How To Make an App Like Discord: VoIP App Development

Programming Languages

A programming language is what developers use to communicate with computers and develop software. Discord uses four programming languages: Elixir, Erlang, Rust, and JavaScript.

Client Libraries

A client library provides developers with reusable code components. When your developers are making an app, certain functionalities aren’t changing — so instead of rewriting the code each time they’re making a program, they can just grab pre-defined code from the library. Discord uses the React and React Native client libraries.

Databases and NoSQL Datastores

Your VoIP app will need a way to store a huge amount of data across many servers — while also providing users with low latency operations. Discord uses Apache Cassandra, which is an open-source distributed database management system.

Streaming Protocols

When researching how to make a website like Discord, pay close attention to streaming protocols. A streaming protocol is used to deliver multimedia (typically video and audio) over the web. Discord implements its audio and video features through WebRTC.

Contact Delivery Network (CDN)

A CDN is a group of servers distributed across the globe; they work together to provide users with quick delivery of web content. Discord uses Cloudflare, which caches content to data centers located in 250+ cities.

APIs

An API (short for Application Programming Interface) is an intermediary that allows two apps to communicate with each other. The APIs you should use depend on what features you’d like to provide your users with. For instance, Discord was created initially as a gaming web chat app; in 2016, it introduced the GameBridge API, which let game developers integrate Discord directly within games.

Some of the top APIs to include in VoIP apps are:

• Twilio
• SipWise
• Plivo
• Bandwidth
• Nexmo

Step 1: Analyze the Market and Research Competitors

First, learn about your target users’ problems. What are they hoping to solve by using your app? What do they expect from your product? The easiest way to learn about their problems is to reach out to them directly — you can do this via social media, forums, focus groups, etc. Through this research, you’ll learn which features and usability aspects your app should incorporate.

Next, conduct a competitor analysis. Make a log of all of your major VoIP competitors, then assess their web presence and unique value proposition (UVP). You can do a SWOT analysis to pinpoint your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, then use the results to ensure your app fills in market gaps.

Step 2: Find Developers

The mobile app development industry is ever-growing, and with so many options, how do you pick the right custom development crew for your app?

First, you’ll need to consider their experience and skills. For instance, if you want your VoIP app to run on an Android platform, you’ll need to work with developers experienced in making Android apps. Similarly, the development company you outsource to should have relevant experience in making VoIPs. Don’t forget to ask them about what tech stack elements they have experience with: what programming languages are they proficient in, which frameworks do they work with, and so on.

Next, determine who owns the source code and intellectual property after the project is completed. If they don’t release ownership to you (or if they don’t even disclose who retains ownership), it may be best to look elsewhere.

You should also ask for a list of references and contact at least a few of them. Ask about the development process, communication methods, quality of work, problem resolution, and post-launch support.
There’s a lot to keep in mind when finding developers, so, to make things a little simpler, here’s a checklist of questions to ask:

• Is there a project manager that I will work with?
• How is communication handled? Are there regular project meetings?
• What type of apps have you worked on previously? Do you have a portfolio?
• What programming tools do you use when creating apps?
• Who retains ownership of the source code and IP?
• What is your cost structure?
• Do you have a list of references I can reach out to?
• What is your estimated timeframe for this project?

When you’re ready to start looking for VoIP app developers, we recommend searching on Clutch, Dribbble, and Behance.

• Clutch: A B2B site that identifies learning IT service providers and software
• Dribbble: A community that showcases digital designers and creatives.
• Behance: An Adobe-owned social media platform that is used to share and find creative work

Dribbble and Behance are great platforms for finding highly skilled freelancers and companies, whereas Clutch is the best place to find reputable, highly-rated development agencies.

Step 3: Prototypes and Design

A prototype experiments with the main idea of the app — it can help you save lots of time and money, as it facilitates a better move from concept to product.

The most basic design prototype consists of hand sketches. Each sketch represents a different screen within the app. Hand-sketched prototypes are ideal during brainstorming, as they enable designers to quickly iterate ideas.

After hand sketching, designers move on to black and white digital prototypes. These are low-fidelity wireframes (essentially, a skeleton of the eventual user interface) that provide information on the page structure, layout, user flow, and functionality. User feedback is gathered, and then a high-fidelity digital prototype is made. It will look just like a real mobile app, but the screens are just images.

Throughout the prototyping and design process, the design team will implement user stories — doing so will keep the app focused on the user, prevent feature creep, and promote cooperation throughout the team.

User Story: A sentence that says what a user wants to do. It’s done in the format “As a [role], I want to [perform a task].” For example: “As a user, I want to create a new account.” It can be broken down further into individual actions: “I want to type a username,” “I want to enter a password,” and so on. Some development teams might add a goal as part of the user story.

Step 4: Build an MVP

Based on the market analysis, user stories, and prototype feedback, you will work with the development team to highlight must-have features. For an app like Discord, consider including these features:

• Servers and Channels. Users should be able to create servers for any topic, join servers, and create/participate in text and voice channels within each one.
• Roles and Permissions. It should be possible to configure roles for a server as a whole, as well as the server’s individual channels. At the very least, there should be an administrator and moderator roles. Discord provides around 30 permission options; if you want to be competitive, try identifying gaps in their permissions and incorporating them into your own app.
• Chatting. The app should support voice chat, video chat, and dedicated voice channels, as well as the standard text options. Make sure your app offers quality audio! Wondering how to create a voice chat like Discord? Discord provides great voice and video chat quality via WebRTC, so you might want to follow their lead.
• File-Sharing. This feature is present in practically every messaging app. Research the needs of your target audience so you can calculate file size limits.
• Screensharing. Many VoIP apps don’t include screensharing, so this is an excellent opportunity to make your app stand out.
• Notifications. Include a way for your users to be notified when they receive messages. However, there should also be a way for them to turn off or pause notifications.
• Message History. Determine how long users will be able to access previous messages. Is it an unlimited storage history? If so, you will need to implement a search feature so they don’t have to scroll back through months of messages.
• Integration. This is another great way to set your app apart from competitors — research integrations that your target audience would find useful. Gamers would likely enjoy Twitch and Steam integration, whereas enterprises could benefit from CRM integration.

Step 5: Release and Improving

After the MVP is developed and tested, it will go live — but that is just the beginning. Your voice chat development team will gather user feedback, engagement metrics, and other data, then use this to make changes and add new features.