The year 2024 has been monumental for PubNub. We have not had so many product launches and updates since our first year in business. As this year ends, we’re looking at the most insightful and impactful blogs we’ve published. Our blog gets millions of views every year, and each post is packed with expert advice, practical solutions, and top insights written by industry experts.
In this roundup, we’re showcasing the top 12 blogs of the year. Whether you’re catching up on the latest PubNub news, need advice on implementing real-time features, or looking for tech trends in your industry, these blogs will provide the real-time insights you need.
1. Announcing PubNub’s Unreal Engine and Gaming Chat SDKs
Twenty-twenty-four was a year for major product announcements. In this August post, we unveiled our Unreal Engine and Gaming Chat SDKs. These SDKs provide developers with powerful tools to integrate real-time chat into their games.
For developers, this post demonstrates how easy it is to give your players the game features they’ve come to expect: in-game chat, status detection, friend lists, live leaderboards, and more. You can get your API keys and start with our gaming chat SDKs here.
2. 5 Essential Features for In-Game Chat Players Will Love
Continuing that same theme, we outlined five essential features developers should plan for when implementing in-game chat—critical for creating engaging, interactive player experiences.
Author Oliver Carson shows a deep understanding of the player experience and offers some practical tips on implementing features like chat rooms, reactions, read receipts, and typing indicators. PubNub’s Unreal and Gaming Chat SDKs provide the features you need, and the PubNub blog is an essential resource for developers looking to create real-time experiences.
3. Manage Your Users, Channels, and More with BizOps Workspace
One of our most important moments last year was the launch of BizOps Workspace, a powerful tool designed to simplify user and channel management for developers and businesses alike. This blog post is our official announcement for BizOps Workspace, and it highlights how this tool helps teams save development time, streamline business operations, and manage their data.
BizOps Workspace empowers teams to gain greater control and visibility without additional development overhead. It’s a perfect example of how PubNub continues to innovate and lead the way in real-time technology.
4. Top 11 Real-Time Technology Trends in Healthcare for 2025
We took a deep dive into the healthcare technology industry this year by exploring the 11 most impactful real-time technology trends shaping the future of healthcare in this blog. Designed for healthcare industry developers and product managers, this post highlights how innovations like real-time patient monitoring, telemedicine, and IoT integration revolutionize patient care and operational efficiency.
This blog is essential because it not only identifies emerging trends but also shows how PubNub’s real-time technology can help healthcare companies provide these solutions, enabling faster data delivery, improved patient outcomes, and more reliable communication systems.
5. Real-time Decisioning and Experimentation with Illuminate
This year, PubNub marked a major milestone with the launch of PubNub Illuminate, our real-time decisioning tool and analytics platform. This blog, written by Group Product Manager Cres Hay, provides an in-depth look at how this groundbreaking tool enables product managers to make and execute real-time, data-driven decisions that help increase app engagement and monetization opportunities.
Managed dynamic applications present many challenges, and Illuminate’s real-time analytics help teams optimize engagement and enhance user experience—all in the moment and in an easy, no-code environment.
6. Top 5 Benefits of Taking Action in Real-Time
Real-time decision-making is no longer just a competitive advantage—it’s necessary to succeed in business. This blog explores the top five benefits of taking action instantly.
Why is this blog essential? It highlights the importance of using real-time data to improve customer experience and retention. From responsive issue resolution to using automation to provide instant information, real-time insights enable businesses to make smarter decisions.
Furthermore, it shows how tools like PubNub Illuminate help businesses monitor and act on data as it happens.
7. Maximizing Engagement & ROI for Virtual Events
In the competitive world of sports, media, and entertainment video streaming, delivering engaging virtual experiences is how platforms separate themselves from their competitors. This blog shows how video streamers can create unforgettable customer experiences while maximizing ROI for their business.
This blog matters because it gives developers in the streaming industry actionable insights on how they can boost their audience’s engagement. For example, it offers pointers on avoiding technical difficulties and using real-time data to trigger automatic engagement-boosting events. These practical tips make it a must-read for developers who want to stay ahead of the game.
8. Boosting Engagement for Interactive Streaming
As the sports, media, and entertainment industries continue moving towards live video streaming, keeping viewers engaged has become the key to successfully standing out above competitors. These apps aren’t just competing with other video streaming apps—everything is competing for viewers’ attention. This blog dives into how interactive features—like real-time polls, live chat, and quizzes—turn passive viewing into an experience that boosts retention and drives audience loyalty.
This blog serves as an excellent in-depth guide for companies in the video entertainment space by illustrating the importance of real-time interactivity and how to implement it. Readers will discover how PubNub plays a key role in delivering these cutting-edge interactive experiences with our scalable platform, which provides the real-time engagement your audience needs.
9. Reducing Supply Chain Disruption with Tracking and Dispatch & Reducing Supply Chain Disruption with PubNub: A Comprehensive Guide for Developers
Remember when the Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal? It caused a rise in prices, delayed global traffic, and created many knock-on effects. Even though supply chains are designed to be as stable as possible, global or local disruptions can strike at any moment without warning. In this two-part blog by PubNub product manager Jakub Koj, we explore how to reduce supply chain disruptions.
In part 1, Koj discusses why supply chains need to be agile and resilient—exploring the impact of tracking, dispatch, and real-time visibility on mitigating delays and maintaining customer satisfaction.
Part 2 offers a hands-on guide for using PubNub’s real-time capabilities to create seamless tracking and dispatch solutions. From monitoring shipments in real time to reacting instantly to delays, it’s a blueprint for building robust, disruption-proof supply chains.
PubNub is a key partner for logistics and supply chain businesses that want to achieve operational efficiency, minimize downtime, and keep deliveries on track.
10. Easily Add Chat to Your App with Kotlin and Swift Chat SDKs
This year, PubNub continued to demonstrate its ubiquity with the launch of our Kotlin and Swift Chat SDKs. These new SDKs simplify mobile app development for both Android and iOS platforms.
By offering SDKs specifically for Kotlin and Swift, we’ve tailored our solution to meet the needs of Android and iOS developers. Kotlin’s modern syntax and multi-platform capabilities make it ideal for Android, while Swift’s performance and flexibility make it a natural fit for iOS development. With these SDKs, developers can integrate robust, real-time chat solutions into their mobile apps with minimal friction.
With features like typing indicators, read receipts, and robust scalability, these SDKs provide all the building blocks for creating engaging chat applications.
11. Comparing Popular Game Engines
This blog offers developers an in-depth comparison of the most popular game engines. From industry titans like Unity and Unreal Engine to smaller boutique engines like Godot and GameMaker Studio, this post provides a comprehensive breakdown to help developers choose the right platform for their projects based on each engine's main pros and cons.
What makes this blog stand out? It guides developers in selecting the best engine for their needs and demonstrates how PubNub’s real-time technology can integrate seamlessly with any game engine. Author Oliver Carson helpfully points out which SDKs can be used for each engine, and highlights use cases like in-game chat, live leaderboards, and multiplayer sync.
12. How Fast is Human Reaction Time? Human Perception & Tech
When we talk about real-time, what do we mean? And how fast is fast enough? In PubNub’s most-read blog of 2024, we talk about how fast a human can perceive events and what that means for real-time technology.
This blog dives into the fascinating science of speed and the human brain and how even milliseconds can make or break user experiences. Readers will learn why delivering near-instantaneous updates is essential for chat, gaming, and other applications. It’s a must-read for any developer looking to understand how their users react to update speeds and why getting “real-time” right truly matters.