7 Easy Steps to Build a Live Video Chat App – Things You Should Know!

In recent years, online messaging and live video calling have become nearly indispensable parts of our daily lives. Communication has become digitized, and live video calling chat is now the new norm among users worldwide. 

Here are some key statistics indicating that the market for video chat app is thriving:

• 43% of remote and in-house teams use a video chat solution.
• 78% of corporate companies use live video chat API.
• 83% of businesses are likely to purchase video calling tools.
• 55% of businesses say that live video chat effectively increases employee engagement.
• 66% of business executives say video chat helps them to connect with freelance or gig workers.

Want to create your own Live video call app but are unsure where to start? Don’t worry! Here’s a quick guide to creating a video chat solution. This guide will help you get everything you need about the video call app.

So, let’s make a start and get to know everything in detail!

Let’s begin with:

3 Best Ways to Build a Live Video Chat App 

Use a Video Calling SDK

Using a Video Call SDK is the quickest and easiest way to build a video chat app. These SDKs provide complete infrastructure and a diverse feature stack. Instead of spending months for coding app features, you can integrate them ready-made for your chosen platform. Among other popular video calling platforms, you can also check Twilio, MirrorFly, Contus Fly, SendBird, Applozic, or Sinch. They all offer full-featured voice and video calling functionality with native mobile and web support.

Zoom-Like Software Integration

If you want to create the best video chat app with basic features similar to Zoom, you can use Zoom-like APIs. The distinction between this method and the one before it is that you opt for video call functionality rather than a fully functional video chat platform. There are several Live video chat APIs available, including Apphitect, Mesibo, CometChat, and ChatCamp. Zoom also provides SDKs and APIs to developers, such as Meeting SDK and Video SDK. You can use Zoom Meetings to power your application and create a new video experience around it.

Build a Video Chat App from Scratch

If none of the live video chat software fits your needs, you can build a video app from scratch. For that, you will need to form a team. Due to numerous obstacles, this approach is the least popular.

How to Build a Video Chat Application in 7 Easy Steps?

It doesn’t matter whatever way you choose – you must not ignore the basic steps for developing a live video chat app.

1. Analyze the Market and Plan Accordingly

As a first step, you need to ensure that your product has addressed the most critical needs of your users and it has a high demand on the market. Also, you should define your user types, app use cases, and revenue generation strategies. The monetization strategy, however, should be based on your industry’s specifics and needs. When developing a live video call service for the enterprise, you can monetize it through paid subscriptions or freemium.

2. Select the Features You Want to Add

Then, for your Video Call App, you’ll need a product roadmap and feature scope. A tried-and-true method is to start with a minimum viable product (MVP). You can start with basic features and scale it up with add-ons. The feature selection must be based solely on the needs of your users, which is where customer profiles come in handy. If you create a live video chat app for communication, consider adding augmented reality features to enhance the video chat experience.

However, your basic communication toolkit should include the following features:

• User Profiles
• Video and Voice Calls
• Messenger
• Group Calls
• Screen Sharing
• File exchange

3. Choose the Tech Stack and Software

Once you have chosen the features, it’s time to choose the technology stack and software. Following that, you’ll need to ensure that you have identified the right video call SDK and the necessary resources or providers.

4. Ensure App Security

Ensure that your video call app is secure and that no data gets leaked. End-to-end encryption, such as 256-bit TLS encryption, is recommended, or use a video SDK. As video calls are locked away, no one can access user content. If you want to create a Zoom-like video conferencing app, you can use two-factor authentication tools like Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, or FreeOTP.

5. UI/UX Design

Colors, fonts, and other visual elements comprise the user interface (UI). It’s all about how your app looks, and you can have complete creative control here.

The User Experience (UX) of your app determines how users will interact with it.

Make sure to approach UX design carefully so that you can create a video chat app that works smoothly and intuitively.

• Ensure that the navigation layout and feature access are simple.
• Keep this in mind for regular users and those who arrive via an invitation link.
• Select video call APIs or SDKs that allow complete UX customization and designable widgets.
• Follow the best practices of the most popular video calling apps, such as Zoom, Skype, and others.

6. App Testing

Thorough app testing uncovers critical bugs and keeps you from losing app users after their first session. Check the following items when testing a video chat app:

• GUI testing to ensure that the app interface was intuitive and concise for first-time users and regular attendees.
• Functional testing to ensure that every feature is in place and meets the requirements
• Browser, platform, and device compatibility ensures that the app works as expected everywhere.
• Stress testing ensures that your video app runs consistently under high user loads.
• Performance aspects include audio, video quality, frames per second, and data consumption.
• Security aspects include examining the data policies of third-party APIs that you integrate into your app carefully to determine what data they collect and whether your app complies with App Store and Google Play Store policies.

7. Promote

You can promote your video chat app long before it goes live. Here’s how you can encourage users.

• Create an online presence by creating an attractive landing page and social media accounts.
• Pitch your app to well-known app communities such as ProductHunt.
• Make promotional materials.
• Advertise on social media.
• Create fantastic app copy and visuals for the App Store and Google Play.
• Inform early adopters about the first version.
• Connect with industry influencers.

5 Best Video Call APIs

1. CONTUS MirrorFly Video Call API

MirrorFly is the market’s leading provider of Video Chat Solutions. It offers a high-end video call API and SDK for web and mobile applications. It’s a custom video call solution with WebRTC signaling that works on Android, iOS, and Web applications. MirrorFly’s WEBRTC video chat app and video call solution is packed with unique features that will help your app perform better. Video encoders and low latency technologies ensure the best video quality possible.

Features:

• Group video calls 
• In-meeting group and private chat
• Screen & document sharing
• Video Broadcasting
• Video Recording
• End to End security

2. Apphitect

Apphitect is a leading provider of video call solutions for customer service. Their video calling API is highly customizable to meet the needs of business virtual communication. It is much easier to build a highly scalable video conferencing software on the web and mobile devices using their WebRTC-enabled video calling API and SDK (Webrtc peer to peer).

Features:

• Android, iOS & Web clients
• HD voice and video quality 
• Scalable media server
• Load balancing
• Signaling (XMPP, SIP, H.323)
• Video Chat for Customer Service

3. Agora

Agora has been at the forefront of providing video call features to SMEs and enterprises worldwide to improve collaboration. Their video chat SDK includes development tools and cloud infrastructure components for creating a live video chat application for Web, Mobile, and Desktop. Agora SDK enables complete customization of features, background segmentation, and themes.

Features:

• Real-time messaging
• Video Conferencing Solution
• Secure File Sharing
• Draw Whiteboard
• Video Chat API for Customer Service

4. PubNub

PubNub is one of the best in-app chats that provides real-time chat engagement. The tool provides extensive functionality, complete control, and customization without the time and expense of in-house development. It allows anyone to provide complete outsourcing to their clients.

Features:

• Receive extensive plugins in a single platform.
• WebRTC signaling with an end to end encryption.
• Push notifications with complete messaging broadcasting solutions.
• An open-source user interface kit.

5. Sinch

Sinch is another API that manages multiple APIs via messaging and calling. Anyone can use this to access services such as video calling, SMS verification, voice calls, and other engagement platforms.

Features:

• High-Quality Video.
• Voice Calling service.
• Live Broadcasting.
• Personalized Communication with Advanced Setup.
• Easy & Intuitive Interface.

The Bottom Line

Creating a video chat app takes time and effort. However, with proper planning and development, it is possible to create a successful video calling app. The growing adoption of video calling apps does not seem to be slowing, owing to an increasing need for reliable modes of communication. As a result, more businesses are focusing their efforts on Live Video Chat App Development.