4 things to check before you build your video chat

Building any app always includes certain basic steps. You build your back-end, you build your front-end, you create some fancy UI, you test it — and then send it off for users to enjoy. True, every app follows this route, but the specifics of the app determine how exactly you are going to build it. Let’s look at video chat apps to see what you need to take into account.

Why do we ever develop video chat applications? Why do people need them? In fact, there are dozens of cases when seeing the other person in a conversation is important. A doctor can see the patient during a healthcare consultation, a customer can see the support agent showing how to fix the issue, a salesperson can make a demo to clients — we can go on for hours.

Now, since we have started naming possible use cases, that leads to the first thing that you should consider when planning your video chat app.

Determine the target audience

While the target audience may seem more an item from a marketing expert’s checklist, designers and business analysts need to think of it, too. The target audience defines the basic set of features to include in the app. Young people will love funny filters, enterprise customers — the ability to share screens and record the conferences, healthcare institutions — a sophisticated authentication system for extra protection.

Besides, the target audience may also influence such aspects as compliance. For example, healthcare applications will need to comply with HIPAA, if you are targeting the EU market, there’s GDPR, if your app is intended for financial institutions, you might need to consider FINRA regulations.

That is to say, the target audience influences both the feature set and the infrastructure, thus, make it your first step in building a video chat app.

Choose the platform

Web? Mobile? Desktop? All of the above? The answer to this question will define the technology stack, so choose carefully.

Many apps now use the mobile-first approach building a native or cross-platform mobile app and then adding other platforms. Considering that the number of mobile users is now 6.8 billion and is expected to grow to 7.23 billion by 2023, the mobile-first approach seems a wise choice.

Once you have decided on the platform, think about how you are going to build your app. For mobile, you can create an app for Android and iOS or use React Native and build one app to run on both platforms. For web apps, choose the language you are going to use and the frontend framework.

Determine the feature set

Use the knowledge you got from defining your user audience to determine the features you are going to include in your video chat app. Think of the functions that users may need and appreciate and build your app scope.

A video chat can be created with some of the following features:

• Text chat. Of course, the core feature is video calling but having a possibility of sending text messages is a great option, too. For example, in a business video conference, the text chat is a place to share links and send messages related to the subject of the conference. They will be stored in the chat and can be retrieved later if needed.
• Recording. The possibility of recording video calls will be appreciated by many user audiences. Businesses can record demos and presentations for future reference, patients can store their sessions with doctors to refresh what the doctor told them — the use cases are multiple.
• Group calls. This feature will be loved by public users and enterprises alike. Young people can get together in a video chat to discuss an event, and a business team can have regular sync-up video calls to talk about the progress of their project. In your app, video calls may start as one-on-one with the possibility of more users to join.
• Desktop sharing. During business video conferences or customer support calls it may be useful to share your screen to demonstrate something. You might include this feature, especially if you target enterprise customers.
• File upload. From enterprises to healthcare institutions, many customers will appreciate the ability to exchange files via a chat app. Businesses can send and receive documents, doctors can upload their patients’ test results, private users can share photos, videos, and music. Just make sure you support all popular file formats.
• Security and authentication. Security is critical not only for video chat apps but for any communication tool. If you are building a video chat, implement end-to-end data encryption preventing data from compromise during transfer and multi-factor authentication enhancing the access control. For enterprise applications, a multi-level access system with different permission tiers may also be a good idea.

Select the technology

Now that you’ve decided what to build, it’s time to decide how to build it. Most probably, you are going to build a mobile app, so think whether you will have a separate app for iOS and Android or a cross-platform app for both.

Pick the tech stack for the web app if you are building that, too. Today, most of the web applications on the market are created with JavaScript, and there are dozens of effective JS-based tools and platforms designed to make development easier.

We also recommend looking for APIs and SDKs by other companies. No matter what you are going to build, it has, probably, been built before, and you can reuse what other developers have created. APIs and SDKs can shorten the time you need to roll out your product greatly, as they relieve you from writing everything from scratch. Moreover, with an API or SDK, you will get a product with all components and their integrations already in place.

Wrapping up

Building a quality video chat app may be a challenge, as in order to compete with dozens of apps on the market you need to create something really great. On the other hand, a video chat can enhance any other communication platform — an online community, an enterprise solution, a consulting platform.

If you are thinking of adding a video call feature to your platform or building a new video chat app, browse QuickBlox’s SDK and API documentation. You will find lots of things you can use in your product there. For more details, contact our experts who will be happy to help you.