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Functional Requirements
- User Management:
- User Registration and Authentication:
- Allow users to create accounts, log in, and manage their profiles.
- Support social media logins or single sign-on (SSO) options.
- User Profiles:
- Enable users to set and update their profiles, including username, profile picture, and status.
- Messaging:
- Text Messaging:
- Support real-time text messaging with features like emoji, stickers, and message formatting.
- Voice Messaging:
- Allow users to send and receive voice messages.
- Video Messaging:
- Enable users to send and receive video messages or participate in video calls.
- Conversation Management:
- One-on-One Chats:
- Support private messaging between two users.
- Group Chats:
- Allow users to create and manage group conversations with multiple participants.
- Chat History:
- Maintain a history of messages for each conversation, with options to search and retrieve past messages.
- Notifications:
- Message Notifications:
- Notify users of new messages, mentions, or chat updates.
- Push Notifications:
- Provide push notifications for new messages or events when the application is in the background or closed.
- Media Sharing:
- File Sharing:
- Allow users to share various types of files, including images, videos, documents, and audio.
- Media Previews:
- Provide previews for media files (e.g., thumbnails for images and videos).
- Real-Time Communication:
- Instant Messaging:
- Ensure real-time delivery of messages and updates to all participants.
- Typing Indicators:
- Show when users are typing or have read messages.
- Voice and Video Calls:
- Voice Calls:
- Support voice calling between users, with features like mute and speaker options.
- Video Calls:
- Enable video calling with features such as camera switching, screen sharing, and call recording.
- Privacy and Security:
- End-to-End Encryption:
- Ensure messages are encrypted end-to-end to protect user privacy.
- Block and Report:
- Allow users to block or report abusive or inappropriate behavior.
- User Presence:
- Online/Offline Status:
- Show users’ online or offline status and last seen information.
- Activity Status:
- Display current activity status (e.g., active, away).
- Search and Filtering:
- Conversation Search:
- Allow users to search for conversations or specific messages.
- User Search:
- Enable users to search for other users by username or contact details.
- Customization:
- Themes and Appearance:
- Allow users to customize the appearance of the chat application, including themes, color schemes, and notification settings.
- Custom Emoji and Stickers:
- Provide options for adding and using custom emojis and stickers.
- Settings and Preferences:
- Notification Settings:
- Allow users to configure notification preferences, including sound and vibration settings.
- Privacy Settings:
- Provide options for managing privacy settings, such as who can see the user’s online status or profile information.
- Admin Controls (for Group Chats):
- Admin Roles:
- Assign and manage admin roles within group chats to moderate conversations and manage participants.
- Group Management:
- Allow admins to add or remove group members, set group names, and manage group settings.
Non-Functional Requirements
- Performance:
- The system should handle a large number of concurrent users and messages efficiently.
- Message delivery and updates should occur in real-time with minimal latency (ideally under 1-2 seconds).
- Scalability:
- The system should be scalable to accommodate growing numbers of users and conversations.
- Support for cloud-based infrastructure to enable scalability and high availability.
- Reliability:
- Ensure an uptime of at least 99.9% to support continuous communication.
- Implement redundancy and failover mechanisms to maintain service availability during outages or failures.
- Security:
- Implement robust security measures, including encryption, secure authentication, and regular security audits.
- Ensure compliance with data protection regulations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) to safeguard user information.
- Usability:
- Provide an intuitive and user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate for all users.
- Ensure a consistent user experience across different devices, including desktops, tablets, and mobile phones.
- Maintainability:
- The system should be modular, allowing for easy updates, maintenance, and integration of new features.
- Ensure that the codebase is well-documented to facilitate future development and troubleshooting.
- Compliance:
- Ensure the system complies with relevant regulations, such as data protection and telecommunications laws.
- Implement features that allow users to manage their data access, consent, and deletion requests.
- Availability:
- The system should be available 24/7 with minimal planned downtime for maintenance.
- Use load balancing and other techniques to ensure consistent performance even during peak usage.
- Interoperability:
- The system should integrate seamlessly with external systems, such as contact management platforms or authentication services.
- Support standard data formats (e.g., JSON) for importing and exporting data.
- Data Integrity:
- Ensure the accuracy and consistency of data across the system, particularly for messages and user profiles.
- Implement transaction management to maintain data integrity during concurrent operations.
- Response Time:
- Critical operations, such as sending and receiving messages, should complete within 1-2 seconds.
- More complex tasks, such as media uploads or group management, should complete within 5-10 seconds.
- Auditability:
- Maintain detailed logs of significant actions (e.g., message sending, user status changes) for audit purposes.
- Provide audit trails for monitoring user activities and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards.
