{"id":101,"date":"2020-08-04T16:09:08","date_gmt":"2020-08-04T13:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/159.69.80.24\/blog\/how-much-does-it-cost-to-build-a-messaging-app-like-whatsapp\/"},"modified":"2024-07-22T15:10:08","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T15:10:08","slug":"how-much-does-it-cost-to-build-a-messaging-app-like-whatsapp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/djangostars.com\/blog\/how-much-does-it-cost-to-build-a-messaging-app-like-whatsapp\/","title":{"rendered":"How Much Does It Cost to Build a Messaging App"},"content":{"rendered":"

People can hardly imagine the world without WhatsApp, WeChat, and other popular messenger apps. They are loaded in almost every smartphone, and people send billions of instant messages, pictures, and videos through these technologies every day.\u00a0 Chat apps help us stay connected, share moments of our lives and have fun with family and friends, wherever they are. That\u2019s why people love messengers so much. The average number of monthly users is unbelievable. According to research, WhatsApp tops the list of the most-used messaging apps in the world. The number of monthly active users has reached 2 billions<\/a>. Possesing a high popularity, the chat app format opens up a wide spectrum of opportunities for product creators in their search of efficient solutions that users will love.
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\nListen to “How Much Does It Cost to Build a Messaging App” on Spreaker.<\/a>
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\nWhat does it take to make a chatting app that will win the hearts of over 25% of humanity (which is what WhatsApp seems to have accomplished)? What technology stack would it require? What\u2019s the approximate cost of building a messenger app? Let’s look at how to build a messaging app like WhatsApp, and more questions in this guide.<\/p>\n

Common Features of Messenger Apps<\/h2>\n

Before you learn how to create a messaging app like WhatsApp, you\u2019ve probably tested the wares of your future competitors. If you have, you might have noticed that though the most popular messengers differ in certain ways, some features are found in all of them. In fact, they are indispensable for almost any chatting app. And you\u2019ll need them in your app, too. Here they are.
\n\"Chat<\/p>\n

Registration Page and Contact Integration<\/h3>\n

The first step of every messenger\u2019s user journey is registration. There are various ways to identify a user and import their contacts. The most frequently used ones are verification by a phone number, or through email or social networking accounts.
\nContact integration should be seamless for the user.<\/strong> In most messengers, this is done automatically, as soon as the user registers and enters their phone number. Don\u2019t make people do it manually or wait too long. It takes them just a second to decide not to use the app and switch to a more convenient option.<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s also important to consider cybersecurity and protection of the users\u2019 data. Privacy in messengers is very much valued. If people discover there have been data leaks through the app, the one may say goodbye to millions of tech-savvy users and their friends.
\nAs for the technology required, authentication usually includes third-party APIs or handy tools like the Facebook SDK, Android SDK, and others.<\/p>\n

Profile Customization<\/h3>\n

The next big step in the user\u2019s journey is profile customization. This is what makes the whole experience of messaging personal and friendly. People love to make the app space \u201ctheir own\u201d. That\u2019s why the ability to choose a profile picture, nickname or wallpaper, share status, and see the status of a message \u2014 are all must-have features for any messaging app.<\/p>\n

Again, there is talk of safety. Today\u2019s chat apps store the data either directly on the users\u2019 phone or on a separate server that is connected to the user\u2019s phone number. If the number is changed, the app\u2019s user experience collapses. So consider offering users a way to migrate their data to a new phone number, to perform a backup, or to delete the account.
\nAs for the technologies required, there are two major options: ready-made solutions or development from scratch. For newly developed messengers (not with the audience as large as WhatsApp\u2019s one), a comprehensive web development platform like Firebase<\/a> would be a great solution. It is based on Google infrastructure and has a series of toolkits for user authentication, file storage, sending push notifications, etc.
\nFor apps that will serve millions of users, ready-made solutions might delay the messaging process. In this case, you might have to develop your own push server, database, websockets and other elements from scratch.<\/p>\n

Messaging<\/h3>\n

The next chat application feature is messaging. Once everything is set up, we get to the main point of the process: the messaging itself. From an app creator\u2019s point of view, the following features must be included:<\/p>\n