"WebSockets enable the server and client to maintain a persistent connection, and by doing so, significantly decrease the latency for data that is sent over the

"WebSockets enable the server and client to maintain a persistent connection, and by doing so, significantly decrease the latency for data that is sent over the network." They are bidirectional, event-driven and asynchronous. The client initiates the connection over HTTP and a handshake switches the protocol to web sockets. When using JSON as the payload, one can elegantly write a single websocket server and operate JavaScript, iOS and Android clients using the same API.