How to build a successful video chat app like the House party app?

What is the House Party app, and why is it everywhere? 

Video calling for a group of people wasn’t even that popular until before the 2019 Corona pandemic. But the needs change with time. According to many news portals, the House Party app gained sudden popularity. It was downloaded almost 3000% times more before the worldwide lockdown happened.

The good news is that people have understood the importance and usefulness of online video-calling apps. The house party video app isn’t the same as the Zoom video calling app. Zoom has many other features to attract, yet both apps have different creative processes. 

Right now, the competition is tough, but the profit is enormous! The pandemic will recede gradually, but video-calling apps are here to stay. So, why not make one?

Basic needs for any good quality video chat app  

The House Party app got more than 18 million downloads within just a month. Because it offers many exciting and unique features:

• Instant chat

You don’t have to go to the length of entering all your contacts saved in the chat list. You can find and connect with all your contacts that are registered with the House party app! And those who are not, you can send them a request for the app, and they can join with just a few clicks.

• Big group connections

Instead of offering a one-on-one call, the House party app— just as the name suggests has got the feature to call upto 8-9 people, and the company keeps updating that number.

• Call notifications

A simple hand-wave icon is sent as a pop-up notification whenever your friends are online and want you to join the get-together. 

• Fun features

Many games, emoticons, and graphic features for the background make this video-calling app a revealing experience. The games are the limelight-grabbing ones. The list of games also keeps increasing.

• Easy call recordings

If a person is missing a party, you can record the whole video chatting session and send it to those who missed the moments. It is also possible that a person present in the video session may not want to record the whole thing, but the other person still did it! Though, everyone present in a recorded video session will be notified about it. So that you can stop the person from doing so if not like the idea.

Top 6 features that make the House party app stand apart from the video chat crowd 

1. Provided group games feature

This is the most enjoyable feature when you want to host a virtual party with your buddies. You can play your all-time favorite games like Pictionary and Heads Up! and so many more are provided in the House party app. It can be an office party or a birthday party for your college friend, and the app makes your home-stuck dull day lighten up. Games like House Party app games are picked for group fun and are the most liked feature of the app.

2. The facemail option

The house party video app has another interesting feature that allows people to leave a short video message to their friends if they aren’t around. The young generation was bound to like such an ultimate app feature which is more creative than a simple message. 

The change was minor, but the impact on the users was energetic.

3. Quirky names of features

The Houseparty video chatting app was created for house party purposes. But creating a fun party vibe on an online platform isn’t as easy as it sounds. So, the Houseparty team paid attention to as tiny details as the names of the features. Now, if the ring is funny to you, it sure is a great change from a humdrum video-calling app with similar features lining up your screen.

    1. Sneak around the house option

A user can have the option to use the app without their contacts or other people knowing about it. This feature is called ‘sneak around the room.’

    2. Ghost option

By turning on the ‘anonymous’ mode, you can turn into a ghost! That means you can hide your identity and use the app to interact with people.

4. Chat room feature

For a party, we need a room where the party is organized. In a virtual sense, a room for a party means just a space created online where you can invite all your friends. All your contacts can come uninvited, too, so make sure to use the ‘lock the room feature’!

5. Intelligent notification alerts

Be it any person in your contact list, if anyone is hosting a party on the house party video calling app— you will get an instant notification. A party-lover would be thankful for all the notifications. But for casual users of the app, the company has given the option of turning off the notifications.

6. House party app help

They have provided safety options like applying a private lock to your account or locking the party room to prevent any stranger from ‘sneaking’ into the conversation.

But, many young users of the app could still get exploited or bullied since the app is connected with other social media like Facebook, Snapchat, etc. To prevent such situations, they have provided app usage and parental guidance article. Such information is very helpful in preventing cyberbullying and hence builds the further trust of the users.

There are many other features that the Houseparty video chat app offers. But Houseparty adds new features before people get bored.

How does Houseparty make money?

Image Source: Financial Times

House party app has surged fast and is leaving many known videos calling apps like Zoom and Skype behind. So, planning and forming strategies act as the foundation of your video chat app development process.

The budget for the development of an app like a house party video chat app depends on the business model. 

A business model can be of two types:

Advertisement business model

An ad-based business model is exactly as it sounds— monetizing advertisements that you put on your app platform for various other organizations and companies. These promotions act as the source of revenue for many such apps. The House party app does not have an advertising business model. They keep their app screen ad-free.

Freemium business model

In this business model, the company fixes a basic plan for all main features. Although, they have other paid packages for some extra features, which get unblocked only when you pay for the plan.

Houseparty built an image of itself when it decided not to reveal user data or use any stored data for monetary benefit and advertising purposes. Something that the Facebook messenger app does. House-party, till recent times, earned a good amount of revenue from gaming add-ons. 

But, now it has made these add-ons also free of cost. The app is acquired by Fortnite and is planned to integrate with more such platforms. These integrations and strategies show that a video calling app also needs unique strategies to shine out.

An app like Houseparty can be created using a minimum budget on the following parameters:

• UI/UX designing cost
• Coding(back-end, front-end) development cost
• Product testing cost
• Project management and marketing cost

This is the basic layout for creating a video-chat app. Inevitably, any video-calling app does not carry its uniqueness with it. The development ideas could differ, and so does the budget.   Your unique video-calling app idea can be developed at an affordable cost; Idea Usher always believes in affordability, innovation, and sustainability.

Currently, there are hundreds of apps like the House Party app in the market. But you need to brainstorm a little to create something that outscores Houseparty. Next in line are the steps.

How to build an instantly successful video-calling app like the Houseparty app? 

1. Know your target audience

The first step is related to research on your target audience, which is twofold:

1. Identifying the audience group

The majority of people who use apps in their everyday lives are people between the age group of 15-45. 

Now, that group is vast, and further bifurcation could help more. So, let’s divide it into Gen Z, Gen X, and Millennials.

Once you have decided whether your blog targets Gen Z, Gen X, or the millennials— the target audience is fixed, now we can move on to our next step.

2. Researching competitors

The next thing is to research your competitors and see what features they have to attract the target audience. 

For example, if your target audience is corporate people. Focus on the features offered by popular choices for office meetings like Skype, Google Meet, etc.

On the contrary, if your app’s target audience is the younger generation—the college-going crowd. Then it would be best if you researched apps like Viber, Houseparty, and so many others that ring a bell with the millennials and Gen Z.

2. Platform identification

Which platform have you chosen for your app? 

This question is important because the next step after identifying the target audience is to choose the platform on which you will launch your app. The three leading platforms are Android, iOS, and Microsoft. 

To decide on a profitable platform, you can check the statistics about each platform and zero in on the most suitable one. 

The most popular option is to opt for cross-platform app development.

3. Designing the app

You are making a video calling app, and the design, and look of the app is one of the crucial points in getting your app a place in the video app niche. A few things to keep in mind when developing the UI/UX designs should be:

• The logo and color should resonate with the idea of your app’s aim.
• The tabs, images, and texts should not be cluttered, and the font should be easily readable.
• The operating techniques should be easy to understand; the language must also be simple and friendly.

4. Decide the features and technology

• Building for Android

Java is the most used language for building any Android video-calling app. And other languages to build Android video chat apps could be Kotlin, BASIC, etc. A good Android video chat app developer will understand your app and choose the best language for development.

• Building for iOS

Objective-C and Swift are the two popular programming languages that are used for building any iOS video chat application. Objective-C being a complicated language, has few takers. In recent times, Swift is used more prominently. Usually, many Swift video chat apps are of high quality.

A cross-platform app development option is also available, and many online applications nowadays opt for this. It has more presence and therefore has a high chance of getting to the top position within some time. 

5. Hire your development team

Out of all the steps that you need to follow to develop a video calling app like    Houseparty, this one decides when and how exactly the app will be ready and launched in the market. When you hire a team of developers, your plan, which was on paper, will ultimately start taking formation. 

And hiring an experienced developing company is necessary because a skilled team would be ready to tackle all the obstacles, build an innovative app, and create a brand base. Always look for the great qualities of any app development company before taking the giant leap.

Related Read: How To Choose A Mobile App Development Company | IdeaUsher

6. Testing the app

Deployment of the app needs to happen after the app is completed. So, you must get a professional; testing team to do the quality test and performance test of your app. The app’s working speed should be checked, and any bugs hamper the working environment. This is a significant and vital part of launching any app.

For example, many apps in the past have faced like Squad, Houseparty, etc., have crashed due to overload issues. 

So, also check the scalability issues in case the number of active users increases suddenly. 

What about the security of the Video chat app?

Yes, security is so vital that we decided to talk about it as a separate topic. All things aside, choosing suitable security options and technology ensures our company maintains high-security levels. End-to-end encryption (E2EE)  keeps hold of the whole security system. So, if a company makes a strong encryption system and keeps checking and modifying it, video apps can always remain safe and hack-free.

Best 4 alternatives apps similar to House party app

As such, the list can go on for video calling apps. But here are a few selected apps similar to Houseparty app. The following ones have all added some unique features to gain popularity, just like Houseparty.

1. #Airtime

Founder	Sean Parker, Shawn Fanning
Founding year	June 2012
Headquarters	New York, USA
Feature	Started the ‘room’ creation video call feature

Airtime is like a crossover of Houseparty and Rave. On this platform, you can create party rooms, have fun game sessions, and watch videos with your friends. Like most other video calling apps, Airtime is also available on iOS and Android. Airtime is like a crossover of Houseparty and Rave. On this platform, you can create party rooms and have fun game sessions, and also watch videos with your friends. Like most other video calling apps, Airtime is also available on iOS and Android.

2. #Squad

Founder	Esther Crawford, Ethan Sutin
Founding year	2016
Headquarters	California, USA
Feature	First to launch the screen-sharing feature

Squad app also earned instant downloads because of the preferred target audience, i.e., teenagers. They were able to share TitkTok videos and enjoy watching the videos together with the help of the screen-sharing feature. In December 2020, Squad was acquired by Twitter. Since then, the app users are eagerly waiting for its re-launch. 

3. #Bunch

Founder	Jason Liang, Selcuk Atli
Founding year	September 2017
Headquarters	New York, USA
Feature	First video chat app with the multiplayer game feature

The online ‘gaming zone’ idea got so much attention and popularity that many app companies focused on providing such amazing video and gaming experiences. Bunch is another such app in which you can chat with your friends while playing video games.

4. #Rave

Founder	Michael Pazaratz
Founding year	December 2014
Headquarters	Ontario, Canada
Feature	Millisecond-precise synchronization engine

A race happened between a great number of apps like Houseparty that would have high-standard games. They focused on creating video calling apps with games that can keep you hooked to your mobile or laptop scream for hours. 

The safest video calling apps in 2021: What are their safety features? 

1. Line

Introduction

The line is a Japanese online video and text chatting mobile application service that started around 2012. Since then, it has expanded overseas and is considered a great video-calling app.

Safety feature

They use the Letter Sealing feature of the end-to-end (E2E) encryption as the security feature of the video calling app Line. Only the encryption feature has to be turned on manually from the settings option.

2. Viber 

Introduction

Viber is a part of Rakuten Inc and was released in the market near the end of the year 2010. Like so many others, Viber also started as a messaging app, but with a rising trend and demand for video calling features— added it. Though, they made sure to make it highly secure.

Safety features

Viber also uses end-to-end encryption, but they have one more feature— they do not store the user’s data. They have a policy to not store the data of users. They delete it immediately.

3. Zoom

Introduction

We all have used Zoom at one or the other time, and we know that this app is a blessing in itself, apart from a few network issues!

Zoom is an American enterprise that started its services in 2011. The biggest breakthrough for the company was when it allowed at least 200 people to join together in a single video call. Due to the corona pandemic, many schools, colleges, and universities shut down. Zoom became their go-to solution for all online classes.

Safety features

E2EE also has scalability. And to provide this feature to the fullest, Zoom worked hard and finally made the encryption save for video calling of upto 200 individuals! However, many other features have to be blocked to give way to such a novel encryption feature. The features such as— joining before the host, private chat options, and recording the video call option were all removed.

How to find the best video chat app developers for your project? 

Choosing an app development company is a part of the app development process itself. Yet, many still find it challenging to find the right developer. 

Are you still confused about finding the right development company?

Here are some points to give thought to before you go on with the development process:

Domain expertise

Confirm twice that the professionals that you are hiring are experts in the domain. An expert team of developers will execute the work smoothly and tackle sudden obstacles skillfully.

Portfolio

A company that has rich experience and dynamic work experience could deliver the best results. Check if they have knowledge of customer experiences, secure and speedy architecture, upgraded cloud solutions, and on-demand service solutions.

UX/UI skilled professionals

User experience and interaction with visual and textual elements of the app matter a lot. An engaging app will have appealing graphics, icons, etc.

Strong communication skills

Strong communication can lead to saving extra effort, time, and money. Ensure that you have already discussed project management, mode of communication, update and reporting strategy, coding rights, cost management, and other such details.

Security assurance

Security has many layers and types. The encryption of texts, data storage, privacy rules, cookies, cache, etc.— we should monitor these also. Along with the above points, many more other security concerns can also come along. We should fix them immediately.

Post-deployment services

After the app development process is completed, many other things to consider are marketing, bug fixing, etc. A great app development company also offers you post-launch support.

Let’s build the best video-calling app together! 

Idea Usher doesn’t just explain the process. We give you the best results. And again, we have a rich portfolio of vast experience to provide you with. We guarantee a hundred percent dedication toward your dream project and its success. For more details, you can directly contact us.

FAQs

Q: Can we build an Android video chat app and also an iOS app together?

A: Yes, cross-platform apps can be built using different interface frameworks like HTML5 or JavaScript, etc.

Q: Can we build other apps for games, like the Houseparty app?

A: So many such apps are available that are giving out new and updated games and the video calling app feature. A few popular in this niche other than the Houseparty app are Kitilive, Airtime, and JusTalk. 

Q: What could be the estimated cost of developing an app like the Houseparty video chat app?

A: The cost of developing would include already three elements: Users app, the Admin panel, and user registration working. The price could vary depending on the Add-on features that the owner would want. You can discuss all your requirements with the video chat app developer and fix a price based on that.