Looking for a messaging service with api that lets me fan out messages to multiple users at once

Question

I want to offer a service to users so that I can disseminate messages which will be "fanned out" (sent to multiple users at the same time.

Ideally the features would include:

offers an api to integrate in my development environment
offers a web application to use within a browser
offers mobile apps for Android, ios great but not a must
need to be able to fan out messages to multiple users at the same time, one way traffic from my end to the users is sufficient
users should not know about each other, hence a group chat is not desirable.
the message content is text based but images would be of additional value to potentially disseminate charts in the future
it should be easy for me to add new users to my messaging service.
as there could me dozens of hundreds of messages per day email is not a viable alternative.

The purpose of this service is to disseminate messages to potential future clients.

Initially I prefer an open source or free service as this is a startup and is not run on a commercial basis yet.

Indeed email fits all your criteria perfectly – and your users even already have a fitting client in use :) — Izzy♦, May 1 '17 at 10:50
No email, as it would clutter peoples' inboxes as he frequency of messages would be potentially hundreds per day — Matt, May 1 '17 at 11:07

Suncatcher · Accepted Answer · 2020-11-20 15:15:21Z

Telegram has a Bot API that does exactly what you seek.

Going through your requirements:

offers an api to integrate in my development environment
YES.
offers a web application to use within a browser
YES.
it should be easy for me to add new users to my messaging service.
Send links for joining to bots only to whom you want..
the message content is text based but images would be of additional value to potentially disseminate charts in the future
YES, bots support images.
users should not know about each other, hence a group chat is not desirable.
The bot is NOT a chat, it is purely 1-to-1 experience. Bot sends commands, announcements, news and does not accept replies.
need to be able to fan out messages to multiple users at the same time, one way traffic from my end to the users is sufficient
Possible.
offers mobile apps for Android, ios great but not a must
YES.

Journeyman Geek · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-01 06:14:17Z

1

Matrix works pretty well for this.

Can be run decentralised with other matrix "homeservers". Its a protocol - and synapse is the "best" supported server at the moment.
is basically based off bog standard HTTP, and has a bunch of libraries for talking with it. The API is usable over curl and there's a good set of libraries
Riot is the preferred webclient
Riot also has android and IOS ports
Does private messenging.
does images
Synapse, the current official matrix server needs you to run a command to add users. I'd guess you might be able to reverse engineer and write something to bulk add users though.

answered May 1 '17 at 6:14

Journeyman Geek

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Thank you but that sounds actually incredibly complex given the simple requirements. I had in mind something similar to hipchat or symphony – Matt May 1 '17 at 11:09
Its probably simpler, other than the need to host it yourself. Took me maybe 20 minutes to get up, including using letsencrypt certs. – Journeyman Geek May 1 '17 at 11:11
Sure if you know the protocol, set up a self hosted server, use again a web client you know of. What does "preferred" webclient actually mean? I would like to consider alternatives that work as straight forward as Atlassian's hipchat without having to "hack" together a dozen different components in different languages. – Matt May 1 '17 at 11:15
But I take your effort seriously and will take a more thorough look at it. Thanks for your suggestion – Matt May 1 '17 at 11:16

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