CRED open sources real-time communication platform, setting new standards in digital payment experience
CRED announced the open sourcing of Propeller, a real-time communication platform that enables seamless and efficient communication between mobile applications and backend services. Propeller is now available for other organisations and the tech community to implement and build upon.
The Propeller platform has transformed how CRED members interact with the app. It has enhanced the member journey with up to 95% faster transaction status updates for UPI payments, and near-instantaneous updates about rewards and cashback. It has also enabled a reduction in backend server load while further improving speed and reliability.
Instant Payment Confidence: Members receive real-time confirmation of their bill payments, UPI transfers, and reward redemptions, eliminating the anxiety of waiting for transaction status updates. What could take several seconds happens almost instantaneously.
Seamless Rewards Experience: CRED members enjoy immediate communications for:
– Earned rewards instantly after completing transactions
– Real-time cashback credits
– Immediate CRED coin balance updates
– Instant prize confirmations in CRED Win
– Live updates during special events and sales
Reduced Transaction Friction: The platform has virtually eliminated the “processing” wait time during payments, allowing members to:
– Complete bill payments up to 95% faster
– Receive immediate confirmation for successful transactions
– Get instant communications for failed transactions with clear reasons
– Track their rewards accumulation in real-time
– Experience smoother gameplay in CRED Win
The platform leverages the gRPC protocol to solve a critical challenge in digital payments: the delay between transaction initiation and confirmation. Traditional systems repeatedly query backend servers for updates, creating unnecessary server load and delayed user communications. CRED’s solution enables instant push communications from the backend to the app as soon as data becomes available.
“We built Propeller initially to optimise UPI payment flows, where every millisecond matters,” said Swamy Seetharaman at CRED. “The traditional polling approach would have meant we were either overwhelming our servers with requests or making users wait unnecessarily. Our new architecture, built on gRPC bi-directional streaming, has enabled transaction status updates to happen almost instantaneously, which is crucial for members who have come to expect frictionless experiences from CRED.”
By open-sourcing this platform, CRED joins the ranks of global technology companies that have shared their internal tools and platforms for the benefit of the broader tech community. This initiative reinforces CRED’s position as a technology-first company committed to contributing to India’s digital infrastructure.
