What’s the first thing that you do when you wake up? Quarantine or not, your hand reaches out to your smartphone. This is suggestive of the relationship we share with our smart ‘friends’.

Then there is the persistent issue of ‘scrolling through’! Ever heard of it?

If not, you might have experienced it at least. You get into a social media site and find yourself hooked into it for hours and hours. All that you do is scroll through feeds and posts and before you know it, you have lost at least a couple of hours!

TikTok is one such platform that at least occupies a fixed few hours of your daily schedule.  This specific app took the internet surfers to a whirlpool of emotions and has been gaining quick grounds. “Why,” you ask? Here’s a brief look at the ‘why’ part –

For TikTok, here’s the checklist –

1. Addressing the shorter attention span of the audience – check
2. Fostering innovation – check!
3. Starting trend – check!

… the list goes on.

Now, with the brewing political unrest, accompanied by issues with the epicenter of the app, it got banned in one of its most popular sites – India. Needless to say, this got developers into the hunt to develop an app like TikTok. While some sites came up with something similar, none yet has had a similar impact.

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Well, for starters, to create an application like TikTok, it is crucial to develop a deeper understanding of the app – its popularity, features, targeted audience, everything.

Without further delay, let’s kick it off!

1. Statistics Stating The Craze For TikTok – Is Your App Idea Validated?

While TikTok being famous is a well-known fact, there are certain nuances of the same that need attention. Under this subhead, you will have an in-depth idea about exactly how popular TikTok is among the global audience.

1. Total app downloads – 2 billion+ downloads by April 2020. An estimated 500 million of this were Indians. BY June 2020, the download came up to 87 million times
2. Total number of active users – 800 million monthly active users as recorded by July 2020
3. Downloaded numbers – The most downloaded non-game application
4. The leading market – India topped the race with 467 million downloads
5. Country – The app is available across 155 countries
6. Engagement rate – Average TikTok rate stands at 4.9 seconds

While TikTok users suffered a major setback due to the app being banned from India, the situation is an opportunity for aspiring developers seeking to gain revenue. Targeting clientele spread across 155 countries, your app can soon become a new sensation.

Here’s all that you need you to know when you plan to develop an app like TikTokOne of the reasons behind the spiked popularity of the platform is that it is not just any other social media application, but is an entertainment platform. It seems that the groups of TikTok developers were very clear about their targeted audience. They offered users an attractive platform where they can be content creators.

2. The Must-Have Features In Your TikTok like App

Your app development process will only be a success if you can follow up with the premium TikTok feature and add some more for a touch of uniqueness. What is it that makes TikTok so preferred? Its features like these and the easy-to-use interface of the app.

Get ready to note down the features that call out to you in case you want to learn how to create a TikTok like social media application. This step is crucial and will get your app sailing towards popularity, maybe even exceed that of TikTok’s.

A. TikTok Algorithm

The TikTok algorithm had been quite the KFC secret for some time. The recent unveiling of the algorithm created an uproar and for developers like you, this is the golden opportunity you had been looking for.

If you have used the app, then you have probably noticed that with time one of the TikTok features ‘For You’ feed gets more and more customized to display the videos you prefer. Whether it is talking dogs, quick-cooking, or mother earth having a chat with her intern, the customization is so airtight that not one of the videos will seem out of place in that feed.

What makes for such an airtight algorithm?

i. Not Only A Game Of Basic Information

Well, according to sources, the ‘For You’ feed of the popular social media application is not merely controlled by the basic things such as location, preferences, and the people users follow. It takes into account the initial user behavior on the app, their app settings, and the video information they watch. The algorithm also uses some indicators to judge a user’s preferences and customize the feed.

ii. Yes Or No? The Indicators Will Decide

These indicators of interests are used by the TikTok stack algorithm to customize the feed and refer to newer yet similar videos that will appease the interests of the users. The indicators, such as how long the user watched a video, whether they shared it or not, and further engagement with the particular video assists to refine and polish the feed even more. Based on user behavior, the algorithm determines strong indicators vs weak indicators. A user finishing a video and then following the account the video is from is going to be a much stronger indicator than their location or usual behavior on the app. And the feed will be optimized according to the stronger indicators of preference.

iii. Polishing Up The Initial Behavior

To build the initial feed of videos for a new user, the Tik Tok app adds a feature for the users to choose categories they might be interested in. The algorithm then builds on that initial feed based on user behavior. An important thing to note here is this- every user, even though their interests might be similar, is going to have a completely unique feed of videos. And it happens because the indicators mentioned above might be different for each of them. And that’s why it is a lot harder to get viral on TikTok compared to other apps, which sets this specific app apart from the rest.

B. Login and Register

The login and register feature of the app was quite a hit. Take in the details from any other social media platforms, phone number, or email. You have an account of your users, and they have a deeper attachment to the app -0 dual purpose served!

C. Video Uploading

The basics of TikTok lies in its videos. Anticipating the requirements of the users, the developers equipped the platform with a convenient mode to upload videos post cropping and rotating it.

D. Geolocation

This feature is quite unique and acts as a tool to create a community of people hooked on to the platform. So in case, you are planning to create a powerful social media app like the TikTok, this can be the feature to give you an edge. With geolocation, users had access to currently active bloggers who broadcast in their vicinity.

E. Video Editing

TikTok users enjoyed the editing option on their videos. This included flipping, rotating, cropping videos, and experiment with the playback speed. Users could also record videos in apps, choose songs from the extensive music library to dance or lip-sync.

F. Effects And Filters

The video editing option came with innumerable filters and effects to lure in users. This enriched the content and included fun effects like AR effects, virtual elements.

G. Social Sharing

The secret to TikTok chasing the top spot in the social media platforms was that it offered its users social sharing buttons to share the videos. Additionally, one could also link their TikTok profiles to diverse social platforms.

H. QR Code Scanner

TikTok offered its users with QR codes that could be used for subscribing to other accounts over merely scanning the code. This is an added incentive.

I. Hashtag Challenges

The hashtag, as we knew for Twitter, no longer holds the same meaning. Rather than merely displaying the trending topics, it now serves as the best tool to invite users to various challenges, know as the hashtag challenges.

J. Live Streaming

During the live-streaming in Tiktok, users have the ability to earn from the virtual gifts offered by other users. Tiktok coins are the point of focus for users, here.

K. Duets

One of the most popular features that need the focus of developers planning to develop an app like TikTok, is the duet feature. A scope to dance or lip-sync to the favorite music with a friend or a stranger or even a celebrity. In this, the videos appear side-by-side on the same screen. This leads to exciting duet challenges helping users’ boost their reach and spike financial potential.

L. Reactions

TikTokers can record their reactions to videos by others, record, and publish the same. Individuals can reshape and resize the recording window in real-time while they watch the clip.

3. A Viral Design For A Viral App, Makes Sense, Doesn’t It?

Well, when it comes to viral designs, TikTok design has revolutionized the field. Granted that the design is mainly scroll-based and the similar elements of liking and sharing are once again there, it is still a lot different than other popular video platforms such as IGTV and YouTube.

Let’s look at some specific design points our in-house design team has highlighted when analyzing TikTok’s app UI design.

A. Scrolling At Its Finest: Old Feature Got A Makeover

The entire navigation of the app rests upon one design element, and that is scrolling.

The users can simply switch from one video to another by scrolling up and down. There are no extra bells and whistles of this design, and it is one of the plus points for apps like TikTok.

According to design best practices, keeping the design simple and easy to adapt is incredibly important. While analyzing UX vs usability of design factors, we realized that adaptability is an important part of UX design.

And that’s why for those who are thinking about how to build an app like TikTok, our suggestion will be this-there is no need to invent a new kind of navigation and interface design just because you are trying to revolutionize the video watching platform scenario. Most of the time a higher learning curve will discourage the users from using the app. After all, not many want to go through an entire app training course before they can watch videos of pets dancing to Mr. Sandman.

B. UX Made Easy: Options Right On Our Fingertips

Whether it’s sharing, liking, or visiting the creator’s profile, on Tik Tok android app and iOS app, all these options are tucked neatly on the right-hand side of the screen. This vertical menu is super easy to reach and engage with, bringing us to our next point, designing an easy UX.

While analyzing the design, our design team members pointed out that it’s not just the minimal learning curve that makes the design of this app so desirable, rather, the ease of use, aka usability of it all. Just the way it is easy to learn how to make a TikTok, it is also super easy to engage with the videos without having to scramble around for engagement options.

So if you are wondering how to create an app like TikTok that is usable and make the design stick, our suggestion is to keep it simple and visible. It is tempting to go for an interface like IGTV, whether the engagement options appear horizontally at the bottom of the screen once the user taps on the screen. The interface is indeed cool and clean. But this clean and cool design won’t help you to set your app apart. Instead, choose a visible but non-intrusive design that keeps the engagement options right on the fingertips of the users, but does not hinder the user experience.

C. Efficient Navigation: Travel The App Without Problems

Navigation for prominent video streaming apps has always been a point of success. Whether it’s Youtube, IGTV, or TikTok, it is the ease of navigation that made them successful.

Coming to TikTok features, the app’s navigation is once again fairly simple. With a simple horizontal bar on the bottom of the screen, the app helps the users to navigate different pages. They can go from feed, to search page, to content creation, and then to their own profile page and settings.

Navigation is once again a matter of usability and adaptability. We understand the need to keep the UX sleek looking. But time and time again we have seen how efficiency in navigation wins over the sleek design during the mobile app design process. And that’s why for those apps who are seeking to fill the huge gap left by the app TikTok, our suggestion will be to choose navigation efficiency over clean and sleek design. It will pay off in the long run.

The design of a certain app can make or break its success, and we all know it. And considering the popularity of TikTok, if you are planning on how to create an app like TikTok, you have to reach the heights of good app design that no one has reached yet. And if you are to take one thing away from this, then let it be this- simple and usable design is always more important than sleek and cool design. Tiktok has used familiar UI elements in a unique way, making it look fresh and popular, something we always apply to our own designs.

4. Security Requirements: The Controversy & Our Takeaway

Considering the recent security controversy related to TikTok, the matter of security for similar apps takes on a more important role in development.

Recently two major countries India and the US cracked down on the app owned by major Chinese startup ByteDance. This crackdown, encouraged by security concerns for user data has seriously harmed the huge market TikTok held in the Indian and American markets.

So before you jump into the design and develop such an app, what kind of security matters do you need to keep in mind? Here’s a list of best practices we apply in order to imbibe security within our application development process.

A. Compliance with region-based security guidelines

Based on the region the app is going to be deployed in, there are data guidelines and laws that need to be followed. And that’s why before we start to create a social TikTok like app, we do complete research on the target market and demographics.

Different countries and continents have different laws on data protection for app developers and owners. And it is a wise practice to research those different laws and comply with before you create a powerful social media app like TikTok.

B. Writing secure codes

Securing code is the starting point of protecting user data. Weak and vulnerable codes can be the entry point for hackers to try and break into the app and steal important data. And in such a case, writing secure codes is something TikTok developers need to pay attention to.

We make sure to use techniques that make it harder for hackers to re-engineer the codes. Besides this, we also keep the codes compact and easy to patch, making it simpler to handle and update the code in case of an unlikely security breach. Additionally, vigilant security testing and bug fixes also happen to be part of our Agile coding practices to protect the integrity of user data.

C. Data encryption

Data encryption, without a doubt, is one of our main weapons against any security breaches on apps. For an app like TikTok, where users are sometimes worried about their data being leaked, data encryption is going to be an important step towards achieving complete security.

It is essentially a practice of scrambling the basic data, such as user names, passwords, and various other information until it resembles an ongoing sequence of meaningless alphabets and numbers. Without a key, no one can make sense of this scrambled soup. And that’s why as prominent mobile app developers in NYC we always suggest data encryption in order to make the app secure for the users.

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D. Applying strong authentication

Authentication is quite familiar with the app development community. It is the act of users signing in with relevant credentials such as user name, email ID, and password to make the account secure. Integrating a strong access authentication process will make for better app security. And that’s why when planning how to make an app like TikTok, we aim to include strong authentication features within the apps we design and develop. This is to encourage users to take authentication more seriously. Dual authentication process, secure password reset, and many other features can be used to make an application like TikTok secure from hackers.

E. The principle of least privilege

Application of the least privilege method is a must according to us when coding an app. It is the principle that ensures that an app is working based solely on the permissions it needs, no more and no less. This way the app doesn’t ask for any other permissions such as access to the contact list, geo-location, and any other data. The less data is shared with an app, the easier it is going to be to protect the data. And that’s why integrating the least privilege principle is important for us when developing an app like TikTok.

F. Handling sessions properly

Due to the longer duration, it is much harder to handle sessions on mobile apps than it is on a website. And that’s why as an experienced mobile app development company in new york, we prefer using tokens to identify and assist in continuing a session on the mobile app rather than using device identifiers. It is a lot more secure due to the fact that token can be revoked easily in case the device is stolen. In such scenarios, it is also important that the app has remote sign off and data wiping features for added security.

G. Focusing on security testing

Last but not least we come to security testing. It is an important part of  TikTok stack and developing such an app. Apps built by us go through several levels of testing before it is actually launched into the market. From security testing to performance and code review, the entire process eliminates any kind of code vulnerability. It strengthens the inner material of the codes and makes for better and more secure user experience.

3. The Tech Stack Required to Build TikTok Like App

Building an app like TikTok means having to filter and personalize data for users. As simple as it may sound, this task is a cumbersome one and requires you to uptake AI. your app will be utilizing and baking upon the AI algorithm to add tags and understand via the use of image and object recognition. Also, your app would be in dire requirement of cloud storage because of a need for great data backup and greater bandwidth.

Taking into account these, you should be opting for the following technology and an equally competent team to lead the project. The team in your chosen app development company would be efficiently carrying out the project and launch the product in time.

Team Required

1. Android Or Ios Developers
2. UI/UX Designer
3. Database Expert
4. From-End Developer
5. Back-End Developer
6. Product Manager

4. The ‘Price Tag’ Involved

While the instincts in you scream to create an MVP for a TikTok-like app, that isn’t an easy move considering the costs involved. You can not simply walk into a project like this without calculating the budget required.

Much like you thought, the cost involved in developing a similar app would be an estimated  $20,000-$50,000. However, this is subjected to customization based on the complexity of the platform, resources involved, TikTok design, and multiple other such factors.

Under such circumstances, the best way to approach a budgetary blueprint for how to build an app like TikTok would be to compute the number of hours required in developing the app and multiply the product by cost per hour.

Our suggestion, in this case, would be to approach mobile app developers in NYC who are well-versed in building such apps.

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D. Conclusion

Lets’ start the conclusion part with some highlights on the TikTok app, shall we?

1. ByteDance Has Been In Talks With RIL Regarding Investment In Tiktok
2. TikTok’s Parents Are Trying To Persuade The Reliance Industry To Invest In The App
3. Reliance Maybe Acquiring Tiktok In India For @5 Billion

What do you infer from these? For one, TikTok is eager to invest in India; and two, the scope for the app is humongous in this country. Think about it – with TikTok being banned in India, isn’t this the best time for you to develop an app like TikTok?

We are just saying, the rest is your call!

The post How to Make A TikTok Like App and The Underlying Development Cost appeared first on Unified Infotech.