How to develop an app like snapchat: Essential Tools and Methods to Use

Choose what is best for you: off-the-shelf vs custom software development!

The Phenomenon of the Snapchat App

If you are interested to know how to create a new app like Snapchat, first of all, let’s start with an overview of this popular application.

Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy founded the app Pictaboo and renamed it Snapchat back in September 2011. Initially, the app was launched as a messaging app with the feature of making messages disappear in one to ten seconds after being opened.

Today, Snapchat offers its users entertainment, news, and the opportunity to add photo filters, lenses, and other effects and share the results with friends.

Snapchat wasn’t the first app that offered media-based social networking features, but it is among those who managed to attract loyal users to its special communication style and to gain huge revenue.  Last year Snapchat’s ad-selling revenue reached 4.6 billion U.S. This number is expected to further grow to reach 8.34 billion U.S. dollars by 2027. Moreover, it is among the most popular social networks of teenagers in the United States for almost 10 years.

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How Does Snapchat Make Money?

When contemplating how to make an app like Snapchat, understanding the revenue generation strategy is crucial. Snapchat has demonstrated consistent income growth, positioning itself for future profitability. In 2022 alone, the app recorded a revenue of $4.6 billion, with 12% increase compared to the previous year.

Snapchat’s Ads Manager platform, akin to Facebook, helps advertisers to craft ads, define target audiences, set budgets, monitor outcomes, and analyze analytics. Its advertising model involves tailoring content to specific audiences by considering factors such as age, location, gender, typical behavior, influencers followed by users, and content interaction patterns.

Delving into the mechanics of Snapchat’s advertising, it’s worthwhile to highlight some of the prominent ad formats:

Sponsored lenses and filters

The increasing user base on Snapchat has piqued the interest of brands looking to enhance engagement and elevate their visibility by creating personalized lenses. The process is straightforward: a brand designs and uploads its lens or filter, targets the relevant audience through promotion, and users seamlessly incorporate these creative elements into their snaps and stories.

While advertising on Snapchat starts at $5 per day, the development of a high-quality lens can be a substantial investment, ranging from $5,000 to $750,000. In a bid to make this advertising avenue more inclusive for smaller businesses and attract a broader advertiser base, Snapchat introduced the Lens Web Builder, which empowers users to directly create lenses within the Ads Manager, offering a more accessible approach to crafting engaging visual content.

Snap Ads and Story Ads

A Snap Ad is a full-screen photo or video advertisement, lasting up to 3 minutes, seamlessly inserted between user-generated content – Stories. It includes a swipe-up link designed to guide the audience to a product page. Advertisers on Snapchat have the flexibility to set and modify their budget according to their objectives and campaign performance.

In contrast, Story Ads share similarities with Snap Ads, but with a notable distinction: they lack a swipe-up link to direct users to a page with additional information. As a result, Story Ads must rely on heightened engagement and memorability to effectively convey their message.

Bitmoji merchandise

With the acquisition of Bitstrips, the company behind Bitmoji, Snapchat has ventured into personalized merchandise featuring users’ cartoon avatars: users can design and customize a wide range of products such as apparel, accessories, and more, showcasing their unique Bitmoji characters.

Snapchat has found a creative way to monetize its platform beyond traditional advertising. The Bitmoji Merchandise platform reflects the company’s ability to leverage user engagement and creativity for financial gain, contributing to Snapchat’s diversified approach to generating revenue.

Key Technologies for Building a Mobile App Like Snapchat

To create an app like Snapchat, you need to think through every detail with your development team. Key technologies should include

Machine learning

With help of a machine learning algorithm, the app analyzes users’ behavior, builds an algorithm to offer personalized recommendations and the most interesting content. 

Augmented reality

It is a type of computer vision technology that works with any type of visual content adding virtual elements to it.

Face detection

The mechanism scans image coordinates when the user points a smartphone camera at the face ro create a static snap or animated story ( selfie or video)

Geolocation

With a user’s permission, the technology reports the current location of your computer, tablet, or phone in real-time.

Core Features that Need to be Developed in Apps like Snapchat

Before creating a mobile app like Snapchat, let’s explore what the actual application is made of and what are key features of a Snapchat-like app worth considering.

Snaps

It is a key feature that made the app famous in the first place. Basically, it is a photo or a video with filters, graphics, and text captions that users can exchange.

Lenses

A lens is a real-time effect you can add to your snap with help of face recognition technology. Every day a user has a choice of seven lenses that he or she can apply to their picture and change their look with different face-filters. You can’t apply this feature to photos that have already been taken. You need to activate the lens before taking a picture.

Snapcash

With this feature, users can send money to their friends and pay with a debit card within the application. It became possible after Snapchat partnered with mobile payments company.

Messaging

Among other things, Snapchat is a messaging app, so it provides users with its own unique system: after a message is sent and has been read, it disappears in a few seconds.

Calls

Audio and video calls make Snapchat convenient for their users who can choose this app between Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, etc.

Stories

A story is a snap that is being published for 24 hours to all of your followers and then disappears.

Geolocation

With a user’s permission, the technology reports the current location of your computer, tablet, or phone in real-time.

Database

Snapchat handles a significant amount of structured data. So, to maintain the database for a flexible performance developers are using NoSQL and SQL.

Programming language

Filter apps require Javascript and Bootstrap for front-end development. Often a development team uses programming languages like PHP and Python

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How does it work?

If you want to know how to develop an app like Snapchat, first, you should understand how it works. The user follows the next steps:

• download the app
• sign up and pick up a nickname
• find friends
• create a snap (photo or video) and edit it if necessary
• send it to your friends or post it for 24h

Cost of creating mobile application like Snapchat

Required costs to create an app like Snapchat depends on many factors:

• Development: In house or outsourcing
• Loсation: Nearshoring or offshoring
• Techstack: single developer or the whole software development team:
  • Business analysis
  • Project management
  • Backend development
  • Frontend (iOS/Android)
  • Quality assurance
  • UI/UX (iOS/Android)

• Here are a few questions that you should think about. The answers will influence the app cost directly:

  Which platform will the app be built on?

  Usually, there are two types of platforms to choose from Android or iOS (Native) or cross-platform.

  The difference and cost of the Native apps vs Hybrid platform, and React Native vs Flutter development!

  What is the number of screens your app should have?

  Numbers (whether it’s 5 simple screens or more than 20 screens per your request) depend on the complexity of your app.

  How will your users sign up and login into the app?

  Email or id password, via social media, through invitation by other users, or with no verification at all. These features are important for security matters.

  How your app will be secured?

  With HTTPS, basic OS security policies or full protection (XSS and SQL injection for apps with sensitive data)

  Where your application data is going to be stored

  Three options require particular efforts and investments: Data cache, Cloud database, or Offline storage

  Which other features will you add?

  Here are a few options we advise you to consider:

  • In-app purchases
  • Push notifications
  • Camera/QR codes/scanners
  • Chat availability
  • Images/audio/video manipulation
  • Ratings and Reviews
  • Device sensor data manipulation
  • Bluetooth

  Of course, that’s impossible to determine a clear price without a specific idea, remember that the more complex your application features, the bigger the cost of creating an app like Snapchat For more convenience, feel free to use our App calculator and get pricing info with just a few clicks.

  Things to Consider While Creating an App Like Snapchat

  To make an app like Snapchat for Android and iOS, you’ll need to consider various aspects of development and functionality:

  Platform selection

  Determine whether you want to develop the app exclusively for Android, iOS, or both: the development approach and technologies may vary based on the chosen platforms. Consider factors like target audience and market share when deciding.

  User interface

  Сonsider incorporating elements that contribute to a unique and intuitive user interface: decluttering design elements, optimizing navigation pathways, and emphasizing user-friendly interactions. Explore functionalities that align with the preferences and expectations of your target audience, ensuring user loyalty through a seamlessly enjoyable interface.

  Multimedia sharing

  Multimedia sharing is a pivotal aspect of making an app like Snapchat, constituting the heartbeat of user interaction with the effortless exchange of photos and videos and the integration of creative tools for capturing and editing content – filters, stickers, and augmented reality enhancements.

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  Final Thoughts

  If you have an idea to create a social media app or cool messenger for the young tech-savvy generation, we recommend learning from the best and get inspired by the best ideas. For instance, why not learn how to make an app like Snapchat?! Its high ratings and popularity prove that this app meets its reputation. We know that when you decide to proceed with an idea, you will have questions. So, contact our technical expert to solve all your queries.