Lately, Zoom faced one of the biggest breakouts in mobile app history. Due to mass lockdowns and remote work, people were forced to start using video-chatting apps for their work and personal use. These apps are Meet, Skype, FaceTime, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and, of course, Zoom.

Zoom has proved its leading positions on the market of video-conferencing tools with an extreme increase of installs by 700%! It easily became one of the most popular apps on the market and is ready to knock down TikTok for the title of the most downloaded app. Along with Zoom, all alternative video chatting apps have seen a big increase of downloads within the past 2 months. This trend seems to stay there for a long time. 

Video chat apps solve many challenges of home lockdowns and remote working – people can stay connected despite all obstacles. Users can get a high-quality connection with a range of useful features like group or one-to-one video chats, file-sharing, filters, security, etc. 

Such a boom of popularity provoked a lot of people around the world to think about building their own apps for video-chatting and conferencing. 

How to make an app like Zoom? 

Making your app tool for video meetings is not an easy road. First thing, you need to define all the main features of the app. Let’s take a look at the most important ones:

1. Group video-conference. The app should allow creating video meetings for a group of more than 2-3 people. Zoom provides the limit of 1000 users at the same time. Quite impressive, right?

2. One-to-one chats. Group Live Chat Agents are amazing for work goals. But more than often it’s necessary to have a tet-a-tet video chat whether it’s for work or personal purposes. 

3. Instant messaging. Apart from video or voice calls, the app should have messaging features to make communication simpler. 

4. File-sharing option. This could be an all-in-one solution for work: sharing files during the conference without using email or dropbox is more convenient for everyone.

5. Security and safety. Users need to be sure they follow Zoom security best practices and get full privacy in their calls and no data will be leaked, emphasizing the importance of addressing concerns related to Zoom data privacy. For Zoom this part became the most vulnerable one. In April 2020 it leaked more than 15,000 private meetings, more than 530,000 passwords, and who knows what else can be hacked there.

Apart from that, you need some useful tools to acquire higher retention from users. These can be recording options, visual filters, screen sharing, and something else.

But the list of features means nothing, until you have a full team to build an app. Usually IT teams include:

1. Project manager to coordinate the work of different specialists.
2. Android or iOs app developer to build an app itself and merge functionality with design.
3. Back-end developer to create a server that will provide proper functioning of the app.
4. UI/UX designer to make a simple and intuitive design of interface, navigation and features.
5. Q&A specialist to find all issues in the app before releasing it.

We don’t include in this list app marketing and business specialists. But it doesn’t mean these positions are not required in most IT companies. 

How much does it cost to make an app like Zoom?

Developing a video chat app like Zoom will cost you $30,000-$130,000. The final price depends on the region where you develop and the expertise of the team. For example, developing an app in India will cost you 3-4 times less than app-building in the USA.

Cutting some features of Zoom alternative app will also help to save some money. Or you can find freelancer on UpWork for cheaper price (but no guruantees, you will get a high quality profuct there).

One thing is sure, despite the big popularity of video chat apps, you still have a big risk to lose huge investments or get negative ROI.

Can you make an app like Zoom for Free?

The answer is yes, you can. There is no need to waste months of your time, a lot of efforts and money to make Video Calling app.

To build an app like Zoom you need to find a proper App Builder for the platform you prefer – Android or iOs. Android should be the first choice since it’s the largest app market. The process of registration there and getting status of an app developer is much easier (and cheaper) than for iOs. App Builders help to make mobile apps for free or for a minimal cost without coding. They offer ready-to-use app technologies.

Next thing you need to find an app template for video chatting. It should include essential features like:

• HD audio and video calls
• individual video calls
• group video chats, 
• instant messaging, 
• file-sharing, 
• security.

For example, the Video Call app template on AppsGeyser offers a possibility to develop an Android app without coding and investments (for free). This app is based on cloud technologies and includes main features (videocalls for one-on-one or groups, voice calls, instant messaging, file-sahring) and extra features like stickers, filters, synchronization with contact numbers. It’s highly secured and uses end-to-end encryption (no one can read messages, listen to calls). And it takes only 5 minutes to create such an app: add content and images, choose the right name, make the perfect description, upload the icon.

One of the benefits of such an app – it’s free for users. There are no fees to use it. But all apps are built to earn money. So to monetize app it’s enough to join monetization program and make money by showing ads in app. 

Now it the best time to challenge Zoom and provide a more secure and engaging alternative app on the Android market.