Extending WeChat|Telegram

Why WeChat & Telegram?
Background & Statistics
Telegram & Developers
WeChat & Developers
Conclusions & Considerations

Why WeChat & Telegram?

Popular mobile messengers

Similar functionalities: chat, call, share images/videos

Viber

Tango

Skype

WeChat

LINE

kik

Large user base, but no open API

1 billion registered users

600 million registered users

300 million active users

Has open API

700m users

100m users

600m users

350m users

275m users

Similar apps

Include contents within apps, in apps purchase

Develop & share bots

Backgrounds & Statistics

Cloud-based instant messaging service
supported by the Russian-born entrepreneur Pavel Durov

Mobile text and voice messaging communication service
in Chinese Wēixìn; literally: "micro message"

Developed by Telegram Messenger LLP
Released on August 2013
Proprietary server license, GPL client license
Requires phone number verification
100 million users around the world

Developed by Tencent Holdings Limited
Released on January 2011
Proprietary license
Can login using Facebook
100 million users outside China

Android

iOS

Web

Windows Mobile

Blackberry

Symbian

Supported Platforms

Telegram major advantages

Has two-way opt-in - requires add/accept contacts before messaging
Smaller app size
Can send documents
Has end-to-end encryption - avoid interception, only intended users can receive messages
Message history synchronization
Has temporary text & images option - self destruct message
Best performance compared other messaging apps - fast and use least resource

WeChat major advantages

Has two-way voice chat
Can stay invisible
Built-in QR code scanner
Has video group chat
Has language translation function
A lot of social functions - find nearby users, 'drift bottle', chat with random strangers
Has in-app payment function
Online-offline (O2O) & Peer-to-peer (P2P) commerce core strategy
i.e. Media partners can build in-app micro-sites & charge users subscription fees, user can send another user/group money, online stores

Telegram & Developers

https://core.telegram.org/

Two options for developers:

Bot API
Telegram API

Bot API

Third-party applications that run inside Telegram
Users can interact with bots by sending them messages, commands and inline requests
Developer control bots using HTTPS requests to Telegram bot API

What can we do with bots?

Get customized notifications and news. A bot can act as a smart newspaper, sending you relevant content as soon as it's published.
Integrate with other services. A bot can enrich Telegram chats with content from external services.
Create custom tools. A bot may provide you with alerts, weather forecasts, translations, formatting or other services.
Build single- and multiplayer games. A bot can play chess and checkers against you, act as host in quiz games, or even take up the dungeon master's dice for an RPG.
Build social services. A bot could connect people looking for conversation partners based on common interests or proximity.

How to create bots?

Talk to BotFather bot
Follow steps to create bot
Receive authorization token

go to https://core.telegram.org/bots/api
start coding your bot
host your code

Add bot into group or
Send query to @botname

Bot Examples

Examples Bot Codes

<?php

define('BOT_TOKEN', '12345678:replace-me-with-real-token');
define('API_URL', 'https://api.telegram.org/bot'.BOT_TOKEN.'/');

function apiRequestWebhook($method, $parameters) {
  if (!is_string($method)) {
    error_log("Method name must be a string\n");
    return false;
  }
}

// more definitions
// ...
// more definitions

function processMessage($message) {
  // process incoming message
  $message_id = $message['message_id'];
  $chat_id = $message['chat']['id'];
  if (isset($message['text'])) {
    // incoming text message
    $text = $message['text'];

    if (strpos($text, "/start") === 0) {
      apiRequestJson("sendMessage", array('chat_id' => $chat_id, "text" => 'Hello', 'reply_markup' => array(
        'keyboard' => array(array('Hello', 'Hi')),
        'one_time_keyboard' => true,
        'resize_keyboard' => true)));
    } else if ($text === "Hello" || $text === "Hi") {
      apiRequest("sendMessage", array('chat_id' => $chat_id, "text" => 'Nice to meet you'));
    } else if (strpos($text, "/stop") === 0) {
      // stop now
    } else {
      apiRequestWebhook("sendMessage", array('chat_id' => $chat_id, "reply_to_message_id" => $message_id, "text" => 'Cool'));
    }
  } else {
    apiRequest("sendMessage", array('chat_id' => $chat_id, "text" => 'I understand only text messages'));
  }
}

define('WEBHOOK_URL', 'https://my-site.example.com/secret-path-for-webhooks/');

if (php_sapi_name() == 'cli') {
  // if run from console, set or delete webhook
  apiRequest('setWebhook', array('url' => isset($argv[1]) && $argv[1] == 'delete' ? '' : WEBHOOK_URL));
  exit;
}


$content = file_get_contents("php://input");
$update = json_decode($content, true);

if (!$update) {
  // receive wrong update, must not happen
  exit;
}

if (isset($update["message"])) {
  processMessage($update["message"]);
}

Available Bot Codes Example Languages

PHP
Phyton
Java
C#
Ruby
Go
Lua
Node.js
Haskell

Telegram API

Basically create your own Telegram
Customize UI (buttons, colors, keyboards etc.)
Enable or disable features
Configure access or limitations

Obtain our own api_id
Fork from https://github.com/DrKLO/Telegram
Code is in Java

Examples

Cutegram - Focus on user friendliness & desktop platform
Loopy - Real-time collaboration tool, real-time list, real-time memos etc.

WeChat & Developers

WeChat Extensions

Two options for developers:

WeChat API
WeChat Official Account

WeChat API

Include WeChat media sharing library into our apps

WeChat API

Sharing via WeChat Message

WeChat API

Register for App ID
Download the WeChat SDK (libammsdk.jar & Sdesktop widget source code for Android) (libWeChatSDK.a, WXApi.h, WXApiObject.h for iOS)
Add files into development environment

4. Start coding

WeChat API

WXMediaMessage is used to share rich media from our apps to WeChat

WXMediaMessage msg = new WXMediaMessage();
msg.title = "Some Title";
msg.description = "Some Description";

WXMediaMessage *message = [WXMediaMessage message];
message.title = @"Some Title";
message.description = @"Amazing Sunset";
[message setThumbImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"res1thumb.png"]];

Android example

iOS example

WXMediaMessage has an attribute mediaObject. It is used to assign rich media types. http://dev.wechat.com/wechatapi/messages-moments

WeChat Official Accounts

Provide a formal way for companies to interact with their customers thru WeChat
Promote their brands to WeChat users through the WeChat channel
Type of accounts:

WeChat Official Accounts

Subscription Accounts

Often used much like a daily news feed, as they can push 1 new update a day to their followers
Interesting articles from Subscription Accounts usually only end up being widely read once people post them on their moments