How to create a chat application like whatsapp in android

Find Out Its Development Cost

Are you thinking of creating a new messenger on your own? Has the success of other companies in the field affected your decision? Do you have some awesome features to add but want to save basic functionality of other popular messaging services? Great! That's your lucky day because Cleveroad will gladly help you navigate through these muddy waters. This time, we're going to discuss how to build an app like WhatsApp and how much it actually costs to develop an instant messenger similar to it.

WhatsApp: it's role and history

WhatsApp was founded by Jan Koum and Brian Acton in 2009. At the end of the year, it was launched on the App Store for iPhone with no alternatives in the world at the time.

This app, referred to as an instant messenger, was intended to give users an opportunity to exchange messages in real-time using mobile Internet or WiFi. Today WhatsApp is available for all popular mobile operating systems.

WhatsApp splash screen

This is what makes it so popular. WhatsApp is available everywhere, from non-smartphones to cutting-edge devices. That is why your intention to build an app like this is quite reasonable.

What can WhatsApp do?

On the whole, you can do the following with the help of WhatsApp:

Send photos
Send audio files
Exchange geodata (a very handy feature for those who like traveling)
Send contact data
Send voice messages

WhatsApp has rich functionality, a flexible system of settings adjustment, a simple and user-friendly interface, and high performance. That is why WhatsApp became one of the most popular messengers in the world, and many entrepreneurs want to know how to create a chat application like WhatsApp.

Many business people consider WhatsApp as a good example to start their new business. So, to create an app like WhatsApp they need to plan their budget and estimate possible expenditures, so they need to know how much it will cost to create an app like WhatsApp.

Steps on how to create app like WhatsApp

If you plan to create an app like WhatsApp, you should follow these steps below:

Step 1. Choose a proper business model to keep up with to build a messaging app like WhatsApp
Step 2. Find experienced developers that know how to make an app like WhatsApp
Step 3. Consider team's location
Step 4. Build the app architecture
Step 5. Add MVP features to create your own WhatsApp
Step 6. Build a great design for your WhatsApp-like app

Steps to create an app like WhatsApp

Now let's study all these steps in detail to give you a better understanding of what you should undertake.

Keep up with a proper business model

Before you start creating your app, you should think about all the business nuances you will face when you learn how to make an app like WhatsApp. Check out the main principles you should keep up with to succeed.

Target audience

First, you should determine your target audience, who is interested in the development of a messenger. As a rule, young people use messengers more often than older people. Although, WhatsApp is also popular among business people since it is secure and easy-to-use.

Monetization

When you release the app, you want to earn money and make the app paid off, When you create your own WhatsApp-like app, there can be a few monetization models you may use to gain a profit: P2P payments, in-app purchase, and advertising.

Know your competitor

You should analyze the market and study all your competitors. If their apps are good, what should you do to make your app better? On the whole, you should know what messenger apps similar to WhatsApp are available on the market.

App value

If your app is entirely similar to other apps from this niche, what is its value? It's highly important to add something new to your app to make it competitive and unique when analyzing how to create a messaging app like WhatsApp like WhatsApp.

App store optimization

When the app is finished and it is available in Google Play or App Store (or in both), it is not enough just to wait till everybody starts downloading it. You should think about app promotion to attract more users.

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Hire a dedicated development team

There are a few things which should be taken into account when you're planning your project budget.

Find experienced developers

If you want your app to grow and develop, its architecture should be thoroughly elaborated at the first stages of development. This is what a good entrepreneur always sees. As your application will be growing, you need to have an opportunity to process a large flow of data. You need to take into consideration everything, from server sustainability to code design, to have the ability to add new features seamlessly later. A poorly designed code can cause improper app operation as the new options are added.

Let's now discuss existing hiring options to define which one is suitable for your case:

Freelancers. This option is excellent due to the opportunity to decrease development costs and complete moderate tech tasks. Yet, you have no quality guarantee and confidence in such specialists' experience. What,s more, freelancers often request a prepayment, after which they may simply not fulfill their job.
In-house teams. Gathering an in-house team is a great option for vast companies which need to develop large-scale projects and constantly maintain them. The communication among your team and you and, consequently, accessibility are on the highest level as well. Nonetheless, all the management responsibilities are on your shoulders. What's more, you have to check the expertise of developers when employing yourself. In addition, this option has the highest cost due to the need to buy expensive hardware, pay office rent, salaries, and cover many other expenses.
Outsourcing software development teams. With outsourcing you can substantially cut down your outgoings and save the high product quality. Among the other benefits, there's no need to spend time on interviews to check the developer's competence, as the utter team with a verified high qualification i already assembled. Thus, there's no need to pay for hardware and office rent, you only invest in the services provided. Flexible cooperation modes, met deadlines, and requirements have already helped lots of businesses to optimize their workflow and reach their goals. The global market is full of advantageous offers, especially, the ones from Central Europe, Estonia.

Our advice is to hire someone who has already dealt with such types of projects. Good specialists can foresee all possible scenarios to avoid an app's crash and money losses in the future. Don't risk your reputation and money, and hire a highly professional staff.

Consider team's location and staff numbers

The cost of creating an app can vary depending on your future employees' location. We will take the Central Europe development team average salary, which is equal to $50 per working hour. Let's consider the full membership of your prospect team. The team members could be as follows:

Sales manager (can be in touch with a client before, during, and after the development process)
Project manager (can also take a business analyst's responsibilities)
Requirement analyst (it's desirable to have both a project manager and an analyst)
Software developers (depending on the project complexity, a dev team can include 2-5 members for front-end development, the same is for back-end development, 2-3 members can be engaged in post-release support if such specified by a project)
Quality assurance engineers (1-4 members)
UX/UI designers (2-4 members)
Marketing manager (can be involved if product promotion is needed)

Software development team for a Whatsapp-like app creation

Start with WhatsApp core: build the platform

When you find a good guide on how to create an app like WhatsApp, you should get acquainted with WhatsApp's architecture. It's important to know what is in the background of the app. So in this section, we've gathered some vital information that should be considered before you start. All of WhatsApp's processes would be impossible without the stuff given below. This is what makes this powerful message exchange machine work.

To handle message traffic, WhatsApp uses the Ejabberd XMPP app server (FunXMPP) written in Erlang programming language. It's perfect when it comes to accommodating huge communication systems because of it's good sustainability.Erlang programming language. It's perfect when it comes to accommodating massive communication systems because of its good sustainability. Erlang programming language. It's perfect when it comes to accommodating massive communication systems because of its good sustainability. Erlang will be a good option because it quickly adapts to hotfixes and instant updates. Thus, it doesn't have to be restarted in order to add new functionality or updates.

If you want to create exactly the same app, you can use Erlang on the server side as the messenger's techies did. Of course, you're free to choose among other server-side scripting languages. Other apps like WhatsApp, such as Telegram or Kik, use Node.js to code their servers.

To store multimedia files, WhatsApp uses a high-performance web server called YAWS (Yet another web server), which is also written in Erlang.
To power servers, the FreeBSD operating system was chosen by the WhatsApp developers.
They also have chosen Mnesia as a database because it's the default database for Erlang.
WhatsApp uses the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) technology to transfer messages. This technology provides both one-to-one and multi-user chat communications.
The company rocks RC4 (Rivest Cipher 2) as a cipher method but is considered to be not that secure, though.

As regards the client-side development, the programming language can vary depending on what operating system runs on a device. The rest you already know, iOS - Objective-C or Swift, Android - Java or Kotlin. Then we can move to how to create MVP application: particularly, the list of MVP features your WhatsApp should include.

Approximate building time

MVP features to be included

Congratulations! We've finished with the inside structure of our role model app. Now let's see what MVP features such a messanger as WhatsApp includes.

1. Registration + address book formation

The registration page is the entrance to your app. On WhatsApp, once users input their credentials (a phone number), the app sends the SMS for authorization. The Android version of the application opens and processes this SMS automatically. That's kind of convenient, actually. Along with the SMS authorization, you can provide one more option like voice verification when you build chat app like WhatsApp.

Registration in WhatsApp

With the WhatsApp-like app, the user's anxiety about password loss or identity theft is eliminated because it's connected directly to a user's phone number, which can't be duplicated. On installation, the app creates an account using a person's number as a user's name. Then the its software automatically checks all numbers in the new user's address book and compares them with WhatsApp's user database in order to set up the list of contacts in the application.

Do you know why should an MVP be a start of your business? Figure it out in our video below:

Why Should You Start Your Business from MVP?

WhatsApp uses the XMPP to create accounts with the Jabber ID. The app has recently refused to use IMEI and MAC to generate accounts, sending an SMS with a randomly generated password on a server-side to a user's phone number. Consider it since it is a must-have feature if you create a chat app like WhatsApp.

2. One-to-one and group chatting

As you intend to create a WhatsApp clone, it's pretty obvious that the opportunity to start a dialogue has to be provided. Once a user presses a dedicated button, a contact list has to appear to choose a person. Also, there should be an option to create a group chat, where users can add a chat picture and provide a subject of the conversation. WhatsApp has recently released a feature to send one message to several people at once, called Broadcast Lists. You're free to integrate your ideas if you have such ones.

You already know that the XMPP technology is engaged in message sharing giving users the opportunity to talk tete-a-tete or have a group chat with as many contacts as they want. It's pretty much like HTTP. Here, a client opens a socket that stays open as long as a user is logged in. Unlike REST API, when the client opens a socket and closes it after a message is sent/received. Although, WhatsApp earlier used communication technology similar to SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), where messages were sent in plaintext. In 2012, it was reported that the company had changed the concept, but the developers haven't disclosed a cryptographic method yet.

Chatting in WhatsApp

Important note! You need to know that WhatsApp doesn't store users' messages on its server. After a user sends a message, it will be situated on the server, but just until the server requests the receiver to acknowledge receipt of the message, it happens quickly. After the message is acknowledged, the server delivers it to a receiver and automatically removes it from the temporary storage. The message is no longer WhatsApp's responsibility. Perfect!

In case you want to store users' messages on your server, you need to do your best to protect it.

Anyway, you need to take care of users' privacy when you analyze how to create apps like WhatsApp. Nobody wants their sensitive data (history) tapped. You need to choose the right way for the encryption of messages. However great WhatsApp is, the privacy problem remains unsolved. This is where you can learn from competitor's mistakes.

There is a little secret about message storage on WhatsApp. It's a chance that you will never receive a message if you're without an Internet connection for a long period of time. For 30 days, for example. Because this is how long your messages will be stored on the corporation server, then it'll be removed and not available. Be careful, sometimes WhatsApp can be utterly cruel!

Another fancy feature that can be implemented is a self-destructing message. This one usually is associated with Telegram and Snapchat. But you can implement as many ideas as you want. Self-destructing message development will take up to 8 hours, including back-end and front-end.

The XMPP technology is thought to be obsolete among developers. So if you happen not to find some desperate fans of this method, you can apply other ones. There are dozens of them for such purposes. For instance, MTProto is a new protocol applied to Telegram, which is thought to be more secure and reliable, or Microsoft Notification Protocol (MSNP). MSNP24 has been used by Skype since the beginning of 2014. It's up to you which of those to choose!

You may also want to add some spice to your message exchange functionality, like Stickers, for example. They are worth a thousand words. Today many users expect that Stickers will get not only reliable and secure communication but high-quality content inside the conversation. Most of the messengers have Sticker stores inside them to increase the retention and engagement of their users.

You may also want to add some spice to your message exchange functionality, like Stickers, for example.

Stickers are worth a thousand words. Today many users expect that they will get not only reliable and secure communication but the high-quality content inside the conversation. Most of the messengers have Sticker stores inside them to increase retention and engagement of their users.

New content attracts more users. Also, this allows you to create an additional revenue stream for your app by selling it. You can launch your own store by integrating with Stickerpipe Stickers Store that provides top-quality Stickers with a choice of different models that allow you to have either free and/or a revenue sharing opportunity.

3. Notifications

This is how your user knows that somebody's sent them a message. On WhatsApp, users are usually informed about two things: when they are invited to a group conversation or when a new message arrives. It's carried out in the way of pop-ups or push notifications if a device screen is locked.

How can this procedure be implemented? It can be made through Google Cloud Messaging or Apple Push Notifications. Your server sends the notification to your app users via these cloud services using the HTTP/2 multiplex protocol. Take it into account when you create a WhatsApp clone.

4. Multimedia files transmission

WhatsApp users can also send short voice messages, pictures, and videos. This is a standard option among several others listed below. If you want your app to have the same functionality, you can include the multimedia files transmission feature. The transmission procedure is performed by uploading a multimedia file to be delivered to the HTTP server (hi, YAWS), it then sends a link to the content together with its Base64 encoded thumbnail.

Again, you can choose any of the existing web servers when you decide how to create WhatsApp app.

7. Voice and video calling

Today, these features are an integral part of all popular messaging apps. How does it work in WhatsApp? The messanger uses the Internet traffic rather than the phone's tariff plan money or minutes. By pressing a dedicated button, a user can activate the voice calling. You can either take an older version of WhatsApp as an example or add this feature. But it can take more time and money to integrate it.

Voice calling in WhatsApp

As any master who doesn't want to reveal his secrets, WhatsApp didn't hurry to do so. We've done deep and exhaustive research and found out that WhatsApp uses the PJSIP library to implement Voice over IP (VoIP). This is an open-source multimedia communication library written in C. The library uses a high-level API by combining the SIP (signaling protocol) with the multimedia framework and NAT traversal functionality. This API is suitable for all types of systems, including mobile handsets.

8. Settings adjustment

Everything regarding this is included in one menu called 'Settings' on WhatsApp. It's not a strict rule to do like the original app. Who knows, maybe your designers will create a more excellent and more convenient interface. However, the app should include several basic things that help it adjust to users' needs.

Help. Your user should have an opportunity to read some information about the app and to reach out to you if your consultation is needed.

Profile settings. It's vital for a user to be able to change a user's pic/nickname/status.

Account settings. Three basic points have to be included:

Privacy. It's actually a good idea to let a user monitor his recent actions. You may include another awesome feature blacklist.
Opportunity to change a number. It's necessary when users change their current phone number. The app should make it possible for the user to migrate from one number to another.
Opportunity to delete a user's account. It's essential to have such a feature in case a user doesn't want to use the app anymore (however sad it is) or gives a device to somebody else.

As for the rest of the Account Settings menu, it's up to you what to include. It could be Payment Info and Storage Usage, how it's implemented in WhatsApp.

Chat settings. Here, users can change chat wallpapers, switch on/off incoming media, and carry out backups. When talking about backup, cloud services are the most progressive way to store information. The solution for users' chat history and media synchronization should be provided.

Chat settings in WhatsApp

Notifications settings. This is very important because these 'guys' can be really annoying. Notifications should be freely adjustable.

Data usage settings. Having included this feature, you will give users an opportunity to control data flow.

Remember, if you want to create an app similar to WhatsApp, you don't have to follow exactly the same course as it's developers. You always have a choice! We're stressing that all the above features weren't added all at once! There is no necessity to stuff your app with all these at the start. The perfect solution is to build a stable, good-working product implementing basic procedures which could be updated after you get a fine client base.

MVP features for an app like Whatsapp

Another thing influencing your app popularity most is it's design. This is the face of your product. However smart your app can be, it won't be popular without a pretty and attractive interface. Details, lovely colors, fonts, well-designed icons this is what make your app desirable. A stylish interface is worth its weight in gold. So don't be stingy when it comes to the design.

Pay attention that you will need to add about 60-70 additional hours to the total amount of working hours to implement UX/UI design.

The total cost

At this point, we will consider the development time and cost of an app like WhatsApp only with the basic functions. The table below shows the approximate development time of the WhatsApp-like app by modules and what they include.

Development time of WhatsApp MVP features
Modules	Features	Approximate time, Android or IOS (hours)	Approximate time, backend (hours)
Registration + address book formation	mobile number verification input code screen name screen	39	28
Login	username + password forgot password change password	19	22
Chats	list conversations search online/offline status send multimedia edit name block/unblock user	188	223
Group chats	group info media screen mute/unmute notifications leave group	85	120
Audio and video calls	list of calls/ call to user	120	170
User profile	my profile tab followers screen list of records	24	28
Search	suggested users discover list of groups near me	45	62
Settings	call/chat cscreen set dafault number delete all chats deactivate account change password/email deactivate account security/privacy screen	102	70
Contacts	contacts screen search list of contacts	10	28
Notifications	screen list of notifications	14	14
Push-notifications		24	20
Total development time (single-platform)	670
Total development time: Android and iOS (no backend)	1340
Total dev time (for Android and iOS) with backend:	1925

You can see that the process of MVP creation of an app like WhatsApp may take approximately 1,238 hours for both iOS and Android. So, developing an MVP app such as WhatsApp will cost you around $31,000 for one platform and $61,900 for two (with an average rate of $50).

Cost to create app like WhatsApp

Summing up

WhatsApp won its popularity thanks to its vast expansion. It doesn't mean that its entrepreneurs had solutions for a different platform at the start. They were releasing them at a good pace one by one, which brought about excellent results. WhatsApp is a combination of a fantastic but neat design and intelligent functionality. Because there are many WhatsApp clones on the market, it could be tricky to surpass rivals. But we're sure, if you put your whole heart into your product, it won't let you down.

I hope we've satisfied your desire to know how much a WhatsApp-like app costs. So draw inspiration from the story of its tremendous success and do great things!

Cleevroad Expertise

Cleveroad is an experienced software development company with headquarters in Central Europe, Estonia. We’ve been providing companies of various scale with custom flawless software using cutting-edge solution stack since 2011. Apart from this, we offer a wide range of other IT-related services, like support, maintenance, and updating of digital products. .

To offer maximally efficient cooperation conditions, Cleveroad offers a row of flexible partnership models:

Time and Material

Time and Material allows us to work with undefined requirements and start a project without having an exact scale of the project in hand. With this model, clients can easily make changes in requirements at any development stage and get the total cost of delivered services when the project is accomplished.

Fixed Price

A Fixed Price agreement is a single-sum contract with a set amount of work, detailed estimations, clarified requirements, and strict deadlines. After providing a detailed list of requirements, a customer receives an estimate which comprises the total cost which remains fixed.

Dedicated Team

A dedicated team allows you extending your opportunities by hiring a developer experienced in a required domain. Such extra teammates makes it possible gathering an agile-oriented team to create a support software of any complexity. We offer in-depth competence in 6+ industries, an immense talent pool to select from, and sign a non-disclosure agreement if you'd like to.

Cleveroad has an in-depth experience in building Whatsapp-like apps, so we can bring all your ideas into a real excellent solution.

Want to create a messaging app?

Our specialists will build a top-notch app like WhatsApp according to the requirements you provide

Start with a competitive research. Look through apps similar to WhatsApp (and WhatsApp itself), pay attention to their cool features, and the features these apps are missing.
Choose platforms. If your target audience lives in the US, Canada, or Australia, it's better to make an iOS app. If they live in Central Europe, India, Africa, or China, go for an Android-powered app. Or both, to make the app available for all users.
Think of basic features. No messaging app will go live without registration, profile management, pop-up notifications, chats, file transmission, or voice calls.
Don't forget about the modern UI/UX design of your app.

If you're not a UI designer yourself, the best way is to hire a UI/UX designer who will do the work for you. They will consider platforms peculiarities, follow Google's and Apple's design guidelines, and make sure the app looks good on both iOS and Android.

Some messaging apps use advertisements, some use in-app purchases (like Viber stickers), or subscriptions. Or just look for sponsors.

Android development takes ~15-20% more time compared to iOS. That's because of a bigger number of screens and OS versions. But in general, the process remains the same as with iOS apps:

Research
Planning
UI/UX design
Development
Release

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Comments

4 comments

Jitto Varghese

11.09.2022 at 06:15

Excellent information

Louis .

23.05.2021 at 03:09

Excellent! Detailed, substantive and very informative! Many thanks

Louis

23.05.2021 at 03:08

Excellent! Detailed, substantive and very informative!

Adam

03.08.2020 at 11:04

Fantastic work. Thanks

How to Build a Chat App like WhatsApp in Android, iOS & Web?

WhatsApp is the most sought after messaging application that has revolutionized the messaging app market. Several attempts have been made in vain to clone WhatsApp as a chat app, but none of them yielded the result. Despite introducing similar functionalities, no chat app has ever been able to topple WhatsApp’s supremacy as a chat app.

In order to build chat app like whatsapp, one should have a detailed understanding of its functioning mechanism and technicalities.

Table of Contents

How Whatsapp Messaging App is Working Technically?

WhatsApp uses Ejabberd (XMPP) server which facilitates instant message transfer between two or many users on a real-time basis. High reliability and sustainability even under peak traffic the reason why WhatsApp developers chose Ejabberd above anything else.

ERLANG is the programming language used to code WhatsApp. Code restructuring and some important changes were made to the Ejabberd server to achieve optimal server performance.

Further, Erlang is agile to adapting to instant updates and hot fixes. This is what helps WhatsApp to quickly push the changes to live implementation without requiring restarts.

1. Insights on data transfer in WhatsApp

WhatsApp manages over 50 billion messages a day. The key to smooth data processing lies with the message queue length. The length of the message queue of all the processes associated with a node is monitored.
In case of multimedia messages, contents (audio, video, or image) are uploaded into a HTTP server and are linked with the content and then sent to the receiving node (receiver) in the form of a thumbnail. Based on the user’s preference the content can either be viewed or discarded.

2. Protocol used by WhatsApp

The primary protocol in use is XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol).DSL ensures network security and also helps in preventing private data transfer.

As and when message is sent, it is queued on the server. The message waits in the queue until the recipient reconnects to receive the message. As and when a message is delivered the sender gets notified by a double check mark near the message. After the delivery the messages are instantly deleted from the server memory.

This instant deletion from server memory helps WhatsApp keep its resources to a bare minimum.

Additionally, Whatsapp uses HTML5 WebSockets which communication technology which facilitates two-way communication.

3. Registration process of WhatsApp

Users can register for WhatsApp by entering their mobile number. On entering the number, the user will be sent a OTP which once verified by the device will initiate the user to the chat screen.

4. Database management

Mnesia DB handles the heavy-duty task of database management. Mnesia is a multiuser distributed DBMS which also happens to be the default DB of ERLANG. Mnesia helps achieve quicker request responses, thereby improving the overall efficiency.

FreeBSD is the OS upon which WhatsApp is built. Improvising on the ERLANG based applications and optimizing FreeBSD, WhatsApp is able to achieve better performance. For storing multimedia files, the app uses an exclusive web server YAWS.

Build a Whatsapp like Messaging App with Contus Fly

Having discussed the technicalities of WhatsApp it is time to shift gears over analyzing the possibilities of creating a whatsApp alternative. There are plenty of secure messaging app in the market that appear to be perfect WhatsApp clones. The reality is many of the attempts of building WhatsApp like apps are failing because they do not follow the technical aspects.

Well, if we take such apps as an example, it might be quite difficult to understand as they are completely built products. Instead a ready made solution that can help in creating a WhatsApp clone app would be a better learning material.

Contus Fly is a framework that catalyses the build a chat platform. Contus Fly can be used to develop WhatsApp clone app for Android app, iOS and Website platforms as it has the SDK ready for these widely preferred mobile operating systems. Since native coding has been used by Contus Fly to achieve better speed, it can be handy in developing a WhatsApp like native app.

Framework & Architecture of Contus Fly

Ejabberd

Ejabberd, the open source Jabber server has been customized by Contus Fly to improve operational efficiency. The XMPP protocol has also been customized to speedup signing in and re-signing in sessions. To protect the app from DDOS attacks and to prevent account spoofing, this mobile chat app solution has been encrypted with HMAC.

Mnesia and MySQL

For data storing, Contus Fly makes use of both Mnesia and MySQL. While Mnesia is used to maintain user login sessions, MySQL contributes in maintaining the user details, right from account credentials to other personal data.

Cassandra database

Chat logs are a key for instant messaging applications. In order to save chat history between several nodes, Contus Fly has deployed . This database offers a good read write speed thus helping users to retrieve chat logs as and when they need.

Amazon S3 bucket

Multimedia messages including audio, image, video are saved in Amazon S3 bucket. Registration for the app usage can be done in multiple ways including mobile number, email, user name password and social login.

WebRTC

WebRTC is a source code that is used to build real-time communication (RTC) in browsers and mobile app. Contus Fly has inbuilt WebRTC that allows its users to have VOIP (voice over the internet protocol) voice/video calls in their messaging app

Security

Contus Fly offers a 3 layered security flow – end-to-end encryption, HMAC authenticated screening, and online/offline verification protocol; that ensures the data transmitted within the chat app is secure.

As and when a user triggers a message, the chat SDK sends a request to the Ejabbered server. In return the server checks for the availability of the recipient and if available, the delivery request is sent to the recipients SDK and then delivered. If the recipient is offline, the data is stored in the Ejabbered as message will be queued in the server.

CONTUS Fly Features

Group Chat
Offline Messages
Push Notifications
Presence
Social Integrations
Locations
Sync and Store
Voice & Video Calling
Video Conferencing
Multimedia Sharing
Easy Screen Sharing
Fully Searchable
End to End Security
Support

Uses Cases of CONTUS Fly

1. Build Your Own Chat App:

Contus Fly is a instant messaging solution that can be customised according to the needs of the user. The customizations are highly flexible and can be made both initially or even after the app is launched.

2. Chat API:

Chat API provides users the access to infrastructure of server. This enables any website or app to be integrated with a messaging solution that performs without any hassles and is highly scalable.

3. Messaging SDK:

SDK is an instant messaging framework that enables the app built with it to work on specific platforms. Contus Fly’s SDK has been built in an enterprise grade making it compatible on android, iOS and windows.

4. In-app Messaging:

A source to connect with your customers goes a long way. In-app messaging and push notifications initiates a direct conversation with app visitors and assists in providing accurate product explanation and suggestions.

If You Already Have An Idea About Build Chat App, Schedule A Free Demo And We’ll Get You On The Road To Chat App Success!

How to Create a Chat and Messaging Application like WhatsApp?

To show their individuality, the user can be offered to customize the profile as he likes - change the background for messages, text font, personal photo visible to all subscribers. The more customization options, the more comfortable it will be for the user to work with the application.

Instant sending and receiving messages via the Internet

It is optimal to assign statuses to messages so that users can see all the stages of sending, receiving, reading by the addressee. All chat applications are designed for messaging, so it's hard to stand out here, but you can organize group communication - private, public chat with a different number of invited participants, sending certain messages or images to only a few users from a group chat, and so on.

It is also important to save messages so that users can read their conversation history at any time. Storage is carried out using the cloud - so you can access your correspondence even if you lose your phone or if you accidentally delete the application from your gadget. You can also turn on the convenient conversation search feature. For users who communicate a lot, conduct business correspondence with many clients, this function is indispensable. With its help, you can find not only the right place in the correspondence, but also the transferred files

Messaging would not be complete without the ability to send voice messages. In order not to waste time writing the text, you can simply dictate it and send it.

Video and audio calls

Opportunity to see your opponent or talk to him, as on the phone, provide voice and video calls. So communication looks more complete, regardless of the distance at which the callers are from each other. With a voice call, communication occurs only by voice, as when using a phone - only absolutely free of charge via the Internet. A video call gives a visual component - a video image of the speaker. In communication apps like WhatsApp, group video and audio calls are also available - conferences with which more than two people can communicate at the same time.

File sharing

To show emotions or share information, users can send pictures, stickers, gifs to each other. With paid stickers, it's easy to monetize any messaging app.

Notifications

This function is needed so that the user does not forget about using the application and is always aware of the events taking place there - a new message, an invitation to a chat, adding to contacts, the appearance of a friend on the network, etc. At the same time, it is important to give the user the opportunity to independently manage notifications - turn on some and turn off others. This approach would be appropriate for developing a business application.

Features that add value

It's easy to build a good instant messaging app, it's much harder to get better than the most popular messengers. For this, standard functions are not suitable, you need to come up with something unusual and exclusive - like Snapchat. This application gave users the ability to send media files to each other with a short availability time of just a few seconds, which provoked an increase in customer activity.

As additional functions, due to which you can rise in the rating by creating your own application, you can use the following:

even more advanced profile settings;
creation of secret correspondence that has the function of self-destruction after a set time;
the ability to schedule the sending of messages - so, for example, not to forget to congratulate a friend on a holiday;
mini-games for one and several users in the chat environment;
creation of copyright stickers;
enable chatbots and other e-commerce tools;
the ability to record stories, set statuses;
use secure end-to-end encryption as a communication system.

All this will help you stand out from the background of other applications, so creativity in this environment is only welcome.

Toolkit for creating applications such as WhatsApp

To start developing a messenger, you should understand the technologies used for this at a practical level.

User recognition

To protect app users from scammers and annoying spammers, you need to take care of authentication. To do this, use the Nexmo API (recognition through a phone number) or, for example, Twitter Kit, Facebook SDK (to verify a user through a social network or mail).

Instant messaging

In order for messages to really arrive instantly without any actual delay, you can use WebSocket technology, which provides high quality application-server communication.

Bringing conversation to life with emoji

To make communication more interesting, you can add a separate emoji keyboard to the application. This will enhance emotional exchange and allow users to convey mood, reactions, and attitudes without the use of words.

User data storage

To organize long-term storage of user personal data, texts of correspondence, transferred files and other information, you can use network servers like Nginx or special databases like PostgreSQL. You can also connect the Amazon S3 media storage service.

Audio and video calls

To ensure interactive communication between application users, developers use VoIP technologies - a more convenient protocol has not yet been invented for organizing voice and video communications over the Internet.

Pop-up notifications

To stimulate user activity, notifications are needed. Depending on the platform on which the application is planned to be used, different technologies are used: on Android it is Firebase Cloud Messaging, on iOS it can be both Firebase and traditional Apple Push notifications.

Ways to monetize an application like WhatsApp

Messaging apps can generate good income for developers, but the ways they generate it vary:

paid subscription - a dubious option, since most of the competitors' messengers are free;
displaying ads is the most common way to monetize any application, but the main thing is not to overdo it, as intrusive ads will only scare away users;
paid features - you can arrange the purchase of additional features, such as paid stickers, games or advanced settings;
work with sponsors is the most pleasant option for users, with this approach they can receive certain bonuses for performing any actions in the application from advertisers.

The choice of a monetization strategy is based primarily on the number of users, the popularity of the messenger and other criteria.

What problems might a developer of an application like WhatsApp face?

Every new instant messaging application inevitably faces hurdles when it enters the market.

How to attract new users and keep their number. The application should meet the needs of users as much as possible, be flexible and adaptable to the requirements of customers. It is also important to improve, adequately perceiving the comments and criticism of users, release updates, fix bugs and stimulate the growth of the number of users with new "goodies".
How to keep your personal data entry and messaging secure. It is best to develop your own encryption method based on reliable technology. You can use blockchain or use Open Whisper Systems like WhatsApp.
How to meet the growing demands of users. So that the application not only allows you to communicate, you can use it to launch other functions that are unusual for this type of program - for example, payments, as is done in WeChat, games, or the ability to independently create chat bots for various purposes.

In any case, in order to solve all these problems, the developer must listen carefully to the opinions of users, monitor their activity, handle buggies and introduce new technologies and features.

How much time and money does it take to create an application like WhatsApp?

WhatsApp is considered to be quite a complex application, as over the years of its existence it has acquired a large number of updates and improvements, so creating an application from scratch will not be cheap, and labor-intensive. In general, the cost of development will depend on the features included and the technologies used, in fact, as well as the time of work. Therefore, it is impossible to say for sure how quickly it will be possible to create such a mobile application - someone can do it in a month, for another programmer it may take a year.

The messenger market is constantly growing and evolving, new applications appear, so enterprising users have every chance to try to create an application like WhatsApp - just as successful, and maybe even outperform it in the rating. Such applications are the future of communication between people, mobile communications do not allow you to communicate cheaply with the whole world, while all instant messengers provide the opportunity for completely free communication. This is more convenient than sending SMS, and even more so than making calls from a mobile, regardless of the operator.

How to create a chat with ourselves in WhatsApp on Android

Those who use Telegram already know that the application allows us to talk to ourselves. A thread where you can send you photos you want to keep or messages as reminders. Unfortunately, in whatsapp we can't find this function of natively. Something that many users are likely to miss. But there are several ways to do it.

So will be able to talk to himself using WhatsApp on an Android smartphone. This is a feature that may be of interest to many. Since in this way it will be possible to send us messages as reminders or write down addresses, among other things, in a chat just for us.

Best of all, we don't need to install anything to get this . In this way, we can create a private WhatsApp chat where you can send messages to yourself, just like in Telegram. So far, the app has never considered introducing such a feature, although it's actually something that many users welcome.

Article subject:

How to export Telegram and WhatsApp chats

Currently we find two possible options on this account . They both work well and are not complicated. So it will depend on everyone's preference. In any case, with these options, we can have a private chat in the messaging app on Android.

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Index

1 Create a group and delete other users
2 Using a browser

Create a group and remove the rest of the users

The first way we have to create this is create a WhatsApp group in which we will then remove the rest of the members, for what we know , there are several ways. Thus, you will remain the only member of the group and will be able to use the specified chat to send messages to yourself. A simple but very effective way to get it. What steps should we take in this case?

Open WhatsApp on your Android phone
Push button with floating action
Click New Group (to create a new group chat)
Select a person to be in this group
Set group (photo and name)
When the group is created, remove another person from the group
The group has already been created and can be used
Chat to yourself

So the specified chat is already active in the application, so you can use it at any time. If you want to send yourself a photo or file because you want to save it quickly, or because you want to have a reminder or information you don't want to lose, you can use this in-app conversation. In addition, you will be able to access it both from your phone and via WhatsApp Web in complete comfort. So it will surely get you out of trouble on more than one occasion.

Using a browser

The second option we have in this regard, chatting privately with yourself on WhatsApp, requires the use of a browser. In this case, this is something that we can do not only from a computer, but also from a phone. Both options are possible, so there are no complications. What we're going to do is use a trick very similar to the one we used some time ago. when we teach you how to send messages to people who don't have contacts in the app. In this respect, the principle is the same. So it will be very easy for you.

We can try entering this address in the browser: api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=0034TUNUMERO, putting your phone number where this text is. It may happen that I allow you to send you a message directly So, you already have this chat created in the application. Although there are times when it gives an error, for example, it does not leave me. But there is a second way using the same method which is also very simple.

If this happened to you like me, Whatsapp did not open the text box when we used this method. But we can "force" the application to open a text box in a very simple way. In this case, the URL we should use is api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=0034YOUR NUMBER&text=hello and a window will appear where we only have to press the green button to send the message. This method worked for me and I was able to send a message to myself in the app without any problems. Although it works better in a computer browser using the web version of the application. In Android, I succeeded, although the first time it gave an error.