How To Make a Live Streaming App: Tips To Engage More Users And Get A Profit by Alexey Porubay

13.09.2018

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How To Develop a Live Streaming App?

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Contents What streaming apps are there Business advantages of a stre How to start with an MVP

HOW TO MAKE A LIVE STREAMING APP: TIPS TO ENGAGE MORE USERS AND GET A PROFIT

How to build a ﬂagship Tools to build a live streaming Attract users and make money So what to do to bring it all to

6 september 2018

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See how MVP may help you multi

Today we'll discuss a really interesting topic with you. Are you ready? We have an age-old question at play - what should you do to become popular? Perhaps, you may suppose the article will be about the popularity of applications. Yes, you guessed it. But not only! In this article, we will cover the mobile development but also we'll reflect on how to become a popular vlogger (video blogger). You may ask - how it is related? It's very simple. Because today, we'll talk about video streaming apps. Thus, we will look at the most popular apps for streaming. So we'll find out how to create a flagship in this niche and how to make money on it.

Types of streaming applications There are so many different stream apps floating around the most popular app stores. So you plan to find out how to make a live streaming Android app or iOS app, to deal with all this abundance, we suggest finding out what kinds of video stream apps exist. As a first step we divide them into two groups depending on their functions: apps for video streaming; apps for live broadcasting. 

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Choose the right field for live streaming. Read Live streaming for different business fields: tips and tools to choose the right niche

You should watch a video below to see how much an app like Periscope will cost:

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How Much Does It Cost to Create an App Like Periscope?

The former is about video playback. So the videos were uploaded by users earlier. Their videos are stored on the server for the unlimited amount of time. It means that any user can view a video at any time, no matter when it was uploaded. The latter diﬀers from the former. They are designed for online broadcasts. The user streams a video and it is broadcasted to their subscribers or users who have subscribed to a particular broadcast in the real-time. In such applications, the video is stored on a server for the certain amount of time (usually small) or not stored at all.

Top live streaming apps So, let's find out what kind of video stream app can be really cool. Initially, it seems logical to consider the most popular apps on the market, and then to generate something not the same but better. Let's start with the first - look at the most popular applications. What are the features offered by the most powerful players in the market? We have identified 5 of the most successful applications in this segment. They are: LiveStream; Periscope; Facebook Live; Ustream; Twitch. 

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Top 5 live streaming apps

We recommend you to have a look at what they offer to users and what functions they have. Streaming apps can also differ by the area of focus. Some of them are used for work purposes, some for personal ones. But most of them yet combine both directions. Of course, we won't choose between them. Because applications of each of these categories are designed to complete different types of tasks. In this article, we will discuss in more detail precisely the second category of applications. It's about applications designed for live streaming, and you will see how to create live streaming app for Android and iOS.

Why do you need a live streaming app? A live streaming app development can be very beneﬁcial for your business. You should know that there are certain challenges that you may solve using a live streaming app. Let's

More attention from potential customers

Live streaming helps you capture more attention from customers since live broadcasting is perceived by users diﬀerently. They are more interested in real-time streaming, they want to see what you will oﬀer them right now. Besides that, many users don't like staged videos where everything was planned in advance, whereas live streaming becomes more attractive to customers.

Brand loyalty increase

With the help of live streaming, you can tell more about your brand to new customers. In a real-time promotion of your product will look much brighter and more captivating, that is why live streaming gives you a good chance to increase loyalty to your brand.

Richer content

Even if you provide people with a detailed information about your brand in social media, the beneﬁts of your product and so on, it will not be a serious motivation for people to use. But live streaming can give users richer content that will be much more engaging.

Real-time engagement

How can you arrange better interaction with a customer?

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Well, streaming is an option again. You can reach more potential customers since you can reply to all their questions, interact more deeply and it will have a positive eﬀect on leads generations.

An ad-free way of interaction

If you think that this issue is not so considerable, you are wrong. People are tired of watching unwanted ads on YouTube videos, so live streaming will give users a pleasant ad-free experience, it will also lead to loyalty increase and better engagement of new users.

Benefits you can get from a live streaming app

What about basic features for live streaming app? Let's check them out.

How to start or MVP for that kind of product Impressed by the success of giants, don't jump in feet first and don't stuff your stream app with all features at once. It is more logical to create MVP (Minimum Viable product) first. When you create streaming app, it will help you to understand how viable your application is and what it lacks of at the initial stage and at minimum cost. First of all, you will need to choose a platform. There are several options. The video streaming application can be native or hybrid. Native one is an application designed for a specific platform. The code of the application is created with the use of the programming language adopted precisely for this platform. A hybrid one is an application that is supported on multiple platforms simultaneously. Its code is written with the language of HTML, CSS or JavaScript. Earlier, we covered the topic of choosing between native and hybrid applications in more detail. Focusing on the native app, you will need to choose which platform your first version will be created for. It can be iOS, Android, Windows Phone, etc. What should be MVP of a live streaming application? Main features, which such application won't exist without: user registration; creating a personal user profile; implementation of online video streaming; ability to leave comments to broadcasting;

Choose the right ﬁeld for live stre

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search; design; server side (ability to convert stream). These pieces of the puzzle will be enough to check how correct your application works and if it is able to attract users. 

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Main features of a streaming app

See how MVP may help you multiply revenue. Read How you will proﬁt with an MVP

That is, they can register, create a broadcast, search for other users, and comment their broadcasts. Thus, you get a high-quality frame of your application, which will be enough for the first going. We also include the testing and bug fixing in the process of developing the first version. After fixing errors, it is uploaded to the store of a chosen platform (iOS, Android, or else). Then, you need to pay attention to the promotion of applications in stores and wait for feedback from the first users. And what then? Then, seeing a positive response, and making sure that the project is viable, we are working to make your application a really high-class one. Thus, we proceed to the next step on the way to the goal - how to create a live streaming app.

How to build a flagshi p or Ways for improvement In this section, we'll ﬁnd out what features you can add to your application to ensure that it has successfully developed and your project is on the way to the top results. Here we'll tell you what you need to implement, and a couple more ideas to stand out in the market. Look at the list of MVP features. What is missing in your opinion? A lot of things, you'll say. But let's start with the beginning.

1. Different register options At the stage of the ﬁrst version, it is enough to make one variant. For example, it can be registration of the account in your application only. It is implemented with the use of a mobile number or e-mail

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address and password. And also, you need to add a forgotten password recovery function by e-mail or a mobile message. For example, in the process of live streaming Android app development, we can add several logs in through social networks options. That is, the user will be able to log in using their account on Facebook or Twitter, for example.

Registration in a live streaming app

See more on our Dribbble proﬁle. With this step, you simplify the user's life. And so, you increase the attractiveness of your application in his eyes. Important tip. You have to remember that everything in your app should be fairly simple and clear. Usability is one of the main components of the success of your application. The fewer actions the user have to make on the way to achieving the goal, the more favorably your app is compared to others.

2. Personal profile You should decide what kind of information about the user can be learned from his personal proﬁle when you delve into the process of how to build live streaming app. At the initial stage, only a small amount of information is enough. For example: full name; user pic; username; subscriptions and subscribers. Later, you can add a variety of options. They may be, for example: date of birth; location; interests; main themes of streams; whatever you can create. 

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How to create profile in a streaming app

See more on our Dribbble proﬁle. With this, we attract users because before subscribing to someone or joining to a broadcast, they can see how interesting that streamer is. Also, users can share information about themselves. To some extent, this step turns your project into a kind of social network.

3. Streaming In the ﬁrst version of the app for video streaming, we can just implement the function of online streaming without the possibility to watch further. In this case, the server function is to convert your broadcast and transmit it to the stream of viewers. That is, the video is not stored on the server. For further development of the project, we can implement the function of watching broadcasts after it ﬁnished. To do this, we need a larger storage. For the convenience, we can use cloud servers. Because, if we take into account the subsequent scaling, the more users you have, the larger your server has to be. We'll explain in detail how this works. Broadcasting stream passes through the server, gets converted, and appears on the subscriber's device. In the same time, the video is uploaded to the server and stored there for some time. The duration of this period is determined depending on the size of storage. After the end of this period, the video is automatically deleted from the server.

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Live streaming feature

Thus, such an application would be more popular. This is due to the fact that the users have the opportunity not to miss interesting things and stay connected. Important tip. Always consider the subsequent ability to scale the project. Scalability is a very important moment in the streaming app development process. Therefore, think about how you want to expand your project, and the number of users you plan to serve at every next stage. Having scheduled these indicators, you can avoid many problems.

4. Comments

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In the ﬁrst version, we add the opportunity to comment on the video. There are two main functions of commenting: for the broadcaster - get the feedback due to the opinions; for the audience - to ask questions and get answers. 

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Later, it will be useful to add the ability to like and, thereafter, likes counter. There are different options for implementation. Likes can be both to translations and to the user page in general. Accordingly, the counters will be different. In the profile, we can display the information about the total number of likes for all broadcasts, or the number of likes to a page only. It is attractive from the point of view of what is important to people: to express their opinion; to receive feedback about what they show; to take into account the criticism and improve the quality of broadcasts. Also, various metrics are always attractive and increase the popularity of applications. 

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5. Quality choice For the further development of the application, it is useful to implement the choose of the video quality feature. That is there was the ability to watch video not only in the base, highest quality but also in the lower. This will attract users with low quality or speed of their Internet connection. Thus, you expand the target audience of the application. After all, what's the use of your app for those who have the low quality of the Internet or little abilities of devices? https://www.cleveroad.com/blog/how-to-develop-a-live-streaming-app

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Discover how we work on the quality of our software products. Read How we keep up with the quality standards at Cleveroad

Important tip. To ensure that your product can become popular, consider the possibilities and interests of your target audience when you create live streaming app. Examine the state of the market and be guided by what your potential consumers require.

6. Search In future versions, it will be necessary to improve the user and broadcasts search tool. To do so we should not only improve the process but also to implement different search filters. Examples of search filters: by the age; by location; by interest; by broadcasts topic; by the language of broadcasts; by popularity; by the number of watching, etc. 

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Filters in a live streaming application

See more on our Dribbble profile. With the help of filters, any user will be able to find what he is interested in, and thus stay longer with your application.

7. UI/UX Design Probably, there is no need to talk about how important the design of the application is. The fact of how convenient the use of the application often determines the impression of it. It should constantly be improved in response to the feedback of users. Also, more and more tasks will appear with the implementation of new features. FREE QUOTE

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Important tip. The formula of perfect design doesn't exist. But we advise you to create a symbiosis of two components: the most popular trends and your personality. It always works.

8. Geolocation Just a great upgrade for an app for video streaming is the integration of geolocation. With its help, you can ﬁnd the broadcasts by their location. Users can open the world map, which shows the marks of broadcasts that are made at the moment in a particular part of the world. Thus, you can choose where to go today right from the comfort of your chair.

Geolocation in streaming applications

See more on our Dribbble proﬁle.

9. Privacy Agree, not always you want to be in the limelight. Sometimes you want to share your impressions and emotions with close friends only. Sometimes we prefer the family hearth comfort and privacy with relatives. To realize this quite a natural desire in streaming video apps, it will be useful to implement privacy settings. Give your users the ability to choose whom they will broadcast for and you will be surprised the number of positive feedbacks. Here you can implement a few tweaks step by step. So that the user can show the video: one particular person; a chosen list of people; only in the certain area, etc. 

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You can provide a wide range of privacy settings to achieve the ideal result.

10. 'Show me your screen' If you use Skype, then surely you know the 'show the screen' feature. This is when you instead of entering into explanations of what you see on your screen, just show it your partner instead of your lovely face. This feature saves valuable time for various tutorials. And there is an equally interesting use of this feature. https://www.cleveroad.com/blog/how-to-develop-a-live-streaming-app

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With the appearance of bright and high-quality games for desktops, which captured the attention of the world, it has become a very popular thing to stream the game process. This type of streaming has a very large audience. With the 'show screen' feature, you can implement this type of streaming for mobile devices. Why don't you show your subscribers that you throw birds at pigs as a superhero, or how elusive surfer you are, and none of the police can catch you?

11. Notifications and schedule Going back to the fact that our aim when developing an application is to make the life of the user as much comfortable as possible, the implementation of notiďŹ cations and schedules will be a very useful upgrade. How does it work? The user gets push-notiďŹ cations on his device when an interesting broadcast starts. So when a broadcaster decides to start to stream video from the phone, his subscribers are invited to join. No matter if they are not on the app at the moment.

Notification in a live streaming app

You can also add the schedule feature. That is, if the streamer is going to 'go on the air' at a certain time, he can schedule the time of his broadcast. Then a common schedule of broadcasts is formed based on the user subscriptions. So the user is always kept up with the most interesting events. In return, your application is always on a wave of success.

12. Import contacts For the convenient search of friends, we can implement the importing contacts feature to streaming video app. Contacts can be imported from social media or the phone book. This function is successfully implemented in the most popular applications of this niche. Here's an important fact to pay attention to. Implementation of some of the features above is impossible without others. And now, let's turn to the most "delicious" part of our guidance. https://www.cleveroad.com/blog/how-to-develop-a-live-streaming-app

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Tools to build a live streaming app Experienced software development company knows what tools and technologies it should use to develop live streaming app, but we consider it necessary to show you the list of the main tools required for the app development.

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mobile apps: Swift (iOS) or Kotlin/Java (Android) content delivery network: Cloudflare/ Amazon CloudFront; hosting: Amazon Web Services; API server: Node.js; media processing platform: DaCast, Wowza, WebRTC; database: MySQL / DynamoDB; push notifications: Firebase Notifications; messaging queues: AWS Simple Queue System; geolocation: Google Maps, MapKit/Core Location (iOS).

How to make money on live streaming app Let's be honest. One of the most important goals of any startup (of course, except making the world a better place) is making a proﬁt. Therefore, we can't get away with this topic. So, how you can make money on that kind of application? There are a few popular ways: paid app; freemium; advertisements in the application. In the ﬁrst case, you make your application paid. That is, in order to install it, the user will have to pay a certain sum of money. 

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With the freemium strategy, you'll have two versions of your app: free and premium. So, the user will have to pay only for some features. For example, to gain access to a particular function, the user will have to purchase the paid version. If you choose the latter option, you show your partners' ads in your application. Of course, there are not all of the options, how to make money on the application. But these are the most popular and common ones. https://www.cleveroad.com/blog/how-to-develop-a-live-streaming-app

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How to attract users to your app None of the applications can exist without its audience. And in order to create a really successful startup, you need the audience to be as huge as possible. Otherwise, why are we doing all this stuﬀ?) The following mechanisms are used to attract visitors: ﬁlling in your application with really cool features; creating features that users really need; using something fundamentally new; promotion of applications in the stores with the right marketing mechanisms; eye-catching design; successful operation of the application. These rules are correct for almost any application. Thus, using these simple tools, you will certainly come to success. 

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Important tip. Try to ﬁnd your own niche, to attract the user with something unusual and innovative. People are always happy to try something new. And the main thing is to be bright and stand out from the rest.

So what to do to bring it all to life? These are just guidelines of how the way of the realization of such a project looks like. You can imagine it quite diﬀerently. Your ideas can be completely crazy. And it's awesome! Always look for your own way and be individual. Bring to the market something original. And if you have a worthwhile idea, you always ﬁnd ways to bring it to life.

How we upgrade Blockbuster video streaming service. Read Case study: how we improve Blockbuster video streaming app and make it bug-free

In the end, you have two options. You can wander through the Internet to ﬁnd the ideal solutions and the right steps. Or you can contact the team of people who really understand all of this. Such people always hand you through this world of complicated things and lead to a desired result. Contact us and we'll turn the torture to the enjoyable process.

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