The Tech Behind Real-Time Apps

For quite some time, “live” online meant watching something unfold with a delay. A football match was a few seconds behind, a streamed live chat would be minutes behind the content, and so forth.

However, that’s now changed. New-generation apps have bridged the gap between broadcast and interaction. This allows people to watch, respond, and transact, all in the same real-time moment without any latency problems.

The technology has been adapted quickly, and by any measure, it’s completely changing how we operate online.

Why Latency Is Everything

Latency, which is the delay between something happening and you seeing it, has always been a big problem. Traditional streaming generally ran several seconds behind, which is fine for passive viewing.
For shopping, a live auction, or anything that requires no latency, that, however, was a cause for concern. Modern apps have attacked this head-on, using protocols like WebRTC and low-latency HLS to keep the stream and the viewer on the same frame at any given time.

Where Real-Time Apps Are Showing Up

The most visible example is live commerce. As live shopping moves further into the mainstream, hosts demonstrate products on stream while viewers ask questions and buy without leaving the video.

They don’t have to be live-streamed, either. YouTube Shopping and TikTok Shops are really pushing on-platform purchases at the moment, helping support creators while also improving on-app time from users.

Live entertainment is also becoming more popular. A live-hosted bingo cash app is a good example. These are streams that have real presenters, real bingo games, and real prizes, all live-streamed in a way that players can partake in the game at home for as little as 10p per ticket.

Real-time apps using such features are working well at the moment, especially since 2020. In fact, live-streamed formats have grown to hold about 62% of the video-streaming market revenue, suggesting clear market adoption.

The Payments Layer

Real-time video is just a small part of a very big story. The other half is money moving just as fast.

Instant account-to-account transfers allow apps to credit and debit linked accounts in seconds rather than days. For real-time apps and transactions to work, such payments need to be available.

Luckily, instant payments are becoming the new standard across banking and fintech. PayPal even has a free instant-banking option, something which they used to charge for.

What Comes Next

The direction we are heading is very clear. Streaming is rising in popularity just as fast as real-time apps that support in-stream engagements, purchasing, and more.

New developers are required to support these needs, and modern apps have done a great job of supporting this. Live streams are now in real-time with no latency issues, making the live entertainment industry boom.

Now, everybody can enjoy live experiences directly from their devices. No special equipment is required. Just a laptop, desktop, or smartphone, and users can interact with people from the other side of the world in the same frame as them.