{"id":38686,"date":"2021-05-19T10:00:55","date_gmt":"2021-05-19T14:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simpleprogrammer.com\/?p=38686"},"modified":"2021-05-18T20:02:10","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T00:02:10","slug":"create-an-app-like-zoom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simpleprogrammer.com\/create-an-app-like-zoom\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Build an App Like Zoom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"createDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, there were multiple businesses that fell flat on their faces, while others rode the tide and came out on top. Uber should definitely be considered one of the disasters, suffering heavy losses and announcing to about 3,500 employees<\/a> they were fired in a three-minute-long Zoom call.<\/p>\n

You see what I did there? If you\u2019re a perceptive reader, you must\u2019ve spotted that I not only gave the example of a company that struggled but also one of a company that did great.<\/p>\n

Zoom was one of the very few underdogs that not only thrived but gained its popularity during this pandemic. Zoom is a video-conferencing app that has become a go-to for everything from casual video calls to corporate business e-meetings.<\/p>\n

Apps like Zoom are ambitious projects. Understanding their implementations will help you come up with a more comprehensive strategy. In this post we will take a quick look at the basic elements that made Zoom successful, and I will share some tips on how to create something similar.<\/p>\n

What Features Does Your App Need To Have?<\/h2>\n

We all have heard about Skype, one of the video-conferencing apps<\/a> that came into existence as early as 2003 as opposed to Zoom that launched only as recently as April 21, 2011.<\/p>\n

But we all know how the tables turned on Skype when the pandemic began. Let\u2019s just say no one was talking about Skype anymore. Although a lot of credit goes to Zoom\u2019s marketing team, which made it stand out to its target audience<\/a> like no other app, much of the success was a result of the basic features of Zoom.<\/p>\n

Virtual Background<\/h3>\n

Video conferences are a lot more interactive now that you can change the background in your meetings. That\u2019s right, if you have a green screen, you can replace the background with any image, which helps set the tone of the meeting.<\/p>\n

Microsoft teams have also launched the same feature in order to keep up. There are preset themes for you to choose from, but you can also upload your own if you want. Companies are using this in their virtual events to flash the logo.<\/p>\n

Record<\/h3>\n

With Zoom, you can record your video conferences. Now that isn\u2019t really special considering that you can do the same with Skype or even Google Hangouts, but considering it allows 500 people to be a part of the conference, businesses prefer holding large events over the app, which makes the recording feature a lot more indispensable.<\/p>\n

Gallery View<\/h3>\n

One of the biggest features of Zoom is its ability to allow 500 people to a video conference at a time. Now if you have so many people, there has to be an interface to display all those who join on a screen. Zoom\u2019s gallery view allows you to have a broader view of the conference. You can open up to 49 windows in one gallery view.<\/p>\n

Screen Sharing<\/h3>\n

If you have access to some important information that you\u2019d like to share with the other members over the call, you can simply share your screen. At the toolbar, there\u2019s a \u201cShare Screen<\/a>\u201d icon that you can click on and share whatever is happening on your screen. You will have a choice between sharing the entire desktop or just one window.<\/p>\n

Beauty Mode<\/h3>\n

Until now, we only heard of the beauty mode in pictures on smartphones. But if you want to deliver an important session, why not look good while you do it? Well, Zoom allows for a beauty mode, and is one of the very few conferencing apps to support this. There, you\u2019ll find the \u201ctouch up my appearance\u201d button <\/span>under the video settings in the app.<\/p>\n

Basic Privacy<\/h3>\n

\"createIf you don’t want others to see you or hear you, you can easily turn off the camera and mic on Zoom. You can already mute before going on the call by simply opening the in-app settings, selecting \u201caudio,\u201d and then tapping on the mute microphone icon before joining a meeting. On the desktop, you can mute and unmute the audio by clicking on the space bar.<\/p>\n

End-to-End Encryption<\/h3>\n

End-to-End encryption makes sure that all the conversations are confidential and no one outside of that group is able to access it. Protocols like AES-256 and HMAC-SHA256 keep the conversations secure.<\/p>\n

These protocols then split the data into long blocks of 256 bits, which are then encrypted, transmitted to the destination, and finally decrypted at the recipient\u2019s side.<\/p>\n

Noise Cancellation<\/h3>\n

Background noise ruins the conversation. Maybe there\u2019s construction going on, or kids are playing in the background, and that needs to be minimized as much as possible. Thanks to deep-learning algorithms, it can easily separate the user\u2019s voice from the background and suppress the same with white noise.<\/p>\n

Virtual Hand-Raising<\/h3>\n

When there are too many joinees in a meeting, the moderator needs to know who wants to speak at that moment. It is accomplished by using a virtual emoji designed like a raising hand. Integrating this feature in your app is important because it prevents multiple users from speaking at the same time and, hence, helps you maintain the decorum of the meet.<\/p>\n

Tech Requirements for an App Like Zoom<\/h2>\n

The next step is to understand what technologies it will take to develop your app<\/a> like Zoom. Here we look at some of the aspects you need and the technologies each of these aspects will be powered with:<\/p>\n

Web Server<\/h3>\n

Whenever you access the internet, you\u2019re accessing files that are stored somewhere, and that somewhere is in the \u201cweb server.\u201d A web server stores data that can be accessed when the browser requests the file via HTTP.<\/p>\n

Zoom uses Amazon Web Services<\/a> as its server, since a reliable server is required to process numerous calls (in thousands) without delay. Microsoft Azure, Apache, and Serverspace are some of the popular examples of servers you can choose.<\/p>\n

Backend Development<\/h3>\n

If you want to create a video-conferencing app, the first thing you need to take care of is the server side or the backend. With backend developmen<\/a>t you are ensuring that there aren\u2019t any bugs or glitches that affect the users\u2019 experience with the app.<\/p>\n

While some apps can use ready-made BaaS (Backend as a Service) solutions, an app like Zoom would require more complex technologies, and it\u2019s better to create a server from scratch. Zoom used React JS, Angular JS, and Vue for their backend.<\/p>\n

Frontend Development<\/h3>\n

After taking care of the backend, you have to think about having an attractive user interface and user experience. An intuitive UX is what you should strive for. Take the example of Zoom itself, and look at how user-friendly and light it is.<\/p>\n

You can read more about the psychology of design<\/a> to understand how you can have an optimal design that excites your perfect audience<\/a>. Zoom uses HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in its frontend.<\/p>\n

Apps for frontend development includeWebRTC APIs (MediaStream, RTC DataChannel, RTCPeerConnection, and real-time chat and communication APIs like Pubnub, CometChat, OpenVidu, etc.)<\/p>\n

Mobile App Tech Requirements for an App Like Zoom<\/h2>\n

iOS App<\/h3>\n

To create a video-conferencing app based on iOS, you can use Swift. It\u2019s designed to work with Apple\u2019s Cocoa and Objective-C code. Besides, Swift is developed by Apple for building native iOS apps. When it comes to building conferencing apps using third-party services, it is easier and faster to do it with Swift.<\/p>\n

To summarize, this is what all you need:<\/p>\n