How do I add live chat or messaging into my custom mobile app?

Question

I have a custom mobile app that I want to connect to Zendesk Chat. How do I integrate the live chat or messaging function into the mobile app?

Answer

To integrate live chat or messaging into a custom mobile app, you'll need to use the Chat SDK for live chat or the Messaging SDK for messaging. To determine which product feature you're using, see the article: Am I using live chat or messaging?

When building a custom app and integrating live chat or messaging, you may need to enlist a developer for assistance. This type of integration involves custom code and is not directly supported by Zendesk.

Live chat SDK

Messaging SDK

To get started with the live chat channel using the Chat SDK, see the articles:

• Building your first Chat app 
• Chat developer resources
• Chat SDK for mobile
  • Chat SDK v2 for Android
  • Chat SDK v2 for iOS
• Enabling push notifications in the Chat SDK for mobile apps
• Enabling authenticated users with the Chat SDK

To get started with the messaging channel using the Messaging SDK, see the articles:

• Getting started with messaging for web and mobile
• Zendesk Web Widget and SDKs
  • Messaging SDK for Android
  • Messaging SDK for iOS
• Working with messaging in your Android and iOS SDKs
• Authenticating end users in messaging for the Web Widget and mobile SDK

Note: When building custom code for your mobile app, ensure that the number of API calls in your script does not exceed the API rate limits.