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Create App Like Zoom and Become a Profitable Tech Unicorn

15.04.2020 Daria Mickiewicz
7 Comments
Create App Like Zoom and Become a Profitable Tech Unicorn

The spread of the coronavirus outbreak has left businesses around the world counting costs. Many massive companies, like Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon have lost a combined $1.3 trillion in value since the market peaked. However, with millions stuck at home, the video-conferencing service Zoom has seen a huge increase in value. Its shares have more than doubled since January 1.

Zoom is currently worth $43 billion. The company is valued at 50% more than all major US airlines put together. All of them. The whole industry.

But, is it reasonable to create app like Zoom? Yes, in our opinion.

Zoom’s Pandemic Story

Over the last few months, Zoom has become one of the most popular tools of this stay-at-home era.

Even before the spread of COVID-19, Zoom was on a tear, with at least 81,000 paying customers. However, in March, the app reached 200 million daily users, 20 times more than its 2019-best of 10 million users at the year’s end. Now Zoom boasts over 100,000 corporate customers, including Samsung, Uber, Walmart, and Capital One.

zoom yoga

Zoom is 2020s hottest yoga studio. Source: theverge.com

During this coronavirus pandemic, it seems like everyone is connecting through Zoom, including fitness and wellness organizations, businesses, martial arts classes, public and educational institutions and almost every software development company.

Currently, money truly is no object for Zoom. The company is boosting its 40-minute meeting limit in free basic accounts and lifting the limit for K–12 schools during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Why do Users Prefer Zoom over Hangouts Meet or Skype?

At first glance, there don’t seem to be any advantages to Zoom over Skype or Hangouts Meet, but let’s see if this is really true. Below, you will find the main reasons why users prefer Zoom.

Easy to Use

The Zoom platform is fairly easy to use and has a simple interface. Users don’t need to log in to attend a meeting.

Multi-Device

The Zoom communications app offers the best experience across Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, Zoom Rooms, and SIP/H.323 room systems. It allows you to communicate with anyone at any time, no matter where you are.

Affordable

The free version of the Zoom app enables users to add up to 100 participants to a single call. Users can also enjoy unlimited one-to-one meetings and 40-minute group calls.

Bugless Experience

App updates are not always successful. So, the Zoom team responds to all user reports instantly to ensure that users have a bugless experience.

Magnifying Seamless Integration

The Zoom App Marketplace allows users to integrate Zoom with other services, including Slack and Google Calendar.

Fun and Engaging

Zoom is used not only for work but also for social gatherings. For example, many people are hosting birthday parties through Zoom during the lockdown.

Additionally, Zoom provides a variety of both funny and serious backgrounds that you can use to dazzle your colleagues, spice up a work meeting, or hide your messy house.

zoom call

Zoom’s virtual backgrounds hide messy offices — allowing users to pick where they seem to appear

Marketplace of virtual events

OnZoom extension enables users to create, host, and monetize virtual events for a fee. Paid users can advertise their online events and sell tickets for them, allowing them to gain an audience around the world.

onzoom

Zoom is in Everyone’s Living Room — But How Safe is It?

There can be no dispute that Zoom has allowed millions of people to gather together during the lockdown. However, its data and privacy measures have been questioned.

In the past week, thousands of Zoom video calls have been left exposed on the web. Some videos included personally identifiable information and deeply intimate conversations. This caused negative press reports of customer information leaks and security weaknesses.

Just a few days ago, SpaceX, Google, and NASA ordered staff to stop using Zoom because of its privacy gaps.

Now the company is freezing all new feature developments to focus on security and privacy.

zoombombing

How to Stay Secure on Zoom

Do you remember when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted a picture of a Cabinet meeting conducted via Zoom a while back? That picture included the ID number and all the nicknames. Please, never, ever do that.

Zoom calls are being hijacked by intruders, so keep your information private and secure to avoid becoming a victim.

 Zoom security

Worried about Zoom’s Privacy Issue? Create a Zoom Alternative

Are you concerned about the Zoom privacy situation? Do you run a small business and want to stop wasting money on unnecessary monthly subscriptions? Do you feel like developing your own video conferencing software?

You may want to create an app that allows users to communicate via secure video calls. You should note, however, that the market is already overcrowded with video calling apps for Android and iPhones. So, you will have many competitors.

To win in this crowded market, you have to offer a better product and price than all your competitors. You also need to provide better cybersecurity and ensure top-notch video quality.

How to Create App Like Zoom

Zoom’s main features

Video Chat MVP Features

To test the potential of your idea, it’s better to create a video chat app MVP first, which consists of the following core features:

  • Registration
  • Profile management
  • Contact list
  • Video and voice calls
  • Group calls
  • Text chat
  • End-to-end encryption
  • Push notifications

Video Chat App Advanced Features

Features listed below allow one to make a video chat app that stands out.

  • Screen sharing
  • Virtual background
  • Virtual noise cancellation
  • Custom emojis and stickers
  • Custom masks

What Technology Stack Does Zoom Use?

So, how is a video chat app like Zoom created? You first need to understand the tech stack.

In contrast to platforms like Skype, Zoom was developed with the cloud in mind. Zoom uses Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, and its own servers to process hundreds of thousands of calls instantly with little to no delays.

Zoom’s system consists of the web, Android apps, and iOS apps that have been written in a mix of:

  • Objective-C
  • C++
  • C#
  • Java
  • .NET
  • HTML5/CSS3
  • JavaScript

Originally, WeChat used HTTPS to transfer all the users’ data. Utilizing Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP), Zoom delivers an alternative to traditional on-premise PBX solutions. Call setup and in-call features are delivered via Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).

Note that Zoom doesn’t support end-to-end encryption for video and audio content. Instead, Zoom video meetings use a combination of TCP and UDP. TCP connections are made using TLS, and UDP connections are encrypted with AES using a key negotiated over a TLS connection. This means that the Zoom service itself can access the unencrypted video and audio meetings’ content.

zoom-servers

Zoom’s ecosystem of communication channel

This is how Zoom was created, but you are not obliged to use the same technologies for video-conferencing service development. If you want to receive a full tech stack for an app like Zoom, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@vironit.com.

Now, let’s take a closer look at app monetization, development time, and cost.

How Does Zoom Make Money?

Zoom targets businesses, SMBs, and large enterprises as well as customers in the education and healthcare fields (e.g., companies that offer telemedicine and telehealth services).

Zoom has adopted a freemium model to boost its business while engaging new users. The limitations of a free account don’t affect the user as they start using it. Later, they can upgrade the app to receive advanced functionalities.

pricing plans

Additionally, Zoom has a conference room solution called Zoom Rooms based on commodity hardware combined with Zoom software.

zoom rooms

How Much Does It Cost to Create an App like Zoom?

In a nutshell, a Zoom-like MVP, depending on the scope of your requirements, can cost anywhere from $120,000 to $260,000 and take up to 5–6 months to develop.

Coronavirus: How Is the Outbreak Affecting You?

Are you using this opportunity to enhance your relationships with users? We want to hear how the coronavirus outbreak has affected your business. You can submit your story in the comments section or email us.

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7 responses to “Create App Like Zoom and Become a Profitable Tech Unicorn”

  1. Xiayu says:

    Reply

    Like!! Thank you for publishing this awesome article.

  2. Kent C. Brown says:

    Reply

    Hello! Thank you for such an interesting blog post. But I have some questions.

    – Is it possible to blend VR technology and messaging apps like zoom?
    – How does Zoom mask the person instantly and change the background? Is a green screen required?
    – How to provide worldwide users with a smooth connection?
    – What is the difference between Zoom’s back-end technology and cloud-native infrastructure?

    I am planning to create an app like Zoom, probably in VR, and couldn’t find any related information.

    • Darya Tryfanava says:

      Reply

      Hi, Kent
      These are good questions.

      1 Zoom+VR issue
      Well, it’s a possibility. On the market, there are some apps with virtual meeting rooms. Such a VR/Zoom blend. Users are represented as cartoon avatars with a photo of face stretched over a 3D model. A face kind of animates when a person speaks. And hands move when the Quest VR controllers have been moved.
      In the room, there are 3D objects that any of the participants can grab and drag around. Documents and spreadsheets usually can be pulled up and shown on big virtual wall screens.

      2 Background issue
      Virtual background technology uses deep learning to extract a person from the background. To implement this feature, you can adopt AR SDK for Unity that supports background segmentation along with face detection and tracking, allowing users to replace a background in real-time. Also, you need to avoid colors that match the skin tone so it won’t blend into the background.

      3 Connection issue
      Zoom has a system of data centers linked through private connections. This network provides users with seamless connections globally.

      4 Zoom’s technology vs. cloud-native infrastructure
      Here are some features that differentiate Zoom’s back-end technology and cloud-native infrastructure:
      – Zoom’s meetings are distributed across its data center network. In this way, users can join meetings via private connection to the closest data center seamlessly.
      – Zoom’s stream routing can support 15x more participants than a standard MCU, which generally supports fewer than 100 participants.
      – As each stream adjusts to multiple resolutions, you don’t need to encode and decode the streams for each endpoint. So Zoom provides different levels of video quality based on the device and network capabilities.

    • Mark says:

      Reply

      I’m looking for a partner in a related project, pm me if interested Mark Govers on Facebook (Oregon)

  3. noome says:

    Reply

    i want to create a software

  4. Brian Pennie says:

    Reply

    Hi. I’m going to create an app like Zoom. I followed a tutorial that brought me to have a functional app where there can be multiple people talking to each other on video/audio, and they can mute their mics and stop their video. It’s pretty neat, but I wanted to add a share screen function, and I don’t know how. The web app runs with express node.js, socket.io and WebRTC. Could you help me with this issue?

    • Darya Tryfanava says:

      Reply

      Hi, Brian. In such a case, we recommend you adopt the Screen Capture API. It helps select a screen or part of a screen to capture as a media stream. The stream can then be recorded or shared with others over the network.
      Find more about on MDN Web Docs (previously known as MDN — the Mozilla Developer Network)

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