Chat

One-to-one private messages as a native inbox with threaded conversations.

Three chat features, separate inboxes

This, Chat (Better Messages) and Chat (BuddyPress) store their conversations separately. All three can be placed in one app, but a member with two chat tabs has two unrelated inboxes and no way to tell which one a message will arrive in. Pick one unless the site genuinely runs the plugins for different audiences.

Before you start

Plugin	Ultimate Member - Private Messages
Endpoint group	Messaging
Plan	Every plan

Add it to your app

1. Drag Chat onto a navigation bar. It earns a bottom-nav slot in most communities.
2. Set a Title.

Settings

Setting	What it does	Default
Title, Description	Shown at the top	Empty
Restrictions	Which roles see the tab	Everyone

What your members see

An inbox of conversations, each showing the other member, the last message and an unread badge. Opening one shows the thread and a field to reply.

A message appears in the thread the moment the member sends it. If it cannot be delivered (the site refuses it, or the phone has no connection), it stays where it is, marked Failed to send in red with the site’s reason, and Resend and Delete underneath. Nothing the member typed is lost.

The nav item carries a total unread badge, so members see waiting messages without opening the tab.

Block is in a conversation’s ⋯ menu. It is User Blocking, the same block a member makes from a post or a profile, so it hides the two members from each other everywhere, not only in messages. Blocks made earlier in Ultimate Member - Private Messages carry over. Members review and undo their blocks on the Blocked Users screen, or under Settings › Blocked members.

The chat inbox and a conversation

Realtime

Without Realtime, messages arrive when the member refreshes. With it, a message sent while a thread is open appears immediately.

Chat is the screen where the difference is most obvious. A messaging feature that only updates on pull-to-refresh feels broken even when it is working correctly.

Which chat to choose

	Chat	Chat (Better Messages)	Chat (BuddyPress)
Plugin	UM - Private Messages	Better Messages	BuddyPress
One-to-one	Yes	Yes	Yes
Group conversations	No	Yes	Yes
Reactions	Yes	Yes	No
Blocking	Yes	Yes	No
Starring	No	No	Yes

Choose Better Messages if you want group conversations with moderation. Choose BuddyPress if the site is already a BuddyPress community and you would rather not add another plugin. Choose this if your site already runs Ultimate Member’s messaging and one-to-one is enough.

When it does not work

Symptom	Cause	Fix
The inbox is empty	The Messaging group is off	Enable it
The second chat feature will not drop	One backend per app	Remove the first
No unread badge	The group is partly enabled	Enable the whole group
Messages only arrive on refresh	Realtime is not connected	Realtime
No Private Messages settings tab	It hides when no Chat tab is placed	Place Chat
Members cannot message each other	Your site’s messaging permissions	Check them in Ultimate Member
A message shows Failed to send	The site refused it, or the phone was offline	Read the reason under it, then tap Resend