms run as separate persistent spaces, sharing the same inbox, notification stack, and identity.

Are encrypted chat rooms a thing?#

End-to-end encryption is a per-thread setting on the WebSocket version, available primarily for private one-on-one and group conversations using AES-256-GCM content encryption and ECDH P-256 key exchange — see End-to-end encrypted WordPress messaging for the architecture.

See also#

• How to add a chat room to your WordPress site — the tutorial for adding a single chat room to an existing site
• Chat rooms documentation — full reference for the chat-room feature
• WordPress guest chat without login — guest entry mechanics in depth
• AI content moderation for WordPress chat — the 23-category moderation engine
• Role-based access for WordPress chat — how role gates work across rooms and DMs
• WordPress community chat plugin — pairing chat with a community plugin
• WordPress chat mobile app — native iOS/Android apps for the same chat rooms
• Export transcripts — archive a room's conversation as a file

Install Better Messages from WordPress.org →

This post covers what to expect from a WordPress live chat plugin, the two flavours of "live chat" Better Messages supports, and the trade-offs between AJAX polling (free version) and WebSocket (real-time) delivery.

What a WordPress live chat plugin needs to do#

Regardless of which "live chat" you mean, the plugin has to provide:

1. A chat entry point on the front-end — a floating button, a shortcode-embeddable widget, a page in the WordPress menu, or a tab inside the user profile.
2. Real-time message delivery — messages appear in seconds, not on next page reload.
3. Conversation history — every chat is saved server-side, searchable, exportable.
4. Notifications — sound, in-app badge, browser push, email, mobile push.
5. Access control — who can chat with whom, whether visitors (guests) can start a thread, and which roles see which surfaces.

Better Messages covers all five, plus the bigger features most live-chat plugins skip — group conversations, voice and video calls inside the chat thread, AI chat bots, end-to-end encryption, and a native iOS / Android mobile app.

The Live Chat button#

The simplest entry point is the Live Chat button — a single shortcode ([better_messages_live_chat_button]) that drops a button on any page, any post, or any custom post type. Clicking it opens a chat thread between the visitor and a designated recipient (configurable via the shortcode attributes — a specific user, the post author, etc.).

The button is the canonical entry for service-provider sites:

• Real estate — buyer clicks Live Chat on a property listing, opens a thread with the agent.
• Coaching / freelancers — visitor clicks Live Chat on the coach's profile, starts a private conversation.
• Marketplaces — buyer clicks Live Chat on a vendor's product page, threads land in the vendor's inbox.
• Directories — visitor clicks Live Chat on a business listing, contacts the listing owner.

The button label, target user, and behaviour for unauthenticated visitors are configurable per shortcode. For sites that prefer a single button across all custom post types without a shortcode, the Live Chat Button Shortcode Builder generates the markup from a WP-admin UI.

Floating bubble and mini widgets#

For sites that want chat available from any page (not pinned to a specific post), Better Messages ships two floating modes:

• Floating chat bubble — a single rounded button in the bottom corner. Clicking it opens the messenger panel as an overlay. Position and colour configurable.
• Mini chat widgets — multiple open chat threads stacked at the bottom of the screen with a Facebook-Messenger-like layout. Users can keep several conversations open while browsing. The number that fit depends on screen width.

See the WordPress chat widget guide for the visual breakdown and the choice between floating bubble vs mini widgets.

Live chat for visitors (no account needed)#

The biggest single barrier on a customer-facing site is the login wall — a visitor with a pre-sales question is not going to register an account just to ask whether the medium tee fits a 38" chest. Better Messages has guest chat built in: a visitor types their name, picks an avatar (or skips it), and starts chatting immediately. The guest gets a stable session — they can come back tomorrow and the conversation history is still there.

Guests are first-class participants — they show in the same inbox as registered users, they can join chat rooms (if the room allows guests), and a staff member can answer either guest threads and member threads from the same admin UI.

Live chat for members (private messaging between users)#

The other flavour is member-to-member chat — registered users private-messaging each other. This works on any WordPress site (no community plugin required — BM has its own user search and thread UI), and on top of that integrates natively with every major WordPress community plugin: BuddyPress, BuddyBoss, PeepSo, Ultimate Member, FluentCommunity, ProfileGrid, UsersWP, WP User Manager.

The integration is two-way: profile pages get a Live Chat button next to the existing community-plugin actions, and the community-plugin groups get paired chat threads (joining a BuddyBoss Group auto-adds the user to the matching group chat).

Group conversations and chat rooms#

Live chat is rarely one-on-one only. Better Messages supports:

• Group threads — pick multiple recipients from the new-thread screen, every participant sees the same conversation, replies route to the whole group.
• Chat rooms — persistent public or private rooms, embedded via shortcode or as a dedicated WordPress page. Optional guest access, role-based restrictions, online users sidebar. See How to add a chat room to your WordPress site.
• Mass messaging — send a one-to-many broadcast from WP-admin, every recipient gets their own private thread, replies route back individually. See WordPress mass messaging.

The same live-chat surface handles all three patterns — there is no separate "rooms plugin" to install.

Real-time delivery — AJAX vs WebSocket#

The free version of Better Messages delivers messages via short-interval AJAX polling — a request every couple of seconds. It works on every WordPress host, no extra infrastructure required. For most low-volume sites (a coach with a handful of clients, a freelancer chatting with leads, a small forum) the polling cadence is indistinguishable from real-time.

For higher-volume sites, the WebSocket version replaces polling with a persistent WebSocket connection. Latency drops from ~2 seconds to ~50 milliseconds, server CPU drops sharply (a single WebSocket connection is cheaper than 30 AJAX requests per minute per user), and the realtime stack unlocks the rest of the live-chat feature set: typing indicators, online presence, group voice and video calls, web push notifications, end-to-end encryption, and Better Messages Cloud AI for translation, moderation and voice transcription.

For the difference in practice and the install steps, see Real-time messaging on WordPress.

Voice and video calls inside the live chat#

The WebSocket version adds one-on-one and group voice and video calls directly in the chat thread. Click the call button next to the message input, the other participant gets a ring tone, and the call opens inside the same panel — no Zoom link, no Calendly, no separate window.

For a service business, this turns a pre-sales text chat into an instant face-to-face conversation when the conversation gets complicated. See WordPress video call plugin.

AI chat bots in the live chat#

Connect an AI model (OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, or the Better Messages Cloud AI) and a registered bot user appears in the chat as a regular participant. The bot can:

• Answer pre-sales questions when a human agent is offline.
• Deflect common support tickets via a configurable system prompt.
• Translate messages in real time across 69 languages.
• Moderate incoming messages against configurable content categories.
• Transcribe voice messages.

See AI chat bots for WordPress private messaging for the bot setup and the choice between providers.

Search, history, and audit trail#

Every live chat is stored in the WordPress database. The chat search feature lets users find messages across every conversation they have access to. Admins can query the full database directly for compliance, support audits, or data-subject requests. GDPR export and erasure flow through the standard WordPress user-tools UI. See GDPR-compliant WordPress chat.

Free vs WebSocket version for live chat#

Installation#

1. Install Better Messages from WordPress.org and activate.
2. Choose where the chat lives:
   • For a customer-facing Live Chat button, drop the [better_messages_live_chat_button] shortcode on the page, or use the Shortcode Builder for a no-code admin UI.
   • For a floating bubble, switch the mini widget bar to Floating Bubble under Better Messages → Settings → Appearance → Mini widgets.
   • For chat rooms, create the room under Better Messages → Chat Rooms and embed via shortcode or assign a page.
3. Open Settings → Restrictions to set who can start threads, reply and view messages per WordPress role, and Settings → Group Calls for who can start or join group calls.
4. (Optional) Activate the WebSocket version under Better Messages → Account with your licence key.

Frequently asked questions#

Does the live chat work without a login?#

Yes — guest chat is built in. Visitors type a display name and start a thread without registering. Configurable per chat surface (you can require login on some rooms, allow guests on others).

Can I have multiple support agents?#

Yes — any WordPress user with the right role can reply to incoming live-chat threads. The admin Inbox shows every thread routed to the support role. Agents can claim, reply, transfer, and close threads. Combine with role-based access for tiered support (Tier 1 sees all, Tier 2 only escalated, etc.).

Does it work on mobile?#

The chat is fully responsive out of the box. For visitors, mobile browsers (including iOS Safari and Android Chrome) get a full-screen chat experience. For staff, the WebSocket version includes a native iOS / Android app — agents get push notifications, can reply on the go, and stay logged in across days. See WordPress chat mobile app.

Can the live chat run inside WooCommerce product pages?#

Yes — drop the [better_messages_live_chat_button] shortcode on the product page or template. Buyers click and chat with the seller / store owner. For vendor marketplaces (Dokan, WCFM, WC Vendors, MultiVendorX), the chat routes to the actual vendor, not the store admin. See WooCommerce customer chat.

Does it integrate with my existing community plugin?#

Yes — Better Messages integrates natively with BuddyPress, BuddyBoss Platform, PeepSo, Ultimate Member, FluentCommunity, ProfileGrid, UsersWP, WP User Manager, and more. The chat reads the existing user directory, role mapping, and group structure — no separate user import.

Does it work without a community plugin?#

Yes — Better Messages runs on any standard WordPress site without BuddyPress, BuddyBoss, or any other community plugin. It ships with its own user search, thread UI, group conversations, and chat rooms. The community-plugin integrations are additive: when present, they give you profile-page chat buttons, paired group chats, and member directory hooks. When absent, the chat still works end-to-end.

Is the live chat GDPR-compliant?​

Yes — every conversation is stored in your WordPress database, not on a third-party SaaS. GDPR export and erasure use the standard WordPress user-tools UI. End-to-end encryption is available per-thread on the WebSocket version for the most sensitive conversations. See GDPR-compliant WordPress chat.

Can I see who is currently online?#

On the WebSocket version, yes — online users sidebar in chat rooms, online indicator on profile pages, typing indicators in active threads. On the free version, presence is approximated from recent activity (less precise but still usable).

How is this different from a SaaS live-chat widget (Tidio, Tawk, LiveChat)?#

SaaS widgets store conversations on the vendor's cloud and bill per agent per month. Better Messages stores conversations in your WordPress database, is licensed per site (not per agent), and the conversation surface is woven into the rest of your WordPress install — same user accounts, same roles, same theme. For sites that already run on WordPress, the operational cost is lower and the data stays on infrastructure you control.

See also#

• WordPress chat widget — floating bubble and mini widgets
• Live Chat Button Shortcode Builder
• Real-time messaging on WordPress
• WordPress guest chat without login
• How to add a chat room to your WordPress site
• WordPress group chat plugin
• AI chat bots for WordPress private messaging
• WordPress chat mobile app
• WordPress video call plugin

Install Better Messages from WordPress.org →

This post covers how to add real-time private messaging to a WordPress intranet and which intranet stacks pair well with Better Messages.

What "intranet chat" needs to do#

An employee-facing intranet messenger is a different product from a customer-facing live chat. The intranet version has to:

1. Be available only to logged-in employees — never to the public internet, optionally only to the office network.
2. Respect the org chart — managers, HR, executives, contractors, and external auditors all need different access.
3. Allow department / project group chats that map to existing intranet groups.
4. Support company-wide announcements that reach every employee at once.
5. Run on the company's own infrastructure — the messages and files stay on the WordPress server the rest of the intranet is hosted on.
6. Have a mobile app for field staff, drivers, retail employees, and anyone not at a desk all day.

Better Messages covers all six on top of any standard WordPress intranet stack.

Stack: WordPress + Better Messages (community plugin optional)#

Better Messages adds the messaging layer to any WordPress site — vanilla WordPress, a custom theme, an intranet theme like Woffice / Olympus / BuddyApp / Interactive / Bookmark, or a community-driven stack on BuddyBoss / BuddyPress / FluentCommunity / Ultimate Member / PeepSo.

Two common shapes for an intranet:

• WordPress + Better Messages only — works on any WordPress install. Employees log in, find each other via search, start one-on-one or group threads, join chat rooms. No community plugin required.
• WordPress + community plugin + Better Messages — when an employee directory, profile pages, and groups are already needed for the rest of the intranet, a community plugin (BuddyBoss Platform, BuddyPress, FluentCommunity, Ultimate Member, or PeepSo) supplies them. Better Messages then integrates with that plugin so department / project groups get paired chat threads.

The community plugin (when present) owns identity — profile, role, department. Better Messages always owns the conversation — DM, group thread, chat room, call. They share the same WordPress user table, so an employee onboarded once in WP-admin is reachable in the messenger immediately.

Department and project group chats#

Every intranet has departments — Engineering, Sales, HR, Finance, Marketing, Support, plus cross-functional projects.

If you run a community plugin (BuddyBoss, BuddyPress, PeepSo, FluentCommunity, Ultimate Member), each department is already a group there (BuddyBoss Group, BuddyPress Group, PeepSo Group, FluentCommunity Space, Ultimate Member Group). Better Messages can pair a group chat with each of those — joining the group adds the user to the paired chat.

The flow that works for most companies on a community-plugin intranet:

• Create a private BuddyBoss Group called Engineering, restricted to the engineering role.
• Enable the paired Better Messages group chat under Integrations.
• Every engineer joining the group also joins the Engineering chat — no manual invites.

For an intranet without a community plugin (a plain WordPress site, or one built on a non-community theme), the same outcome is achievable using Better Messages Chat Rooms — create one room per department, restrict access by WordPress role, and admins manage membership directly. See How to add a chat room to your WordPress site.

For an org with location-based teams (e.g. NYC office, Berlin office, Remote — EMEA), the same pattern works — one group (or room) per location, one chat per group.

Role-gated channels#

Beyond per-group chats, intranets need broader, role-gated channels:

• All-hands room — every employee, read-only for non-management.
• Managers room — leadership only.
• HR confidential thread — one-on-one HR conversations, end-to-end encrypted.
• External contractors room — limited access. Cannot see the rest of the intranet.
• Executives room — board, C-suite, optionally outside legal counsel.

Better Messages reads WordPress roles directly. In Better Messages → Settings → Restrictions, the core messaging surfaces — start a new thread, reply, view messages, and which roles may message which — are configurable per role, with calls, group calls and voice messages gated on their own settings tabs. A contractor role can be allowed to chat only with their project manager and one HR contact. An intern role can be allowed to read but not start a thread. A former-employee role can be revoked from every chat surface in one toggle, without deleting their account.

For role-by-role rules in more depth, see Role-based access for WordPress chat.

Company-wide announcements#

Internal communications teams need to push a message to every employee at once — a policy update, a town-hall reminder, a security incident notification. The Better Messages mass messaging feature does exactly this: from WP-admin you compose one message, target a role or set of roles, and every targeted employee receives an individual thread with the message. Replies route privately back to the sender — so HR can ask "any questions?" and field 200 individual responses without 200 of them becoming a public reply-all storm.

Combined with web push notifications, an all-hands message lands as a browser notification on every employee's desktop within seconds, even if they don't have the intranet tab open.

On-premises, self-hosted, GDPR-friendly#

A major reason companies adopt a WordPress intranet in the first place is data sovereignty — they want HR conversations, performance reviews, internal incident reports, and legal discussions to live on infrastructure they control.

Better Messages stores every message in the WordPress database. A daily database dump captures every message and file alongside the rest of the intranet. For the WebSocket version, the relay can run on the same server as WordPress (or on a private VPC), so even the real-time delivery never leaves company infrastructure. End-to-end encryption is available per thread for the most sensitive conversations — HR, legal, executive — so even a database breach yields ciphertext for those threads.

GDPR data-subject requests are also straightforward: every message a given employee has sent or received can be exported from the database, and the standard WordPress user-deletion flow removes them.

Group video calls and web push: the productivity unlock#

Two features turn an intranet messenger from "an email replacement" into "the place work happens":

• Group voice and video calls inside the chat thread. Daily standups, sprint demos, project kickoffs, and ad-hoc "can we jump on a quick call?" all happen inside the messenger — enough for a department all-hands without a separate Zoom link.
• Web push notifications for new messages. Employees hear about new messages even when the intranet tab is closed or the browser is minimized — works on Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari, plus iOS 16.4+ when the intranet is added to the home screen as a PWA.

A typical week on an intranet with both enabled: morning standups run as group calls inside the Engineering chat, a contractor pings the project manager mid-day via DM (push notification on the PM's laptop), HR sends an end-of-day reminder by mass messaging (push notification on everyone's phones via the mobile app), the weekly all-hands runs as a 30-person group video call inside the All-Hands room.

Mobile app for non-desk employees#

A meaningful fraction of any company's headcount isn't at a desk: field service, drivers, retail floor staff, warehouse, security. They need the same chat on a phone, with native push notifications that survive the screen being off.

Better Messages ships a native iOS and Android mobile app that connects to the company's WordPress intranet. Employees install one app, sign in once, and get the same chats, calls, and notifications as the web users. The app talks to the same backend, so a message sent from a delivery driver's phone shows up instantly in the Logistics group chat on the dispatcher's desktop.

Why on-site for internal communication#

A WordPress intranet exists because the company chose to own its directory, documents, and process inside its own infrastructure. The conversation layer benefits from the same model:

• One login, one identity. Employees use their WordPress account for everything — directory, docs, announcements, and chat. Offboarding a leaver is a single role change in WP-admin.
• One database for backups, audits, and exports. Every message ends up in the same MySQL dump that captures the rest of the intranet, so retention policy is one policy, not two.
• Same WordPress roles for permissions. A contractor role you've already configured for documents and forums applies equally to who they can chat with — no separate permission system.
• No per-seat tax on growth. Headcount changes don't change the chat licence cost. The only thing that scales is the WordPress server itself.

Installing Better Messages on an intranet#

1. Install Better Messages from WordPress.org and activate.
2. Confirm your community plugin is active (BuddyBoss Platform, BuddyPress, FluentCommunity, Ultimate Member, or PeepSo).
3. Open WP Admin → Better Messages → Settings → Restrictions and configure access per WordPress role. Set contractor, intern, and external roles to restricted access. Give HR and executive roles a wider surface.
4. Enable the matching group integration under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations so department / project groups get paired chats.
5. For real-time delivery, web push, and group video calls, activate the WebSocket version under Better Messages → Account with your license key.
6. (Recommended for internal-only intranets) At the web-server level (.htaccess / nginx), restrict the WordPress site to the office IP range or corporate VPN. This is generic WordPress hardening, not a Better Messages setting — chat traffic inherits whatever WP itself is reachable on.

Free vs WebSocket version for an intranet#

| Web push notifications (desktop + iOS PWA) | — | yes | | End-to-end encryption (HR, legal, executive threads) | — | yes | | Native mobile app for non-desk employees | set up only | yes | | Self-hosted WebSocket relay (on-prem, no cloud) | — | yes |

Frequently asked questions#

Does it work with BuddyBoss Platform?#

Yes — BuddyBoss is the most common WordPress intranet stack and Better Messages integrates natively. Department chats pair with BuddyBoss Groups, the directory uses BuddyBoss member profiles, and the BuddyBoss ReadyLaunch theme is fully supported. See BuddyBoss messaging plugin.

Can I run it without any community plugin?#

Yes — Better Messages works on a vanilla WordPress install without BuddyPress / BuddyBoss / PeepSo. You lose the auto-paired group chats but you keep one-on-one DMs, chat rooms, mass messaging, calls, and web push. The community plugin only adds the department-group auto-provisioning.

Can chat access be limited to the office network or VPN?#

Yes — but this isn't a Better Messages setting. Restrict the entire WordPress site at the web-server level (nginx / Apache config, .htaccess, or a network ACL on the VPN). Better Messages inherits whatever WordPress itself is reachable on — every chat request goes through the WP permission stack, so whatever you block at WordPress level blocks the chat as well.

How does offboarding work?#

When a leaving employee's WordPress account is deactivated (or their role is changed to a stripped-down "former employee" role), chat access follows the same WordPress role check that gates the rest of the site. Their previous messages remain in the history for the audit trail. The user-deletion flow removes them permanently if needed.

Does it support SSO (Active Directory, Okta, Azure AD)?#

Better Messages doesn't integrate with SSO providers directly — it reads the WordPress user table. Any WordPress SSO plugin that creates a WP user on first login (miniOrange SSO, WP SAML Auth, Auth0 for WP, Authentication Pro, and others) handles the SSO side. Once the employee has a WP account, chat access follows their WordPress role automatically.

Can we host the WebSocket relay on-premises?#

Yes — the WebSocket version of Better Messages can either use the hosted Better Messages cloud or your own self-hosted relay. Self-hosted means message bytes never leave your network. See Where are the WebSocket servers located? for the relay-location discussion and the Self-Hosted plan pricing.

Is end-to-end encryption available?#

Yes — per-thread end-to-end encryption is available on the WebSocket version. Enable it on HR, legal, executive, or any thread where the message content should be unreadable even to the database administrator. See End-to-end encrypted messaging on WordPress.

How many employees can a single intranet handle?#

There is no hard cap — the limit is the WordPress server. A standard $40–80/month VPS handles 1,000–5,000 daily-active employees comfortably. Larger organizations run on a dedicated MySQL host plus a separate WebSocket relay. The architecture scales horizontally the same way the rest of the WordPress install does.

See also#

• BuddyBoss messaging plugin — the most common intranet community stack
• BuddyPress messaging plugin — the open-source intranet base
• FluentCommunity chat — for Discord-style internal spaces
• Ultimate Member private messaging — for UM-driven employee directories
• Mass messaging to all users — for company-wide announcements
• Role-based access — for HR / contractor / executive gating
• End-to-end encrypted messaging — for confidential threads
• Mobile app — for field staff and non-desk employees
• WordPress group chat plugin — for department-style multi-user chats

Install Better Messages from WordPress.org →

Better Messages 2.15.9 ships a visual Shortcode Builder that does this for you. Point it at a sample listing, pick a few radio buttons, copy the resulting shortcode, paste it anywhere. The same shortcode then works for every listing of that shape — Better Messages resolves the target user, the conversation thread, and the in-chat banner against whichever listing the visitor is currently looking at.

The Shortcode Builder#

Open WP Admin → Better Messages → Settings → Shortcodes. The first card is the new Builder.

The flow:

1. Pick a target post. This is just for previewing — a real listing whose values get plugged into the form so you can see exactly what visitors will see. It is not written into the generated shortcode. The shortcode you copy works on every post of the same shape.
2. Choose how the target user is resolved. Three options:
   • Author of the current post — chat goes to whoever wrote the listing. Works for blog posts, vendor profiles where the vendor is the WP author, agent CPTs, anything author-driven.
   • User stored in a custom field on the post — chat goes to a user id stored in a postmeta key (e.g. _vendor_user_id, agent_user_id, _listing_owner). The classic directory / marketplace pattern.
   • Fixed user (a single inbox for the whole site) — all visitors land in the same thread with one staff user. Site-wide support pattern.
3. Pick a thread strategy. Auto — one thread per post means repeat visitors to the same listing reopen the same conversation instead of starting fresh each time. Or set a custom pattern, or open a new thread per visitor.
4. Pick a label. Use Auto — "Chat with {author_name}", write your own with placeholders like {post_title} and {author_name}, or stick to a plain Live Chat.
5. Tune the look — background color, text color, font size, padding, border radius, margin, an inline SVG icon. All optional. The default bm-lc-button-styled class already gives you a branded button out of the box, so most sites don't need to touch this section.
6. Attach a thread information banner — toggle on by default. More on this below.
7. Click "Test in real chat" — opens the resolved conversation in a new tab so you can send a real message and see exactly what the visitor would see.
8. Copy the generated shortcode and paste it into your post body, Gutenberg shortcode block, Elementor shortcode widget, or theme template.

The live preview on the right is an iframe that loads inside your active theme — fonts, colors, line heights all match what visitors will see on the frontend. Not a mockup.

The vendor-postmeta pattern, end to end#

A common case: you have a custom directory CPT (vendors, agents, businesses, freelancers, real-estate listings). Each listing has a postmeta key — say _vendor_user_id — pointing to the WordPress user account behind that listing. You want every listing page to have a "Chat with vendor" button that opens a thread with the right vendor — never the wrong one, never the listing author (which might be the site admin who imported the data).

Old way:

<?php
$vendor_user_id = get_post_meta( get_the_ID(), '_vendor_user_id', true );
$unique_tag     = 'vendor-' . get_the_ID();
echo do_shortcode(
    '[better_messages_live_chat_button '
    . 'user_id="' . esc_attr( $vendor_user_id ) . '" '
    . 'unique_tag="' . esc_attr( $unique_tag ) . '" '
    . 'text="Chat with vendor"]'
);
?>

New way — open the builder, switch Target user to User stored in a custom field on the post, type _vendor_user_id, hit Copy:

[better_messages_live_chat_button user_id="postmeta:_vendor_user_id" unique_tag="auto" object_id="auto" text="Chat with vendor" class="bm-lc-button-styled"]

Drop that shortcode into your vendor CPT's single template or post body once. On every listing page, the button automatically targets the user id stored in that listing's _vendor_user_id postmeta, opens or reuses a thread keyed by vendor-{post_id}, and attaches the listing as a banner.

Thread information banner — on any CPT#

Set object_id="auto" and the listing becomes a banner inside the conversation. Both participants see the listing's title, thumbnail, and link at the top of the thread — so there's no ambiguity about which property, which vendor, which job posting the chat is about.

Until this release, the in-chat post banner only worked for the integrations Better Messages ships directly (WooCommerce, WP Job Manager, Houzez). For any other CPT, you had to write your own addon that hooked the better_messages_rest_thread_item filter. Now it works for any custom post type with no code — the post is published, the post id is attached at thread creation, the banner renders.

The banner is filterable via better_messages_thread_info_banner_html if you want to add custom fields (price, rating, availability, etc.) to the rendered banner.

Existing integration banners (WooCommerce product cards, WP Job Manager listings, Houzez property cards) continue to win when both are present — they hook the same filter at the default priority, the generic banner runs at priority 20.

Magic tokens, if you prefer writing shortcodes by hand#

The builder generates shortcodes that use a small set of "magic" attribute values. Each one resolves against the post the shortcode is rendered inside. You can hand-write them too:

The placeholders — {post_id}, {post_title}, {post_type}, {author_id}, {author_name} — work in text, subject, and the custom-pattern form of unique_tag. When the shortcode runs outside of a post (sidebar widget on the home page, for example), placeholders quietly collapse to safe defaults instead of leaking empty strings.

Style without writing CSS#

The Button style block in the Shortcode Builder includes color pickers and inline numeric inputs that map directly to CSS properties on the rendered button. Examples:

[better_messages_live_chat_button
    user_id="post_author"
    text="auto"
    class="bm-lc-button-styled"
    bg_color="#ff6b35"
    text_color="#ffffff"
    font_size="18px"
    padding="14px 24px"
    border_radius="999px"]

Renders an orange pill button. All values pass through WordPress's safecss_filter_attr — unsafe properties and javascript:-style URL values are stripped automatically.

The icon attribute takes inline SVG — picked from a preset library inside the builder, or pasted directly. The icon is embedded inside the shortcode itself, so no separate icon font (Dashicons, Font Awesome) needs to be loaded on the frontend. SVG content is sanitized: <script>, <foreignObject>, <iframe>, event handlers, and javascript: URLs are all stripped before render.

Backward compatibility#

Every shortcode you already wrote keeps working unchanged. Numeric user_id, plain text, the unique_tag you set six months ago, AI bot launchers with user_id="-3", type="button" versus the default link — all of it is preserved. The magic tokens are additive.

The bm-lc-button-styled class is opt-in. The raw [better_messages_live_chat_button] shortcode (no class) still renders an unstyled element so sites that style buttons themselves via CSS aren't disrupted.

Where to start#

If you maintain a custom post type and want a chat button on it, the Shortcode Builder is the fastest path. If you want every detail, the full docs page has the complete attribute reference, the placeholder grammar, and example shortcodes for every common pattern.

The Shortcode Builder ships in Better Messages 2.15.9 — available in both the free version on WordPress.org and the WebSocket version.

What Better Messages adds to RealHomes#

Once Better Messages is installed and the RealHomes integration is enabled under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → Directories:

• Live Chat row on the single property page, one per agent, inside the agent contact card next to Office / Mobile / WhatsApp / Email.
• Live Chat icon on property cards as a small circular icon next to the native Favorite / Compare buttons, in both grid and list views. Hover tooltip uses RealHomes' own rh-ui-tooltip style.
• Live Chat row on agent profiles as a contact-list entry between Office / Mobile / Email — same layout as the native rows, same theme accent color.
• Live Chat row on agency profiles for chatting with the brokerage owner.
• Live Chat row on every card of the Agents and Agencies listing pages so buyers can start chatting without opening the profile first.
• Messages tab inside the RealHomes dashboard at /dashboard/?module=bm-messages — full Better Messages inbox running edge-to-edge inside the native dashboard chrome.
• Messages link inside the header user-avatar dropdown, with a live unread badge.
• Property info card inside the conversation — image, price, beds / baths / sq ft, address pinned to the top of every thread.
• Theme accent inheritance — buttons read the value from --rh-global-color-primary (set from Theme Options → Global Styling → Primary Color) so they always match the rest of the theme.

Live Chat on property listing cards#

Buyers do not have to open each property to start a chat — the button is on every card in the grid view, sitting next to the native Favorite / Compare icons. The size and outline match the natives (32×32, transparent background, theme-accent icon, filled-accent on hover) and the tooltip uses RealHomes' own rh-ui-tooltip style so it pops up identically to the Add to compare tooltip you already know.

The list view gets the same button in its action row, alongside Favorite and Compare. List view is the layout RealHomes uses for the Half-Map property search — high-intent traffic that converts well into a chat.

Live Chat on agent and agency profiles#

Agent profile pages get a Live Chat row inserted into the contacts grid alongside Office / Mobile / WhatsApp / Fax / Email. The chat-bubble icon takes the same shape and accent color as the native phone / envelope icons, the label reads Live Chat, the value reads Send a message styled as a normal link. The whole row is clickable — tap anywhere and the chat popup opens with the agent's name and headshot pre-loaded.

Agency profile pages get the same treatment — the link targets the WordPress user that owns the agency CPT (usually the brokerage owner).

Live Chat on the agents and agencies listings#

The Agents listing (/our-agents/ on a default RealHomes site) shows a Live Chat row on every card, sized and aligned to match the native Office / Mobile / Email rows. Same treatment on the Agencies listing.

Example: buyer ↔ agent conversation#

The conversation pane keeps the property in view — image, price, beds / baths / sq ft, address pinned at the top so neither side has to flip back to the listing to remember which property is being discussed. The yellow "Chatting as Melissa William" banner just below the property card tells the routed receiver which agent persona this conversation is attributed to (more on that in the Agent personas section below). Messages flow naturally back and forth on the same surface — no email roundtrip, no second tab, no "let me check my inbox."

Messages tab inside the RealHomes user dashboard#

A Messages tab is added to the dashboard sidebar, sitting between My Saved Searches and My Profile. The tab is registered through RealHomes' native realhomes_dashboard_menu filter so it renders server-side with the same markup as Properties, Favorites and Saved Searches — same icon position, same active-state highlight, same responsive collapse on narrow viewports.

Clicking the tab loads the messenger inline at /dashboard/?module=bm-messages. The page-head breadcrumbs are hidden so the conversation pane takes the full available height — every reply form, every attachment picker, every emoji bar stays inside the visible viewport regardless of the surrounding theme header.

The Messages entry in the RealHomes dashboard sidebar also carries a live unread badge — a small circle with the total unread count — so users see new messages from anywhere in the dashboard. It updates the instant a message arrives (WebSocket version) or within a few seconds via polling (free version), and clears as soon as the user opens the unread thread. The same badge is mirrored on the Messages link inside the header user-avatar dropdown, so an agent never has to land on the dashboard to know there's something new.

Setting RealHomes as the messages location#

Better Messages → Settings → General has a Messages Location dropdown. Selecting Show in RealHomes Dashboard routes every "open inbox" link in the plugin into the dashboard at /dashboard/?module=bm-messages — notification emails, push notifications, on-site bell-icon links, the floating bubble. The dashboard tab toggle becomes force-enabled and locked while this option is selected, because the dashboard IS the inbox.

Agent personas without WordPress accounts#

RealHomes lets you create an agent CPT without a linked WordPress user — the property's post_author becomes the de-facto recipient of the contact form. That works for email but breaks for chat: with no linked user, the buyer would be messaging "admin" instead of "Nathan James".

Better Messages handles this with per-thread participant overrides. When the buyer clicks Live Chat on Nathan James' card:

• The chat is routed to the property's post_author so it actually lands in someone's inbox.
• The buyer sees the agent's name, headshot and profile URL in the thread sidebar, conversation header and message sender chips — same name and avatar everywhere.
• The routed receiver keeps their real WordPress identity in the bottom-left profile widget, and gets a yellow "Chatting as Nathan James" banner above the property card so they always know which persona the buyer is contacting.

The same fallback account can host conversations for several different agent CPTs simultaneously — each thread still shows its own distinct persona to the buyer. Three buyers messaging three different agents on the same property all end up with three conversations in the same inbox, each displayed with a distinct agent name and photo. The "fake-user" pattern is documented in the per-thread fake users guide — the RealHomes addon and the Houzez addon are the two reference implementations.

Theme accent inheritance, no settings to copy#

The Live Chat buttons read RealHomes' own --rh-global-color-primary CSS variable for the button background, the property-card icon accent, the price label inside the thread context card, and the dashboard sidebar highlight. Change the RealHomes primary color in Theme Options → Global Styling → Primary Color and every Better Messages surface updates on the next page load. No second color picker to keep in sync, no caching to flush.

Guest chat — buyers do not have to register#

Most real-estate buyers will not sign up before sending a message. If guest chat is enabled in Better Messages → Settings → General → Guest Chat, anonymous visitors can use any of the Live Chat buttons without logging in — they pick a display name in the popup, the message is sent, the thread is theirs, and they can come back later (cookie-based identity) to read the reply.

Installing Better Messages on a RealHomes site#

1. Install Better Messages from WordPress.org and activate it.
2. Make sure RealHomes (Inspiry Themes) and the Easy Real Estate plugin are both active.
3. Open WP Admin → Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → Directories → RealHomes Integration.
4. Toggle Enable RealHomes Integration and the individual placement toggles you want (property page, listing cards, agent profile, agency profile, dashboard tab).
5. Optionally pick Messages Location → Show in RealHomes Dashboard in Settings → General so every internal Messages link in the plugin routes into the new dashboard tab at /dashboard/?module=bm-messages.

For custom Elementor templates, child-theme overrides or third-party property grids, place buttons manually:

[better_messages_realhomes_property_button]
[better_messages_realhomes_property_card_button]
[better_messages_realhomes_agent_button]
[better_messages_realhomes_agency_button]

The buttons inherit Theme Options → Global Styling → Primary Color automatically — change the RealHomes palette and every Live Chat surface updates on the next page load.

Free vs WebSocket version for RealHomes sites#

What's next#

The next iteration adds:

• Schedule-a-viewing canned reply on the agent side — one tap inserts "Are you free for a viewing this weekend?" into the reply box.
• Per-property unread filter in the agent inbox — filter all threads about a specific listing.

Frequently asked questions#

Does it work with the Ultra, Modern and Classic design variations?#

Yes — all three design variations (Ultra / Modern / Classic) ship the same realhomes_dashboard_menu filter and the same single-property / agent / agency templates. The Live Chat rows render natively on each. Switch design variation in Theme Options → Design Variation and the buttons re-render with the new variation's spacing and accent on the next page load.

Does it work with Elementor and RealHomes Studio templates?#

Yes for the default placements. If you build a property page or agent profile from scratch in Elementor, drop the appropriate shortcode ([better_messages_realhomes_property_button], [better_messages_realhomes_agent_button], etc.) into a Shortcode widget to place the button manually.

Should I disable the native CRM Inquiries panel?#

It's optional. The native CRM → Inquiries panel stays in place by default — agents can keep using it for email-style inquiries while Better Messages handles real-time chat. If you want a single inbox, turn on Hide Native Inquiries Tab in the RealHomes integration settings and the legacy panel is removed from the dashboard sidebar.

Can buyers chat without registering?#

Yes — if Guest Chat is enabled in Better Messages → Settings → General → Guest Chat, anonymous visitors can use any of the Live Chat buttons without logging in. They pick a display name in the popup, the message is sent, the thread is theirs, and a cookie-based identity lets them come back later to read the reply.

What happens when a property is unpublished?#

The Live Chat row is hidden on cards and on the single property page as soon as the property is not published. Existing threads remain readable on both sides — buyer and agent can still chat about a property that has been taken off the market.

Does it work with agent CPTs that don't have a WordPress user owner?#

Yes. When the agent CPT has no linked WordPress user, the chat is silently routed to the property's post_author (or to the agency owner). The buyer sees the agent CPT's name, headshot and profile URL everywhere in the conversation — the routed receiver gets a yellow "Chatting as [Agent name]" banner above the property card so they always know which persona the buyer is contacting. One fallback account can host inquiries for several different agent CPTs simultaneously, and each thread still displays its own distinct persona to the buyer.

Will Better Messages clash with the native RealHomes inbox?#

No. Both can coexist side by side. They use different database tables, different REST endpoints, different dashboard URLs. Most sites pick one and hide the other through the Hide Native Inquiries Tab toggle, but it's not required.

See also#

• RealHomes integration documentation — full setup reference
• Houzez real estate chat — the sister real-estate theme integration
• WordPress real estate chat — adjacent real-estate use case
• HivePress listing chat — for HivePress real-estate marketplaces
• Motors car dealer chat — Stylemix Motors classifieds
• Directorist chat — for general directory sites
• GeoDirectory listing chat — GeoDirectory-driven real-estate sites
• Classified Listing chat — Classified Listing (RTCL) sites
• Per-thread fake users guide — developer reference for the agent-persona override pattern

Install the RealHomes Real Estate WordPress Theme and Better Messages, enable the integration, and the Live Chat rows appear on every property, agent, agency, listing card and dashboard tab automatically. No template overrides, no shortcodes required for the default placement.

Install Better Messages from WordPress.org →

What Better Messages adds to Houzez#

Once Better Messages is installed and the Houzez integration is enabled under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → Directories:

• Live Chat button on the single property page alongside the native Call / Email / WhatsApp buttons in the agent / agency contact panel.
• Live Chat button on property cards as a fourth equal-width action in the v7 grid and list views, matching the native button outline / hover styles exactly.
• Live Chat row on agent profiles below the native Send Email / Call buttons. Targets the WordPress user linked to the agent through Houzez's Author Information → User mapping.
• Live Chat row on agency profiles for chatting with the brokerage owner.
• Messages tab inside the Houzez dashboard at /dashboard-live-chat/ — full Better Messages inbox running edge-to-edge inside the Houzez dashboard chrome.
• Property info card inside the conversation — image, price, beds / baths / sq ft, address pinned to the top of every thread.
• Theme accent inheritance — buttons read the value from Houzez Options → Styling Options → Primary Color so they always match the rest of the theme.

Live Chat on property listing cards#

Buyers do not have to open each property to start a chat — the button is on every card in the grid view, fourth in the action row alongside the native Call / Email / WhatsApp icons.

Same in the list view — equal-width buttons, same outline style, same hover color.

Live Chat on agent and agency profiles#

Adds a Live Chat row to the contact panel on agent profile pages, below the native Send Email and Call buttons. The button targets the WordPress user linked to the agent through Houzez's Author Information → User mapping, so every conversation lands in that agent's own dashboard inbox — no extra wiring, no shared mailbox.

Same treatment for agency profile pages — the button targets the WordPress user that owns the agency CPT (typically the brokerage owner).

Buyers always see the agent persona, even with no linked WP user#

Houzez sites often have agent and agency CPTs with no linked WordPress account — they're listing showcases, not real users. Better Messages handles this without dropping the chat: the conversation is silently routed to the property's post_author (or to the agency owner), but the buyer's view of the thread shows the agent CPT's own name, headshot and profile URL — in the sidebar, in the conversation header, on every message they receive, and in the mini chat widget. A single fallback account can route inquiries for several different agent CPTs at once and each thread still shows the buyer a distinct agent.

The routed receiver always sees their own WordPress identity in the bottom-left profile widget (no leakage into self-view) and gets a yellow "Chatting as Mike Moore" banner above the property card, so they know which persona the buyer thinks they are talking to:

The same mechanism solves the multi-account case: if a brokerage has several agent profiles powered by one shared backend account, every buyer-side view stays distinct — different agent name and photo per thread — without any extra config.

Messages tab inside the Houzez dashboard#

Buyers and agents stay inside the Houzez dashboard to read and reply. The native Houzez sidebar / topbar / account header stay in place. Only the main content panel hosts the messenger. Combined with Messages Location → Show in Houzez Dashboard, every internal Messages link in Better Messages (notification emails, the floating bubble, push notifications) routes to this tab.

Notice the property context card at the top of the conversation — image, price, beds / baths / sq ft, address. Threads started from a property page or listing card automatically carry that context, so the agent sees exactly which property the buyer is asking about without scrolling for context.

The Messages entry in the Houzez dashboard sidebar also carries a live unread badge — a small blue circle with the total unread count — so users see new messages from anywhere in the dashboard. It updates the instant a message arrives (WebSocket version) or within a few seconds via polling (free version), and clears as soon as the user opens the unread thread.

Installing Better Messages on a Houzez site#

1. Install Better Messages from WordPress.org and activate it.
2. Make sure Houzez is active, along with the required Houzez plugin pack (Houzez Login Register, Houzez Theme Functionality, Houzez API).
3. Open WP Admin → Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → Directories → Houzez Integration.
4. Toggle Enable Houzez Integration and the individual placement toggles you want.
5. Optionally pick Messages Location → Show in Houzez Dashboard in Settings → General so every internal Messages link in the plugin routes into the new dashboard tab.

For custom Elementor templates, Houzez Studio widgets, or theme overrides, place buttons manually:

[better_messages_houzez_property_button]
[better_messages_houzez_property_card_button]
[better_messages_houzez_agent_button]
[better_messages_houzez_agency_button]

The buttons inherit Houzez Options → Styling Options → Primary Color automatically — change the theme palette in Houzez Options and every Live Chat surface updates on the next page load.

Free vs WebSocket version for Houzez sites#

Frequently asked questions#

Does it work with Houzez Studio Elementor templates?#

Yes — buttons on the single property page, agent profile, agency profile and dashboard are auto-injected via Houzez theme hooks and work with every Houzez Studio layout. For property cards rendered through Houzez Studio's own grid widgets, use the [better_messages_houzez_property_card_button] shortcode inside the Elementor template if the auto-injection doesn't catch the custom widget.

Should I disable the native Houzez Messages panel?#

It's optional. Both messengers can coexist — the Houzez native panel stays at /dashboard-messages/, Better Messages lives at /dashboard-live-chat/. If you want a single inbox, enable Hide native Messages tab in the Houzez integration settings. The native panel is removed from the dashboard sidebar.

Can buyers chat without registering?#

Yes — if Guest Chat is enabled in Better Messages → Settings → General → Guest Chat, anonymous visitors can use the Live Chat buttons without logging in.

What happens when a property is unpublished?#

The Live Chat button is hidden when the property is not published. Existing threads remain readable on both sides.

Does it work with agent or agency CPTs that don't have a WordPress user owner?#

Yes. When the CPT has no linked WordPress user, the chat is silently routed to the property's post_author (or to the agency owner). The buyer sees the agent / agency CPT's name, headshot and profile URL in the conversation — the routed receiver gets a yellow "Chatting as [Agent name]" banner above the property card so they know which persona the buyer is contacting. A single fallback account can host inquiries for several different agent CPTs and every thread still shows its own distinct persona to the buyer.

Will Better Messages clash with the native Houzez messenger?#

No. Both can coexist side-by-side. They use different database tables, different REST endpoints, different dashboard URLs. Most sites pick one and hide the other through the Hide native Messages tab toggle, but it's not required.

See also#

• Houzez integration documentation — full setup reference
• RealHomes real estate chat — the sister Inspiry-family real-estate theme
• WordPress real estate chat — adjacent real-estate use case
• HivePress listing chat — for HivePress real-estate marketplaces
• Motors car dealer chat — Stylemix Motors classifieds
• Directorist chat — for general directory sites

Install Better Messages from WordPress.org →

What Better Messages adds to Motors#

Once Better Messages is installed and the Motors integration is enabled under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → Directories:

• Live Chat button on the single car listing page alongside Motors' Message Us / Make an Offer Price buttons.
• LIVE CHAT pill on each inventory list card inline with Schedule Test Drive / Add to Compare / Quote by Phone / Trade-In / Share This.
• Live Chat row on the dealer profile Contact Info card.
• MESSAGES tab inside the dealer dashboard at /author/<username>/?page=better-messages.
• Listing info card inside the conversation — car image, title, price.
• Motors author profile links — clicking the dealer's name in a conversation opens their Motors profile, not the WordPress one.
• Motors theme accent inheritance — the Live Chat buttons inherit the theme's accent and text colors automatically.

LIVE CHAT pill on inventory cards#

Buyers do not have to open each car to start a chat — the pill is on every inventory card, inline with the native Motors actions.

Live Chat row on the dealer profile#

Adds a Live Chat row to the dealer / private-seller Contact Info card. Hidden when the dealer has no published listings.

MESSAGES tab inside the dealer dashboard#

Dealers stay inside the Motors dashboard to read and reply to buyer inquiries. Combined with Messages Location → Show in Motors Dealer Dashboard, every internal Messages link in Better Messages routes to this tab.

Multi-listing support#

If you run the Motors Multi-Listing add-on with extra vehicle types (motorcycles, boats, trucks, RVs, etc.), every placement above works for those listings automatically — no extra configuration needed.

Installing Better Messages on a Motors site#

1. Install Better Messages from WordPress.org and activate it.
2. Make sure Motors is active. Stylemix's Motors Starter Theme (or any of their commercial Motors themes) is recommended for the polished out-of-the-box layout the screenshots above use.
3. Open WP Admin → Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → Directories → Motors Integration.
4. Toggle Enable Motors Integration and the individual placement toggles you want.

For custom Elementor templates, sidebar widgets, or theme overrides, place buttons manually:

[better_messages_motors_listing_button]
[better_messages_motors_dealer_button]

Free vs WebSocket version for Motors sites#

Frequently asked questions#

Does it work with all Motors theme variants (Cars, Motorcycles, Boats…)?#

Yes — Better Messages works with the standard Motors plugin regardless of which Stylemix theme you use. The Live Chat buttons inherit the active theme's accent colors automatically.

Does it work with the Motors Multi-Listing add-on?#

Yes — every placement (listing, inventory card, dealer profile, dashboard) works for motorcycles, boats, trucks, RVs, and any custom vehicle type the Multi-Listing add-on registers.

Can buyers chat without registering?#

Optional. With Guest Chat enabled, an unregistered buyer can start a thread by typing a name and email.

What happens when a car listing is unpublished?#

The Live Chat button is hidden when the listing is not published. Existing threads remain readable on both sides.

Can I move the LIVE CHAT pill to a different position on inventory cards?#

The pill is rendered inline with Motors' standard inventory-card action row. Position is controlled by the order of the Motors action hooks. A custom filter can reorder if needed. For more drastic layout changes, disable the auto-injection toggle and place the button manually via shortcode.

See also#

• Motors integration documentation — full setup reference
• Houzez real estate chat — adjacent listing-driven use case
• Classified Listing chat — for general classifieds sites
• Directorist chat — for directory sites
• HivePress listing chat — for HivePress marketplaces

Install Better Messages from WordPress.org →

What Better Messages adds to Classified Listing#

Once Better Messages is installed and the Classified Listing integration is enabled under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → Directories:

• Live Chat button on the listing page inside the Seller Information widget.
• Live Chat button on archive listing cards (opt-in).
• Live Chat button on author and store pages (Classified Listing Store add-on supported).
• Floating header chat icon with live unread-count badge.
• Messages tab inside the My Account dashboard next to My Listings, Store, Payments.
• Listing info card inside the conversation — image, title, price, location.
• Author archive links — clicking the seller's name in a conversation opens their RTCL author archive.

Floating header chat icon#

Inserts a chat-bubble icon into the site header next to My Account and (when Pro is active) the native Chat icon. Inherits the theme's header-icon styling and shows a live unread count that updates in real time. Opt-in via the Header Chat Icon toggle.

Messages tab in the RTCL My Account dashboard#

Embeds the full Better Messages inbox inside the RTCL My Account layout. Combined with Messages Location → Show in Classified Listing Account, every internal Messages link routes here.

Listing info card inside the conversation#

The card removes the "which listing is this about" question — the seller sees the listing image, title, and price at the top of the thread.

Using Classified Listing Pro chat alongside Better Messages#

If you are running Classified Listing Pro with its built-in chat enabled, Better Messages coexists with it — both buttons render side by side on the listing page, both inboxes work independently.

Installing Better Messages on a Classified Listing site#

1. Install Better Messages from WordPress.org and activate it.
2. Make sure Classified Listing (RTCL) is active. Pro is optional — both work.
3. Open WP Admin → Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → Directories → Classified Listing Integration.
4. Toggle Enable Classified Listing Integration and the individual placement toggles you want.

Free vs WebSocket version for Classified Listing sites#

Frequently asked questions#

Does it work with Classified Listing Pro?#

Yes. Pro is optional — Better Messages works with the free RTCL plugin too. With Pro, the Better Messages buttons render next to (or instead of) the Pro chat depending on whether you disable Pro's chat.

Will the dashboard tab work on commercial themes like Classima?#

Yes — the Messages tab is added through RTCL's My Account endpoint registration, which commercial themes respect. The archive-card button is the only piece that depends on RTCL's default loop templates (some commercial themes replace those, and the archive button does not auto-render on those themes — listing page and header icon still work).

Can visitors message without an account?#

Optional. With Guest Chat enabled, unregistered visitors can start a thread from a listing by typing a name and email.

Does the header chat icon support translation / dark mode?#

Yes — the icon inherits the theme's native header-icon styling, so dark-mode flips and RTL layouts are handled by the theme automatically.

Can I place the header chat icon in a custom location?#

Yes — use the shortcode [better_messages_classified_listing_header_button] inside a page-builder block or a custom header template.

See also#

• Classified Listing integration documentation — full setup reference
• Directorist chat — for Directorist-driven sites
• GeoDirectory chat — for GeoDirectory-driven sites
• HivePress listing chat — for HivePress-driven sites
• Motors car dealer chat — for automotive classifieds

Install Better Messages from WordPress.org →

Better Messages adds that layer to LearnDash, LearnPress, Tutor LMS, MasterStudy LMS, and FluentCommunity Courses — from one install. This post compares what the integration looks like across the five LMS plugins.

The five LMS integrations at a glance#

All five share the same Better Messages course-info card, shared course settings (info card / email / push toggles), and the dedicated Courses widget on the messenger's Mini Widgets bar — separate from the social Groups widget so academic chats and friend cohorts do not mix.

LearnDash#

The most-installed LMS on WordPress. Better Messages adds a Message Instructor button on every course page, an auto-managed Course Group Chat that mirrors enrollment, a LearnDash Group cohort chat, and a Send Message button on the LearnDash Instructor Role profile.

Full write-up: LearnDash student messaging plugin. Reference: LearnDash integration documentation.

LearnPress#

LearnPress's structure (Courses, Lessons, Quizzes) maps directly to Better Messages: each course gets its own group chat, the instructor's user gets a Send Message button on their profile, and the Courses widget surfaces every course the student is enrolled in.

Reference: LearnPress integration documentation.

Tutor LMS#

Tutor LMS has its own student / instructor dashboards. Better Messages adds a Messages tab to the Tutor LMS dashboard and a Message Instructor button on the course page. The integration also adds a student-profile Send Message button so instructors can reach out to specific students.

Reference: Tutor LMS integration documentation.

MasterStudy LMS#

MasterStudy ships with its own account-messages tab. Better Messages takes it over and embeds the full messenger inside the MasterStudy account layout — students never leave the LMS UI to chat.

Reference: MasterStudy LMS integration documentation.

FluentCommunity Courses#

FluentCommunity has its own community + course product. Better Messages integrates with FluentCommunity Spaces (community side) and FluentCommunity Courses (LMS side). The Courses widget lists every FC course a student is enrolled in, and each course gets its paired group chat. A Message Instructor Button toggle puts a button on the course creator card, and a Course Chat Button toggle adds a Course Chat button next to FluentCommunity’s own Continue Course.

Reference: FluentCommunity integration documentation.

How they compare on the student-instructor flow#

The core experience — Message Instructor + course group chat + Courses widget — is identical across all five. Differences are in dashboard placement (each LMS has its own conventions) and a couple of advanced surfaces (LearnDash Groups, FluentCommunity Spaces).

Shared LMS settings apply to all five#

Three toggles under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → LMS → Shared Course Settings apply across every LMS integration:

• Course Info Card (on by default) — banner with course title, image, and instructor name above the conversation.
• Email Notifications (on by default) — standard new-message email for course chat activity.
• Push Notifications (off by default, WebSocket version) — integration-level real-time push for course-chat events.

Changing any toggle propagates across LearnDash, LearnPress, Tutor LMS, MasterStudy LMS, and FluentCommunity Courses.

Installing Better Messages on any LMS site#

1. Install Better Messages from WordPress.org and activate it.
2. Install your LMS plugin of choice (LearnDash, LearnPress, Tutor LMS, MasterStudy LMS, or FluentCommunity).
3. Open WP Admin → Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → LMS and enable the integrations you want. FluentCommunity is the exception — it has its own Integrations → FluentCommunity sub-tab, because its Courses and Spaces settings sit together there.

Sites running more than one LMS plugin (rare, but it happens) can enable multiple integrations simultaneously — each appears as its own section in the Courses widget.

Free vs WebSocket version for LMS sites#

Frequently asked questions#

Will students from different courses end up in the same chat?#

No — each course has its own group chat. Students enrolled in multiple courses see one thread per course in the Courses widget.

What happens when a student's enrollment is revoked?#

Better Messages listens to each LMS plugin's enrollment hooks (learndash_update_course_access, learn-press/user-enrolled-course, tutor_after_enrolled, etc.) and removes the student from the course chat. Their previous messages remain in history.

Can I run two LMS plugins side by side?#

Yes — Better Messages detects each active LMS and wires the integration in independently. The Courses widget surfaces courses from every LMS.

Are course chats included in the standard email digest?#

Yes — the shared Email Notifications toggle controls the standard new-message email for every LMS course chat. Toggle it off if your students prefer not to receive email per message.

Does it work with LearnDash Groups (cohort feature)?#

Yes — each LearnDash Group gets its own chat, separate from the per-course chat. Group Leaders are auto-joined as instructors.

Does it work with FluentCommunity's own messaging?#

Better Messages adds a real-time chat layer to FluentCommunity, with paired group chats for FluentCommunity Spaces and FC Courses. If you are using Fluent Messaging, deactivate it after installing Better Messages to avoid a double-messenger conflict.

See also#

• LearnDash student messaging plugin
• LearnPress student messaging plugin
• Tutor LMS student messaging plugin
• MasterStudy LMS student messaging plugin
• FluentCommunity chat plugin — includes the FluentCommunity Courses LMS integration
• Group conversations — how the group chat feature works
• Mini widgets — including the Courses widget
• Real-time messaging — what changes with the WebSocket version

Install Better Messages from WordPress.org →

This guide walks through what Better Messages adds to a LearnDash site, how the auto-managed chats stay in sync with enrollment changes, and what the differences are between the free and WebSocket versions.

What Better Messages adds to LearnDash#

Once LearnDash is detected and the integration is enabled in Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → LMS, three independent features come online:

1. Message Instructor button on every course page — students open a private DM with the course author in one click.
2. Course Group Chat — a group conversation auto-created per course, with the course author and every enrolled student auto-joined.
3. LearnDash Group Chat — a group conversation for each LearnDash Group (a cohort of students sharing access to one or more courses), with Group Leaders auto-joined as instructors.

A fourth toggle adds a Send Message button to the public profile generated by the paid LearnDash Instructor Role add-on.

Message Instructor button on course pages#

Adds a Message Instructor button to every LearnDash course page. The button targets the user listed as the course author, and is hidden on the instructor's own course.

Clicking it opens a private one-to-one conversation with the instructor — no group, no other students.

If your site uses a custom layout, page builder, or block theme that breaks the auto-injected button, place it manually with a shortcode:

[better_messages_learndash_course_button]
[better_messages_learndash_course_button course_id="123"]
[better_messages_learndash_course_button text="Ask the instructor"]

The shortcode auto-detects the current course on a course page, and supports per-instance overrides for course, recipient, label, and CSS classes.

Course Group Chat — auto-managed enrollment#

When Course Group Chat is enabled, opening a course in the messenger creates a group conversation that the course author and every enrolled student can join. Students are added on enrollment and removed when their access is revoked.

The conversation header shows the course thumbnail, title, and instructor name — so students always know which course the discussion belongs to. The card is rendered automatically above the conversation, including on private DMs opened through the Message Instructor button.

The enrollment sync is driven by LearnDash's learndash_update_course_access hook, which Better Messages listens to for both adds and removes — including the ones LearnDash performs automatically when a student is enrolled into a course via a LearnDash Group.

To hide the course info card across all LMS conversations, turn off Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → LMS → Shared Course Settings → Course Info Card.

LearnDash Group Chat — cohort messaging#

LearnDash Groups are cohorts of students sharing access to one or more courses, managed by users with the Group Leader role. Better Messages mirrors that organization by creating a dedicated chat for each LearnDash Group.

Group members are kept in sync via LearnDash's ld_added_group_access and ld_removed_group_access hooks, and every Group Leader assigned to the cohort is auto-joined as an instructor of the chat.

Send Message button on the Instructor Role profile#

If you run the paid LearnDash Instructor Role add-on, every instructor gets a public profile at /instructor/<username>/. With Send Message Button on Instructor Profile enabled, Better Messages adds a Send Message button to that profile, right under the instructor's name.

Clicking it opens a private DM with that instructor — the same flow as the Message Instructor button on a course page, but available anywhere the instructor's profile is linked.

Courses widget for students#

Once Course Group Chat or LearnDash Group Chat is enabled, the user's enrolled courses and LearnDash Group cohorts surface in the dedicated Courses widget on the messenger's Mini Widgets bar, Side Panel, and Mobile bar — separate from the social Groups widget so academic chats and friend cohorts do not mix.

The widget icon, role restrictions, and "Hide Tab When Empty" behavior are configurable under Better Messages → Settings → Widgets → Courses.

Shared course settings (apply to all LMS integrations)#

Three toggles under Settings → Integrations → LMS → Shared Course Settings apply to every LMS course conversation across LearnDash, LearnPress, Tutor LMS, MasterStudy LMS, and FluentCommunity Courses:

• Course Info Card (on by default) — show the title, image, and instructor name banner above each course conversation, including private DMs opened by Message Instructor.
• Email Notifications (on by default) — send the standard new-message email to participants when activity happens in a course chat.
• Push Notifications (off by default, requires WebSocket version) — send browser and mobile push notifications for new course messages.

Changing any of these toggles propagates across all four LMS integrations.

Installing Better Messages on LearnDash#

1. Install Better Messages from WordPress.org and activate it.
2. Open WP Admin → Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → LMS → LearnDash Integration.
3. Toggle on the features you want: Message Instructor Button, Course Group Chat, LearnDash Group Chat, and (if applicable) Send Message Button on Instructor Profile.

Free vs WebSocket version for LearnDash sites#

Frequently asked questions#

Will students from different courses end up in the same thread?#

No — each course has its own Course Group Chat. Students enrolled in multiple courses see multiple separate threads, one per course.

What happens when a student's access is revoked?#

LearnDash fires learndash_update_course_access on revoke, which Better Messages listens to. The student is removed from the Course Group Chat immediately. Their previous messages remain in the thread history.

Does it work with LearnDash group leaders and assistant instructors?#

Yes — Group Leaders are auto-joined as instructors of the LearnDash Group Chat. Assistant instructors on a course can be added to the Course Group Chat manually or through a custom filter.

Can students message each other from the course?#

The Course Group Chat is shared — students can post to each other inside it. For private student-to-student DMs, that depends on whether your site allows the messenger globally. With WordPress role-based access on, you can restrict who can start one-to-one threads.

Does it work alongside LearnDash Forums?#

Yes — the two surfaces address different intents. Forums are asynchronous and threaded. Better Messages course chats are real-time and one-room-per-course. Many LearnDash sites use both — forums for long-form questions, chats for real-time discussion.

Will it work with the other LMS plugins on the same site?#

Yes — Better Messages has matching integrations for LearnPress, Tutor LMS, MasterStudy LMS, and FluentCommunity Courses, and they share the Course Info Card / email / push settings. A site running LearnDash plus another LMS will see Course Group Chats from both, surfaced together in the Courses widget.

See also#

• LearnDash integration documentation — full setup reference with every option
• Group conversations — how group chats work in general
• Mini widgets — including the Courses widget
• Real-time messaging — what changes with the WebSocket version

Install Better Messages from WordPress.org →

What Better Messages adds to GeoDirectory#

Once Better Messages is installed and the GeoDirectory integration is enabled under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → Directories:

• Send Message button on the listing page next to GeoDirectory's author actions.
• Listing info card inside the thread — image, title, address, price.
• GeoDirectory author profile links — clicking the author's name in a conversation opens their GeoDirectory profile, not the default WordPress one.

Listing info card inside the conversation#

The listing owner sees exactly which listing the visitor is asking about — no "which listing was this?" question. The card is rendered automatically above the conversation.

Installing Better Messages on a GeoDirectory site#

1. Install Better Messages from WordPress.org and activate it.
2. Make sure GeoDirectory is active.
3. Open WP Admin → Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → Directories → GeoDirectory Integration.
4. Toggle Enable GeoDirectory Integration.

For custom layouts or theme overrides, place the button manually:

[better_messages_geodirectory_listing_button]
[better_messages_geodirectory_listing_button listing_id="123"]
[better_messages_geodirectory_listing_button text="Contact owner"]

Free vs WebSocket version for GeoDirectory sites#

Frequently asked questions#

Does it work with GeoDirectory's paid add-ons?#

Yes — the integration uses GeoDirectory's core listing hooks, which paid add-ons extend rather than replace.

Can visitors message without an account?#

Optional. With Guest Chat enabled in Better Messages → Settings → General → Guest Chat, unregistered visitors can start a thread from a listing.

What happens when a listing is unpublished?#

The Send Message button is hidden when the listing is not published, and existing threads remain readable on both sides.

Will it work with custom GeoDirectory theme layouts?#

The button auto-renders on standard layouts. For custom themes, the shortcode [better_messages_geodirectory_listing_button] works inside any page builder.

Does the listing owner get notified by email?#

Yes — Better Messages' standard email-notification system applies. Owners can adjust their per-thread email preferences in their account settings.

See also#

• GeoDirectory integration documentation — full setup reference
• Directorist chat — for Directorist-driven sites
• HivePress listing chat — for HivePress-driven sites
• Classified Listing chat — for Classified Listing (RTCL) sites
• Motors car dealer chat — for automotive listing sites

Install Better Messages from WordPress.org →

What Better Messages adds to Directorist#

Once Better Messages is installed and the Directorist integration is enabled under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → Directories:

• Send Message button on the listing page inside the Author Info card.
• Send Message button on archive listing cards in the grid and list views (opt-in).
• Send Message button on the author profile page.
• Messages tab inside the Directorist user dashboard next to My Listings, My Profile, Favorite Listings.
• Listing info card — conversations started from a listing show the listing's image, title, price, and address inside the thread.
• Author profile links — clicking the author's name in a conversation opens the Directorist author profile, not the WordPress one.

Messages tab inside the user dashboard#

Visitors and listing owners read and reply to conversations without leaving the Directorist dashboard. Combined with Messages Location → Show in Directorist Dashboard, every internal Messages link routes to this tab.

Listing info card inside the conversation#

The card removes the "what listing is this about" question — the owner sees exactly which listing the visitor is asking about, with the image and price visible at the top of the thread.

Installing Better Messages on a Directorist site#

1. Install Better Messages from WordPress.org and activate it.
2. Make sure Directorist is active.
3. Open WP Admin → Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → Directories → Directorist Integration.
4. Toggle Enable Directorist Integration and the individual placement toggles you want.

For custom layouts, manual placement is supported via shortcodes:

[better_messages_directorist_listing_button]
[better_messages_directorist_author_button]

Free vs WebSocket version for Directorist sites#

Frequently asked questions#

Does it work with Directorist Pro extensions?#

Yes — the integration listens to Directorist's core listing and author hooks, which Pro extensions extend rather than replace. Booking, claim-listing, and review extensions all coexist.

Can visitors message without registering?#

Optional. With Guest Chat enabled, unregistered visitors can start a thread from a listing by typing a name and email. The thread is preserved if they later register.

Can I have a Send Message button on archive cards but not the listing page?#

Yes — each placement has its own toggle in the integration settings. Enable archive cards, disable the listing page button (or vice versa).

Does it support multi-directory sites?#

Yes — Better Messages does not care which Directorist directory a listing belongs to. The button appears for every listing regardless of directory.

Will it work with custom Directorist templates?#

Most Directorist themes use the standard template hooks. The integration auto-renders the buttons. For heavily customized themes, place the buttons manually via shortcode (each placement has a matching shortcode).

See also#

• Directorist integration documentation — full setup reference
• GeoDirectory chat — for GeoDirectory-driven sites
• HivePress listing chat — for HivePress-driven sites
• Classified Listing chat — for Classified Listing (RTCL) sites

Install Better Messages from WordPress.org →

What Better Messages adds to MasterStudy LMS#

Once MasterStudy LMS is detected and the integration is enabled under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → LMS:

• Message Instructor button on every MasterStudy course page next to the enrol/buy button.
• Send Message button on the MasterStudy public instructor profile and the public student profile.
• Course Group Chat — auto-created per course, with the instructor and every enrolled student auto-joined.
• Messages tab inside the MasterStudy LMS account sidebar (/account/messages/) embedding the full Better Messages inbox.
• Disable MasterStudy Messages toggle — hide the native MasterStudy Messages tab and the native Send message buttons.
• Use the MasterStudy account as the primary messages location — every internal Messages link routes here.

Message Instructor button on course pages#

Sits next to MasterStudy's enrol/buy button so the student can ask before they enrol. Hidden for the instructor on their own course. For custom layouts, use the shortcode:

[better_messages_masterstudy_course_button]
[better_messages_masterstudy_course_button course_id="123"]
[better_messages_masterstudy_course_button text="Ask the instructor"]

Course Group Chat — auto-managed enrollment#

When Course Group Chat is enabled, opening a course creates a group conversation. Students are added on enrollment, removed when their enrollment is deleted. The course info card (thumbnail, title, instructor) appears above the conversation and on private DMs opened from the Message Instructor button.

Messages tab in the MasterStudy account#

Embeds the full Better Messages inbox inside the MasterStudy account sidebar. Combined with Messages Location → Show in MasterStudy LMS Account, every internal Messages link routes here.

Replacing the native MasterStudy Messages#

With Disable MasterStudy Messages toggled on, MasterStudy's built-in Messages entry in the account sidebar and the Send message buttons on the public instructor and student profiles are hidden so visitors only see Better Messages. The native page is still reachable at /account/chat/ for anyone who has it bookmarked, but nothing in the UI links to it.

Shared LMS settings#

Three toggles under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → LMS → Shared Course Settings apply across every LMS integration: Course Info Card, Email Notifications, and Push Notifications (WebSocket version). Changing any propagates across LearnDash, LearnPress, Tutor LMS, MasterStudy LMS, and FluentCommunity Courses.

Installing Better Messages on a MasterStudy LMS site#

1. Install Better Messages from WordPress.org and activate it.
2. Open WP Admin → Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → LMS → MasterStudy LMS Integration.
3. Toggle on the features you want: Message Instructor Button, Course Group Chat, Messages Account Tab, Send Message Button on Instructor Profile, Send Message Button on Student Profile, Disable MasterStudy Messages.

Free vs WebSocket version for MasterStudy LMS sites#

Frequently asked questions#

Can I keep MasterStudy Messages and Better Messages side by side?#

Yes — the Disable MasterStudy Messages toggle is optional. Keep it off to show both, on to show only Better Messages. Most sites pick one to avoid confusing students with two Messages tabs.

What happens when a student's MasterStudy enrollment is cancelled?#

MasterStudy fires its standard enrollment hooks. Better Messages listens and removes the student from the Course Group Chat. Their previous messages stay in history.

Does it work with MasterStudy Pro?#

Yes — Better Messages reads MasterStudy's core hooks, which Pro features extend rather than replace. WooCommerce-based enrollments, subscriptions, and certificates are all compatible.

Can the native MasterStudy chat history be migrated?#

Not automatically — the two messengers store data differently. For sites with active history in the native chat, run both side by side for a transition period, then enable Disable MasterStudy Messages when students have moved over.

Does it work alongside other LMS plugins?#

Yes — sites running MasterStudy alongside LearnDash, LearnPress, or Tutor LMS see all course chats together in the Courses widget. Each integration loads independently.

See also#

• MasterStudy LMS integration documentation — full setup reference
• WordPress LMS chat plugin — comparing every LMS integration
• LearnDash student messaging plugin
• LearnPress student messaging plugin
• Tutor LMS student messaging plugin

Install Better Messages from WordPress.org →