How Much Does It Cost To Build A Messenger App Like Whatssapp

mobile app development company

Since the time the growth in the smartphone industries has been seen , we have seen a massive revolution in mobile app development industry . The tremendous increase in number of social messaging apps like WhatsApp , Viber , WeChat etc has been seen as the outcome of the continuous growth of number of users worldwide .

According to Statista , there will be around more than 2.48 billion users of social messaging app by 2021 . Now as we are talking about social messaging app , we all must have use the most famous app WhatsApp . In this technology driven world WhatsApp and Telegram have been one of the most powerful tools for communication over the internet free of cost .

Now you must be reading this article because you are searching for how much does it cost to develop an messenger app like WhatsApp , and how long it will take for its development , and for it you might have settle your mind to develop it . This article helps you know step by step guide for the same .

Some Points To Be Taken Into Consideration Before Starting A Project

  • You should always take into consideration the MVP of the product in order to get the most viable feedback from user in respect of the modules feasibility factor .
  • You must choose the development team with utmost care . You should always hire an mobile app development company who has a strong team of developers , designers , testers and more for your successful app building
  • Planning of budget in advance is always beneficial while choosing a capable mobile app development agency who can cater all your needs . It is also important to track the progress of your app in regular intervals with your app development team .

Features Of Messenger App & Time To Develop That Feature : Explained

Log-in and Signup Into The Account

In any chat based app like WhatsApp , in order to go to dashboard of the app , user need to sign in into the app . For sign in almost all social messaging app use authentication by mobile number . As soon as you enter the mobile number , you will receive the OTP on your number which you can enter in the app for signing in successfully in the app .
After successful verification , you will have to add on all your contact list from your phone book that would increase the chances of using the app . The authentication process is very secured as it is directly linked with your phone and not like Facebook in which anyone knowing your password can enter into your account .
At the same time you will also get the benefit of profile , theme and background image customisation.
These all features will take near about 40 hours including the backend app , irrespective of the platform your choose from .

Messaging Feature

When we are talking about messaging feature , it means one on one chat , group chat and message broadcasting . One on one chat is one in which person upon clicking on one person specific name can start chatting with him by way of exchanging messages .
Group chat is one in which certain number of persons can chart together , whereas broadcasting features allow user to broadcast a single message to multiple user at once .
In addition to above features messaging must also include customisation of stickers , sending their own emojis stickers and more which has become the important part of interaction today and will surely attract more number of users if offered .
Just to make a note that WhatsApp does not store messages on their server . It is only active in temporary until it has been delivered . However in case you want to store your messages on server , the choice is yours and you have to make security arrangements for the same .
On an average it takes 200 hours including 100 hours for front end and 100 hours for backend .

Push Notification

We all are aware of how much is the importance of push notification in mobile app . And its even become more important if you are creating an app like WhatsApp . User must be informed for new messages , addition of user in new group and so on by way of push notification .The pop ups and push notification carry out their task of sending and receiving messages if their screen is locked .
The total time it takes to integrate push notification is 16 hours which includes client and server side .

Transferring MultiMedia Files & Location Sharing

Together with enabling the messaging feature , you must allow your user to share multimedia files such as videos , audios , pictures , GIF together with short voice messages . It is also beneficial to give user access to share the contact to .
Geo location feature is another important things which you must offer to your user thus allowing them to share the exact location with friends .
The multimedia option will take around 56 hours and location sharing feature will take around 12 hours .

Attractive App Design

This is the most important things that you must focus on. On the basis of design your user will either user your app or delete it . You have to play here with beautiful and creative design with easy to use UX . Designer should have the capability to play with colours , font styles , background images and content for getting an awesome look and feel of the app .
Usually app designing will take around 60-70 hours , but it may take more depending on the complexity of the design .

App Personalised Setting

Setting is somewhat which help user to control app as they want . The very first thing when it comes to setting is profile setting wherein user can set they display picture , update their status , nickname and more .
Other account setting may include privacy setting , notification setting , message tone setting and more . It usually takes 40 to 50 hours depending on the customisation needed to complete .

The Overall Cost

However it is difficult to predict the overall cost of the app , but keeping in mind the basic features as listed above it may range between $ 30k – $ 40 k approx.  However it may increase and decrease on the basis of functionality add on .

Best Ways To Get Featured In App Store For Your Apple App

Best Ways To Get Featured In App Store For Your App

We all are aware of recent Apple App Store changes that has completely redesigned the store . Now with the release of iOS 12 in the recent Apple event , we can expect to see a drastic change in native app discovery funnel .

Who will not want to get their app features in App Store ? If your app by change gets featured in Apple’s featured page , you will get a complementary increased number of traffic , more visibility and thereby downloads . Although there is unfortunately no sure ways to get featured , still there are certain available tactics by which you can increase your changes of getting featured .

Why Does Apple Feature App ?

Apple App Store was launched decades ago . We can say the apps has made the iPhone of what it is today . In less than 10 years Apple has reached to the next level of business industries , it has completely changed the way we live , and has introduced a entirely new business which we may have never been think of . As a result Apple App Store draws more than 500 million weekly user helping them to earn billions of dollars from App Store . The all credit goes to mobile app development industry and that is the reason apple always want to maintain a healthy relationship with developers by welcoming their quality products and thereby featuring their hard work on App Store .
Although the layout of the iOS 12 App Store will remain similar to previous one except a change in menu bar which offers a missed tab in placing of giving user full extent of content for the last 7 days .

How To Get Featured in iOS 12 App Store ?

Before getting your app submitted to Apple App Store , you must have a great app with awesome design and most important it has the capability to fulfil the needs of the user . Some of the points which can help your app to get features in App Store are :

Error Free Functionality

This is known to be make or break functionality for your app . It must have a eye catchy design with ease to use functionality from user prospective . So before even dreaming of App getting featured try to fix all bugs in your app . No store editors will promote your app if it has bugs !!

Native Is King

If you want to play safe , native app is the best solution . Apple will obviously feature app that may have been build specifically for their platform as they give high end user experience in comparison to hybrid one . So if you really want to get features on App Store , always invest in iOS development and build native apps . With hybrid apps you are somewhere compromising on user experience as it is common for all the platform . In short we can say in order to get features on the App Store , native app increase your chances of getting featured in comparison to hybrid app .

Promote Apple

Every company want to promote their own brand first , is it not true ? Apple’s also does the same – they prefer to promote their own products first . So in order to get featured in the App Store , you must keep in mind fulfilling the common objectives of Apple . For instance say if Apple is promoting an API , you must customise your app according to that recent API implementation . Also at the same time keep in mind Apple’s product release as it is also one of the best way to get featured in app store. So if you are using apple product in your app , they will give you a visa a versa result .

Keep App Up To Date Always

Updating your app on regular intervals and offering user with enhancement and new features will always add on to your value of app . Apple always love to see the apps that are getting regular updates frequently .

Leveraging App Store Listing

Its a one time win win situation if the user is coming to your app store page , and it must give user a long lasting impression . Each and every element on your page should be properly aligned in order to decide user to download the app . In short we can say a good description and a awesome app icon with surely increase your chances of getting features in app store .

Visibility Enhancement By ASO

App Store Optimisation (ASO) is process of optimisation of your App Store listing in order to show your app on the higher end on searches . ASO is somewhat similar to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) which will no question asked will increase your visibility and downloads and if you are lucky your app will be noticed by editor and can get features on App Store . For ASO , keywords are the king . It should be  handled with utmost care and should be placed in various sections of app listing . It is always beneficial to include the focused keyword in the title itself and in the description to .

Keep Your Rating High

Rating and reviews helps identify the user experience and thus the ranking factor . It has always been marked that at the time of downloading the app user will at first see the rating and reviews of the app. In order to increase your changes of more and more download , its important to maintain a rating of average of 4.5 or higher .
Just like user’s , Apple editors has almost same decision making process while they are searching for the viable app for featuring on App Store . Any company focused on business will always thing of profit making first , and so is the Apple . Apple is always thinking about profit . Although rating are hard to maintain as it totally depends on the user choice and satisfaction to individual user needs which can never be meet due to different mindset of users , but a good user app with often amount to high rating and positive reviews .

What Happen Next ?

If you are a lucky person whom have have got selected by App Store , fill in the form as quickly as possible , and provide them with the attractive banners , thereby making it easier to showcase your app listing on the featured page . You can also note down the number of downloads before and after getting featured on the App Store . After getting featured leave no chance of making sure of retaining user acquired from the feature by best mobile app development .

Closing Thoughts

Although the above tricks are just the proven tactics of getting your app features , there is no certainty  of your app getting features . All you can do it put your best efforts keeping in mind the above points. Always choose a mobile app development company who keep on adding value to your app by way of regular updates .

Advantages Of Custom Software Development

custom software development

Every business organisation needs some kind of software no matters whether they are small businesses or big b’s . Market is flooded with software development companies to . But when it comes to choosing a software , you have 2 option to choose from : Either you can choose the ready to use mass vendor solution or can hire some software development agency to develop a customised solution as per your business needs .

Well there are numerous of factors which can help you to guide which one best fits your organisation needs . That we will guide you in our other article .
Lets quickly look at the advantages of custom software development :
 

 

Software Will Be Tailored According To Exact Needs

By getting a software as per your specific needs , you will get the features that suits the exact needs of  your organisation rather than getting n number of features which may not make any sense for your business needs . At the same time customised software solution will also work the way you want them to be , and you may be aware of what exactly they are meant to be . The best thing is it can be expanded anytime , all you have to allow is investment in time and money .

Lower Cost

Mass vendor solution for instance we say SalesForce usually comes on a monthly subscription fees which may range from $25 – $ 300 depending on the features you want . Whereas when we are talking about custom software development it required a one time huge investment … but wait it will be with you for years . So custom software development gives higher ROI when we are presuming it to be used in long term . Assume of paying $100 per month for 7 years !!

Better Software Maintenance & Improvement

Custom software has been developed according to your specific needs . So there is no point of wait for any specific features to role out in that specific software . If you ever think of improving the software , you owe the right to upgrade it as per your wish , and at the time you want .
Also you need not to be worried about what if your subscription will get expired . Will you have the database access and so on ! As long as you are using the custom software development , your software will continue to be available with you as you own the source code .

Flexible Third Party Integration

Sometimes you may find a limited option of integration while taking about mass vendor solution . And its the hard fact than you can’t do anything in case they don’t provide the same .
However this is not the case when you develop your own custom software , and you are the master of your software and they will obviously follow your own command . The custom build software can be integrated with anything which has open integration capabilities .

Better Support

Most of the custom software development company provides support packages along with their development . This support act as a better problem solving support which is provided by their trained staff round the clock .
Response time and bug fixation time is also very good and can be easily approached and addressed . Team will also provide you suggestions from time to time as and when required for any further future improvement .

Final Thoughts

Always takes decision after exploring the opportunities of both third party software and custom software . It is not at all a easy task . Always keep your mind open to explore the endless benefits of custom software development .