---
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title: Chat in the Service Chat SDK for iOS
collection: developer
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/developer/current/en-us/service-cloud/service-sdk-ios/guides/live-agent-overview.md
canonical_url: https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/service/service-sdk-ios/guide/live-agent-overview.html
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  - Embedded Service Chat SDK for iOS Developer Guide
  - Service Cloud Developer Content
---

# Chat in the Service Chat SDK for iOS

Using Chat within the Service Chat SDK, you can provide real-time chat sessions from within your native app.

**important:** The legacy chat product is scheduled for retirement on February 14, 2026, and is in maintenance mode until then. During this phase, you can continue to use chat, but we no longer recommend that you implement new chat channels. To avoid service interruptions to your customers, migrate to [Messaging for In-App and Web](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.miaw_intro_landing.htm&type=5) before that date. Messaging offers many of the [chat features](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.miaw_chat_vs_messaging.htm&type=5) that you love plus asynchronous conversations that can be picked back up at any time. Learn about chat retirement in [Help](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=001790618&type=1).

Once you’ve [set up chat for Service Cloud](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/service/service-sdk-android/guides/shared/live-agent-cloud-setup.md), it takes [just a few calls to the SDK](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/service/service-sdk-ios/guide/live-agent-basic-setup.md) to have your app ready to handle agent chat sessions.

![Chat session](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/media/service-sdk/lac-chat-publisher-ios.png '{"class": "image-sm"}')

This chat session can be minimized so that the user can continue to navigate from within the app while speaking with an agent. And if you've implemented Einstein Bots, the user first [speaks with a chat bot](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/service/service-sdk-ios/guide/live-agent-einstein-bots.md) before optionally getting transferred to an agent.

When an agent sends links to your users, they see link previews right from within the chat session. The SDK tries to use Open Graph meta tags (`og:title`, `og:description`, `og:image`) to extract relevant information for the preview.

![Chat hyperlinks](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/media/service-sdk/lac-chat-hyperlinks-ios.png '{"class": "image-sm"}')

You can also [customize the look and feel](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/service/service-sdk-ios/guide/servicesdk-ui-customization.md) of the interface so that it fits naturally within your app. These customizations include the ability to fine-tune the colors, the fonts, the images, and the strings used throughout the interface.