Better Messages – Live Chat, Chat Rooms, Real-Time Messaging & Private Messages

Changelog

2.14.11 – 2.14.12

• Added Better Messages Translation AI — automatic message translation for 1-to-1 conversations
• Added Better Messages Transcription AI — voice message transcriptions
• Added Test Callback URL button to the Settings page in the WebSocket version, which allows testing the callback URL for the Better Messages Cloud AI
• Initial integration with WordPress Abilities API, which allows using MCP and AI
• Fixed bug with AI Chat Bots not allowing to select model if no global api key setting
• Fixed bug with attachments being sent to previously opened conversation when using “Send now” button in the file uploader popup
• Fixed bug where disabling End-to-End Encryption would lock users out of previously encrypted conversations and prevent starting new ones with the same participants when the Single Conversation Per Recipient option is enabled
• Other minor bugfixes and improvements

2.14.8 – 2.14.10

• Initial release of Better Messages Cloud AI
• Added Better Messages Moderation AI — included with WebSocket license at no additional cost, no third-party API keys required.
  • Cloud-powered content moderation with extended categories, custom rules, and conversation context awareness
  • Added AI moderation provider selection: choose between OpenAI Moderation API and Better Messages Moderation AI
  • Added custom moderation rules — define your own rules in plain text (e.g. block contact sharing, promotions)
  • Added conversation context for AI moderation — detect patterns like phone numbers split across multiple messages
  • Added 10 new moderation categories for Better Messages AI: spam, scam/phishing, minor safety, contact sharing, profanity, impersonation, doxxing, drugs/alcohol, threats, commercial promotion
• Translations now loaded as cacheable external file instead of inline scripts to make it more efficient
• Added ability to open and close chat rooms
• Added chat room management actions: duplicate, clear messages, remove all participants
• Fixed PeepSo Notifications Popup overlapping Better Messages Popup
• Fixed PeepSo Vip Icons displaying incorrectly in administration panel
• Reworked reactions selector displaying as they became a bit jumpy, especially on mobile devices
• Improved database reset detection and connection timeout for settings changes
• Added FluentCommunity Spaces integration for groups widgets (mini widgets, side panel tabs, mobile tabs)
• It’s now possible to find users by email in admin user search
• Fixed PHP warning for undefined ‘lang’ key in mobile device registration
• Improved SharedWorker reconnect, plugin updates no longer require page reload
• Updated Freemius SDK to latest version
• Other minor bugfixes and improvements

2.14.7

• Added new Privacy & GDPR settings page with compliance overview and privacy controls
• Added self-hosted emoji sprites option — download emoji images to your server instead of loading from external CDN
• Added Privacy-friendly oEmbeds — YouTube, Vimeo and other video embeds load only after user clicks
• Added WordPress personal data export and erasure support (Tools → Export/Erase Personal Data)
• Added suggested privacy policy text that adapts based on enabled features (Settings → Privacy)
• Added option to delete file attachments when user requests data erasure
• Added option to enable or disable Emoji Picker button
• Added option to enable or disable automatic text emoticon to emoji conversion
• Improved caching — scripts and resources that don’t change between updates are now cached independently by the browser
• Scripts and resources are now loaded on demand only when the feature is actually used
• Added filter hooks for custom AI provider registration
• AI Chat Bots will not be auto-removed from Group Conversations when members list syncing
• Show “Voice message” fallback text when voice messages addon is disabled
• Fixed mentions popup not closing when no matches found
• Fixed voice message uploads returning 404 when file attachments disabled
• Fixed E2E encrypted file uploads in new conversations
• Fixed group member sync running for groups with chat disabled
• Improved email template customization — preview now reflects all settings accurately
• Fixed custom HTML email template not saving properly
• Other minor bugfixes and improvements

2.14.2 – 2.14.6

• Added option to randomize filenames on upload to prevent Web Application Firewalls from blocking file uploads in some web hosts
• Added double confirmation for message auto deleting setting to prevent accidental data loss
• Improved integrations subtabs sorting — active plugins now appear first
• Improved AI Digests with better context awareness and error logging
• Improved video and image transcoding to prevent GIF animation loss
• Fixed chat room moderators not recognized in group video call permissions (join, start, admin controls)
• Fixed async chunk loading issues caused by browser caching after plugin updates
• Fixed reactions selector overflowing bottom of viewport
• Fixed image/video optimization output formats not saved to settings and not validated on upload
• Fixed stale E2E encryption status when sending messages after switching threads
• Fixed Ultimate Member directory message button missing target user ID
• Fixed Chat Room block “Create new” link pointing to old post editor
• Fixed messages location warning showing incorrectly for integration plugins
• Fixed mentions with HTML badges (e.g. PeepSo verified icons) rendering as raw HTML instead of images
• Fixed CSS issue for SVG icons in FluentCommunity Groups
• Fixed Fluent Community mobile bottom menu not returning after closing keyboard on Chrome iOS with native button
• Improved Fluent Community mobile bottom menu icon now navigating back to messages list when not at it
• Other minor bugfixes, improvements and optimizations

2.14.0 – 2.14.1

• Completely rebuilt Settings page in WP Admin to make it more compact and easier to navigate while adding new features
• Reworked GamiPress and myCRED addons into unified Points System with per-role pricing and balance display directly in Better Messages interface
• AI Chat Bots: Added support for adding chat bots to group conversations and ability to respond when they are mentioned
• AI Chat Bots: Added support for Anthropic (Claude) and Google Gemini providers alongside OpenAI
• AI Chat Bots: Added conversation summarization and scheduled digests features for Group Conversations
• AI Chat Bots: Added token usage tracking with cost estimation and ability to charge with MyCred or GamiPress points
• AI Chat Bots: Bots now appear as online users and show typing indicators while generating responses in WebSocket Version
• AI Chat Bots: Added dedicated admin page for bot management
• Added activity indicators for voice recording and file uploading in addition to typing indicator in WebSocket Version
• Added Voice Messages settings tab with max recording duration, auto-delete, voice transcription and role restrictions
• Added new Chat Rooms administration page in WP Admin
• Added ability to force notification for tagged users even if muted the conversation
• Added online users sidebar panel in Chat Rooms with toggle button
• Added ability mute and unmute participant microphones in group video calls
• Added ability to send voice messages when creating a new conversation
• Added ability to customize order of tabs in mini widgets, side panel and mobile view
• Added compatibility with the new Progressify plugin (wordpress.org version) alongside the legacy CodeCanyon version
• Tested with WordPress 7.0 Beta

2.13.0 – 2.13.1

• Added optional End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) for private and group conversations (WebSocket version only)
  • Can be enabled at the website level and optionally per conversation
  • Messages encrypted in user browsers — server never sees plaintext
  • AES-256-GCM encryption for messages and file attachments
  • Password-protected key backup for multi-device access
  • Key recovery if the user forgets an encryption password
  • Automatic key distribution for new conversation participants
• Added client-side image and video optimization for cross-browser compatibility and saving storage space
  • Automatic image conversion to WebP, AVIF, or JPEG before upload
  • Configurable image quality and max resolution
  • Metadata stripping for privacy
  • HEIC/HEIF automatic conversion for cross-browser compatibility
  • Video format conversion to MP4 for universal playback
• Added Compact Mode for Side Conversations List with auto and always compact options
• Renamed “Combined View” to “Side Conversations List”
• Fixed “Enable PeepSo Header at Messages Page” was not working after some updates
• Other minor bugfixes, improvements and optimizations

2.12.9

• Added optional feature to enable messages forwarding
• Reworked bulk messaging
  • Moved bulk messaging to a dedicated WP Admin screen
  • Added ability to attach files to bulk messages
  • Moved bulk messaging sending to a background process instead of frontend processing
  • Added ability to schedule bulk messages for later
  • Added ability to pause, resume and cancel bulk jobs
  • Added follow-up messaging to send additional messages into existing bulk conversations
  • Added activity filter to target users active within or inactive for a specified number of days
  • Added ability to send bulk messages as another user
  • Added ability to send bulk messages to specific users
  • Added ability to send bulk messages to group members (BuddyPress, PeepSo, Ultimate Member)
  • Added send rate (batch size) control
  • Added test/preview for bulk messages before sending
• Added initial integration with SureDash
• Removed jQuery dependency from inline scripts
• Fixed empty chat rooms to be properly shown in user inbox when user auto added to it
• Added Thread ID indication and View in inbox button to Chat Rooms settings page in WP Admin
• Other minor bugfixes, improvements and optimizations

2.12.5 – 2.12.6

• Added option to filter conversations list to show only unread conversations
• Migrated WC Vendors and WCFM Add-ons to the core plugin. WCFM and WC Vendors Add-ons are now deprecated and will be removed, please deactivate them in your website if you are using them.
• Updated OneSignal Integration code to support the latest OneSignal API changes
• Mentions search now supports searching usernames with whitespace
• Other minor bugfixes, improvements and optimizations

2.12.2 – 2.12.4

• Completely reworked Voice Recorder Add-on UX
• Added Attachments browser feature which allows browsing all uploaded files in the conversation information panel
• Added message draft autosave feature — unsent messages are automatically saved and restored when returning to a conversation, with a draft indicator shown in the conversations list
• Added voice message transcription powered by OpenAI (requires OpenAI API key)
• Added protect files with proxy feature to protect uploaded files from direct access with support for X-Sendfile, X-Accel-Redirect and LiteSpeed optimized serving
• Added resumable file uploads for improved reliability on slow or unstable connections
• Added option to switch between file upload method (Standard POST Upload or TUS (Resumable Upload)) as some hosting blocks TUS uploads with WAF
• Improved upload directory structure with per-thread unique subfolders to improve security and keep original filenames
• Other minor bugfixes and improvements

2.12.0 – 2.12.1

• Added AI Content Moderation powered by OpenAI Moderation API
• Group Video & Audio Calls improvements:
  • Added moderator controls: lock room, mute all participants, broadcast mode
  • Added Promote to Speaker / Demote to Viewer controls in broadcast mode
  • Added Raise Hand / Lower Hand feature for viewers in broadcast mode
  • Added Lower All Hands button for moderators
  • Added option to restrict who can start group calls (anyone or moderators only)
  • Added default call mode setting (Participatory or Broadcast) in conversation settings
  • Added group call settings section in conversation information panel
  • Added visual speaker highlighting during group calls
  • Improved microphone and camera device switching reliability
• Replaced browser database engine with new lightweight custom solution for better performance and stability
• Browser database and WebSocket connection is now shared across browser tabs via SharedWorker, improving performance and real-time sync
• AI Moderation supports two modes: Hold for Review (messages require admin approval) and Flag Only (messages are sent but marked for admin review)
• AI Moderation includes configurable sensitivity threshold, content category selection, and role-based bypass
• AI Moderation supports image moderation in addition to text content
• AI Flagged messages appear in the moderation panel alongside user-reported messages
• Improved moderation notification emails with detailed reason information (AI moderation, first-time sender, blacklisted user)
• AI Chat Bots: Added support for OpenAI reasoning models (o-series, GPT-5)
• AI Chat Bots: Added Temperature, Max Output Tokens, and Reasoning Effort settings
• Added Chat Room block for WordPress Block Editor (Gutenberg) with full screen auto-open option
• Added option to hide participants count in chat room header
• Improved rendering performance of the messages list, reducing unnecessary updates when receiving new messages
• Improved auto-recovery when browser database is unexpectedly deleted
• Fixed calls not starting in some cases
• Fixed group video call crash when container has zero dimensions during initialization
• Fixed AI Chat Bot error “You cannot send messages to this user”
• Fixed scrollbar thumb direction in some browsers
• Compatibility update for WordPress 6.2+ by replacing deprecated get_page_by_title() usage during activation
• Other minor bugfixes and improvements

2.11.0 – 2.11.1

• Added ability to customize the email template for unread messages notifications in WP Admin
• Added ability to add unsubscribe link to email notifications
• Added ability to send test email notifications message from plugin settings page
• Added Pre-Moderated Messages feature, which allows moderating messages before they are delivered to recipients
  • Added ability to pre-moderate messages when the user did not have messages at website yet
  • Added ability to enable moderation of new conversation by user role in plugin settings
  • Added ability to enable moderation of new replies by user role in plugin settings
  • Added ability to whitelist users from moderation in the administration screen
  • Added ability to blacklist users, which enables force moderation of messages from them
  • Added ability to set email list which will receive notifications about new messages for moderated or new message reports
• Added options for admins to bypass words blacklist
• Added initial support for new Dokan Vendor Dashboard UI
• Removed Customizations tab from settings page, settings from that page moved to Messaging tab
• Other minor bugfixes and improvements