A community-driven replacement for JSQMessagesViewController https://messagekit.github.io
See VISION.md for Goals, Scope, & Technical Considerations.
# Swift 5.0
pod 'MessageKit'For Swift 4.2 use version 3.0.0
# Swift 4.2 pod 'MessageKit', '~> 3.0.0'
To integrate MessageKit using Carthage, add the following to your Cartfile:
github "MessageKit/MessageKit"
Each default cell is a subclass of MessageContentCell which has 7 parts. From top down we have a: cellTopLabel, messageTopLabel, messageContainerView, messageBottomLabel, cellBottomLabel with the avatarView and accessoryView on either side respectively. Above we see the basic TextMessageCell which uses a MessageLabel as its main content.
This structure will allow you to create a layout that suits your needs as you can customize the size, appearance and padding of each. If you need something more advanced you can implement a custom cell, which we show how to do in the Example project.
The MessageInputBar, derrived from InputBarAccessoryView is a flexible and robust way of creating any kind of input layout you wish. It is self-sizing which means as the user types it will grow to fill available space. It is centered around the middleContentView which by default holds the InputTextView. This is surrounded by InputStackView's that will also grow in high based on the needs of their subviews intrinsicContentSize. See the Example project for examples on how to taylor the layout for your own needs.
Please have a look at the Quick Start guide and the FAQs.
We recommend you start by looking at the Example project or write a question with the "messagekit" tag on Stack Overflow. You can also look at previous issues here on GitHib with the "Question" tag.
For more on how to use the MessageInputBar, see the dependency it is based on InputBarAccessoryView. You can also see this short guide
The type of cell rendered for a given message is based on the MessageKind
public enum MessageKind {
case text(String) // TextMessageCell
case attributedText(NSAttributedString) // TextMessageCell
case photo(MediaItem) // MediaMessageCell
case video(MediaItem) // MediaMessageCell
case location(LocationItem) // LocationMessageCell
case emoji(String) // TextMessageCell
case audio(AudioItem) // AudioMessageCell
case contact(ContactItem) // ContactMessageCell
/// A custom message.
/// - Note: Using this case requires that you implement the following methods and handle this case:
/// - MessagesDataSource: customCell(for message: MessageType, at indexPath: IndexPath, in messagesCollectionView: MessagesCollectionView) -> UICollectionViewCell
/// - MessagesLayoutDelegate: customCellSizeCalculator(for message: MessageType, at indexPath: IndexPath, in messagesCollectionView: MessagesCollectionView) -> CellSizeCalculator
case custom(Any?)
}If you choose to use the .custom kind you are responsible for all of the cells layout. Any UICollectionViewCell can be returned for custom cells which means any of the styling you provide from the MessageDisplayDelegate will not effect your custom cell. Even if you subclass your cell from MessageContentCell.
Read more about custom cells
Read more about the cases on the Quick Start guide.
Great! Look over these things first.
Check out the Releases to see what we are working on next.
Have a question or an issue about MessageKit? Create an issue!
Interested in contributing to MessageKit? Click here to join our Slack.
Add your app to the list of apps using this library and make a pull request.
Please provide attribution, it is greatly appreciated.
Many thanks to the contributors of this project.
MessageKit is released under the MIT License.
Inspired by JSQMessagesViewController :point_left: :100: