

Layer Brings A Scalable Communications Platform To Any Mobile Or Web App - rokgregoric
http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/09/layer-brings-a-scalable-communications-platform-to-any-mobile-or-web-app/

======
vaughan
I was recently working on an iOS app where I needed a 1-to-1 chat feature. I
was surprised that there wasn't an established market leader in this space
considering how many apps use such a feature. When I saw this post I
immediately thought "yep, that is a gap I'd seen in the market".

Some existing platforms included Scringo, Lobi SDK, QuickBlox. None seemed
polished or customisable enough for my purposes. See more here:
[http://www.quora.com/Are-there-any-existing-APIs-for-
impleme...](http://www.quora.com/Are-there-any-existing-APIs-for-implementing-
Chat-in-an-iOS-and-Android-application)

I ended up using an open-source iOS chat UI control
([https://github.com/jessesquires/MessagesTableViewController](https://github.com/jessesquires/MessagesTableViewController))
and Firebase (here is a sample project of a real-time iOS chat app:
[https://github.com/firebase/firechat-
ios](https://github.com/firebase/firechat-ios)). It was _incredibly_ easy to
setup a real-time chat app and provides me with full UI customisation and a
flexible and scalable data backend.

Send and receive code:

    
    
        // Setup.
        self.firebase = [[Firebase alloc] initWithUrl:kFirechatNS];
    
        // Listen for messages (real-time).
        [self.firebase observeEventType:FEventTypeChildAdded withBlock:^(FDataSnapshot *snapshot) {
            // Add the chat message to the array.
            [self.chat addObject:snapshot.value];
            // Reload the table view so the new message will show up.
            [self.tableView reloadData];
        }];
    
        // Send message.
        [[self.firebase childByAutoId] setValue:@{@"name" : self.name, @"text": aTextField.text}];
    

_Thoughts on Layer_

If Layer was around when I was looking I would have tried it out, however I am
happy with Firebase as my backend now. The API looks insanely easy to use
though.

Media sharing features would be difficult to implement using what I described
above so Layer would be advantageous here.

Great branding.

Also Layer, please make your iOS framework available on CocoaPods.

~~~
rokgregoric
Everything you saw on the presentation will be available with very few lines
of code. By using Layer SDK you will get messages sync cross devices, delivery
notifications, delivery dismissal when a message has been opened (if using
multiple devices), offline messaging thats syncs when you come back online.
All you'll have to do is to define a search query for your
UITableViewController and style your UITableViewCell and you are done, we'll
take care of everything else.

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cmelbye
Their tagline is: "The open communications layer for the Internet".

I'm curious, what's open about it?

~~~
tomazstolfa
The Layer UI kit will be open-source from day one. The SDK and protocol will
be opened up soon after.

Like mentioned in our presentation today - we are on a mission to make
communications better for everyone, and we firmly believe that open is a
better option. A bit more about Layer: [https://layer.com/introducing-
layer](https://layer.com/introducing-layer)

------
salimmadjd
Ron Palmeri has a knack for picking great teams and ideas. The concept of an
infrastructure that can later become the standard of communication is great
with huge potentials.

Internet was built to be the standard of communication and I feel Layer takes
that spirit a level higher to application infrastructure.

I wasn't able to figure out if there is a strong security play, especially in
the current zeitgeist. They touched on doctor nurse communication so perhaps
security is an adoption.

~~~
rpalmeri
thanks! security and privacy are huge aspects of what Layer is doing. given
the team's background we will invest heavily to ensure that the core
infrastructure and client side SDK are locked down. my guess is we'll have
more people on that aspect alone than most developers can afford to deploy on
the full stack.

~~~
maxwin
is voice(instead of text) message available fro the current API?

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maxwin
This is great. Is there an open source version? This is great of quick
prototyping, but eventually I would like to have full control over the stack.

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wauter
Soooo, does anybody else immediately think about Diaspora here?

How does Layer compare to, say, e-mail on the one hand, and Diaspora on the
other?

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giosico
Worried about cost lock in. Can you comment please?

~~~
tomazstolfa
At Layer we will always offer a free tier for low volume products, and only
charge once an app gets meaningful traction.

We are here to help apps built on top of Layer win.

~~~
giosico
Thanks for the reply. Good to know.

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slantview
This all sounds like someone replying to them-self.

Edit: 15 comments besides mine, and 15 employees listed on the site.
/conspiracy

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gdonelli
Just watched the presentation at TC disrupt. We need a open communication
framework so bad. I hope these guys succeed with their mission

~~~
crtg
Hey, if you are around soma you can swing by:)

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danielraffel
Looks promising, excited to see how it develops and can't wait to try playing
with it.

~~~
rokgregoric
You can signup for beta access on [http://layer.com](http://layer.com).

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eniax
Great job guys, really looking forward to see it in action.

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tadruj
Will there be a JavaScript API for the Web?

~~~
tomazstolfa
Yes, it is in the roadmap. Let's nail mobile first ;)

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vickparty
a much need communication platform...i'm definitely rooting for these guys!

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jamesjyu
Great domain name ;)

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fady88
Hi

