As 2026 approaches, our teams are laser-focused on delivering features that make Stream's real-time communication APIs even faster, smarter, and easier to build with. From long-awaited analytics tools to real-time moderation capabilities, this quarter's roadmap introduces big steps forward across all four products: Chat, Feeds, Moderation, and Video.
Below is a detailed look at what's in store for Q4 and beyond.
Chat: Insights, Flexibility, and Smarter Integrations
Stream Chat continues to evolve for developers who want complete control over their in-app communication experience, with new APIs for analytics, billing, search, and more.
Analytics
Understand how your users are engaging with chat through new Analytics APIs. These will allow product owners to capture and measure engagement, retention, and channel activity across their user base.
Batch Channel Updates
With batch channel updates, developers can tag and manage related channels together. You'll soon be able to update metadata, state, and membership across groups of channels using single async API requests, saving time and bandwidth, removing error-prone parts of the customer codebase, and improving the efficiency of integrations.
Multi-Tenancy Billing Metrics
For B2B2C apps, billing downstream customers is about to get easier. Stream is adding a Multi-Tenancy Billing API, giving you access to detailed usage metrics for more transparent customer billing.
Search Overhaul
We're completely rebuilding chat search from the ground up. Expect a faster, more flexible search system with improved indexing and support for advanced operators, all with no client-side changes required.
Message Retention Policy (Coming Q1 2026)
A new Message Retention Policy will let you automatically soft-delete messages after a set duration, helping apps stay compliant with data and privacy regulations.
AI SDK Updates and Improvements
We're making it easier to integrate your own AI into Stream Chat SDKs. These updates improve the developer experience for building AI chatbots, assistants, and contextual LLM-powered chat experiences.
Delivery Receipts
Gain full visibility into message delivery with Delivery Receipts, so you can tell not just when a message was sent, but when it was delivered to the user.
Delete For Me
Inspired by WhatsApp's "Delete For Me" feature, users will soon be able to remove a message just from their own view, without affecting what others see.
Importer Overhaul
Imports are currently one of the more complex steps in migration. We're overhauling the importer system to make the process self-serve and painless, drastically simplifying how teams bring historical messages and channels into Stream.
Feeds: Smarter, Faster, and Ready for AI
Our next-generation Activity Feeds is well underway, bringing major improvements to performance, flexibility, and intelligence. This quarter is all about scalability, client SDKs, and AI-enhanced personalization.
Feeds v3 Beta Progress
We're actively replicating traffic data from Feeds v2 to v3 for several large apps as we move from alpha to beta, stabilizing API payloads and deployment pipelines.
New APIs and SDKs
- Collections API: Manage and group content more easily.
- Backend SDKs: Simplify server-side interactions with Feeds.
- Client-Side SDKs & Real-Time Support: Add real-time capabilities and faster client integrations.
Performance and Personalization
Feeds v3 introduces performance upgrades and personalization tools to help apps build:
- For-You style feeds
- AI-assisted activity tagging to enhance recommendations
- Advanced search and filtering for activities
- Feed membership and visibility controls
- GDPR compliance
- Support for Stories
- Advanced Feed features like pinning, expiration, bookmarking, and more
Moderation: From Text to Live Events
Stream's AI Moderation is expanding beyond static text to tackle real-time and live content. This quarter focuses on scalability, live experience coverage, and actionable insights.
Live Events and Audio Moderation
Moderation will soon extend to live events and live audio, helping you monitor and manage real-time interactions with AI and human-in-the-loop tools.
Appeals API
Give users a transparent way to contest moderation decisions with the upcoming Appeals API, creating a more balanced and auditable review process.
Username Moderation Improvements
We're refining our username detection and flagging models for better precision, reducing false positives while catching more rule-breaking behavior.
Improved PLG Flow
To support product-led growth, we're improving the activation and engagement experience for new developers who want to get started with Stream Moderation quickly.
Analytics Improvements
Expect better dashboards and reporting APIs for monitoring moderation accuracy, appeal trends, and system performance.
Moderation Firefighting Improvements
Enhancements to our internal "firefighting" tools will help teams respond faster to spikes in flagged content or live moderation events.
Video: Real-Time, Resilient, and Ready for Scale
Stream Video is entering a new phase of speed and reliability, featuring lower latency, enhanced codecs, and more intelligent recording and analytics capabilities.
Ultra-Low Latency
We're pushing edge latency below 25ms and ensuring full join duration under 500ms for seamless, real-time calls and livestreams.
Codec and Streaming Upgrades
- RTMP with AV1 + Fallback Codec: Better quality at lower bitrates, with automatic fallback.
- Fixed Streaming Keys for both RTMP and SRT to simplify configuration.
- RTSP Ingress for additional camera and device compatibility.
- SIP Ingress and Ingress Events for easier integrations with telephony systems.
Analytics and Recording
- Realtime Stats API: Get granular data on livestream performance (fps, bitrate, etc.).
- Call Attendance Stats: Track participation and engagement in every call.
- Raw Track Recording: Record unprocessed streams for advanced editing or compliance use cases.
Accessibility and Compliance
- Translated Closed Captions: Automatically generate multilingual captions for global audiences.
- Geofencing v2: Enforce location-based access restrictions with configurable fences and dashboard integration.
Looking Ahead
From AI-driven analytics in Chat to For-You Feeds powered by machine learning, Stream's 2025 Q4 roadmap reflects our continued focus on helping developers build better real-time experiences at scale.
Whether you're launching your first chat, migrating to Feeds v3, or experimenting with live video moderation, these updates are designed to give your product more insight, control, and power.
Follow our weekly changelog for regular release and depreciation updates. As always, share your feedback with us by contacting product@getstream.io.