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Introducing WordPlus Cloud, the New Home of the Better Messages Cloud

· 6 min read
Andrij Tkachenko
Creator of Better Messages

The cloud that runs realtime messaging, voice and video calls, push notifications, mobile apps and AI for every site on the WebSocket version of Better Messages now has its own name: WordPlus Cloud, at www.wordplus.cloud. The servers, the team and the service are the same. What is new is that the cloud is no longer only for Better Messages, and that your licence, your sites and your downloads now live in an account of their own.

If you run the WebSocket version, there is nothing you need to do. This post explains what changes, what stays, and why.

Layered blue signal waves spreading from a cloud to browser windows and phones

Why the cloud has a name of its own#

For years the Better Messages cloud did one job: deliver messages and calls for Better Messages. It now does more, for more than one plugin:

  • One subscription for the whole site. WordPlus Cloud switches on realtime delivery, push notifications, calls, Cloud AI and mobile app builds for every WordPlus plugin on a site, not only for Better Messages. New plugins built on it are on the way.
  • Live streaming. The Live Stream plugin broadcasts from the browser or OBS to an audience on your site, on the same cloud and the same subscription. With Better Messages 3.1 a chat room can host the stream: it shows the way a group video call does, beside the messages, and the room editor starts one.
  • Open to developers. Other plugins, themes and custom code on a subscribed site can use the same realtime connection and calls through the WordPlus realtime SDK, and apps outside WordPress, such as Next.js, Laravel or Django apps, can use the cloud with a plan of their own.
  • One account for everything you bought. Licences, sites, downloads, subscriptions and invoices, in one place, with support a click away.

Better Messages stays what it is: our messaging plugin for WordPress, and the first and biggest user of the cloud.

What changes with Better Messages 3.1#

Your licence moves over by itself. On the first page load after updating to 3.1, the licence of the WebSocket version moves to WordPlus Cloud with the same key. Realtime messaging, calls, push notifications and your mobile apps keep working without any action.

Your account is at WordPlus Cloud. Log in, or create an account, with the email address you bought with. Your licences show up on their own. From there you can:

  • see each licence with the sites that use it, and take a site off a licence when you move to a new domain
  • download the WebSocket version and its add-on, the newest release and the earlier ones
  • see your subscriptions and invoices, and change or cancel a subscription
  • write to support about a licence or a site, with files attached

Licences and updates come from WordPlus Cloud. The new Licence page under Better Messages shows the status of your licence and the sites using it, and updates of the WebSocket version arrive through the usual WordPress updates, from WordPlus Cloud.

The realtime addresses have new names. Browsers connect to ws.wordplus.cloud, the site talks to rest.wordplus.cloud, and group calls run on video.rtc.wordplus.cloud. If your site has a Content Security Policy, allow them as the 3.1 changelog lists. Sites on a self-hosted server keep their own addresses.

Every conversation has its own key. What your site sends through the cloud is encrypted with a key for each conversation, which only its members get and which changes when someone leaves. We relay it without being able to read it.

Leaving the Freemius SDK#

Until now, the WebSocket version loaded the Freemius SDK in your WordPress admin: its Account and Contact Us pages, its opt-in screen and its licence checks. From 3.1, Better Messages does without it, and WordPlus Cloud, our own service, does that work instead.

  • Better Messages has its own pages in place of those from the SDK: Licence, Upgrade and Support, the same in every WordPlus plugin.
  • Your WordPlus Cloud account takes the place of the Freemius customer dashboard for Better Messages: licences and their sites, downloads, subscriptions and invoices, under the same email.
  • Your licence renews as before. A licence bought through Freemius keeps renewing there at the same price, and Freemius still handles its invoices and refunds, so your card statement and receipts name it.
  • New purchases are made at WordPlus Cloud, on its own checkout page, card or PayPal, sold by our reseller Paddle, the merchant of record, which handles sales tax, invoices and refunds.
  • Usage data. If your site shared usage data through the Freemius opt-in, it stays opted in, and the data now comes to WordPlus Cloud instead. A one-time notice says so. A site that skipped the opt-in stays skipped, and the free version can opt out at any time. While a licence of the WebSocket version is active, the site shares its address, its versions and which features and settings are in use, as the terms say. The rest, such as the list of its plugins and themes, stays your choice.

Why the change? One account now holds every WordPlus plugin and the cloud behind them. Each site connects with a key and a secret of its own instead of sending its licence key. Nothing from another company loads in your admin anymore. And knowing which features are actually used tells us what to improve next.

What stays the same#

  • Your data stays in WordPress. Conversations, members and files stay in your own database and storage. The cloud keeps only what delivery needs.
  • The servers. The main servers run in Germany, and group calls run on a mesh of media servers in several regions, close to your members.
  • Your licence. Its key and its sites stay the same, and it renews as before.
  • Sites still on 3.0. They keep working on their current addresses until they update.

New to the WebSocket version?#

Open Better Messages → Upgrade in WordPress, or the pricing page, and choose the plan for your number of sites. The WebSocket version includes WordPlus Cloud for WordPress, every service of the cloud for one price per site, billed monthly or yearly, and a staging or local copy of the site does not count as another site.

To read more about the cloud itself, see Introducing WordPlus Cloud on its own blog. Questions about the move? Write to us at support@better-messages.com.