Case Study: Remind achieves rapid, reliable scaling and real-time messaging for virtual classrooms with Pusher Channels

Taking tech-native Gen Z to the virtual classroom with realtime messaging

Remind is a communication platform that connects teachers, students, and families without sharing personal contact information. To power realtime chat across web and mobile, Remind built its messaging on Pusher Channels in 2015. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to close and 97% of students shifted to remote learning, Remind faced a massive, sudden surge in usage and needed scalable realtime messaging without adding operational overhead.

Pusher supplied its hosted Pusher Channels WebSocket API and integration-ready SDKs, scaled capacity on demand (Remind got someone from Pusher on the phone and an immediate capacity increase within about 30 minutes), and kept the implementation low-maintenance. The result: Remind handled its highest volume of messages ever during the March–April 2020 spike, maintained stable realtime communication across platforms with minimal engineering effort, and was able to launch new services like Remind Coaching — all enabled by Pusher.

Remind

Peter Hamilton

Head of Technology