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I am looking for pros and cons of Pusher versus PubNub specifically for iOS clients. In terms of resource utilization (battery drain, speed, etc) and delivery reliability. It appears that PubNub has an official iOS library but the Pusher library is created by a third party and not officially maintained? What has your experience been using these libraries?

Joel
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  • Although libPusher isn't under the Pusher github organisation it is the official library. Pusher have a working relationship with the author, Luke Redpath, to support and maintain the library. *Note: I used to work for Pusher*. – leggetter Oct 09 '13 at 18:37

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PubNub iOS7 SDK with XCode5

The PubNub iOS client library is maintained by PubNub, and its kept up-to-date to support the latest versions of iOS and XCode. (Just weeks ago, we officially certified our client to work with XCode 5 and iOS7).

APNS Support for optional Apple Push Services

PubNub provides an interface to iOS developers which enables them to simultaneously publish to both PubNub native channels, as well as APNS. This makes it possible to send messages to the user's device, even when the device is sleeping or the app is backgrounded.

Data Push Messaging/Signaling on Mobile iOS with High Availability

With PubNub, delivery reliability is provided on both the client and server sides. The server-side caches messages so during temporary network interruptions (driving through a tunnel, transitioning from Cellular to Wifi, 3G->EDGE, etc), upon reconnecting, all messages (missed and new) are available to the client.  On the client-side, the client automatically handles connection state -- this way, you are not left to implement reachability APIs on your own to determine whether or not you are connected.

Multi-channel Topic Subscription for Battery Efficiency Savings

The PubNub multiplexing architecture enables as many subscribed channels as desired to be tunneled through a single connection.  Because of this, battery and network resource usage is kept to a minimum.

Presence Awareness for User Collaboration and Online/Offline Status

Presence features are also available which enable all users in a given app to to detect when any PubNub client (iOS, JavaScript, Ruby, etc) is present on a given channel.

PubNub Support is Available 24/7

If you have any other additional questions, feel free to ping us at support@pubnub.com, and we'll get you up and running with PubNub quickly.

Geremy C. - Director of Client Engineering and Support

Stephen Blum
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Geremy
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  • Thanks for the thorough response. Looks like I'm not going to get a third party comparison answer so I'll mark this as correct. Signed up for PubNub via Azure. Look forward to trying it out. – Joel Oct 22 '13 at 01:48
  • Is PubNub supported in Azure Mobile Services scripting like Pusher is? Can't find any documentation on that. There's only a tutorial for Pusher on Azure: http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/mobile/tutorials/build-realtime-apps-with-pusher-ios/ – Joel Oct 22 '13 at 04:43
  • @Joel please contact us at support@pubnub.com and we'd be happy to assist you with addressing PubNub with Azure Mobile Services. – Geremy Oct 22 '13 at 15:59