---
title: Usage guidelines
description: Important guidelines for using the in-experience text chat feature.
comments: Eventually fold the key points of this page into other pages and remove.
---

In-experience text chat is any message created within your experience that originated from one user and is delivered to one or more other users, including:

- Chat bubbles over an avatar's head
- Direct messages between users
- Chat window communication between users
- Team-specific messages

For sending and delivery, these types of communications must each go through a `Class.TextChannel` instance. This ensures messages respect privacy settings, are visible to moderators, and are properly text-filtered.

Certain text is **not** considered chat:

- Text on menus created by developers (for example, "Press any button to continue.")
- Status updates from the experience (for example, "Two minutes remaining!")
- Announcements from admin commands
- A user renaming their pet dog
- A user writing on a sign
- Moderation audit logs or messages
- Comments on posts in an experience

  <Alert severity="info">
  If the comments support a reply feature, these replies would be considered a conversation and thus subject to this policy.
  </Alert>

- Writing a post on a bulletin board
- Any user-generated text unrelated to a conversation

For communication shared by users that can be seen by other users, even if it doesn't need to go through `Class.TextChatService`, you must ensure it goes through a [text filter](../ui/text-filtering.md). It's recommended to add a rate limit of 1 minute for any UGC text field that might be used by players to conduct a conversation. See [rate‑limited text inputs](./examples/rate-limit-public-text-inputs.md) for an example on how to set up rate limiting for text input fields.

## Requirements

- All experiences that offer in-experience text chat for users must integrate `Class.TextChatService`, per the [Misusing Roblox Systems Community Standard](https://en.help.roblox.com/hc/en-us/articles/203313410-Roblox-Community-Standards). For information on migrating from the legacy chat system, see the [Roblox Developer Forum](https://devforum.roblox.com/t/migrate-to-textchatservice-removing-support-for-legacy-chat-and-custom-chat-systems/3237100) and [Migrate from legacy chat](in-experience-text-chat.md#migrate-from-legacy-chat).
- All incoming text that originates from another user must first use [Text filtering](../ui/text-filtering.md) before your experience displays it.

  If users repeatedly send messages that violate community standards, Roblox warns and then temporarily prevents them from sending messages. To learn more, see [Text Chat Nudge FAQ](https://en.help.roblox.com/hc/en-us/articles/37541811348884-Text-Chat-Nudge-FAQ-s).

- Communication between users must respect user privacy settings.
  - `Class.TextChannel:SendAsync()` handles basic privacy and parental settings automatically.
  - `Class.TextChannel:SetDirectChatRequester()` must be used to mark `Class.TextChannel|TextChannels` created for direct chat.
- In-experience communication should be [reportable for abuse](https://en.help.roblox.com/hc/en-us/articles/203312410-How-to-Report-Rule-Violations). `Class.TextChannel|TextChannels` handle this automatically.

## Respect privacy settings

Users can have different levels of access to communication features based on their [privacy and content maturity settings](https://www.roblox.com/my/account#!/privacy/Communication/ExperienceChat) or parental controls. Some users might have additional restrictions or constraints depending on which app store they used to install Roblox or their local laws.

The following methods respect these requirements. Use them within your experience to determine how to handle messaging requests:

- `Class.TextChannel:SetDirectChatRequester()`
- `Class.TextChatService:CanUserChatAsync()`
- `Class.TextChatService:CanUsersChatAsync()`
- `Class.TextChatService:CanUsersDirectChatAsync()`