How to Build a Chat App Like Discord?

Learn how to create a Discord voice and text chat application. Continue reading to learn about the technology stack, development steps, and cost of creating Discord-like apps.

Discord—Not Just a Chat App

Discord, an online platform that combines text, video, and voice chat, has seen a tremendous increase in traffic since its 2015 launch. Although it falls under the Voice Over IP (VoIP) category, it offers users the ability to make calls over the Internet. It also does much more.

As a result, Discord has pushed the limits of what VoIP apps can do, and as a result, it has enjoyed great success. Here are some key figures.

Discord generated $5 million in revenue in 2016. The figure will jump to $130 million in 2020.

Discord had 10,000,000 monthly active users in 2017. In 2021, 140 million.

Discord was valued at $1.6B in 2017. "Discord will be valued at $7B in 2021.

Discord was initially used mainly in the gaming community. Discord is still primarily used in the gaming community. However, its use has grown beyond streamers and gamers. Discord has communities for almost every niche, from dating and memes to investment and sports. Even though Slack remains the most popular platform for business messaging, there is a growing Discord for Business movement.

Discord users exchange 850 million messages each day and have 4 billion minutes of chat. Why is Discord able to attract and retain such a large user base?

If you are going to create a Discord-like voice chat app, you will need to provide robust chatting options and customizations.

The Tech Stack for Developing an App Like Discord

Clients often choose the same tech stack their developers use, but it's a common practice to get a basic understanding of how a VoIP tech stack works. You can make sure that the tech stack used by your development team is fully compatible with the features you wish to add to your app.

To give you an idea of where to start, we'll show you which tech stack uses:

Programming Languages

Programming languages are what developers use to communicate and create software. Discord uses four programming languages, Erlang, Rust, and JavaScript.

Client Libraries

Developers can access reusable components from the client library. Your developers can use pre-defined code from the library to create apps that don't change. Discord uses React Native and the React Native client library.

Datastores and NoSQL Datastores

Your VoIP app needs a way to store large amounts of data on many servers while still providing low latency operations. Apache Cassandra is an open-source distributed database management system. Discord uses it.

Streaming Protocols

When you are researching how to create a Discord website, be sure to pay attention to streaming protocols. A streaming protocol allows multimedia (typically audio and video) to be delivered over the internet. Discord uses WebRTC to implement its audio and video features.

Please Contact the Delivery Network (CDN)

A CDN is a network of servers located around the world that work together to deliver web content quickly. Discord uses APIs.

An API is short for Application Programming Interface. It allows two applications to communicate with one another. The features that you want to offer your users will determine which APIs you use. For example, Discord was created as a gaming chat app. In 2016, the GameBridge API was introduced, which allowed game developers to integrate Discord into their games.

Some of the most important APIs that you can include in your VoIP apps are:

• Twilio
• SipWise
• Plivo
• Bandwidth
• Nexmo

A Step-by-Step Guide for Making Discord

Now you know why chat apps like Discord are so popular and how they work. We'll show you how to make a similar VoIP application.

Step 1-Analyze the Market and Research Competitors

Learn about the problems your target users are trying to solve with your app. What do they expect from your product? Reaching out directly to your customers is the best way to find out about their problems. This can be done via forums, social media, and focus groups. This research will help you determine the features and usability aspects that your app should include.

Next, you should conduct a competitor analysis. Keep a list of all your VoIP competitors and then evaluate their web presence as well as their unique value proposition (UVP). You can conduct a SWOT analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. Then use the results to make sure your app is competitive.

Step 2: Locate Developers

Mobile game development apps are a rapidly-growing industry. How can you choose the right team to build your app?

You'll first need to evaluate their skills and experience. If you want your VoIP application to run on Android, you will need to hire developers skilled in creating Android apps. The development company that you hire should also have experience with VoIP. Inquire about their experience with the elements of the tech stack: what programming languages they know, what frameworks they work with, and so on.

Next, find out who is the owner of the source code and intellectual property after the project is completed. It may be a good idea to find another source if they refuse to release ownership or don't disclose who still retains ownership.

Ask for a list and get in touch with at least one reference. Ask about the development process, communication, quality of work, and how they solve problems.

There are many things to remember when looking for developers. Here's a list of questions you should ask:

• Do you have a project manager?
• What is the process for communication? Do you hold regular meetings with project teams?
• What types of apps have you worked on before? Do you have a portfolio of apps?
• Which programming tools do you use to create apps?
• Who owns the source code, IP, and other rights?
• What's your Discord app development cost structure?
• Do they have a list I can contact for references?
• What's the estimated timeframe for this project?

We recommend using Clutch and Dribbble to find VoIP app developers.

Clutch is a B2B website that identifies software and IT service providers who offer to learn about IT services.

Dribbble This community showcases digital creatives and designers.

See? A social media platform owned by Adobe that allows you to share and discover creative work.

Dribbble, Behance, and Clutch are great places to find highly-skilled freelancers and companies. Clutch, however, is the best place for highly-rated, reliable development agencies.

Step 3-Prototypes and Design

A prototype is a way to test the idea behind the Discord app. It can save you time and money by allowing you to move quickly from concept to product.

Hand sketches are the most basic form of design. Each sketch represents a screen in the app. Because they allow designers to rapidly iterate on ideas, hand-sketched prototypes make great tools for brainstorming.

After hand sketching, designers move on to digital prototypes in black and white. These low-fidelity wireframes are essentially a skeleton for the eventual user interface. They provide information about the page structure, layout, and functionality. The prototype is then created using high-fidelity digital technology. The prototype will look exactly like a mobile app, but the screens will be just images.

The design team will use user stories throughout the prototyping process and design process. This will help keep the app's focus on the user, avoid feature creep, promote collaboration, and encourage teamwork.

A User Story is a sentence that describes what a user wants. This is done using the following format: "As [role], [perform a task." Sometimes, developers might include a goal in the user story.

Step 4-Create an MVP

You will collaborate with the development team to identify the most important features based on market analysis, user stories, and feedback. These features are essential for an app like Discord:

Channels and Servers Users will be able to create servers for any topic and join servers. They can also create and participate in text channels.

Roles and permissions You should be able to set roles for the entire server, as well as for each channel. There should at least be an administrator and a moderator role. Discord offers around 30 permission options. If you want to compete, you can identify gaps in these permissions and incorporate them into your app.

Chatting. Your app should offer voice chat, video chat, and dedicated channels, as well as standard text options. Your app should have high-quality audio! How to make Discord a voice chat? You might consider following Discord's lead and creating a voice chat using WebRTC.

File-sharing. This feature can be found in almost every messaging app. To calculate the file size limit, you need to research your target audience.

Screensharing Not all VoIP apps offer screen sharing. This is a great opportunity to stand out.

Notifications Allow your users to be notified whenever they receive messages. Notifications should be disabled or paused.

Message History Find out how long users can access past messages. Does it have unlimited storage? You will need to create a search function so that they don't have to scroll back through months' worth of messages.

Integration. This is another way to differentiate your app from the rest. Find integrations that appeal to your audience. Gaming enthusiasts would enjoy Steam and Twitch integrations, while enterprises might benefit from CRM integration.

Step 5-Release and Improvement

The MVP will be live once it has been tested and developed. But that's just the beginning. Your voice chat development team will collect user feedback and engagement metrics. This data can then be used to make improvements and add new features.

Conclusion

You need a competent development team to help you follow Discord's example and create a VoIP application for gamers or expand your market reach. You're in the right place. Attract Group is a web and mobile developer with extensive experience. Our apps are intuitive, responsive, and attractive. We use the Agile process to manage our projects, and our QA ensures that your product is flawless and free from errors. Get a quote today for VoIP mobile app development.