How to Develop App Like TikTok?

Social Media has become a very important aspect of our lives. Popular social media apps have invaded our lives, from connecting with different people from around the world to using it as an entertainment.

We have Facebook, Instagram like apps to connect with our friends and share our life updates. Then we have YouTube, Netflix like apps to watch videos and movies anytime and anywhere for our entertainment. 

Today, with apps like TikTok even entertainment has now upgraded to a new level. There is no doubt that TikTok has gained a great level of fan base and users. And that’s a major reason that it is becoming a good option to build a startup.

Some amazing stats about TikTok

As per the research by Business of apps organization; here are few amazing statistics about TikTok.

Apps like TikTok have also become a great startup idea too there are other apps called Musical.ly, Dubsmash, Roposo, Mitron and Funimate. Most of these apps are competitors of TikTok and are still successful.

This is the reason people are searching for the following types of questions

• How much does it cost to develop a mobile app like TikTok?
• Which are the best TikTok Alternatives?
• How do you make an app like TikTok?
• How to develop an app like TikTok for iOS & Android?

This article is written to help you understand everything about developing an app like TikTok. 

What is TikTok?

We know that you are aware of TikTok as one of the popular social video sharing app.

Do You Know that TikTok is actually known as Douyin and was launched in China in 2016.

Even though TikTok was in the process of gaining popularity in the US and Asia still it acquired it’s biggest competitor; Musical.ly.

With Musical.ly it acquired a lot of users from the US and Asia. Now the entire world is using TikTok and it has become the second most downloaded non-gaming app in the year 2019.

How does the TikTok app make money?

If you are going to build an app like TikTok then you should also know about how the app earns so much money. There are multiple ways to earn money from a social video app like Titok lets have a look at all of them one by one.

Mobile app advertising

Most of the apps are opting to display ads of related products or services. There are several types of ads you can choose from like Cost per install ads, cost per click ads, cost per view ads, etc. The best part is different companies can target the audience on your app based on age group, gender, and interests. 

In-app purchase or freemium version:

In freemium version means a user has to pay a basic amount to upgrade their account. There will be a free version of the app available for the users but to use more features a user has to upgrade the account. 

Get Fundraising 

Today for every startup fundraising is a great option. Do you know the Tiktok app has recently received $100 million funding from its investors? Hence; all you have to do is find an investor and you will get at least basic payment to start your business.

Best features of the TikTok app

Features are the most important asset for any mobile app. If your app has the right features which a user expects then they are going to love your app. But if your app is lacking the right features then the user will uninstall the app. Now let us have a look at the most important features which have made TikTok one of the most popular social video app.

• Easy to upload videos: TikTok allows its users to upload the videos easily. The user can crop or rotate the video from the TikTok account. 
• Editing the videos: Tiktok has some amazing video editing tools. With the help of AR-based features like AR Integration for Emojis, a user can add emojis in the video.
  • Similarly, it allows adding stickers, animations, and masks on the video as well. Moreover; it also adds makeup like changing eye colors, hair colors or lip colors.
• Adding Soundtracks: Users can add soundtracks from their mobile as well as from the TikTok library. In a ready video, a user can add a soundtrack easily.
• QR Code Scanning: Users can use QR code to subscribe to each other’s account directing by scanning it.
• Duet Option: Two users can create a duet together in one video. Even a user can create a video and use the hashtag #duetwithme and other users will create the video on the same track. 
• Geolocation: This feature allow a user to see nearby active bloggers which are broadcasting live around you.
• Live Streaming: Users who have a good number of followers can go live to connect with their fans directly.

Which are best Social Short Video Sharing Apps?

Now that you have decided to build your business around apps like TikTok, Let us have a look at the

Top #6 TikTok Alternative Apps Competitors

Dubsmash

• Dubsmash has one of the largest sound libraries with TV quotes, musical sounds, movie quotes and many more.
• Dubsmash entered the market with lip-sync video creation on the most popular dialogs of TV shows and movies.
• Now it has upgraded to more new sounds, music, and quotes. The user can edit their dub with cool stickers and text to make the video more attractive.

Roposo

• Roposo, is an Indian video-sharing social media platform, owned by Glance InMobi Pte. Ltd having its registered office at Gurugram, India.
• It is a platform where people express visually with homemade videos and photos and one the biggest competitor/alternative of TikTok in India.

Mitron / Mitron TV

• Mitron is a free Short Video and Social Platform based out of Bengaluru, India. It is designed for people to showcase their innovative videos inline with our theme of light humor.
• Another Competitor/ Alternative of TikTok. It provides an easy and seamless interface for users to create, edit and share their videos, and at the same time browse through a library of top videos across the globe.

Likee (Formerly LIKE)

• Likee has become one of the most popular community for video sharing. The Likee app has some trending videos of video status, lip-syncing music, dance performances, and entertaining shows.
• It has more than 300 magic effects for editing the videos along with a great collection of Hollywood, European and Bollywood music clips.
• The app also provides options to share the videos directly on Snapchat, Instagram, Whatsapp, Twitter, Facebook, and many other platforms.

Funimate

• Funimate is popular for its daily challenges. With its video maker, it is possible to collaborate with friends and connections.
• To get featured on the app, a user will have to show his/her talent by completing the daily challenge.
• By getting featured in the app a user will gain a lot of popularity and get new followers.

Vigo Video

• Vigo Video app is popular for creating funny short videos.
• The app has an amazing real-time camera that can smoothen the skin, remove the blemishes and magically even out the skin tone.
• It gives flames to users with a high number of video views and followers. These flames can be converted into real money and a user can transfer it to the bank account.

Tips to make your social video app a success 

In this everything on the app world every day, thousands of apps are being added to Play Store and AppStore. But it is important to note that almost 90 percent of it is rejected from the stores.

Why? Because either they are violating rules or are not following the guidelines. And among the 10 percent, only 2 percent of the apps are getting the success they deserve.

TikTok is a success and no doubt competing with such a giant needs another level of features and benefits to stand out.

Here are a few tips which can help you to make your place among the others:

Simplified Interface

This is a very important aspect to keep in mind while developing the app. Your app will have all types of audiences and all age groups. If you want your users to keep using the app you need to make sure that the app is easy to use and understand. If the users are not getting it clear how to use the app then they will not use it. 

Follow the guidelines and rules

Ask your app developers team to keep a check of the guidelines during the entire development process. This will help you during the uploading time and will result in an easy and seamless process.

Look out for unique features

Adding new features will help you to make your app better than the existing ones. You can also check reviews and feedbacks of the existing apps to understand the need of the users. Try to understand if they are facing any problem with the existing apps and solve those problems in your app.

Go for a specific audience

You can build your app for a type of audience for example dancers or singers. An app for dancers only where dancers can create and upload their videos of dances. You can build an app for singers where they can create music dubbing videos.

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

This is the first question that must have popped up in your mind when you decided to build your app.

The cost of developing an app depends on several factors like the number of hours required, the complexity of the app and its features and the resources required.

There’s an easy formula that might help you to get a rough apps development cost. 

Approximate cost to build an app = number of hours required x per hour cost of resources working on it (developers, designers, QA). Minimum Approx. Cost $25,000.

Tip: First build an MVP of the app it will cost less and it will give you an idea if the app will work in the real market.

Why you need cloud computing for your TikTok like app?

As discussed above TikTok is a social video sharing app, it needs to have great bandwidth capacity and great data backup.

If you want to compete with TikTok then you need to have the best cloud computing in your app too with CDN & Media Service. Look out for the best Azure Cloud Development Services as Microsoft Azure has great clouding capacity.

Moreover; go with .NET Core Development for more efficiency and better results.

Do you know if you want AI Integration in your app then .NET will be more helpful as compared to others!

With benefits like agile deployment, scalability, different service models and managed infrastructure .NET is the right solution for your app.

Which app to build? Android, iOS or Both?

Another important question that arises is whether to build an Android app or an iOS app or Both?

• If you want to target the high-income level audience for your app then you should go for iOS app development. The development of the native ios app is a bit costly and you might require a bit more time to develop.
• On the other hand, if you want to target all types of audience (medium and low-level income) then you can go for Android app development. Building a native android app will cost a bit less and might take less time to get developed as well.
• Now comes developing an app for both types of platforms. For this, you will have two options, native app development, and cross-platform app development. In this first scenario, Native app development you can ask your developer company to build Android & iOS native apps.
• The next scenario is cross-platform app development, in this, you can build an app that is accessible on both Android and iOS. There was a time when cross-platform apps are less capable as compared to native apps. Today, with frameworks like React Native, Ionic, Onsen UI and many more; cross-platform apps have become more capable.

The time required to build an app like TikTok

Now that you know how much does it cost to make such type of app, what kind of features can be added, and how you can make your app stand out, its time to have a look at the timeline as well. The time taken to build an app depends on the features, here we have created a table to explain how much time might be required for each feature or module.

Feature of The App	Description	Estimation in Hours
Interactive UI	The design will include only main screen elements at the beginning and later it can be upgraded.	From 150+ hours
User login and Registration	Users can register themselves or log onto the app using their social network accounts from Email and password.	From 160+ hours
User profile creation	The app user can add and modify | The Profile Picture | Update Password | Add Contact details: Name, Gender, Phone number.	From 140+ hours
Geolocation features	This feature will allow the users to share the location where a photo or video was taken.	From 160+ hours
Uploading and Posting	Users can share video images | Users can do editing by using the tools | Smileys Effects | EmoticonsFilters	Up to 540+ hours: Adding filters | 220+ hours | Creating more custom filters 220+ hours | Feature for cropping and rotating photos 80+ hours.
Search Option	Embedding custom search for the users via Hashtag Username	From 80+ hours
Social Media sharing of the posts	The users can share their uploaded videos and photos on social media channels like: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.	From 140+ hours
Total		From 1200 + hours

This timeline is completely created for basic features, if you want to add more features and functions then it will take more time to build. For example, you want to add AR stickers or you AI functionality like predictive analysis then it will add more time in the timeline.

We are the specialists!

That was our detailed study on building apps like TikTok, our team of developers and content creators have worked together to write this piece of information for you.

We know how to make your app stand out from the competition.

Samarpan Infotech has the right set of resources and experience to build your social media app. Our developers are well skilled in the integration of Big Data, Hadoop, BigQuery, NoSQL to make your app the most seamless and efficient.

If you want to build your app like TikTok then we are here for you. Get in touch with us today.