It was the year 2020 when Zoom, a video chat app, suddenly became widely known. It became a synonym for video chatting. Let’s zoom or meet in zoom became popular phrases. The ongoing Pandemic prevented people from leaving. Business meetings shifted to video conferences and the usual meet-and-greet to similar platforms. The lack of easy-to-use and non-business-like platforms for video chatting made Zoom famous during the Pandemic. Its user increased from 10 million to a whopping 300 million.
And Skype, a similar video conferencing but an older platform, lost to Zoom. Before Pandemic, it had 23 million users that increased to 70 million users worldwide. It could not leverage the situation because of its business-like appearance and technical challenges to make it compatible with mobile devices. Skype is a professional business tool with lots of features to facilitate business meetings. But not enough to bring in regular and non-techie people.
With the success of Zoom, you might be wondering video chatting apps are profitable. They sure are. Many similar platforms have sprung out and tapped into the un-touched market segments. If you have also found one such segment, check out this blog to learn all the nitty-gritty of making such an app.
Before That, What Kind of Video Chat App?
This recent upcoming tech niche is a growing segment. During just one week in March 2020, video chat apps saw about 62 million downloads. And it is forecasted to grow even more. Many several kinds of these platforms have come up.
- Video chat apps for business – With features for sharing documents, slideshow presentation, recording, texting, etc. E.g., Skype, Zoom, Google Meet, Discord, etc.
- Video chat apps for personal use – With features like emojis, stickers, background changers, and group calls. E.g., Zoom, Discord, Whatsapp, etc.
- Live video streaming apps – Entertainment apps for streaming live videos or recorded videos with messaging functions. E.g., Twitch, Unscreen, Vimeo, etc.
Many free video chat apps have come up that profit from advertisements. There are also freemium services that profit by selling emojis and stickers. Or premium services that give an unlimited number of users for group calls. Better positioning of your app can help you reap profits.
What Features To Include in Your Video Chat App?
Knowing what type of app you want to build will help you put in features that will set you apart from others. You will not need a screen-sharing feature if making a video chatting app for teens or families. Also, you will lessen emoji packs for a business video chat app.
Voice and Video Call – This feature is the backbone of your next best video chat app. You will have to consider whether you need both functions or just a video chat app.
Group Calls – Zoom allows you to have group calls with a maximum of 100 users. You can limit the number of users. You can provide these services for a freemium.
Real-Time Text Chat – Real-time texting is a must for any chatting app. For a live streaming app, real-time texts make the platform engaging. It allows many people to communicate with each other.
End-To-End Encryption – Encrypting messages make your contents private. Personal chats and video chats protected behind encryption protect the privacy of users, which will make the app attractive to users.
Push Notification – To bring your users back to the app, you need push notifications. These notifications are annoying but necessary for maintaining your user base.
Screen Sharing – You can add in additional and advanced features like screen sharing. You can share your screen in real-time, show files and folders without sharing them, and give a demonstration. These features are attractive for business video chat apps. You can use tools like WebRTC protocol and Wowza for this.
Virtual Background – Virtual backgrounds, like a sea beach or space, makes dull group meets interesting. These features are attractive for friends or families’ video chats.
Virtual Noise Cancellation – Calls over the internet are not clear and often create echoes and disturbances. Using tools like Krisp, Twilio, Mirrorfly reduces these disturbances and helps in smooth video chats. Integrating this feature is a must for a reliable video chat app.
Custom Emojis And Stickers – Integrating emojis and sticker packs makes chat apps more appealing. You can make custom emoji packs with photoshop, sketch, or illustrator and use them as premium service. Discord, a community-based text and video chat platform, provides boosters and emoji packs.
Custom Masks – This feature hides your face behind a custom mask. You can chat with random people without showing your face. If you are making apps for chatting with random people, these features will help you define your service and make it lucrative. You can use tools like Spark AR, ARCore, Apple ARKit, etc.
How To Build a Video Chat App From Scratch?
You can use the video chat app for plenty of purposes. It can be for e-learning, giving consultancy services, or for purely chatting purposes. You can build up an entire video chat app or integrate a video chat service in your pre-existing business website or app. It will fine-tune your business service and help increase engagement and conversion rate.
You know what features to put in. So, how do you build one from scratch? You can use various technology stacks like Swift, Kotlin, Java if you are a developer yourself or use third-party APIs and SDKs like Mirrorfly, Agora. You can outsource developers to build you a highly functioning video chat app. They will help in the various stages of developing the application.
Stages Involved in Making Video Chat Apps:
- Making attractive UI/UX – Developing a user interface matching your target segment is crucial for the sustenance of your business. The look and feel of the app should convey what the app is for, and you will be able to tap the target audience better.
- Developing the core of the app (Backend) – You can use various programming languages and frameworks to build the backend for the chatting app. You can even use various SaaS assistance to build a compatible application. You can build interactive applications for mobiles and cross-platform using the Ionic App development service from us.
- Integration of video streaming protocol – WebRTC, RTP, or RTMP allows you to integrate video and voice services.
- Testing the application – After developing the application, it is crucial to do A/B testing before rolling it out for your audience. It will help you fix bugs in the app.
- Launching and after service – Launch the app after doing all the quality tests. Keep taking feedbacks to improve your product further.