Hire a team to develop a messenger

The example of a dying Skype showed that over time, popular instant messengers lose their leadership positions and give way to newer and more convenient solutions. Add to this the analytical data of Statista, according to which the audience of instant messengers has 2.48 billion people, and we get a pretty attractive niche for investment. However, when launching your own messenger, you need to be prepared for high competition – in order to get an audience, you will have to compete with Telegram, Viber, WhatsApp and other market leaders.

Therefore, the technical implementation of such an application should be simply flawless. In this article, we will talk about the team that will be required to develop the messenger, discuss the technical architecture, required functionality, and production stages. As a result, you will be able to form a clear idea of the steps that need to be taken to launch such a startup.

Before starting the development of a messenger, you need to immediately think about how exactly it will generate income. That is, you need to choose the right monetization strategy. The most common option is to build a freemium model in combination with the integration of advertisements.

With this approach, users will be able to download and use the main functions of the messenger completely free of charge, which will simplify distribution. But to expand the capabilities of the application, they will need to issue a paid subscription. In addition, “free” users will also generate income by viewing integrated advertising.

When the monetization strategy is defined, you can start planning the functionality. There can be many ideas and options here, so we suggest considering only the basic modules that ensure the main functionality of the messenger:

• Registration and authorization. Signing up for a messaging app is often done using a mobile phone number, email, or an existing Google or Facebook account. It will also be useful to implement dual authentication to ensure a high level of security.
• Personal profile. Here the user can specify brief information about himself, add contact details, links to social networks and an avatar. More customization options, such as adding animated stickers to your nickname like in Telegram, can only be provided with a paid subscription.
• Import contacts. Helps users to download existing contacts in a few clicks and start communicating with them via messenger. Also, additional features can be implemented here, such as searching for nearby people while shaking the smartphone. Implementation example – Monobank.

• Instant messages. This is a basic feature of any messenger. Two approaches can be used to implement it. In the first option, the interaction between devices will go through a remote server using the HTTPS protocol and SSL cryptography. In this case, you will have to purchase a large number of servers, since the entire load will be on them. The second option is more economical and involves peer-to-peer data transfer in P2P format. Accordingly, all messages will be sent directly between user devices, and the server will only be needed for authentication.
• VoIP. In addition to messaging, many users also want to be able to communicate via audio and video. To implement this part, you can use one of the ready-made protocols. For example, WhatsApp uses the open source PJSIP library for this purpose.
• Stickers and emoji. Another important component of the messenger, which makes communication more lively.
• Data security. To ensure the security of the user’s personal data, the end-to-end encryption (E2EE) method, or simply end-to-end encryption, is often used. It means that the server uses only subscribers’ secret keys to transmit information and does not participate in data encryption in any way.

The messenger can be developed by just a few people or a team of dozens of specialists – it all depends on the budget, scope of tasks and the planned release date. But the roles in the team in any case remain unchanged.

For the technical implementation of your project, AVADA MEDIA can provide already formed teams of specialists with experience in working together, who are able to translate the functionality of any complexity into reality. We propose to consider in more detail what roles it consists of.

Project manager

A specialist who manages the development cycle. He implements methodologies, manages the team, budget, deadlines and interacts with the customer at all stages of production.

His main task is to ensure that the messenger is released on time and fully meets the requirements of the client.

UX/UI designers

UX designers conduct research, develop CJM maps and think over the optimal structure of the messenger, while UI designers visualize the chosen concept. In practice, the work of UX and UI designers is closely related, which can be done by one person.

To achieve the best result, our team develops several variants of the Gui concept. This makes it possible to analyze and choose the most suitable format.

Mobile developers

Since instant messengers are mainly used on smartphones, the mobile developer plays one of the key roles in the team. He can use two types of technologies in his work – native and cross-platform. Natives include:

• Swift is for the IOS operating system.
• Kotlin, Java – for the Android operating system.

Cross-platform technologies – the Flutter framework and the Dart language, allow you to use one code base to work in both operating systems. On the one hand, this saves the budget, but on the other hand, it forces you to compromise on performance.

The optimal stack is selected by our team at the design stage, taking into account the technical characteristics of the messenger, the functionality to be implemented, the budget and other parameters.

Frontend developers

They participate in the team if the messenger is developed not only for mobile devices, but also for the web platform. The main task of the front-end is to create the client side of the product, with which users can interact in the browser.

Front-end developers use either static HTML/CSS/JavaScript technologies or reactive ones such as Vue.js and React.js frameworks.

Backend developers

They are engaged in the implementation of the server part of the messenger, which stores, processes and provides data to the client at the request of the user. The tasks of the backender include setting up servers and network protocols, building database architecture, developing APIs, writing code for all functionality, and many other tasks.

If we talk about the technology stack, then the backend developer can use various server-side programming languages and their frameworks in their work.

For example, it can be: C++, Python and Django/Flask frameworks, PHP and Yii2/Laravel frameworks, Java and Spring, or the Node.js software platform.

QA engineers

They participate at all stages of development and are responsible for eliminating all possible technical errors. To do this, QA engineers develop a testing strategy, write autotests, generate bug reports and monitor the elimination of problems.

The development of the messenger is carried out according to the iterative Scrum methodology and consists of six main stages. Let’s look at them in a little more detail:

• Collection of information. The concept of the future messenger, the target audience and platforms on which it will work are determined.
• Projection. During design, the viability of the product is determined, new ideas are tested, functionality is described, technical documentation is drawn up, and interface warframes are drawn. As a result, we get a carefully thought-out prototype, which will become the basis for developers at all subsequent stages.
• Design development. Designers work on different UI concepts and create the most convenient, simple and comfortable user interface.

• Technical development. At this stage, mobile-, frontend- and backend-developers create the code base of the messenger, as well as form an effective client-server architecture.
• Testing. QA-engineers test the correctness of the messenger and provide high-quality correction of all possible errors in its operation.
• Support and development. Constant improvement, improvement of functionality and expansion of opportunities for users will allow the messenger to always remain in demand on the market. Therefore, after the completion of production, our team provides qualified technical support for the product.

The commercial success of a messenger on the market largely depends on the quality of its technical execution. Therefore, the creation of such a product should be entrusted to a professional development team that has experience in implementing similar cases.

AVADA MEDIA has already formed teams of qualified specialists who will help you design, develop and bring to market a profitable product, and provide quality technical support in the future.