In today’s virtual times, the popularity of messaging apps has been gaining attraction more than ever.
As per a Statista study, the global number of messaging app users is projected to grow 3.51 billion users in 2025.
Almost all businesses are focusing on establishing a chat app of their own to facilitate quick interactions with their customers. Have you been planning to do so too? We are here to help. In this article, we shall discuss all the important aspects that need to be considered in order to build a messaging platform. Stay with us and read on!
Table of Contents
A Quick Competitive Analysis of Popular Chat Apps
If you’ve been planning to build a chat app, it is important that you dig deep into some of the most popular messaging apps among audiences. Let us look closely at them one by one.
1. WhatsApp
how to make a chat
WhatsApp ensures fast, simple, and secure messaging all over the world. It was founded by Jan Koum and Brian Acton. Around 2 billion people in over 180 countries conduct communication with friends and family, anytime and anywhere via WhatsApp. There’s no denying that it has become a successful alternative to regular SMS messaging.
Top features
- Compatible with multiple devices such as Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, and the web.
- Supports end-to-end encryption.
- Group chats upto 256 users.
- Receives and sends texts, photos, video, and audio messages.
- Supports voice and video calls.
- Facilitates file sharing.
- Allows photo sharing from device storage or directly from the built in camera
2. iMessage
how to make a chat app
iMessage is an instant messaging service that is developed by Apple Inc. and was launched back in 2011. It is compatible with Apple platforms such as macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS.
Top Features
- Facilitates group messages
- Typing indicator
- Complete SMS support
- Audio messages
- File sharing
- Secure app integrations with Apple Pay, Stickers, Apple Music, and much more
3. Slack
Slack is recognized as the modern way to communicate with your team. It was released in July 2022, 2013 and has around 10,000,000+ downloads. Slack tends to transform the ways in which modern businesses operate. Let us look at some of its best functionalities.
Top Features
- Organize your conversations by topics and projects.
- Message or call any person or group within your team.
- Share and edit documents.
- Integrate tools like Google Drive, Dropbox, and others.
- Customize notifications.
- Access cross-platform support for Android, iOS, web, and desktop.
4. Facebook Messenger
how to make chatting app
An instant messaging app and platform that is developed by Facebook and was first released in 2011. It allows you to easily sync your messages and contacts to your phone and connect with anyone, anywhere. Let us dig into some of its most popular functionalities.
Top Features
- Cross app messaging and calling
- Vanish mode
- Custom reactions
- Chat themes
- Free live video calls
- Stickers, gifs, and emojis
- File sharing
How much time and cost does it take to Build a Secure Messaging App?
It is not a one day task to build a messaging chat app. Developing it from scratch requires a lot of time and investment. The whole process of chat app development depends on a lot of factors such as your app objectives, infrastructure expenses, and much more.
The budget for your app is based upon your unique requirements. Initially, you may be required to invest on developer salaries and basic infrastructure costs.
Once the app is developed, you may also need to incur some maintenance and scaling cost. Moreover, if you’re planning to build a chat app that is compatible with multiple platforms and has advanced messaging features, you might be required to spend more time and cost than usual.
Top features that you must include
Have you been wondering how to build a chat messaging app? Fret not! We have got your back. Now, it is important that you chalk out your audience requirements before starting your app development process. Perform a detailed research and then plan your framework. It will help you stand out from the crowd.
In this section, we shall be discussing some of the best features that you should incorporate in your app. Let us closely look at them one by one.
Must-have basic features to include when planning to Build a Messaging App
First, let us learn about the core features that are indispensable for a good messaging experience for your app users.
1. App Registration – Make sure to have a registration page and user authentication functionality.
2. Chat Window – Your app should showcase clear segregation of sent and received messages and be chronologically arranged.
3. Text Editing – A well-structured app has text editing space with a keyboard.
4. Contacts – Your app should display your list of contacts that can be imported and edited easily.
5. Notifications – It should show notifications for unread messages
7. User Presence – Your app should be able to indicate whether the user is available, away, offline, or active.
8.Storage Capacity – It should be able to provide users with message backups.
Advanced features required to Build a Secure Messaging App
If you want to build a messaging app that can help you beat your competitors, you need to incorporate certain advanced functionalities in order to make it more engaging for your audience. Let us understand some of those advanced features one by one.
Build Chat App for Android, iOS, or the web with proper analysis of technical factors
When you plan to build a messaging chat app, you need to make sure that you take all important technical factors into account. You need to wisely select your preferred chat framework, front-end and backend coding languages, and much more. Some of the most popular backend languages that you can choose from are Python, Java, PHP, and others.
how to build messaging app
On the other hand, some of the top front-end languages include React Native, Flutter, Swift, Kotlin, and others. We recommend you to perform detailed market research before choosing your preferences. Select options that best suit your business communication objectives.
Chat System Design for Building Secure Messaging Apps
Developing a chat app from scratch requires a deep understanding of different technologies. In this section, we shall delve into some of those technologies that you need to integrate into your app. Let us discuss them one by one.
Backend Protocol
Choosing the right chat protocol for your messaging application is important. There’s one popular open-source option that you can consider and that is XMPP. XMPP stands for Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol. Then there are relatively newer protocols such as Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT) and WebRTC Video Chat App that you can opt for.
MML Library
MML stands for Message Markup Language. When you integrate MML into your application, it allows you to provide a dynamic messaging experience to your app users. Not only this, MML also facilitates the usage of images and icons. You can also incorporate elements like button lists, carousels, or custom forms within your chat application.
Best Tools to Build a Messaging App
When you have the right tools, developing a chat app does not take much of your time. You do not need to build it from scratch. Given below is a list of some of the best tools that you can leverage for your chat app development.
1. Chat App APIs & SDKs
Well, selecting the appropriate tools for your chat app might prove to be a complex process. Hence, many app developers opt for modern in-app chat APIs and SDKs available in the market. An efficient chat API has all the advanced functionalities that can make your chat application popular among your audiences.
2. Websockets and Socket.IO
Websockets and Socket.IO enables you to build real-time chat applications. Websockets facilitate bi-directional communication and low latency chats between your server and client. Socket.IO is a JavaScript library that helps you build a chat app that can work on every platform, browser, or device.
3. Firebase
Firebase helps you build and run successful apps. The best part is that it is backed by Google. It supports developers at all stages of the app development process. Moreover, Firebase provides you with real-time data, built-in security, storage supported by Google Cloud, and much more.
How to build chat app in 5 simple steps?
Developing a chat app from scratch may seem to be a daunting task, but businesses have good reasons to build their application or implement chat capabilities to existing apps.
Because it comes with advantages like customization, branding, contact support, improved engagements, and finally conversions. So there we go.
Here are 5 basic steps to build a chat app:
Note: For more details or code info on how to add specific features, check out our developer docs.
1. Install dependencies
- With what front-end and backend development environments opted for, your first step is to set your environment, create a project in it, and add dependencies.
- Dependencies can be choosing your framework, development language, and library packages.
2. Start with frontend development
- This step helps you to build a perfect user interface for your users to interact with your chat app. Having thought about the required features, your next step is to implement its UI for supporting interactions.
- You may simply use a prebuilt UI kit and focus on other developments than bothering about pixel values and more.
3. Backend development
If you have planned to use pre-built UI kits from a third-party provider, then your frontend will directly interact with the provider’s backend servers, thus minimizing your backend development time.
4. App hosting and launch
After you have successfully built your chat application, the next step is to choose the deployment option. You can either host your app on your premise server or host it on any third-party vendor’s cloud or simply on cloud servers like AWS or Render.
However, by opting for on-premise chat servers, you can take complete control of your data and security.
5. Collect user feedback
Now when you have launched your app, your next step is to improvise it based on user feedback. You can either give them an email address or a web form to collect feedback or use a social media account for the user community to interact about your product.
And based on the reviews collected, fix the bugs, reiterate your process, and add in new features if required. The SDLC then again continues.
Conclusion
We hope our article helped you understand the crucial aspects attached with chat app development. If you want to build a chat app for your business real quick, you can consider leveraging chat app API solutions. There is a comprehensive suite of chat app API in the market to choose from. So, delay no more! Start your app development process today!
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Frequently Asked Questions:
How much does it cost to build a messaging app?
Steps to build your messaging app from scratch:
It would cost around $38000 to build a complete messaging app. A chat app MVP (Minimum Viable Product) that comes with basic messaging features is cheaper than a fully-featured app.
Is making a chat app difficult?
No, building a chat app can be time-consuming and costly when you build it from scratch, code, test and manage your app all by yourself. Whereas, it is simple, easy and quick when you use a pre-built messaging SDK. All you have to do is download the SDK, integrate it into your app, and go live in just a few minutes.
How long does it take to build a messaging app like WhatsApp?
When you build a chat app from scratch, it can take anywhere from 6 months to a year. Whereas, when you use a chat SDK, you can build the messaging app in just a few minutes.
What Technology Stacks should I use While Building a message delivery app?
The recommended tech stack for building a messaging app includes:
Backend: Node.js, Python, Java, Express.js, and Spring Boot.
Database: Relational database, PostgreSQL, MySQL, NoSQL Database, MongoDB
Messaging Protocol: WebSocket and MQTT
Push Notification Service: Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) and Apple Push Notification Service (APNs)
Authentication and Authorization: JWT and, OAuth2
Client-side Technologies: React.js, Angular, Vue.js, Socket.IO, Pusher, React Native and Flutter
Security: HTTPS, XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) and CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery).
What is the primary objective of building a chat application?
The main goal of building a chat app is to drive seamless communication between users. A messaging app can also include features like video and voice calls, so users can easily communicate with each other on the channel they prefer.
Are there any legal considerations when building a chat app?
Chat apps must be thoughtful about the copyright laws. Plus, they must also abide by industry regulations, like GPRR, HIPAA and ISO as per the demographic usage and use case of the app.
How can I ensure the scalability of my chat app?
To make an app scalable, consider the following factors:
- Make sure all the functionalities of the app perform well, even if scaled horizontally.
- Set up proper message delivery system
- Microservices and loose coupling
- Maintain a clean chat architecture.
Hi,
How can I handle message delivery and synchronization across multiple devices in a chat application?
Hello Dev, To ensure message delivery and synchronization across multiple devices in a chat application, employ a centralized server for message routing, implement real-time synchronization protocols like WebSockets, and maintain a consistent database for storing message history and device states.
Hi Team,
Can anyone tell me what programming languages are commonly used for building chat applications?
Sure Manik, Commonly used programming languages for building chat applications include JavaScript (for web-based applications using frameworks like Node.js and React), Swift (for iOS apps), Kotlin or Java (for Android apps), and Python (for backend development using frameworks like Flask or Django). Each language offers various libraries and tools for chat application development.
Hi,
This Blog is nice, Readability also good, keep posting. Can you tell me
How do chat apps work?
Thank you Helena, Chat apps work by establishing connections between users through a server. When a user sends a message, it’s transmitted to the server, which then relays it to the intended recipient(s). Clients continuously synchronize with the server to fetch new messages and update chat histories in real-time.
Hi,
This blog is so informative. What are key considerations when building a chat application for optimal user experience?
Key considerations for optimal user experience in building a chat application include intuitive interface design, fast message delivery, real-time updates, support for multimedia content, robust security measures, cross-platform compatibility, and seamless integration of features like notifications and search functionality.
I want to implement chat feature in my application. I’d like to learn about the tech implementation.
Hi, I’m a software architect in my company and we are evaluating alternative in the market to extend on ouf our SaaS solutions to include video call features along, video recording of the call. From your website it seems that this feature are part of the MirrorFly services, but in the Docs & API page we could only find information regarding client-side libraries for Android/iOS/Javascript, and nothing regarding the video recording part, nor any kind of server side SDK or API documentation. It is also unclear if the MirrorFly service is designed to be used only as a client-side enablement, or if it can suite our scenario where we also need to interact with our “server side” code that should for instance force the recording, and retrieve the recorded media. Our current understanding is that MirrorFly is not suited for our use case.
We have developed a webapp for online tutoring that will need these components to function perfectly. The requirements include; Video and Interactive Whiteboard for (virtual classroom), Cloud recording/storage, we will want this in form of an SDK to embed on our platform.
Hi All, We are looking to collaborate with the next-generation voice and chat solution provider to be part of our interesting and ambitious journey to revolutionized the Insuretech in Indonesia and remain intact as the biggest and faster insuretech marketplace in the region Thanks, shiv