Enhancing Chat: Implementing Read Receipts

Hey guys! Let's dive into a cool feature that's gonna make our chat experience way better: read receipts, often known as the "Seen" status. This is all about knowing when your messages have been viewed by others, making communication clearer and more efficient. We'll break down the objective, how it works, what success looks like, and the testing process.

🎯 Objective: Track Message Views with "Seen" Status

Our main goal is to introduce read receipts to our chat system. This means we want to accurately track when participants have viewed messages and show a "Seen" indicator to the sender. This feature gives senders immediate feedback, showing them when their messages have been read. It is super useful and we are going to implement it. It is also good because it is a very common feature in the market.

Imagine sending a message and immediately knowing whether the recipient has read it. That's the power of read receipts! It helps in prioritizing responses and understanding the urgency of a message. It makes interactions way more transparent, giving both senders and recipients more control over their communication. We want to achieve a seamless integration where the "Seen" status updates automatically as users read their messages. The objective here is to give users that important information that most chat applications have. The feature is going to integrate into the chat system.

We'll be using conversation_participants.last_read_message_id to implement this. It is a smart approach that is already in our existing schema. The result of this feature will show under the message for the sender. We will know when the user has read the message. The feature should work so that when a user opens a chat or scrolls to the bottom, their last_read_message_id is updated with the most recent message. When all participants' last_read_message_id matches or surpasses the sender’s last message, the "Seen" status will display under that message for the sender. This approach is efficient and doesn’t create unnecessary data overhead.

📄 Description: How Read Receipts Function

Let’s get into the nitty-gritty of how read receipts are going to work. The process will be as smooth as possible for our users. We're leveraging the existing conversation_participants.last_read_message_id field. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown:

• Updating last_read_message_id: When a user opens a chat or scrolls to the bottom (meaning they’ve likely read the messages), we'll update their last_read_message_id with the ID of the most recent message in the conversation. This will be the trigger. This action is crucial, as it’s what sets the "Seen" status in motion.
• "Seen" Status Logic: The system will check the last_read_message_id of all participants in the conversation. If all participants’ last_read_message_id values match or exceed the sender’s last message ID, the system will mark the message as "Seen" for the sender. This tells the sender that everyone in the chat has read the message.
• User Interaction: The user doesn’t need to do anything extra. This system works in the background. As users scroll through the chat, their last_read_message_id will be automatically updated. The "Seen" status will be displayed in real time, giving users immediate feedback.

This design ensures that the system is efficient and doesn’t need constant updates. It relies on user actions (opening the chat or scrolling to the bottom) to trigger the updates. It's a clean, efficient way to provide read receipts. It's all about making sure the information is readily available when it's needed.

✅ Success Criteria: Measuring the Impact

Okay, so how do we know we’ve nailed this feature? Here's what we’re looking for in terms of success:

• Accurate "Seen" Status: The "Seen" status must be accurate. When a user has truly viewed a message, the status should change to "Seen" for the sender, and vice versa. Accuracy is super important. We will ensure that the system consistently reflects whether a message has been read or not.
• User-Specific Updates: Each user can only mark their own reads. We want to avoid any situation where one user’s action affects another’s "Seen" status. The system should respect user privacy and make sure each user’s actions are independent.
• No Duplicate Database Writes: We're aiming for efficiency. We'll make sure there are no unnecessary database writes. The system should only update the last_read_message_id when it's absolutely necessary, to avoid overwhelming the database. It is important to avoid redundant operations that could affect performance.

By keeping these criteria in mind, we can make sure the read receipts feature works as intended. We want to make sure it's reliable, user-friendly, and efficient. We will make it so that users receive accurate feedback.

🔍 Alternatives Considered: Keeping it Simple

We considered a few different approaches before settling on our current plan. One alternative was using a separate message_reads table. However, after careful thought, we decided against it. Why?

• Unnecessary Complexity: A separate table would have added extra complexity to the database schema. It would require more operations to manage, potentially slowing down the system.
• Redundancy: The conversation_participants.last_read_message_id field already exists. This field effectively tracks the read status of messages. Using a separate table would be redundant because we can achieve the same result. The current schema is perfect for our needs.
• Efficiency: Sticking with the existing field keeps things efficient. It reduces the overhead, making the implementation faster and less resource-intensive.

Ultimately, keeping it simple is the best approach. We want to deliver a great feature without overcomplicating the system. The less complexity, the better! The existing field is the most efficient and straightforward solution.

🧪 Testing Approach: Ensuring Quality

We need to make sure this feature works perfectly. Here’s how we'll test it:

1. Two-User Exchange: We will start with two users exchanging messages. This lets us verify the basic functionality. We want to make sure the core concept is working properly.
2. Receiver Action: The receiver opens the chat. This action should update their last_read_message_id to the most recent message ID. This is the first step in the process. We will check if the update happens correctly.
3. Sender Verification: The sender should see the "Seen" status under the last message. This is the end result, the feedback the sender sees. It will indicate that the receiver has read the message. We'll make sure the status updates immediately and accurately. This is the moment of truth. We will verify that everything works as expected.

This testing approach helps us confirm that all parts of the feature work together seamlessly. It ensures that the "Seen" status updates correctly and accurately reflects the message read status. It is a straightforward process.

📅 Target Date: Timeline

We're aiming to complete this feature by October 19, 2025. This gives us enough time to build, test, and refine the feature, ensuring it’s ready for prime time. We've set a target date so we can keep our project on track.

🚦 Urgency & Difficulty: Assessment

Here’s how we’ve assessed the urgency and difficulty of this task:

• Urgency: 3 - This feature is important for enhancing user experience, but it’s not critical. It improves the communication experience, which makes it good to implement.
• Difficulty: 7 - Implementing read receipts involves database updates and real-time status changes, making it moderately difficult. We anticipate some challenges in getting everything just right. We have the plan.

We're confident that with careful planning and execution, we can meet this deadline and deliver a top-notch feature! It's going to be a great addition to our app. It is important to know the difficulty so we can properly manage the process.

👤 Recommended Assigned Developer: Teamwork

We recommend assigning this to the communications-team. We want to make sure the team collaborates effectively. This team has the right skills and experience to handle this task. They can make the feature a success. They will make sure everything runs smoothly!