HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO MAKE A CHAT APP?
Chat application help users stay connected, share life moments with friends and families. It also updates and keeps them informed of any meaningful message from clients or a boss. Without a doubt, chat applications are consistently growing in popularity as well as users. These apps will continue to increase and reach new levels in the upcoming years. These days people can hardly imagine life without popular apps like WhatsApp and Instagram. Barely any smartphone today is deprived of such apps. People send billions of instant messages and share media files every day.
WhatsApp tops the list of active monthly users of 2 billion. With such roof touching popularity, this opens the door for product creators in the market, to develop chat applications with the features mentioned ahead.
FEATURES IN A CHAT APP:
REGISTRATION AND CONTACT INTEGRATION:
The first step for a user into any chat application is registration. Among multiple ways to identify users and import contacts, the most frequented method is getting verified through email, social networking accounts and phone number. In most apps, it is done automatically, and the process is seamless. It should be a quick process as it doesn’t take people to move to a better option, as is the case with some chat apps. Cybersecurity is also a very crucial implementation step for the protection of user’s personal information. Authentication usually requires tools like Facebook SDK (Software Development Kit) and Android SDK etc.
Time: 16 to 18 hours
PROFILE CUSTOMIZATION:
The second big step is profile customization. This step is one of the essential keys to retaining customers, making their experience friendly and personal. The options to choose different wallpapers, profile pictures, and nicknames enable the user to make the app space their own. That being said, backing up data is also directly impacts the user experience. If they change their number, their data and the personal space they create will fall apart. Therefore, considering ways to migrate their data to a new phone number and to perform back up is vital.
Time: 18 to 24 hours
MESSAGING:
The central part of any chat application, the messaging. The creator should ensure that the following features are included in the chat app:
Message status: users want to know whether their messages were delivered or not, whether the recipient has seen them or not. This is a must option to incorporate.
Private/group chats: Since chat apps are growing mature now, group chats have gained popularity. From professional meeting groups to family talks, to a party invitation group. A lot of us have dozens of group chats for various such matters. Any of your targeted audience will expect this feature as well.
Time: 90 to 200+ hours
QUICK SEARCH:
You don’t want the user to get irritated, scrolling down to find a message from 6 months ago. That’s why it’s better to integrate the quick search option for your customers.
Time: 12 to 16 hours
GEO-LOCATION:
The feature is best utilized when you’re stuck somewhere looking for a meetup point with friends. Users can share their live location to their contacts. It is a good option for those who don’t want to open other apps to share their location. WhatsApp has allowed its users to set up a timer for how long they want their location to be shared. They also can disable that option if they wish to.
Time: 60 to 85 hours
VOICE/VIDEO CALL:
Voice calls have become primary to any chap application being developed currently. Chat apps let users save money on mobile calls, using only mobile internet plans or Wi-Fi. A level up of this feature is the addition of video calls. It requires a lot of technical work, but it will add more value to your app.
Time: 200+ hours
MEDIA FILE SHARING:
Imagine using WhatsApp or any other social app and not be able to send pictures or videos. This feature requires a fast-working multimedia file transfer system. Your customer wouldn’t want to wait for minutes just for an image to download. The types of media that can be shared via chat app are video, image, voice, animation, documents, contacts, locations and GIFs. All of these have different file extensions which, you will need to implement in your app.
Time: 6 to 8 hours.
PUSH NOTIFICATIONS:
In the hyperconnected world, we are living in; people want to know about the incoming messages instantly. People want to get notified before they can even blink. Again, users always have the option to disable this feature, but it is still a vital option which has to be as instant as messaging itself.
Time: 20 to 24 hours
OTHER FEATURES:
Chat applications have very high potential as they can be very versatile depending on what features you want to add, how many features you want to add, how user friendly you want them to be etc. From building custom in-app cameras with filters to adding the 24hours story feature like Instagram, the cost of your app will be highly influenced by the complexity of the features you want to implement.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO MAKE A CHAT APP?
That brings us to the other main calculation that will determine your total app development cost:
The number of hours of development * hourly rate of developers = Total development cost.
The hourly rate will vary depending on where your app developer is rated. Following is the average per-hour rates of app developers globally:
Central Asia: $15 to $25
East and South Asia: $50 to $200
Western Europe: $50 to $300
Eastern Europe: $25 to $50
South America: $20 to $55
North America: $20 to $150
Africa: $50 to $100
Australia: $100 to $180
CONCLUSION
Apart from all the features and costs mentioned above, it is also necessary to keep in mind the back-end development which can take 350+ hours. To develop a chat application, it can cost you anywhere between $30,000 to $100,000+ depending on the location you pick your developers from; and of course, also on the complexity of the features, you wish to implement. To sum everything up, we can agree that the chat application has encouraged the mobile app development industry to extraordinary measures. So, building a chat app can boost your business and expand your reach to global audiences. We have covered all the significant elements that go into creating a chat app. If you feel stuck somewhere along the way, feel free to contact us.
