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How To Develop A TikTok Clone App: Features, Tech Stack & Cost

  • By Agira Technologies
  • May 15, 2020
  • 3539 Views

Tiktok is the hot trend, with 500 million active users per month. It is a video social networking app. The app is only two years old, with over one billion downloads worldwide. 
This popular social media app has become an excellent source of entertainment, especially for teens and adults. The popularity of the app doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. This creative business model is used to create a similar app that will attract millions of users. 
But, what are the factors of success and features which make the TikTok app more appealing? In this article, you know how you can create a musical app like TikTok. 

What is TikTok?

TiktokTiktok is a music video making an app that lets users create and edit videos and share them with other app users. The app allows them to create short-form videos and lip-sync to background music. This karaoke like video app is attracting a growing number of users.  
The video can be edited with effects, filters within the application. Tiktok is used as a platform to showcase talents and connect with a broader audience. It allows converting a video into a live wallpaper. According to the latest research, users tend to spend an average of 52 minutes daily on TikTok. The app is found to be more prevalent among men than women. 

Features of a TikTok app

While developing a TikTok like application, it is essentials to find the exciting features to include in the app. It is better to start with an MVP with some basic features and later integrate new and advanced functions as improvements.

Log in & Sign up

Users have to sign up to post the video through the app. The app should have signup options such as email, phone number, and social networking platforms.

Edit Profile

User should easily customize their profiles with a unique user name, add a bio, and so on. Customization features allow the application user to personalize their profiles. 

Upload Videos

For an app like TikTok, it is essential to provide users with an easy and fast way to post videos. It is better to consider sharing options. 

Filters & effects

TikTok has numerous filters and effects to add to the videos edited with the app. You should consider added new and exciting features to your future app and attract more users.

Video editing

The app users should have the necessary capabilities to edit a video on the app. There can be basic options like adding music, playback speed, and more. You should consider adding beauty mode to make the user’s skin smooth. Tiktok has impressive AP effects for adding the makeup, and there are many stickers, masks, and animations. Users can easily upload videos to their TikTok account.

Hearts & Comments

Like any social networking app, the app should allow the users to like the video and share comments on it. You can also consider having a specific tab to view through the liked posts of the user.

Live Streaming

It is a premium feature of TikTok, where users can make live streams and receive virtual goods from other fans purchased with TikTok coins.

Soundtracks

It allows the users to add a favorite song to their short video or lip-sync to the soundtrack from the built-in library. 

Social Sharing

The app should offer sharing options to gain more users. TikTok offers to connect the user’s profile to other social networking platforms. 
features of tiktok app

QR code Scanner

These features allow the users to subscribe and follow each other on TikTok By sharing a unique QR code provided by the app. 

Notification

You need to consider having a push notification features on your app to keep the user informed. You can inform the users about likes, videos, comments, and more. Information can be implemented via Google cloud messaging for Android and Apple push notification service for iOS.

Admin Panel

The Admin panel is for user management. To delete disturbing videos and block users. Additionally, it can help keep records of the post from a particular user with data about new users and more. 

Duet option

Users are allowed to collaborate with other users who can use #duetwithme hashtag and ask other users to duet with them.

Location-based content

It is advanced features on the TikTok app. This function allows locating the device and content posted by other users with the same location. 

How to develop an app like TikTok

Development is the only way to transform your idea into a practical application. Here are some simple steps to develop an app like TikTok.

Research your target market

Finding your audience is a crucial step in any app development. To identify your users, you should have a demographic profile like where do they live, what kind of device they use, the age of the users, and so on. 
You should also consider the behavioral trends such as user desire to download an app, loading time, low tolerance, lack of security, and more such. If you want to create a better app for your users, you will need to respond to the user’s wants and needs. Analyze the user persona and have an accurate idea about your ideal users before starting with the app development.

Choosing the monetization model

Another important step is choosing the right business model for monetizing the app. There are three ways of app monetization. 
1. Fundraising 
In the initial stage of the development, you can attract investment with fundraising. You can collect money as donations from businesses and individuals. 
2. In-app purchase
TikTok allows the users to live stream with virtual currency, which is purchased with real money. Users can also exchange coins for gifts with the virtual currency. 
3. Advertising
Advertising includes in-app advertising types such as cost per click each time the user interacts with the ad, cost per impression on the ad run the app, cost per action when advertisers pay only for specific activities such as sign up or app install, etc. 

Hire a Development team

After understanding your target audience and choosing a business model for your app. you’ll need to hire a development team to start with the project.
In the discovery phase, project planning goes through business analysis, requirements validation, cost estimation, and technology stack. In the initial stage, the activities vary from app to app depending on the requirements such as project scope, features, and business priorities. The team will create an app development workflow and design the future app concept. Listing the main features and milestones, you can start the development of the MVP app of the final product. 
The app development team will include

  • Business Analyst
  • Project Manager
  • Delivery Manager
  • Android developer
  • iOS developer
  • UI/UX designer
  • Back-end developers
  • QA engineer

Technology Stack

  • Swift for iOS app development
  • Kotlin for Android development
  • Node.js for Back-end development
  • Mongo DB or SQL for Database
  • AWS or Azure for Cloud
  • Azure stream analytics for real-time analytics
  • Google Cloud Messaging for Android and Apple Push Notification Service for iOS 

Create an MVP

Developing an MVP(Minimum viable product) before launching the final app is vital for its success. MVP development allows you to test your app and collect valuable feedback form the users. This way, you make adjustments and add advanced features before you officially launch it. 

How much does it cost to develop a mobile app like TikTok?

The final cost of app development depends on several factors. Like the complexity of the design, development team, platform of the application, features, and other requirements. To calculate the approximate cost of any app, you need to know the number of hours and price per hour and multiply them. Keep in mind the app store guidelines and app versions. One of the easiest ways to hire the right team is knowing the experience, which plays a crucial role in deciding the charge per hour.
If you are confused about the cost to create an app like TikTok, Click here to get a free quotation. 

Also Read

How to Build a Video Streaming App like Netflix

Next Big Step

The TikTok app’s popularity is excellent; the competition between similar apps is becoming too intense in the market. This means you need to develop and launch one before it’s too late. You have two options. One is coming up with your app, adding the latest features or customize the clone script for the TikTok app. Ensure that you have an expert development team for your TikTok like app development
Do you want to build an app like TikTok? Get in touch with our technology experts or Hire mobile developers right away!

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