How to Build a Video Chat App: Step by Step Guide with Features and Components

Rise of Video Chat Application

After the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, there is a tremendous surge in the use of Video Chats. During this time, video chatting helped many people to stay connected with family and friends. Besides, several companies opted for video chats and conferencing to carry out their business operations. With the world shifting towards remote work, online consultations, it is evident that there is a huge demand for a live video call api application.

Let us understand what is a video chat app is. Video chat apps are applications that allow you to make and receive video calls. Globally, the download of many video chat apps like google duo SDK, Zoom spiked to 100% during the lockdown, and the trend continues to grow.

A recent study reveals that the global video conferencing market will reach $13.82 billion by 2023, with a CAGR of 12.1%growth. Thus, many enterprises are investing to build video chat apps. Some are planning to integrate the video chats into their existing business apps.

If you want to know how to make your own video calling app then, this article takes you through the process straightaway.

Integrating Video Chat API or Building a Chat App from Scratch: Which is Better?

When you think about online video chat application development, there are two possibilities of achieving it.

1.Integrating Video Chat API

You can get a video chat API for a trial or start with the free plans. Secondly, the infrastructure is negligible as third-party API providers own it. Most importantly, it takes only a few minutes to integrate. Also, many chat APIs come with compliance, security of international standards.

2.Building Video Chat App from Scratch

Coming to building a video chat application from the beginning is a complex process. From the infrastructure cost and resource costing, the development process requires huge investments. Besides, development and implementation will take up to several months. Additionally, security and compliance are a huge concern when it comes to building a new video chat.

So, it is always better if you decide how to build a video app either by integrating or creating a video chat from scratch. If you wish to build one from beginning, then some critical challenges may arise.

Difficulties that arise in video calling app development from Scratch

The three significant challenges you will face while building a video call app from scratch are:

1.Huge Investment & Operational Cost

To make video call app, you need to have a sophisticated back-end infrastructure. Also, you need to include the maintenance cost, development team’s costing, and other expenses. Thus, a huge investment and operational cost will burden you while you develop a video chat from scratch.

2.Longer Time-to-Market

Also, to build android video chat app from scratch can take several months. Next, followed by multiple iterations of testing and bug fixing. Hence, the time-to-market of the app will be longer than the actual plan.

3.Security & Compliances

It is advisable to plan and include these regulations in your app or platform before the launch.

Some of the common regulatory compliances are SOC 2 Compliance, HIPAA Compliance and GDPR Compliance. As SOC 2 Compliance is for system and organizational controls, the HIPAA is for telehealth apps and websites, while GDPR addresses the user data protection regulations.

So, having a clear idea about the drawbacks of building a video chat app from scratch, it is time to know how to build a video calling app efficiently can turn into advantages.

Advantages of Integrating a Video Calling API

While chat app development from scratch is a tedious process, many businesses reach to companies that provide these ready-to-use chat APIs. So, here are some advantages of integrating the API directly into your platforms.

1.Minimizes the Cost

There is no investment needed for design, development, and infrastructure, as the ready-to-use APIs come with all features. Thereby, allows you to spend only on improving the functionalities and optimizing the performance.

2.Quick Installation

Quick Installation is the prime advantage of the ready-to-use chat APIs. As the time to integrate video api is less, it is easy to use video chat app readily available in the market.

3.Assured Security

While you integrate a chat video application with chat SDK and APIs, the built-in security protocols help launch a secure video chat app for use.

4.Scalability & Updates

With the third-party API providers, scaling up your plans based on new requirements is more accessible. At the same time, your app’s API will get regular updates as and when the providers upgrade the codes.

Must-Have Features of a Video Chat Application

Whether you create video chat application or integrate an API, you need to include the essential functionalities to make it user-friendly.

Essential Features of Video Calling App UI

So, the following are a few video calling app UI features that are a must for any chat app.

1.Profile Management

The profile management function allows users to showcase their phone number, add photos on their profiles. Additionally, for advanced functionalities like locking the profile, in-app purchases are usually needed.

2.Import Contacts

Most video calling apps allow users to search and import contacts from their devices and other applications. For instance, when you use the Google duo app, the google duo sdk has in-built features that import contacts from your associated Gmail account.

3.Presence Indicator

A vital feature status display, notifies other users of the app about your online presence. Many video call & live chat app have this offline/online presence indicator.

4.Texting

Many voice chat & video chat app come with texting features, as this lets users chat with each other while still in a call. Also, apps with text, voice and video are highly in demand.

5.Group Calling

While many are shifting towards group video calls for virtual meetings, it is an important feature. Moreover, several companies integrate Google video conferencing api to help their teams with meetings.

6.Screen Sharing

So, How to build a video chat app without Screen sharing? It is highly impossible as screen sharing allows users to share their working screens when attending video calls.

7.Notifications and Alerts

In particular, Push notifications and alerts are compulsory, as it is easier to slide the notification to read. At the same time, you do not need to open video chat app to read the message.

Now that you are clear with all the features required to build a chat app. Next, you need to know how to make chatting video apps that are functional and efficient to use.

Back-end Components to build voice chat app.

When you launch a chat app, the first thing is to consider whether to deploy on own-premise or cloud-premise. For any application with chat video calling, you need to include the following back-end components in the infrastructure.

1.Robust Back-end

The back-end infrastructure to support online video chat application must be robust, as it will deal with heavy bandwidth for providing video calling services.

2.Data Storage and Retrieval

In a cloud infrastructure of a video conferencing app, data storage must be on storage drives in server bays, solid-state drives, and persistent storage.

3.Application Layer

WebRTC, session Description protocol, and the Interactive Connectivity Establishment all form the crux of the application layer.

4.Video-Audio Integration Layer:

Video-audio integration is an essential component. Usually, all communication in video chat will take place using Voice Over Internet Protocol(VoIP). With VoIP it is easy to use video chat app.

How to build the best video chat app: A step-by-step Guide

So, here’s how to build a video conferencing app in five simple steps by integrating an API into it.

Step 1: Know Your End-User

Before beginning to know how to make chatting video, you need to analyze your target audience. By doing in-depth market research, you can arrive at the target audience with better demographics.

It helps you to choose the desired features based on the end-user.

Step 2: Estimate Your Costs

Although you may prefer buying an API over building an online video chat application from scratch thus, you need less investment for basic feature API while integrating advanced features; your budget will increase.

Step 3: Selecting the Development Process

As far as the development process, you can go with a full in-house development team or buy the ready-made API from third-party providers. However, the development of a video chat app from scratch takes a lot of time. While integrating API makes an easy to use video chat app in few minutes.

Step 4: Getting the Right Technology

You need to thoroughly check the infrastructure, transmitting bandwidth, protocols essential to transmit real-time chats. Also, there are several video chat api in google for free to check the compatibility.

Step 5: Your video calling app UI

If you are integrating an API, then by default, your app will get some user-engaging UI. However, if you are building an app from scratch, you must carefully spend extra time and effort on the UI/UX design of the chat app.

How CONTUS MirrorFly Adds Text, Voice & Video Chat to Your Business App

If you need to integrate enriched features for text, voice, and video chat solutions with 100% customization, CONTUS MirrorFly is an ideal service provider to consider.

While at CONTUS MirrorFly, they aim to deliver the best cross-functional solutions compatible with any given technology. Here are the three important aspects you need to know on how to build a video conferencing website by integrating with suitable video chat APIs.

1.Chat Widgets & Plugins

The chat widget & Plugins are easy to integrate by any developer into an existing application. To use MirrorFly’s chat widgets, you need to log in to the centralized Mirrorfly dashboard and copy, paste the codes into your application. Your online video chat application will be ready to use in minutes.

2.Functional SDKs & APIs

So, how to make chatting video app with MirrorFly API with all functionalities? All you need is to use the CONTUS MirrorFly’s SDK to integrate text, voice, video, including group chats and calling with other advanced features. Unlike Google duo SDK , MirrorFly SDK is customizable and perfectly scalable on the go and is suitable for all business apps.

3.User Interface Kits

It is much easier to start your first ever video conferencing call for your business using CONTUS MirrorFly’s User Interface Kits. A video calling app UI, allows you to explore video calls from within your app.

Additionally, MirrorFly gives you full control of data. Thus, modifying or scaling up is always possible.

Key Takeaways

With the new changes we face in our daily lives such as social distancing, work from home, the demand for the Video Chat application is on an increasing scale. However, building a video calling app is highly time-consuming. But for adding the best video Chat API you need to wisely choose the best service provider available in the market who can customize the SDK according to your requirements.