Healthcare apps development types, examples and features

By outsourcing mobile app development, you can shorten the time to market, decrease project costs, and improve the quality of your project. Around 52.5% of all IT companies have outsourced software development projects at least once. In this article, we will give you a simple guide on how to choose a mobile app development outsourcing company. We will explain how an outsourcing provider works with payment models. After you go through it, you will know to outsource like an expert. 

 Outsource Mobile App Development

Mobile application outsourcing is not a mammoth task. The market for mobile apps is booming and shows no signs of slowing down. Outsourcing your mobile app development to the first step you need to bring your app vision to life. 

You need to outsource app development without risks. Here is a guide on how you can outsource app development in 6 steps: 

1. Define your application 

When you decide to develop a mobile app, you need to have a clear definition of what you want to build. Individuals and companies outsource mobile app development to save both time and costs. Having a blueprint of the mobile application gives you a clear roadmap. 

2.Find Mobile App Developers 

You need to select experienced and skilled application developers. You can choose an in-house development team, onshore, nearshore, and offshore mobile app development companies for your needs. 

3. Mobile outsourcing development company reviews

Before sending emails to all app development companies, or filling in contact forms on their websites, you need to go through their portfolios. 

4. Select software development service model 

To hire an outsourcing team, you need to choose among project-based, dedicated teams, or out staff working models. Start looking for companies with competitive prices.  You can outsource app development to Europe or other any nation for cheaper rates. 

5. Price of the mobile application 

One of the benefits of outsourcing mobile app development is the price. For a dedicated team or a project-based working model, you can choose among fixed price or time and material paying models for an app idea. Mobile application development  companies will charge you on the basis of app size and complexity.  You should also check out the popular outsourcing destinations to compare prices for a better rate. 

If you want to outsource, you need to have a detailed definition of your mobile app or a project you want at the outcome. To achieve that, check out our article about functional and non-functional requirements before you outsource your app development. You can hire an in-house team of app developers or rely on experienced freelancers for your needs. 

Need help in mobile application development outsourcing? Reach out to credible mobile app development services for all your simple and complex app building projects. Outsource your app idea to experienced professionals only. 

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How to outsource mobile app development like a pro? 

B2B directories. Such websites list application development outsourcing companies, grouped by location, rating, and expertise. Clutch, the most popular B2B platform for finding development agencies, includes advanced search, categories, classification, and even reviews of the team’s previous clients.  You can discuss with potential outsourcing companies for the cost. This step will speed up the development process and timeline. 

[TheAPPSolutions profile on Clutch]

Freelance websites. If you need to outsource one specialist with a particular skill set, freelance sites might come in handy. The advantages of outsourcing are immense as it helps you save valuable time and money. One example is Upwork, where you can hire a freelancer or outsourcing experts for a fixed-price or hourly rate. However, working with freelancers might be risky. The risks of mobile app development without proper research and background checks of a company will cost you dear. 

It is hard to validate the experience of a developer and find out whether the developer is not reliable. Mobile app development in 2024 has evolved and you should never rush to hire from these sites. 

Dev blogs. mobile app development in 2024 teams like us, are running tech blogs with tips and case studies showing their experience in app development. If the company’s expertise meets your project idea, you can contact such a software development company without hesitation. 

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO DEVELOP AN APP: DETAILED FEATURE BREAKDOWN

Design networks. Many product development companies are full-cycle and create both the code and design. For this reason, design communities such as Behance or Dribble also work great for finding a team to outsource. The benefits of mobile development outsourcing help individuals and businesses focus on their core tasks better. 

Now, let’s imagine you have chosen the type of outsourcing, the mobile app development location, and created the list of developers to hire. What to do next? You need to check the team’s experience to find out whether they can complete your project or not. How? Read on to find out. 

Outsource app development costs

Before sending emails to mobile app development companies, or filling in contact forms on their websites, you need to go through their portfolios. You should focus on the following: 

• Projects. Does the mobile app outsourcing companies have attractive projects in their portfolio?  Outsourcing allows you to compare different companies and talk to app developers. 
• Tech stack. Does the dedicated development team have experience with the technologies required for your project and the rough estimate it may cost?  
• Industry. Has the app outsourcing developers created a project for a similar industry to yours? 
• Clients. What do previous clients say about the team and their app development process? 
• Partners. Is the mobile app development team partnering with tech companies like Google or other famous brands? 

After conducting in-depth research and answering these outsourcing development questions, you will narrow down the list of app development candidates. Now, you can get in touch with three or five of the most appropriate teams and pass to the next stage of development projects. 

HOW TO MAKE AN APP: LIFE CYCLE OF MOBILE DEVELOPMENT

I want a free consultation for my simple app project.  Contact Us

Mobile app development outsourcing service model

To hire outsourcing app developers, you need to choose among the following working models: 

Project-Based. Before outsourcing mobile developers, you have a pre-defined goal for the team to reach within defined timeframes. By goals, we mean a set of specified requirements your app must meet. In this way, you, as a client, are responsible for the result, not the means, technologies, and tools used for the project.	Project-based application outsource includes:  A fixed-sized team A fixed period  A fixed budget for the app development cost The task of developing the best possible product based on the backlog  This business model is popular among start-ups without their own development team or experience in project management.
Dedicated Team. In this business model, the outsourcing company is responsible for building the team and taking care of personal management and process quality. In this way, you receive a full-cycle development team, also including PMs and BAs working on a project pipeline or providing complete service. The reasons to outsource mobile app to the right mobile app development companies should be done after reviews.	In a dedicated team, the provider is responsible for: Tasks assignment Team leaders Project management Tasks schedule  Project status   When you decide to outsource you still make the product or project management decisions but levels may vary: You can control the project roadmap individually  Or pass the project decisions to the provider and manage the project at a higher level This business model works great for midsize teams that need to implement a part of a project like Cloud storage integration or complex functionality, like developing IA Chabot.
Outstaff or Extended team. This model includes assigning tasks to outsourced developers, as well as providing them with a place to work.	Benefits of app development outsourcing under this working model: Controlling the working process, Managing the project  Controlling vacations Regulating working time  Promoting inside the team Paying salaries Creating motivation And so on.  When you search for an outsourcing provider, you can take the help of credible apps as well. Outstaff is a perfect outsource app-building model for mid-sized and big companies who need to hire a particular specialist for particular tasks while staying within the project’s budget.  Outstaff is also a perfect model when a customer has PM or, for example, CTO or someone who can provide audit and control developers by giving them tasks, priorities, and leading them from a technical management side. This model seems to have a lot of extra responsibilities on the Customer’s side. But, Outstaff is the cheapest, and very often mid-size companies to large enterprises, and sometimes even startups have their own technical leaders and chiefs. Sometimes co-founders may also have such kind of expertise and experience like professional mobile app development agencies.

Outsource app development costs 

Once you outsource an app development team under the Outstaff model, you pay them a monthly salary like regular staff members. As for a dedicated team or a project-based working model, you can choose among the following options:  

Fixed price. Such a working model works only in the combination of the following criteria:

• A relatively small project 
• A limited budget
• The scope of work is clear
• The amount of time needed is easy to estimate

This paying model suits new-born start-ups which need to develop an MVP. Still, due to the human factor, it is tough to evaluate the project scope initially. For this reason, most of the dev companies prefer working on the next model. 

Time and Material. This payment model, also known as Pay as You Go, is prevalent among companies that use Agile methodology. First, you and the team will agree upon the hourly rate of each developer, and then, you pay based on the actual time spent on the development. Companies use Time and Material when:

• It is hard to determine the scope of work in advance
• The client needs to change the requirements during the process of work without modification of the agreement. 

Having become very popular among outsourcing mobile app outsourcing development companies, the Time and Material model has proven to be valid for projects of any size. 

WHAT TECH STACK TO CHOOSE FOR YOUR PROJECT

[TheAPPSolution models of cooperation]

Need help in developing your App?Reach out

How much does it cost to outsource app development?

So how much will it cost to hire outsourcing an outsourcing partner.
Let’s talk about real numbers.
Depending on the team’s geographical location, the cost to build a simple mobile app may range from $25.000 to $50.000, while a complex app with multiple features would cost from $100.000 to $200.000 to outsource approximately.

The cost of outsourcing mobile app is based on its type. Here you should consider the following common app types:

• Real Estate Applications – $20.000 – $30.000
• A messaging app like Whatsapp – $50.000 to $130.000
• Dating app like Tinder – $80.000 to $200.000
• City guide app – $30.000 to $50.000
• Networking (social) app – $30.000+
• Banking/payment app – $40.000 to $70.000
• Taxi booking app like Uber – $25.000 to $100.000

Reasons to outsource mobile app

App outsourcing companies reduce costs, increases team productivity, and allows delivering the project within schedule. This type of collaboration suits all kinds of businesses – start-ups, mid, and large-sized companies. Still, to receive all benefits from outsourcing app development, you need to select the app development outsourcing partner you are going to work with carefully. Thus, check their portfolio, tech stack, and reviews from previous clients. Then, select the engagement and payment model which is the most appropriate for you and enter the discovery phase. You should also understand the risks of outsourcing mobile applications. Ensure you have have a dedicated development team for your project. 

Mobile Application-Client Feedback

Watch the feedback of a satisfied application development outsourcing customer below: 

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CROWDFUNDING FOR YOUR APP DEVELOPMENT

You might remember the Greek myth of King Midas, who turned everything into gold with his touch. Well, we did not expose his magical abilities. But we offer you valuable insight on how you can add value to your business app.  

The market for mobile applications is quite crowded, and to stand out from the competitors might be challenging. Still, you can consider adding new features to your app, like a taxi-hailing service.

For that, you do not need to reinvent the wheel. To empower your app with the taxi-booking feature, you can integrate the existing Uber API, and Ride Request Widget. Besides, with the new Rides SDKs, the development team will make such integrations easy and fast.

The numerous successful examples of Uber integrations, like Foursquare, Amazon Echo, and others, show us that this strategy works.

In this article, we are going to tell you about Uber’s successful collaborations with other businesses, the benefits of Uber API integration, and a step-by-step guide to doing it.

Key Uber statistic

Being present in 85 countries, Uber remains the most popular taxi-hailing apps. The company is a dominant player, taking in 70% of the U.S. ride sharing-market in 2022. 

As you can see in the graph, during COVID-19, the number of trips dropped catastrophically, but in February 2022, the industry slowly began to recover.

Image source: Second Measure

But there is more. Uber generated $17.4 billion revenue in 2021, a 56% increase year-on-year and better than its 2019 figures. In 2020, Uber’s revenues declined by 21% due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The revenue is expected to exceed $133 billion by 2023, with an annual growth rate of 12.8%. As of May 2021, Uber’s stock price was $51.73. However, financial experts predict a future value of at least $72 by 2022 and $169 by 2026. According to 2022 Uber stats, the ride-hailing company is far ahead of its competitors by a landslide.

Thus, Uber remains the most popular taxi-hailing app across the globe. Therefore, it gives exciting opportunities for mobile app owners.

Still, what benefits you can get from Uber popularity?

Keep reading to find out.

FUNCTIONAL VS NON-FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS: MAIN DIFFERENCES & EXAMPLES

Benefits from Integrating Uber API

As we said, Uber is a leading taxi-booking app that provides free API for all app developers. What you could receive from such an integration:

Improve goods transportation. Uber API integration brings the opportunity for online shops and local retailers to build on-demand delivery solutions. 

Add geolocation tracking. You can use Uber API functionality to share and exchange the location. As a social networking project or a messaging service owner, you can empower your app with the feature of notifying users about their position in real-time.

Recently, we have integrated the geolocation feature to TransProLog, a logistic app from Brazil. The TransProLog users can control the tower and know what is happening with the cargo in real-time. We also empowered the app with the built-in messenger. Visit our portfolio to learn about our other projects.

THIRD-PARTY API INTEGRATION TO MOBILE BUSINESS APPS: BENEFITS, TYPES, AND A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

Reduce development time and cost. You can empower your app with Uber API without spending money on developing an Uber-like taxi app from scratch. The Uber development team has already done a significant part of the infrastructure.

Solve user problems. If you empower your app with Uber features, you will solve the users driving issues by letting them quickly get to their final destination. It would be exciting if your app users prefer to travel around the city or to eat out.

Provide a ready-made business model. With Uber API well-built and organized infrastructure, you can receive deceits from the whole of Uber’s business model. This way, you gain access to the Uber drivers pool without holding meetings, signing agreements, and doing tons of paperwork.

Below, we share the most inspiring examples of cooperation with Uber.

The most successful examples of Uber API integration

Before digging into the Uber API integration success stories, we’ll clarify what API is.

The application programming interface or API is a set of rules by which the application components interact with each other. By using API, developers can transmit and pull the necessary data from the application. Besides, API helps to reduce the development time to create a consistent app across the platform.

Uber API had become public in 2014. It represents a fully functional platform including a fair price estimate calculator, ride time estimate, car ordering, trip history, and so on.

Uber cooperation with other well-known companies and their benefits received from Uber API integration.

Amazon Echo

In 2016 Amazon has integrated Uber API to Amazon Echo, smart speakers connect to the voice-controlled intelligent personal assistant service Alexa. This integration enables Echo users to order an Uber by using simple commands as “Alexa, ask Uber to request a ride.” This way, Echo and Uber’s cooperation allows bringing some Sci-fi experiences to users’ everyday life. 

Image source: Hackernoon

Jobcase

Jobcase, a job marketplace, integrated Uber API to showcase driver reviews. Because high-quality customer service is an essential differentiator for drivers in a competitive job market. 

Image source: Uber 

Now, Jobcase users can share their Uber experience and rating right on their profile by using /me endpoint. This way, Uber drivers receive a competitive advantage in the job market, as well as the opportunity to find the next employers if they look for the next step in their career.

Foursquare

Foursquare, a location platform, allows users not only to check the nearest china food restaurant but also to hail an Uber taxi in-app. Judging by increased Foursquare user activity/engagement, they love Uber integration:

•   Users who hailed the Uber taxi in-app are two to three times more active than average Foursquare users
•   Users who tap the Uber button also generate three to four times more venue views and interactions
•   According to statistics, users who hailed Uber via Foursquare are 74% more likely to use this feature again during the following week.

For that, Foursquare and Uber’s cooperation is a win-win for both parties.

Stride

Stride, an online tax app, integrated Uber API to help Uber drivers to increase the take-home earnings. By using the Strive Tax Calculator, integrated with the Uber Drive API, drives receive a report with a breakdown of their income. Besides, they are informed about expected taxes and personalized recommendations on how much to set aside each week.

Image source: Uber 

By using Strive, Uber drivers keep 21% more of their earnings. The Strive services also helped driver-partners claim more than $60M in tax deductions.

TripAdvisor

As we know, TripAdvisor is a traveler website where users share their experiences with local businesses and attractions. But there is nothing more disappointing than no possibility to get to the museum you have dreamed of when planned the trip. And Uber fills this gap by providing TripAdvisor users a convenient taxi-hailing experience.

By integrating the Uber API, TripAdvisor started to provide a complete travel experience inside just one travel mobile app. Now, users can quickly get to their desired point in an unknown city. Moreover, TripAdvisor app users also can create a cheaper and simpler tailored tour around local Sights & Landmarks.

Image source: Vulcanpost

Below we share how to integrate Uber into your app.

MONOLITHIC VS MICROSERVICES: CHOOSING THE ARCHITECTURE FOR YOUR BUSINESS APP

How to integrate Uber API to your app

There are different levels of Uber integration. For your mobile app, you can consider the following:

Button. The button is the easiest way to empower your app with the Uber Request Ride feature. The button will display the fee for a ride and transfer your app users to the Uber app. This type of integration requests low efforts from your development team. On the other hand, the Button option provides zero customization options.

Deeplink. With this type of Uber integration, users can launch Uber from within your application. Deeplink also could be integrated very quickly into your app and customized to suit your app design and layout.

Client libraries. If you want to create your custom end-to-end experience for your users, you might consider this option. With the help of mobile developers, you can use Uber’s SDK to empower your app with desired Uber features.

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Webhooks. You can create an app like Uber and integrate it direly to rider’s and driver’s experiences with reactive webhooks. Uber servers will send the Webhooks to your app. This way, your application can easily understand what action it may want to take based on the contents of the payload. For this type of integration, you might need help from mobile app developers.

Rest API. By using Uber’s Rest APIs, you will receive a high level of customization options and integrate the power of Uber into your app. Currently, you can incorporate the following Uber APIs:

•   Rush API. This type of Uber API is aimed at on-demand delivery services. The UberRush API is currently available in New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco.
•   Rides API. By using the Rides API, your developers empower your app, making Uber requests on behalf of a user.
•   Driver API lets your mobile development team create services and solutions that make the driver experience more productive. With the driver’s permission, the developers receive access to driver profiles, including ratings, trip count, and account status from drivers, as well as driving activity – which includes the city, fare, distance, and duration of each trip. Currently, access to Driver Uber API documentation is limited.

Step-by-step Uber API tutorial

Below we describe the steps the development team would follow to integrate Uber API into your app

Step 1. The team will check and research the Uber API documentation and apply for Driver API access.

Step 2. Next, the developers will study the SDKs for Uber Android or iOS API integration.

Step 3. Then, they will register on the Uber Developer Dashboard.

Step 4. Install the corresponding Uber SDK for your mobile platform (Android or iOS)

Step 5. And finally, the team will set up the SDK and add the necessary functionality, such as the trip request button or any intention to book a ride predetermined by the app’s navigation.

While Uber API integration might take up to four days, it brings unbearable advantages to your mobile application.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO DEVELOP AN APP: DETAILED FEATURE BREAKDOWN

Uber API ideas for integration

Apart from Uber API use cases described above, you might consider such integration, if your business belongs to the following niches:

•   Local food & grocery store

Solution: UberEats API. UberEats app allows delivering food from restaurants to your customers using Uber cars.

•   Logistic

Solution: Uber Freight. The Uber delivery API connects shippers and carriers for goods transportation. 

•   Car repair, beauty industry, and other B2C businesses

Solution: Uber Vouchers. Uber Voucher, a part of Uber for Business API, allows companies to engage with their customers more and pay for their trips with vouchers.

•   Business trips

Solution: Business Travel. The app enables organizations to control their workers’ business trip expenditures and make their business trips more comfortable.

•   Health care

Solution: Uber Health. This service for hospitals provides patients with convenient and reliable Uber services. 

•   Events

Solution: Uber Events. This service allows arranging guests of your events flexible door-to-door transportation. You can also empower your event app with the feature “remind me to request Uber” to send the user notification beforehand.

•   Hotels

Solution: Uber Central. Developed for hotel needs, Uber Central lets you deliver reliable rides to guests. The trip could be hailed immediately or scheduled in advance.

Conclusion

While Uber is a leader in the taxi-hailing market, it also becomes a competitive advantage for businesses who decided to integrate the Uber API. Such integration has a positive impact on user experience. The results of such cooperation are increased user engagement, average total, and raised users’ loyalty.

If you want to provide your app users with a new experience and stand out from the crowd, you can integrate Uber to your app.

After choosing the degree of integration, the last thing is to hire the mobile development team to make this integration for you.

And The App Solution is here to help.

What our clients say 

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I remember the times when arranging your own trip was a true challenge only for the brave. For the rest, there were travel agencies.

With the escalation of technology, the world has become smaller and reachable. Together with that, the fact of the journey itself is no longer such a big deal. Any place you want to visit, any hotel to stay, any food to taste, is just in the distance of a few taps on your smartphone. Now there is a particular application for all types of trips and tourists’ needs.

If you want to make a travel app, you are on the right road to success. Despite the high competition, travel app development is a perspective niche for investments.

Why? Online travel bookings peaked at $755 billion in 2019, before declining 46% to $403 billion in 2020. In 2021, travel bookings increased to $613 billion, still below 2019 figures – the rapid recovery speaks to the interest of the audience in this service niche. And so, with the departure of COVID-19, further growth is to be expected. 

Moreover, online sales will generate 73% of revenue in the travel & tourism sector by 2026. The last 5 years have been an important period for the growth of online travel sales via mobile as it increased from 36% to almost 50% of all digital travel sales. What other evidence do you need?

If you want to create a successful travel app, you need to choose its type, decide on the business model, and calculate the MVP cost.

That’s where The App Solutions come in.

In this article, we highlight all the aspects of travel mobile app development.

Let’s start.

How to create a mobile travel app in 5 steps

Step 1. Chose your app type

Select the travel app type among booking, accommodation booking, transport apps, and travel guides apps.

Step 2. Conduct competitor research

Discover other travel apps in your niche, their advantages, and disadvantages. Besides, consider integrating ready-made travel app APIs.

Step 3. Select a travel app MVP features

Include the following features for your travel app MVP: user account, social sharing, booking, in-app payment, and location-based search & filters.

Step 4. Find the travel app developers

Hire the best travel app development company that proves its expertise with previous projects.

Step 5. Enter the discovery phase

Define the concept of your travel app depending on the current trends, determine the project scope and milestones, and find the best technical solutions.

Step 6. Develop the travel app

Start the app development process with a development team that will create the design and builds the code for your project.

HOW TO CREATE A LOCATION-BASED APP FOR ANDROID AND IOS

The most popular travel app types

To develop a travel app you need to decide what kind of app you are going to create. Below we share the most popular types of travel mobile apps with examples and some technical aspects.

Flight booking apps

Using such apps, travelers compare flight costs, book, and pay for tickets.

Now, let us look at Hopper, a flight booking application, and its main features.

Image source: Myglobalviewpoint

• With price prediction algorithms, users can purchase plane tickets and book accommodation at the lowest prices.

Image source: Myglobalviewpoint

• Using push notifications, the app informs users about the lowest ticket prices.

Image source: Myglobalviewpoint

• Hopper users receive personalized recommendations based on flights they are tracking, history of previous vacations, and their budget. 

Now let’s go a little deeper into the technological side of flight booking apps.

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Aside from developing a travel app API from scratch, you can integrate existing APIs. They display real-time data on flights and allow users to book tickets. You can use the following

• QPX Express API
• Travel Fusion Flight API
• Cleartrip Flights API 

To provide users with secure in-app purchases, we suggest integrating

• PayPal
• Stripe
• Google Wallet
• Apple Pay

To find out more about other mobile payment solutions, read HOW TO INTEGRATE PAYMENT SYSTEM INTO THE EXISTING APP

Accommodation booking apps

Accommodation booking apps allow travelers to view, book, and pay for rooms.  App users can also leave a review of the place they have visited and rate it. At the same time, the most innovative renting apps include a check-in feature and electronic keys.

Marriott’s hotel booking app illustrates such apps perfectly.

Image source: Mobileapp.Marriott

• Before entering the hotel guests can use a built-in check-in feature.

Image source: Mobileapp.Marriott

• The app also gives guests an electronic key to open their hotel room door. 

Let’s see the technological side of accommodation booking apps.

To save budget in the development stage, you can add accommodation booking features to your travel app using:

• Booking.com API
• Airbnb API
• Zumata API

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Transport apps

With transport mobile applications, travelers receive access to local transport information and routes. Often, such applications have a geolocation feature to define user location and suggest the nearest transport options. Big news: you can add even more value to your travel app by integrating ridesharing taxi services.

Want to see how the transport app works? Check Citymapper. This application provides users access routes with official data from local transport companies.

Image source: Independent.co.uk

• Using Citymapper, users can enter the name of the road, postcode, or landmark

Image source: Evanevanstours

• The app then shows a transport option, including public transport, cycling, Uber, or walking.

To build a transport app with built-in schedules, use:

• Google Maps

To enhance the app feature list with taxi services, you can integrate

• Uber API
• FlightStats API
• Lyft API
• Gett API
• Taxify API

Let’s move on to travel apps.

Read also: How much does it cost to build a taxi app like Uber?

Travel guides apps

With a mobile travel app guide, travelers receive access to local attractions, insider tips, events, and sights. After visiting a particular place, travelers can share their experiences with other app users by writing reviews and recommendations. You can give users even more value by integrating currency converters, offline maps, and text-to-speech features.

So let’s take a closer look at Triposo, an offline travel app guide.

Image source: Androidsigma

• After analyzing content from various websites, the app provides users with personal recommendations about sights, places to sleep and eat, and nightlife.
• Triposo is also powered with phrasebooks with a text-to-speech feature and currency converter.

Let’s dig a little deeper into technological solutions.

Travel guide apps are powered with smart algorithms. They gather data from numerous websites, parse it, and show the description for each location.

To create a travel guide application, you can collect information from the following websites:

• World66
• Wikivoyage
• Wikipedia
• Open Street Maps
• TouristEye
• Flickr

You can integrate the text-to-speech feature using:   

• The text-to-speech Google library for Android app
• The Speech Synthesis core framework for iOS app

To empower your app with voice navigation, travel app developers might integrate:

• Google Directions API

After you’ve defined the type of your future app, let’s jump right into the travel app monetization model.

Read also: How to develop an app like Yelp?

Key points to consider when developing a travel app

Before you hire travel app developers, there are some key points to consider. We at The App Solutions  often face the doubts of our clients. The most important are why to develop a trip mobile app if customers can simply get all the information from the mobile version of the website.

Criteo Analytics report that travel apps for Android or iOS bring 130% more conversion in comparison to a mobile browser. So, the result is worth the effort:

Users and their needs

Your passion for creating the best app for the travel industry, first of all, should consider the needs of your clients. Who are these people? What is their income? Do they prefer standard tourist spots or like to explore unknown places? Here you need to find out how your ideas will interest your customers. The better you know, understand and anticipate your audience, the more valuable a proposition you can present to them.

Competitor research

As you can see, the market is quite competitive’. But the good news is that key players provide their resources and databases, thereby, freeing you from a huge pool of work. For instance, Trip Advisor API gives access to a massive database of UGC (user-generated content) including photos and reviews.

Choose a development team

Finding trip app developers for hire is a crucial stage of the travel app creating process. Your team needs to be, not only professional but also share your beliefs and passions.

Your delivery team should help you to define the concept depending on market trends, determine the project milestones, and contribute to finding the best performing solutions.

Read also: How to choose best app developers for hire

How to Make Money from Your Travel App? 

According to Statista, over 90% of the apps placed in Google Play are free. The point is that most applications uploaded to the app marketplaces are supposed to be free. But when mobile application became popular, its owners applied different monetization models to gain profit.

Below you will find four monetization models you can apply to a proposed travel app.

1. In-app advertising. In this business model, the advertiser pays the app owner for running adds across the app and access to the app user base.
2. Commission. The app owner receives a commission from every booking or payment made in the app.
3. Premium version. With this monetization model, you initially provide users with free basic travel app features. Still, to receive access to advanced app functionality, users should buy the Pro version.
4. In-app purchases. In-app purchases allow users to purchase additional travel services, while the app owner receives the transition fee from every sale.  

Still, to make these business models work, your app should be popular among users.

And the best way to develop a travel app that meets user expectations is to start with MVP. 

Now, let’s dig a little deeper and find out what  MVP is and its benefits. 

CHATBOT FOR TRAVEL INDUSTRY: BENEFITS, USE CASES, AND A DEVELOPMENT GUIDE

Mobile travel app MVP

MVP, or minimum viable product, is an app with a minimum set of features that may solve a definite problem for users.

Below we share the common practice of using MVP for project viability testing.

• For initial testing, you need to create the app with basic functions
• Then, you test an app MVP on the market 
• And find out whether it has the potential to succeed.

In our experience, MVP is the most reliable tool to understand your audience’s needs and expectations with a minimum budget and in a short time. 

But why should you develop MVP for your mobile travel app?

Reasons to develop a travel app MVP

As we have said, MVP helps a travel app development company to gather feedback from the app user. Their interest in the product gives the green light for the full product version development.

MVP also has the following advantages: 

• Minimize development costs. Consider that every additional app function and design costs money. By using the app MVP for initial testing, you invest minimum resources, thus save the budget.
• Test your business project. Any mobile application is a business project aimed at attracting customers and bringing in a profit. If you think your idea has a promising future, create the app MVP, and find out.
• Get feedback. Consider that your travel app should solve a particular user issue. This way, user feedback is essential for app development. Feedback includes insights into the most desired and unwanted app features, as well as solving user issues.
• Save your time. Rather than spending time and budget on developing an app that might fail, with MVP, you create a highly demanded and engaging app in the short term.
• Attract investors. To attract investment, you need something more than a business idea. By developing MVP for a travel startup, your business idea becomes more promising for investors and increases the chances of being noticed.

Now that you understand MVP goals and benefits, let’s come to the final point.

BUSINESS CASES FOR AUGMENTED REALITY NAVIGATION

How Much Does It Cost to Develop Travel App MVP?

In the table below, you will find the MVP feature list for different travel apps, the development time, and cost estimation.

MVP Feature	Flight booking apps	Accommodation  booking apps	Transport apps	Travel guides	Development time	Estimated costs
User’s personal account with Social Media Sign up/Sharing	+	+	+	+	60 hours	$2,300+
Location- based  Search & Filters	+	+	+	+	70+ hours	$3,000+
Booking Services	+	+	+		70+ hours	$3,000+
Payments	+	+	+		70 hours	$3,000+
Ratings & Reviews	+	+		+	32+ hours	$1,200+
Support	+	+	+		18+ hours	$710+
Navigation & Geolocation			+		120 hours	up to $5000+
Total	From 320 hours/ $12210	From 320 hours/ $12210	From 408 hours/ $ 17010	From 165 hours/ $6500

 To receive a more detailed estimation, contact our manager. 

Closing Words

With travel mobile applications, travelers can plan and book their trips in a more convenient way, therefore, the demand for traveling apps is growing.

Still, it is not necessary to spend a fortune on app development. We recommend to launch the travel app project as MVP and improve it using a continuous development approach.

What our clients say 

What would you pick: watching a movie or reading a book? Most of us would choose the first option because a video is more engaging and more memorable than text. And that is why – our brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster. Besides, 90% of the total information transmitted to our brain is visual.

Owners of video-streaming platforms are unlikely to think about these figures. But the fact is, the live streaming video industry is expected to reach $124.57 Billion by 2025. And, if you want to jump on the bandwagon, and create a live streaming website, this article is right for you. Below, we share a guide on how to create a live streaming website like Twitch, the development steps, and costs. 

What is Twitch streaming platform and how does it work

Twitch. tv is an online streaming platform where users can watch or broadcast live or prerecorded videos. Twitch was started in 2011 as a small platform for live video streaming called Justin. tv. In the same year, Justin Kahn, the platform founder, received $8 million in venture investments for platform development. In February 2014, Justin. tv was re-branded as Twitch Interactive, and in August of the same year, the service was acquired by Amazon for $970 million. Now, Twitch had an average of 2.78 million concurrent viewers in 2021, a 31% increase on 2020. Average concurrent viewers increased by 68% the year prior. The 30 million unique users view Twitch streams daily There are an estimated 51,500 Twitch Partners, as of August 2021.

When players are broadcasting videos, they usually add audio comments via a webcam appearing in the corner of the screen. As well as this, platform users are involved in live chat with gamers who have similar interests. Such interactive chatting creates a real-life social experience in the digital world. 

However, Twitch users use the platform for more than video game live streaming: 

• Twitch hosts E-tournaments and upcoming games demos. 
• The platform users use Twitch for video game tutorials, when many users can interact with each other and the instructor in real-time.
•  Also, Twitch performs as a software development learning environment where user communities stream programming projects and talk through their work. 

Apart from gaming, Twitch also has non-gaming live-streaming categories, like IRL (In Real Life), Talk Shows, Creative, and even Cooking. 

The Twitch business model includes the following revenue sources:

• Advertising. Twitch charges a cost per mile (CPM) fee from gaming companies, portals, and developers for running ads. The cost of CPM varies between $2-$10.
• Subscription. Twitch users can buy a subscription from the following options $4.99, $9.99, $24.99 per month. A paid subscription allows users to watch videos without ads and use premium Twitch features. Twitch premium features include an Expanded Emoticon Set, Custom Chat Username Colors, Priority customer support, and so on.  
• Partners. To support favorite streamers, Twitch users buy paid subscriptions for some channels. Twitch splits the subscription cost 50/50 with the channel owner. 

Now, let’s take a look at other business industries that can benefit from live video streaming. 

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Do live streaming services fit your business?

The Twitch example shows us live-streaming is a perspective industry for more than just streaming games. Below we have gathered other perspective spheres: 

• Education is the most prominent niche for live video streaming. According to the University of Dartmouth, 86% of colleges and universities have a presence on YouTube. Thus, you can create a live video streaming website to stream live lessons to extend the students’ classroom experience. 
• Conferences. 67% of viewers are more likely to buy a ticket to meetings after watching live streaming of the same event. You can build a live-streaming platform to stream scientific conferences or other industry-specific events. 
• Concerts. Concerts and festivals make up 43% of most-watched live content. Besides, 30% of people who watch a live stream event will attend in person the following year. In total, more than 4.6 million people watch music festivals via live streams each year. Thus, you can start a live streaming business to stream music festivals. 
• Online retail. 40% of customers say live videos of products impact their purchase decision. Thus, e-commerce is another industry where retailers can go live with their products and conduct see-now-buy-now strategies. 
• Healthcare. Live-streaming in healthcare can benefit in different ways. By using live video, doctors can hold training sessions or guide surgeons during a surgical procedure. Also, live-streaming allows for direct communication of patients with healthcare professionals to diagnose treatment.
• Gaming. The role of live-streaming in this industry is tremendous. By developing a live-streaming game website, you may reach a maximum amount of users, increase engagement, and create a loyal gaming community. 
• Fitness. A fitness live-streaming website where coaches and health diet specialists share their experience is another perspective niche. A live-streaming website would help your fitness business to attract new customers and build loyalty among existing ones.  

Must-have features of the best live tv streaming app

Now it’s time to take a closer look at the essential elements to build your live streaming website. You can consider this feature list for your live streaming website MVP. 

User registration. Allow users to register and login to your website via social media profiles, like Facebook. By tying your streaming website with other social media, you would give your users the option to share live stream links with their friends in social media and attract more users. 

User profile, where users add personal information, preferences, and links to social media. Your website should include two types of users such as watcher and gamer or trainee and trainer. Thus, they should have different user profiles with a distinct feature set. 

Player. Your website users could watch live streaming videos via a player from any device. As well as this, you can give your users an option to customize the player theme, control video replays, resolution, and notifications. 

Live video streaming. The quality of streaming video is the most critical factor for 67% of viewers who use live video streaming services. To provide users with high-quality video streaming, you would need to use RTMP. RTMP means real-time media protocol that maintains low latency connections. To achieve this, RTMP splits the entire stream into smaller chunks to travel from the server to the client.

Security. If you wish to run live streams of paid content, consider advanced security features. To prevent video assets from a data breach, you can use AES encryption, DRM, and IP-based access control.

Chat. This feature allows users to communicate with each other during live streams and ask the streaming person questions. In this way, you would create a sense of real-life experience online. To empower your website with a live chat, you can integrate a third-party solution or develop a custom chat which might cost more. 

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Streaming Service Additional features

Below we share other features to consider for the second development phase of your live streaming app:

Personalized content. If the streaming website includes multiple video categories, allow users to select the most relevant content in the Discover section so that users can see new videos from their selected categories. 

Analytics. To make your platform successful, you need to track user engagement, peak traffic, and viewership. It would also be great if your analytics could compare traffic for different video events. In this way, you would know which streaming category performs better. 

Auto video categorization. To catalog streaming data in real-time manually is almost impossible. This is where Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning come in handy. Use AI to automatically analyze the video content and Machine Learning to prevent copyright infringement on your platform. 

Schedule Live Streaming. Your streaming website might attract people from different countries and time zones. Thus, a live streaming schedule feature is essential. Allow streamers to schedule the next session and inform their followers about the new stream via Push Notifications. 

Monetization. You can provide users with paid subscriptions, paid access to premium content, or donations via a built-in payment gateway. Your payment processor should accept credit and debit cards, PayPal, and other payment methods, like Apple Pay. As for Twitch, they use the Xsolla payment system. 

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How to create live streaming website like Twitch: The project roadmap

And now, let’s go through specific steps required to build your live video streaming platform: 

1. Business vision

Here you need to identify what you want your potential live streaming platform to be according to your goals. In this way, you will give your business a clear focus and avoid heading in the wrong direction. Thus, you need to research your competitors and choose your niche. You also need to decide how your streaming platform will stand out and how to attract users. You can formalize a live streaming platform business vision by writing a vision statement.

2. Discovery (inception) phase

You and your development team will create a Functional specification describing the inner logic of your website, the feature list, and so on. This document should also include functional requirements relating to ways the product must behave, and non-functional requirements explaining the general software characteristics. 

3. Tech stack

Now you need to select the platform that will power your live streaming website and third-party services to integrate. You can choose among existing live streaming platforms such as Vplayed, Brightcove, and Contus Vplay or develop a custom one. At this stage, your development team will also create server architecture, database schema, and other live video streaming solutions.  

4. Design

To create an engaging design, you and your team will go through several steps. First, you, as the main stakeholder, should visualize your vision of the website layout and elements by creating sketches. Then, the team will use those sketches to create a wireframe for every screen of your website. Next, they will turn wireframes into a website prototype to receive feedback from you. Only after approving the prototype, the team will start developing the website design. 

5. Development

The team will begin building the front-end, back-end, and adding third-party integrations such as payment gateway. Such projects require the integration of comprehensive cloud architecture for keeping and streaming a large amount of data. Thus, we recommend starting the development off with a live streaming website MVP. The MVP will include high-priority features, such as user profile, live streaming player, and others. In this way, you can validate your business concept and minimize risks for your business. 

6. Testing 

For a successful launch, the QA team will thoroughly test your live streaming website to ensure every website element operates correctly. To achieve this, the QA team runs both manual and automated testing. 

7. Second development stage 

After the launch of your streaming platform, gather feedback from users to decide what features they want you to implement next. Honest user feedback may point out some disadvantages in your platform. By using such feedback, you can select a list of features to implement during the second development stage and improve your website. 

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How much does it cost to create a live streaming website like Twitch?

Real-time video streaming platforms are complex projects that require a certain amount of effort and time to develop. Below, we share a list of streaming website MVP and estimation in hours. 

FeatureScreen	Functions required	Design	Front-End	Back-End
Architecture				From 24 Hours
Design		From 80 hours
Registration	Registration via Email  Facebook  Google +			From 12 Hours
Login	Login via Email Facebook  Google+			From 8 Hours
User Profile/Account Settings	Edit user profile, photo Get user data from social media Homescreen			From 12 Hours
Screen of video	Video player Online chat with other users Online streaming from webcam			From 8 Hours
Streaming live video	Integrating Cloud hosting Creating a player on the front-end side for taking data Managing data on the server and returning it to other users in live mode based on sockets	From 4 Hours	From 40 Hours	From 120 Hours
Messaging between users	Online Chat (third-party integration or custom development) Push Notifications	From 8 Hours	From 32 Hours	From 40 Hours
Total:		Design from 92+ hours	Front-end from 72+ hours	Back-end from 224+ hours

The cost to develop a live streaming website MVP varies from approximately $10,000 to $50,000. 

How to monetize a live streaming video platform

And now, let’s find out how you could make money from live streaming websites like Twitch. 

Subscription model. You can charge platform users monthly or annual subscription fees. In exchange, you can provide users with premium content or advanced platform features.   

Advertisements. Running ads on your streaming platform is another live streaming business model. For this monetization model, you can choose among the following options:

• Pre-roll. Ads run before the stream begins
• Mid-roll. Ads run alongside the live stream
• Post-roll. Ads run after the event

Donations. Users may like to show their appreciation and donate money so you can make your online service even better. To empower your website with this feature, embed a build-in “donate” button. 

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The APP Solutions – Success Story

CASE STUDY: VIDEO STREAMING APP PROOF OF CONCEPT

At The APP Solutions, we often receive requests from potential clients for video streaming app development. Clients, who consider The APP Solutions as a tech partner, are looking for evidence that we have expertise in video streaming and social media app development. 

We decided to build a proof of concept of a video streaming application to ensure the ownership of the tech expertise. We also gave a detailed description of the overall architecture, feature list, and technologies we applied. 

The development of the video streaming app proof of concept gave us the following expertise:

• We integrated video streaming functionality to the POC using Agora.IO SaaS.
• We implemented the authentication and authorization by Firebase Authentication.
• We worked with Firebase Realtime Database, which supports direct connectivity with end-users applications (like mobile, web, etc.) server-side applications.
• We optimized the development process by applying ready-to-use Firebase functionality.

As a result, we showcased our expertise in video streaming app development. 

In a nutshell: how to create a live streaming website

As you can see, live streaming sites like Twitch are becoming new social networks where people share the same interests and building communities. 

As for the live-streaming itself, it is a prospective technology. You can apply live streaming, not only for gaming, but in almost every industry such as education, online retail, and so on. Still, to build a live streaming website, you will need a well-thought-out business vision, as well as a bunch of advanced technologies to provide users with high-quality video transmission. To find out whether your business idea has earning potential, launch your streaming platform as MVP and add other features during the second development stage.  

What our clients say 

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Do you remember those days when family members argue about what to watch next? Now, those days belong to the past. With online movie streaming services, you can watch anything, anytime, from any device. Moreover, the global video streaming market is estimated to be worth over $125 billion by 2025. And if you want to join the party, this is the right time. 

Below, you will find Netflix’s success story and tips on how to start a streaming service. 

Let’s begin. 

[Source: finance.yahoo]

The story behind Netflix success

Netflix is the leader in the video streaming industry. Starting as a DVD-by-mail company in 1997, now Netflix has over 118 million paid subscribers. In the U.S. alone, over 50% of households use this service. But why is Netflix so popular?   

In 1998, Netflix launched a web-page. Besides, the platform changed from a ‘Pay per rental’ to  ‘Monthly Subscription’ model. In the early 2000s’, Netflix focused on online streaming services, and it paid off. In 2008, Netflix finally introduced the Streaming service we know today.

How to make a live stream website like Twitch

Today, the company is famous for its original shows, television classics, and movies. According to Statista, In the third quarter of 2022, the streaming company Netflix based in Los Gatos, California, reported net earnings of around 1.4 billion U.S. dollars, whilst this amount was of roughly 1.45 billion in the corresponding quarter of 2021.

Before answering the question of how to start a streaming service, let us take a closer look at Netflix. 

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Netflix business model 

The business model is not only about the way you monetize your business. It is also about how you embrace your audience. Besides, the business model creates an organization ecosystem, able to scale upwards in the future. 

Netflix uses a subscription-based business model. In combination with global expansion, this business model allows the company to scale up quickly and steadily.

Netflix Value Proposition

The Netflix value proposition includes four essential elements, such as: 

Accessibility. The company delivers video across different platforms, operating systems, and devices. By using this approach, Netflix maximizes its fan base. Subscribers watch their favorite video content via browsers, tablets, and other devices. 

Original content. Netflix broadcast exclusive programs and third-party publisher’s shows. Besides, the service offers some in-house shows which are not available on other platforms. 

No ads. Netflix shows ads only to free account users. But, we all know how irritating ads are when you are watching your favorite series. At the same time, premium subscription owners enjoy online streaming without ads. In this way, the service motivates users to buy a subscription. 

Recommendation algorithm. Netflix has thousands of T.V. shows available for streaming. The recommendation algorithm gathers relevant content and increases engagement with the platform. 

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[Netflix recommendation Systems. Source: Uxplanet]

The recommendation algorithm analyzes user data from different sources. The Netflix machine learns recommendations for ranking, searching similarity, ratings, and more. Netflix also works with groups of various tastes. Thus, each subscriber fits into many groups that also affect recommendations. 

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How does Netflix make money?

The essential Netflix revenue source is subscriptions. Users can choose from the following three subscription monthly plans (for the USA): 

• Basic at $9.99 per month. With this plan, users can watch movies and T.V. shows on laptops, T.V., phones, and tablets. This plan does not include high-definition viewing, and users can only watch HD videos on one screen at a time.
• Standard at a cost of $157.49 per month. At this price, users can watch Full HD videos on two simultaneous viewings.
• Premium costs $19.99 per month. After paying the subscription fee, users can watch 4K videos on four screens at the same time. 

There is also a new Basic with ads* plan available (from November 2022). Its price is $6.99/month.

As for the target audience, Netflix has three main business segments:

• Domestic streaming. The platform revenues come from monthly fees, paid by U.S. subscribers.
• International streaming. Monthly membership fees came from subscribers outside the United States.  
• Domestic DVD. Revenue generated by US subscribers who pay DVD-by-mail monthly subscription fees. 

Now, let us look at the steps on how to start a business like Netflix and estimate the app development cost. 

Our Success Story

CASE STUDY: VIDEO STREAMING APP PROOF OF CONCEPT

At The APP Solutions, we often receive requests from potential clients for video streaming app development. Clients, who consider The APP Solutions as a tech partner, are looking for evidence that we have expertise in video streaming and social media app development. 

We decided to build a proof of concept of a video streaming application to ensure the ownership of the tech expertise. We also gave a detailed description of the overall architecture, feature list, and technologies we applied.

In addition, social media applications, doctor-on-demand projects, and virtual events software also apply video streaming functionality. 

How to Create Your Own Streaming Service App

The development of a Netflix style business is not as hard as it seems. To achieve this, you need to go through several steps as described below. 

Step 1. Find your niche

The first thing to do is to decide what content your app will stream to users. To give you a clue on profitable steaming niches, we have gathered several ideas below. 

• Entertainment. Netflix and HBO show us that entertainment streaming services are very profitable. The audience is big enough to accommodate a new streaming provider. 
• Fitness. Fitness is another prospective niche for VOD services. People would love to pay for a subscription to have access to fitness-related videos anytime. Besides, you can add different video categories, like yoga, dance training, or a healthy diet to enhance a wider audience.  
• Education. Nowadays, people are more likely to watch “How to” videos, rather than reading tutorials and instructions. Moreover, you can choose from many sub-niches, like magic tricks, cake making, or even origami to attract a specific audience. 

Step 2. Decide on the content availability

Since the content is the basis of your on-demand streaming service, you need to determine what your content will be. 

• Would you use videos from other distributors? 
• Or, would you want to create your video content? 

If you want to cooperate with video distributors, you need to get a license for public performance. There are two ways to deal with that:

• Renting a movie from the authorized distributor with licenses
• Contacting the copyright holder 

Both options are legit, and the choice depends on your business goals. If you choose the first option you might contact one of two leading authorized distributors or movies and T.V. series in the USA: 

• Motion Picture Licensing Corporation (MPLC)
• SWANK Motion Pictures

As for the second option, you need to get in touch with the studio which is the rightful holder of specific content. 

Step 3. Choose the monetization model 

For your proposed on-demand video service you can choose between three methods of video monetization: 

Pay-Per-View is the most straightforward pricing scheme which means the user pays for each video to watch. You can apply this model if you want to develop a platform to broadcast concerts, trade shows, conferences, or sports events, like boxing and MMA.

Advertising. You can charge other companies for running video advertisements on your platform. Still, this monetization strategy would only work if your platform will become famous among users. 

Subscription. As you remember, Netflix uses this exact monetization strategy. Besides, the subscription model is used by a third of professional broadcasters. Subscribers are charged a monthly fee to receive access to a content library. You can use this monetization technique if you will regularly release new content on your platform.  

[Source: Toulousevip]

Step 4. Study the video streaming app requirements

For your video to perform well, you need to balance the following performance characteristics:

Internet Speed

Internet speed impacts the platform’s ability to stream on-demand videos. The minimum internet speed to stream standard definition movies is more than 2 Mb/s (megabits per second). But to broadcast HD, 3D or 4K, your Internet speed must be much higher. Let us check the Netflix example. 

Cloud hosting and computing architecture

For keeping video content we recommend using cloud hosting platforms since cloud hosting has the following advantages:

• Cloud hosting platforms are flexible and increase the amount of space automatically. 
• Such platforms allow quick access to video content 
• Cloud hosting platforms are cheaper than hard drives

An on-demand video platform requires complex architecture. As your business develops, the complexity of your architecture will only increase. Subsequently, you need to think about your platform scaling from the very beginning. In this way, you can avoid complex data migrations.  

Besides, you can use cloud computing capabilities for many operations, including: 

• Search engine
• Recommendation system
• A/B testing
• Streaming service
• Caching architecture 

Recently, we developed a cloud dataflow for the Nanopore DNA Sequencing app. We solved the issues with the data transfer speed by using data processing and subsequent storage of incoming data. To find out more, read CASE STUDY: REAL-TIME DIAGNOSTICS FROM NANOPORE DNA SEQUENCERS

Network connectivity

Even if your online streaming platform doesn’t grow quickly, consider that it will scale up in the future. To achieve this, you need to integrate a content delivery network to your service. The content delivery network (CDN) broadcasts videos to subscribers via a server network. CDN turns your streaming app into a scalable system to handle significant traffic.

Security

You need to consider content protection from unauthorized access across customer devices. To ensure that your video streaming service is secure, consider the following:

• Network background provides 24/7 monitoring and content availability in the case of server failure.
• Token security prevents access to the videos of a 3rd-party source without your approval.
• Domain restriction locks content to a specific domain. Thanks to this feature, other users cannot see the embedded link in the source code and insert it into another platform or website.
• Geographical restriction excludes specific locations due to licensing agreements.
• Watermarking provides an extra level of live stream security. Thus, you maintain the rights to your content.

Payment gateway 

To provide your subscribers with various payment options, you can use the following popular payment solutions: 

• Stripe, which supports subscription services, has premade UI components and an API-first approach to customize the payment gateway for your platform. 
• 2CheckOut supports payments via Visa, Discover, MasterCard, JCB, PayPal, or other credit/debit cards.
• PayPal Payments Pro, which allows you to create and host your own checkout pages for complete control.
• Braintree. This payment gateway operates in over 40 countries and accepts payments in more than 130 currencies

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Step 7. Develop an on-demand streaming service MVP 

The last part of our guide on how to start an online video streaming business is the development stage. During this stage you must clarify functional and non-functional requirements, set timelines, think about the design, and so on. 

Pay extra attention to your proposed platform design since seamless user experience is the key to Netflix’s success. The platform needs an intuitive user interface. Thus, users can easily navigate films and shows, create “lists,” search by genre, actor, director, and so on. 

In the table below, we have gathered the essential MVP features and estimation in hours. 

Feature	Description	Estimation in hours
User Registration	Users can register their accounts on the platform and login to it later via email, Google, or Facebook.	From 32 hours
User Profile	Users can edit the name, upload photos, choose preferred genres, actors, directors, movies, shows, etc.	From 16 hours
Subscription and Payment Gateway	After the end of a free trial period, the service’s users will choose from several subscription options and pay for it via Stripe, Paypal, Braintree, etc.	From 80 hours
Content Search	Users can search for their preferred content on the basis of actors, movies, TV shows, ratings, genres, user reviews and more.	From 20 hours
Push Notifications	Users receive a notification when: Their subscription is about to expire Their subscription is renewed  They choose to cancel the subscription They decide to upgrade their subscription The new episode in on air	From 24 hours
Reviews and Ratings	This feature provides an option to review and rate the content they have just watched.	From 44 hours
Design	The team creates engaging platform layouts as well as each screen of the user’s experience.	From 100 hours
Total		From 316 hours

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Step 8. Gather feedback 

After the MVP launch, you need to gather user feedback from your platform. First, you need to find out how they like the existing features. Then, you can ask them what features they would like to add to your on-demand video service. This step will help you to understand the experience of real users with your service. You can gather user feedback in several ways:

• Email survey.
• Social media. 
• Pools. 

Bonus section: Important metrics to track

And now, let us look at the most critical parameters you need to measure:

Customer acquisition cost (CAC). This metric tells you the cost of acquiring a new subscriber. To calculate CAC, you need:

• Pick a specific period
• Divide the cost of marketing by the number of paying subscribers  

The lower CAC, the better. 

Retention Rate. This metric evaluates the percentage of active subscribers and those who have stopped using the service over a given time. You can calculate the retention rate by doing the following: 

• Subtract the number of new subscribers at the end of a season
• Divide this number by the number of subscribers you started the season with 

In this case, your goal is to keep the retention rate as high as possible. Still, this metric varies depending on the industry.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) shows how much revenue you receive from repeat customers. This metric also helps to evaluate the quality of your product. If you can keep your average user for a year, then the revenue such users bring during the year is your CLV. 

Return on Advertising Spending (ROAS) shows the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. You can calculate ROAS in this way:

• Divide the sales generated by your advert spending. 

Final Word

Since 1997, Netflix has become one of the media industry’s leaders. With the subscription-based model, the company continues scaling and investing in technological innovations. 

When developing a video streaming app, let the industry leaders, such as Netflix, be your successful example. In this way, you can adapt their business strategy for your video service. Consider choosing a niche and technology stack for your online streaming app. Besides, take into account certain industry-specific requirements, such as complex cloud architecture. Once you have a clear picture of your project, you can hire mobile app developers to bring your idea into reality.  

What our clients say 

Food delivery is something most of us can’t leave without. The pandemic and safety regulations made applications like UberEats even more popular. Now, to taste their favorite meal, restaurant guests place an order and wait for a courier to deliver it.  

Moreover, food orders are the only way for restaurants to earn money, while dine-ins are prohibited in numerous countries, including the U.S. 

Even though Uber Eats popularity, many restaurant owners criticize the platform for unfair service commissions that reduce restaurants’ already small profit margin. 

For that reason, savoy restaurant owners are considering developing their food delivery marketplaces like UberEats. As the saying goes, if you can’t beat them, lead them. 

Suppose you are one of the brave and optimistic food tech entrepreneurs and considering developing an app like Grubhub or UberEats. In this case, you need to know UberEat’s business model and simple steps to build such an app or even better. Let’s see how food delivery marketplaces similar to UberEats operate and how much it will cost you to make a food delivery aggregator. 

UberEats Business Model

The UberEats app is both a restaurant aggregator and a delivery agent that performs two different ways:

• UberEats uses a traditional food delivery model, listing partners-restaurants in a single app.
• UberEats also handles order delivery using its own logistics network to deliver orders from restaurants that don’t have a delivery option. 

The most notable features of this food delivery application include:

• Recommendations
• Advanced search
• Order tracking 
• Delivery details 

Now, let us take a look at UberEats monetization strategies.

How does UberEats make money? 

The company applies three monetization strategies:

• Delivery Fee from $2 to $8 per order depending on the distance between customers and restaurants
• Service Fees from 15% to 40% fee for each order received via UberEats. 
• Promotion -when partner restaurants pay for ranking first in the search, which increases their visibility to customers. 

How to make a food delivery application: 5 steps to follow

To develop apps like UberEats and make it popular among users, you need something more than copying its features. To help you surpass UberEats, we suggest applying the following steps:

Step 1. Track Food Delivery Industry Trends

You need to be aware of the new delivery channels and other trends:

Social Networks

To make your project unique in the selected niche, consider integrating ordering via social media accounts functionality. 

The first company that used this ordering option was Domino’s Pizza, which offered customers orders via Twitter accounts. App users “tweeted” a pizza emoji to the Domino’s Pizza Twitter account to place an order. 

A GUIDE ON STARTING A FOOD MEAL KIT DELIVERY SERVICE

[Source: Domino’s Pizza]

Before ordering at Domino’s Pizza vis Twitter, users need: 

• Create a “pizza profile” and list a favorite pizza
• Fill in the “default orders” section on Domino’s Pizza website
• Link a pizza profile with a Twitter account

Virtual assistant

Chabot allows placing orders via messengers and requests food by a single word:

Domino’s pizza has developed Dom, a chatbot that allows placing orders on Twitter and Facebook messengers and learn about special offers.

Grubhub has integrated its system with Alexa, Amazon’s virtual assistant, allowing customers to reorder any of their last three purchases.

Just Eat has decided to keep up with the current trends and integrate Alexa into its ordering system. Thanks to new Amazon hardware, Echo Show, Just Eat can place orders by voice and check the courier’s location.

Smartwatch

Food delivery companies widely use wearable devices: 

Domino’s was a pioneer who launched a food ordering app for Android watches which simplifies ordering.

[Image source: Domino’s Pizza]

OrderUp introduced its latest app for the Apple Watch. OrderUp customers can place orders, track delivery statuses, and see when the courier will arrive.

BALANCING THE SUPPLY AND DEMAND WITH AN ON-DEMAND GROCERY DELIVERY APP

Step 2. Choose Food Delivery Model

Now, you need to select a food delivery model among two business models that will suit you the best: 

	Order-Only Model	Order and Delivery Model
Companies	Delivery.com Eat24 JustEat	Deliveroo Doordash UberEats
Description	Companies only manage orders.	Food startups are responsible for both managing orders and delivery. In some cases, such businesses cooperate with courier services.
Monetization	Order-only businesses charge restaurants 10 – 30% of order value.	The business model includes a commission from restaurants (25-30%) and the delivery fee. You can set a flat-rate delivery fee or charge a fee based on customer and restaurant distance, as UberEats does.
Limitations	This business model has a low barrier for entry. Thus, this niche is quite crowded with competitors.	You need to hire and train carriers, etc. The increased amount of management works may impact business scaling.
Benefits	By using this business model, you don’t have to worry about cooking and delivery.	Once such a food delivery is in place, you will develop a company and receive a profit.

[Statistics for on-delivery services income by Statista]

Step 3. Research target market 

To develop an excellent food delivery app, you need to know the target audience. Once you understand who will use the food delivery app, it is easy to build an app that ideally meets target audiences’ needs. 

The target audience could be narrow, such as gluten-free raw vegans, or broad, like pizza lovers. 

To draw a clear picture of the target audience, use demographic criteria and create a target customer profile by clarifying the following info:

• Social characteristics, including income, gender, nationality, and age
• What potential customer problem may your project solve?
• What feeling will your application provoke from customers?
• Why should customers use the platform rather than competitors? 

By clarifying all of these points, you will have a good idea of the target customers. 

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO DEVELOP AN APP: DETAILED FEATURE BREAKDOWN

Step 4. Choose the main features of UberEats-like food delivery services

When developing a mobile app like Uber for food delivery, consider the following features: 

Login allows login to the app using email or social networks profile. 

Search allows searching by meal, filters, as well as food category. This section should include pictures of dishes, the process, and a description of the meal.

Order placing allows adding meals to the cart. 

Order checkout includes all selected dishes and the order total. 

Payment allows users to pay for the order via the built-in payment gateway. Our advice is to integrate several payment systems, such as PayPal, Stripe, MangoPay. We applied this strategy to custom marketplace development. You can find the complete case study on the link. 

Notifications inform users about the order status via push notifications and SMS.

Order tracking shows real-time order tracking using the CoreLocation framework for iOS apps and Google Location API for Android apps. Besides, Mapkits and Google Maps will help couriers to find the best route to the customer’s location.

User Reviews allows app users to share their experience and rate restaurants. 

Step 5. Select the Technology Stack of Food Delivery App Development 

Depending on the business model of a food delivery startup, you might need different technologies. Still, we have gathered an essential tech stack for Uber-like apps in the table below:

Restaurant listing

• Grubhub API
• FourSquare API

Payment gateway

• Square API
• Braintree
• Stripe
• PayPal

Find user location

• Core Location Framework
• Google Places API
• Google Maps

Push notifications

• Amazon SNS
• Urban Airship
• Firebase Cloud Messaging

HOW TO CREATE A LOCATION-BASED APP FOR ANDROID AND IOS

How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Food Delivery App?

The mobile app’s cost consists of many elements, including the number of platforms, feature list, the number of integrations, etc. 

The mobile development team will create a detailed app estimation only after the discovery (inception) phase. 

What does this mean? 

The discovery (inception) phase is the first step you and the development team take to build a solid foundation for app development. This stage includes several components, such as:

• Functional specification
• UX/UI design 
• Visual prototypes

The product discovery phase can help you with:

• Defining the scope of work 
• Developing the project roadmap 
• Setting a realistic MVP budget 
• Planning resources
• Testing the app MVP with a target audience 
• Developing a solid investment pitch

So, how much will the food delivery app cost?  

We need 50+ hours to create UI/UX design, 66+ hours to build the app’s back-end, while the development stage may take 120+ hours per platform. 

To make your app like UberEats stand out, keep an eye on current food ordering industry trends, and don’t forget to give your customers added value that your competitors don’t have.

For a food delivery app, you can apply either an Order-Only or Order and Delivery Model. With the app MVP, you can gather insights from the target audience and add other features during the second development stage. 

Our Successful Story

CASE STUDY: Alfredo Ibiza On-demand Food Delivery App

Alfred Ibiza is an on-demand delivery mobile app that connects restaurants, stores, couriers, and customers in Ibiza. The app allows customers to order from restaurants, pharmacies, and supermarkets, listed on the platform. The APP Solutions got to work!

We managed to develop the Alfred Ibiza platform within just three months, at a total project cost of $70,000, 50-60% cheaper than the average development cost of a food delivery app.

The platform includes an app for customers, couriers, an admin panel for restaurants with only necessary functions. Besides this, we also developed a marketing landing page to promote the Alfred Ibiza platform.

Our tech stack

• Node.js
• React.js
• React Native
• Stripe

Team composition

• 1 Back-end Node.js developer
• 1 React.js developer
• 2 React Native developers
• 1 Quality Assurance manager
• 1 product owner

What our clients say 

Related articles: 

AI in the logistics industry 

How to develop Uber for trucking 

How to create an application like Uber 

HYPR taxi app development case study 

The medical field in the United States was one of the first to be affected by universal digitalization, which had a positive effect on patient treatment. However, perfection knows no limits, and ordering medical records is the first step to a “bright future,” which is impossible without technology development.

Please dive deep into our Podcast with Jeff Fried, Director of Product Management at InterSystems. You can gather insights about EHR integration like Epic with the use of InterSystems technology.

The APP Solutions is a long-standing InterSystems partner, and we use InterSystems technology to integrate with 99% of EHR systems within the US. This is the quickest and most affordable way to solve all your interoperability challenges.

What does Epic Software Mean?

Epic Software is an application created to help doctors and other healthcare professionals (insurance agents, pharmacists) effectively manage electronic medical records and track any information that is in any way related to a patient’s health. Such software helps access data much more quickly, not prescribing unnecessary tests or drugs that can cause side effects, etc. Epic software helps to significantly improve business processes.

According to statistics, in 2022, Epic named top EHR 12th straight year in nomination “Best overall software suite”. Isn’t that compelling enough reason to incorporate the system into your application?

What is EHR/EMR Integration?

EHR (electronic health records software) and EMR (electronic medical records) are medical records systems. Despite the similarity of concepts, they still have a defining difference that affects the degree of compatibility due to the amount of information. EMR contains data maintained by one doctor or group of doctors from one medical institution; as soon as you go to another hospital, you need to start all over again. 

The EHR absolutely systematizes all info from any medical personnel that has ever been entered into the system. Any doctor anywhere in the country can view the current data or send it to colleagues when needed.

KEY DIFFERENCES IN EHR VS. EMR VS. PHR: WHAT TO CHOOSE FOR YOUR HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATION

EMR/EHR epic integration simplifies the life of medical staff and patients, allowing them to download the entire medical history of a person in seconds, and saves time on various burdensome but necessary formalities such as filling out personal and insurance information.

HL7 INTEGRATION: A REFERENCE FOR ITS BENEFITS, IMPLEMENTATIONS, AND APPLICATIONS

Does Epic have an API?

You can integrate your software with EHR (which we have found will give your product a huge advantage) in several ways:

• HL7 (Health Level Seven) – a set of international standards that issue recommendations for the transfer and exchange of data between medical institutions and other healthcare providers
• FHIR API (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) – preferably for iOS 
• Middleware
• Personal EHR integration modules created by your developers

CASE STUDY 

A White-Label Telemedicine Platform – organizing data transmission in FHIR HL7 standard for health care data exchange using FHIR HL7 infrastructure

OTHER CASE STUDIES:

Calmerry Online Therapy Platform

Orb Health – Сare Management As A Virtual Service

BuenoPR – 360° Approach to Health

But Epic is the most optimal because interoperability is easier to achieve using EHR solution providers’ public or open API. And the exchange of data between Epic EHR and your product takes place using the Epic API.

API is an application programming interface, a set of rules for working with data. With its help, you can understand how to retrieve info and send it back in each case. It acts as a kind of intermediary between the application and the EHR/EMR system.

Upon receiving a specific request, the API relays it to the system. It then receives, processes, and issues a response containing all the necessary information about the patient in a unified approved format USCDI (The U.S. Core Data for Interoperability). 

STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE ON MOBILE APP HIPAA COMPLIANCE

This standardization is part of the Affordable Care Act. It allows the creation of a homogeneous data set so that information does not get confused, and any doctor can quickly and easily figure it out.

***

Want to learn more about EHR integration? Watch our podcast with the expert Jeff Fried, Director of Product Management at InterSystems.

PODCAST #3. HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP IMPROVE HEALTHCARE OUTCOMES

How to Integrate Your Health App with Epic EMR/EHR Systems?

First, think about the server where your application is stored. Next, check the compatibility of the sites from which you are going to collect information. Make sure the EHR/EMR supports these sites. 

FHIR STANDARD: THE CRUCIAL HEALTHCARE DATA SOLUTION FOR SECURE INTEROPERABILITY

The next step is to create an account at Uscdi.epic.com, which we mentioned earlier. This is required to access the API key. Confirm your identity; it is important to protect data transmitted encrypted via the SSL protocol. 

Check if the API will have the necessary endpoints so that, at some point, your application does not stop receiving data from the system. Check everything from medical history to allergy markers. You will see the API key on the website, which is best tested to see if all endpoints are working as expected.

Include API calls in your application code using endpoints. After everything is implemented and tested, you can take advantage of the Epic EHR/EMR integration.

How To Make A Medical App: The Ultimate Guide

The Benefits of Integration EHR/EMR

 Among other preferences, we wanted to emphasize again:

• Quick access to any medical institution. Doctors don’t always have the opportunity to see a patient in their office; sometimes, they have to go out and work with no computer with available data. The implementation of Epic EHR allows viewing everything from a smartphone. With Epic, healthcare providers exchange more than 200 million records each month.
• Cost optimization. The Epic API is easier to integrate than HL7 or CCD. In the latter case, the developer must write a lot on his own; this significantly affects the project’s cost. Whereas Epic syncs with EHR/EMR for free.
• Scalability. With Epic’s electronic health record integration, you can easily resize your database. It is helpful for medical organizations such as intensive care units, where patients are under constant supervision, resulting in many entries.

KEEP A PULSE ON EPIC APP ORCHARD AND HOW IT BENEFITS THE HEALTH SYSTEMS

Who Needs Epic EMR/EHR Integration?

In addition to the above cases, the Epic USCDI API is the best fit for applications focused on remote patient treatment. For example, telemedicine. The patient does not need to collect all of his data from different clinics to forward it to the appropriate specialist. The doctor will find where to get them.

Epic EHR/EMR integration is also suitable for patient management, which tracks and controls treatment plans. When a patient’s medical history is reviewed, the app retrieves baseline and current clinical data (drug status and test results) and tracks changes.

 Source

THE APP SOLUTIONS – CUSTOM HEALTHCARE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT COMPANY 

Which Healthcare Organizations don’t Need Epic EHR/EMR Integration?

Note: if your software requires more than just retrieving data, you need to consider other APIs, because Epic only allows you to view the data, not make edits! Thus, if the attending physician is going to add new or correct existing information, remember about HL7, FHIR API, etc.

Epic is also not suitable if you need data synchronization or extensive analytical data (as a rule, there will be no overload with data on one patient). Also, Epic is not suitable for patient-oriented applications, as the information stored in the EHR/EMR is primarily for physicians.

Everyone likes music. The tempo of life is getting faster and faster.  Often there’s no time to go through an entire list of music tracks and purchase the ones you like. Fortunately, audio streaming applications have changed the way we listen to music.

With modern technologies, we get an effortless user experience and receive music in a matter of clicks. Mobile devices and a stellar speed Internet connection only complement this trend.

If you want to learn more about music streaming apps or create a music app, this article is right for you. Below, we share the music streaming market statistics, song streaming app monetization strategies, and how to make a music app like Spotify.

Read on!

5 Steps to create an app like Spotify 

Step 1. Consider the main Spotify-like app features 

A music streaming app includes such features as registration and signing up, music organizing, music discovery, social sharing, push notifications, and a music library. 

Step 2. Choose licensing type

As for Spotify, the platform has two types of licenses including the Sound Recording License Agreement and the Musical Composition License Agreement.

Step 3. Find music app developers

Choose a team that will build an app like Spotify for you. There are a lot of factors for you to consider. You also should check the portfolio of your music application development company.

Step 4. Develop an audio streaming app UI/UX design

Now, you and your development team should agree on how the future app will look. For that, you need to create an app Wireframe, Mockup, and Prototype. 

Step 5. Create audio streaming app MVP

At this stage, you will decide on your MVP (minimum viable product), and all the other details with your development team and you are ready to go.

READ ALSO:

HOW TO CREATE VIDEO SOCIAL MEDIA APP LIKE TIKTOK

HOW TO BUILD A DATING APP LIKE TINDER

HOW TO MAKE A LIVE STREAM WEBSITE LIKE TWITCH

HOW TO DEVELOP AN APP LIKE NETFLIX

Why consider music streaming

If we’re talking about music services – there are typical online radio stations and music streaming services, like Spotify. That’s how people enjoy quality, easy-accessible sound spots.

What’s more, people globally shift to their mobile devices to do pretty much anything. Phone calls only use a fraction of the time people spend on their cell phones.

But there is more!

• The global music streaming market is growing steadily — the global subscriber base is expected to reach 2.81 billion by the end of 2025.

[Image source: Goodwater]

• Music Streaming Application Market is expected to reach $17.50 Billion by 2025
• Statista said 14% of the population use paid music streaming services several times a day.

[Image source: RIAA]

• There are 186.7 million digital music users in the U.S.
• Spotify has over 200 million active users, more than 109 million paid subscribers, and about 40% of the global music streaming market

Did I mention that 72% of Spotify users are millennials, who, it seems, were born with mobiles in their hands?

Driven by advantageous technologies, the music streaming industry continues to grow. Therefore, the development of your live audio streaming app might be a great idea.

Current Leaders of the Sound Streaming Market

There are three leaders in the sound streaming market, including

• Spotify with 31% market share
• Apple Music with 15%
• Amazon Music counting 13% market share

Now, let us take a closer look at each of them.

Spotify

Being a pioneer in the music-streaming market, Spotify is the best-known music app. The app has 109 million premium subscribers and 232 million monthly active users.

App users receive access to different music services. They include Discover Weekly playlists and experimental ones, like the Australia-only station.

Spotify has Facebook integration, which allows users to share with their Facebook friends. Besides, this feature enables Spotify users to share their music easier than competitors.  

[Example of Spotify interface]

Apple Music

Apple Music is the second most popular music streaming app. It provides users with plenty of features and a discount for families and students. In June 2019, Apple Music had over 60 million paid subscribers, and 50 million songs in the library. All Apple devices, including Apple HomePod, are compatible with this app. Still, unlike Spotify, the app does not have robust sharing options.

[Example of Apple Music interface]

Amazon Music Unlimited

Amazon Music is an advanced version of Amazon Prime Music, provided to Prime subscribers for free. For an extra payment, users receive access to an expanded catalog. Amazon Music recommends playlists grouped around artists the user already listened to. Also, the app shows the song lyrics on the “now playing” screen. 

[Example of Amazon Music interface]

To conclude, Spotify is not alone in this online music thing. Other significant players are Apple Music and Amazon Music.

All music streaming services have a lot of benefits, including:

• Quick access to music
• Affordability
• Unlimited storage
• Social engagement

As you can see, all these services appear to be outstanding because of these common features- they are effortless, intuitive, and easy to use. 

The Killer Idea Behind Spotify

To give you a clear idea of how to start a music streaming service, let’s discover the inner logic behind Spotify. 

• Spotify stores music on various servers
• To stream a random track on your mobile, Spotify finds it on one of the millions of servers and sends it to your device
• Servers, in this case, are computers and all other gadgets of Spotify’s subscribers 

This concept is more effective than hitting servers with requests to download the track. At the same time, you become an essential link for the global social music sharing network, which is engaging too. And, it enables users to listen to all this music legally by paying royalties to authors. 

Now, let’s learn how to build a music streaming app and make it profitable.

How to Make Money with a Spotify-Like App

Music streaming services, like Spotify, have two main ways of earning; premium account and running ads. Let’s check how Spotify applies these strategies.

Premium Services

The premium Spotify account provides users with free access to unlimited music across other devices. Besides, the app allows the temporary downloading of songs for offline access and plays the highest quality music. There are several types of paid plans, including:

• Student plan cost $4.99 per month
• Individual account – $9.99 per month
• Duo account – $12.99 per month
• Family account – $15.99 per month

Ad-supported Services

App users with a free account can listen to a limited among of songs on demand, which may be interrupted by an advertisement. By using this business model, Spotify charges advertisers a cost-per-click and cost per mile fee.

According to their site, Spotify spends a significant chunk of money to pay royalty rewards to artists.

Read also: How Do Apps Make Money?

This concludes how to earn with your Spotify clone. You have to become a part of “back to paid music” preachers, deal with authors and provide your users with a good deal of music value for their membership.

Critical Features to Include in a Spotify-Like App

If you are looking for ideas on how to make an app like Spotify, consider the following app features:

Registration / signing up

First, a user should be authorized to use your system. Users can register in Spotify via email or social media like Facebook. 

Make sure you take this step very effortless for users. Connect it to social media and you get new subscribers in a matter of taps.

Music organizing

The app should provide features of grouping one’s music, etc.

So, users can create playlists for different purposes, like current activities and genres.

Music Discovery

To motivate users to engage with your app more often, you need to provide them with personalized content. And here is where Spotify has a great competitive advantage over other services.

Spotify uses an AI-based recommendation algorithm that selects songs for the Discover Weekly section. Spotify developers created their own powerful discovery engine.

Let us check how it works.

For Weekly Discovery recommendation, Spotify uses three types of recommendation models, including:

• User crossovers with the listening history of other users
• Natural language processing. In Spotify, this technology works on the Echo Nest API. It learns about the music genres by analyzing the text and looking at similar terms associated with the artist across the Internet. Kafka manages the data in real-time.
• Deep learning to analyzes the raw tracks. For this, Spotify applies a” convolution neural network.” This deep neural network learns from experience using only raw data input.

All things social

This feature allows users to share songs with friends and highlight favorite tracks on a social feed. It’s also going to serve your app with a good deal of word-of-mouth advertising at the same time.

Read also:

Case Study: Video Streaming App Proof of Concept

How To Develop a Social Media App?

Push notifications

Push notification is a deciding feature for such a social community based on follow-ups and spreading content. People want news from their favorite sources; that’s how it works now – users wish to have valuable personalized benefits from your service.

Music Library

Unfortunately, this feature is absent in Spotify. Because of this, users can not host or upload their tracks and create a music library. The only option is to create personal playlists and subscribe to music channels created by other users.

At the same time, this feature is available in Apple Music. It allows users to add and synchronize songs on their devices and in-app playlists. Users can store a certain amount of songs on their app for free or upgrade to a premium plan.

To give you a clue of how to make a music app, and even better app than Spotify, consider this function as well.

Now, let’s find out, how to build a music app.

Where to Start: Your Guide to Making a Music App like Spotify

Now, let’s dig deeper into the process of music streaming app development. Below, we share a step-by-step guide on how to make a music streaming app, together with cost estimations.

Check this out.

Ideas are everything

For music app development, you need to specify the whole concept of the app.  In order to do this, find a similar application, and of course, think of something that makes your app special. 

Licensing

When developing a music streaming service, you need to get a license to provide your subscribers with legal audio content.

As for Spotify, the platform has two types of licenses for music distribution, such as:

• Sound Recording License Agreement, covering recording rights. Spotify uses licenses received from the big three record labels – Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment Group, and Warner Music Group.
• Musical Composition License Agreement. This covers the rightful owners of the songs, managed through two main firms in the U.S.-BMI and ASCAP.

When looking for an answer on how to make your own music app, do not forget to get such a license.

Find music app developers

Now it’s time to come to the actual work and choose a team that will build an app like Spotify for you. There are a lot of factors for you to consider. To estimate how much it costs to develop a music app like Spotify, check developer rates among regions:

• USA/Canada-based dev teams – $50 to $250/hour
• Western Europe – $80 to$170/hour
• Eastern Europe – $50 to $150/hour
• Australia – $80 to $150/hour
• India – $30 to $80/hour

You also should check the portfolio of your music application development company.  From the beginning, communicate with your team to make sure you’re on the same track. At the APP Solutions, we usually hold meetings with our clients on a regular basis via Skype.

See also: How to Outsource App Development?

Plan & Estimate

This market has significant potential, but that’s not enough to run and spend all you have for a killer application. You need to run a study and learn about your target audiences’ preferences. Then, communicate your business idea to your development team. The team will come up with some technological solutions, cost estimation, and project requirements.

Develop an audio streaming app 

UI/UX design

Now, you and your development team should agree on how the future app will look. Here, you can offer the design team some ideas, if you have them.

The necessary process of the music app design creating includes the following stages.

• Wireframe. The team will create a black and white app that shows the general concept of the app.
• Mockup. The team develops colorful but static screens of the future app. Mockups include icon design, button shapes, spaces, etc.
• Prototype. The team creates an interactive model of the app that shows how the app acts. As a rule, prototypes give you an option to tap, swap, drag, and see the result. 

Choose tech stack

To develop your Spotify-like app, consider Spotify developer tools, like Python and JavaScript. Besides, Spotify uses PHP for the server-side and Java for the back-end structure. As we said, Spotify stores all the music files on the device cache. For this, use Cassandra, PostgreSQL, as well as a general memory caching system.

When looking for a clue on how to create a music streaming service, take into account that Spotify uses the following technologies:

• Kafka software for real-time data management and processing
• GraphWalker for model-based tests and Python integration
• Amazon S3  for cloud-based music streaming
• Dataproc  for platform infrastructure
• Chromium embedded framework for building UI for desktop application
• Bootstrap for web app development
• Nginx as open-source HTTP and proxy server
• C++ for Windows/Mac clients
• Java for Android music streaming app
• Objective-C for iOS  music streaming app

How to make a music streaming website?

You can empower your app with Spotify players by integrating Spotify player SDK. This library contains classes to stream management and audio playback. It takes on all the negotiation with Spotify’s back-end, digital rights management, and decoding.

[Spotnews screens]

We did such integration for our recent project, SpotNews. SpotNews is an audio streaming platform that provides personalized music content. The idea behind the app is to allow users to listen to their favorite songs while reading the news sections. 

We also used:

• Spotify SDK for authorization via the Spotify user profile
• Java Android SDK, Retrofit, Fresco, Crashlytics, and Realm to provide smooth app performance
• PHP, Silex, MySQL, Composer HTML5, CSS3, Twitter BootStrap, Jquery, Bower, Less, Nginx to moderate the news feeds via the Admin Panel

You might also like: HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO DEVELOP A CHAT APP LIKE SNAPCHAT IN 2019

Create audio streaming app MVP

At this stage, you will decide on your MVP (minimum viable product), and all the other details with your development team and you are ready to go.

When looking for ideas on how to create a music app, consider the following features for your music streaming app MVP: 

Feature	Integrations	Estimation in hours
Registration / signing up	Email Facebook Google+	From 32 hours
Profile user	Edit user profile Choose genre	From 36 hours
Social Share	Facebook	From 15 hours
Personalization	Pick-up algorithm that will choose the next music track for each individual user. Use ML to find  appropriate songs for users	From 100 hours
Music player	Key visual Music player functionality Play, stop, pause, forward, etc.	70
Track search	Search in connected music service	From 32 hours
Playlist manager	Create playlist Edit playlist	From 60 hours
Total		From 345 hours

The average development cost of a music streaming app like Spotify is about $40-50K per platform.

For a more detailed estimation, you can use our project cost calculator. Now you know how to create a music app like Spotify.

You might also like: HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO MAKE AN APP?

Take it to the test

After the application is ready, the team does in-depth testing to ensure the app runs smoothly. We usually implement it right after the app is prepared and approved. Plus, three months after release our developers can fix any issues occurred for free.

Wrapping up

The music streaming app market is growing, and its revenue is expected to reach $17.50 Billion by 2025.

Spotify is the leader among music streaming apps. It uses a raft of modern technologies to provide users with relevant music content.

While music streaming is a hot trend, you have a chance to get your share of the music streaming market, as Spotify did.  

But, to achieve success with your app, and be ahead of competitors, you need to get started asap. 

The last thing that remains is to find a development team. And we are here to help.

When we talk about healthcare data integration, emphasis is often placed on  components, such as EHR systems.

Sometimes, the problem isn’t about collecting data, but how to manage and use it easily. Imagine if everyone in healthcare used the same system for their data – that would make things a lot simpler, right? But, unfortunately, that’s not the case. 

Different companies use different systems and ways to store their data. Even within the same company, information can be fragmented across various systems. Mishandling of this data can lead to repeated information, inconsistent care for patients, or issues when trying to share it.

For everyone to be able to access it, we need to bring all that information in one place. This is what we call “health data integration.” But how do we go about it? Should we use systems like Redox or InterSystems, or just combine everything directly? Also, what issues might a clinic face while putting all this data together? Let’s dive deeper to answer these questions.

What Is Health Data and Why Integrate It?

Health data is information about an individual’s or population’s health. It includes aspects such as medical history, diagnostic results, and beyond. It also extends to environmental and behavioral factors that might influence medical outcomes.

In the past, doctors used to gather all the health information they needed when a patient came to see them. They would use this data to decide on the best treatments based on evidence.

But now, things have changed thanks to digital health technology. Doctors can now get important information much faster. Plus, they can use these new technologies to keep the information safe and make sure patients can access it easily. We have fitness trackers and health apps that help us collect facts outside of a doctor’s office.

In short, the main goal of health data is to make care better and less expensive. This is helpful to the patients and hospitals alike.

For instance, by predicting which patients are at risk of certain diseases, we can intervene earlier and prevent expensive treatments later on. It can also help avoid unnecessary or duplicate tests and procedures. Patients and healthcare providers thus save money.

According to Statista, the amount of global health data grew a lot in 2020. To give you an idea, in 2013, there were 153 exabytes of data (that’s a lot!) created. But in 2020, there were about 2,314 exabytes of new ones created. Now, think about how much more data we’ll have in the future, especially with big data technologies like AI and ML revolutionizing medicine.

Thus, it’s fair to say that combining all these different sets of information isn’t always easy. Before hospitals can use any of this data, they need to clean it up and make it standardized. This means making sure all the different bits of data fit together well.

Nonetheless, cleaning and standardizing data are only one facet of the problem. Let’s look at other challenges medical groups might face when they try to put all their information in one place.

Health Data Integration Challenges in Hospitals 

Research by Techcrunch shows that 44% of healthcare firms avoid data integration due to inherent risks and obstacles. Here are some of these challenges.

Healthcare data comes in many forms. This variety makes it hard to combine it from different sources. With no universal format, researchers often struggle to access valuable information.

Handling hospital records lacks a standard method, leading to potential data loss. Unclear data ownership rules compound this issue. Hence, strict protocols to standardize data handling and clarify ownership are a must.

Often, medical teams don’t fully understand the rules about keeping patient information private when they have to share it. This is why health companies in the US are making more efforts to follow privacy rules. Statista reported that more than half of the C-level execs said they are either updating privacy rules or training their workers as part of their plan.

Healthcare firms use many apps that hold similar data. But this asset isn’t always accessible across platforms. Even small discrepancies can hurt data-driven insights. Uniformity across apps, through compliance standards, is crucial.

New medical devices and wearables are increasing the number of data sources. But integrating information from wearables can be tough due to its format and privacy issues.

Another Statista survey revealed that in 2022, there were over 340 cases of health data breaches in the US. To give you a perspective, back in 2005, there were only 16 cases.

So what does this mean?

As technology and healthcare systems get more advanced, we also need to do a better job at keeping data safe. It’s super important for medical companies to protect their records from hackers. They have to follow the rules that are already in place.

For example, HIPAA gives guidelines on how to protect data. Differently, HL7 standards direct the sharing information between different healthcare providers’ apps. But how many of our medical institutions are really following these rules all the way? Are they really using the best ways to bring all their facts together? If you’re unsure, contact us to audit these questions.

Need more data?Keep reading. We’ll look at the best ways to integrate data, and you can see how this compares to what you’re doing now and figure out what you might need to add or get better at.

What Is the Best Way to Integrate Data? Redox vs. InterSystems vs. Direct Integration

At our company, The APP Solutions, we use Redox, Intersystems, as well as direct integration with systems like Epic and Cerner. At the end of this article, we’ll share a real-life example where we used this expertise to help a client.

But before we get to that, let’s compare Redox, Intersystems, and direct integration so you can understand what each one involves.

Redox stands out as a leading name in healthcare integration in the US. It ensures secure, real-time data sharing between over 400 software vendors and more than 4500 healthcare organizations across 90+ Electronic Health Records (EHRs), health information networks like Carequality, and more.

The Redox platform is a cutting-edge, standardized API that minimizes integration challenges, allowing health tech innovators to concentrate on building unique workflows and experiences.

• User-friendly: Redox provides a single endpoint. So, you write the code once and use it across any health system. All integrations, regardless of the EHR provider, will have the same appearance and functionality.
• Speedy: The design of Redox encourages reuse. It lets you benefit from the technical mapping and connectivity already established with over 4,000 organizations.
• Scalable: Hosted on AWS, Redox caters to the demands of its entire network. It processes over 750 million messages every month. In other words, you’re assured of dependable and scalable deployments.
• Tech supported: A dedicated team of specialists handles healthcare integration and data management. They work as an extension of your team. Everything from product design to implementation planning and long-term support are managed. 
• Secure: Redox holds HITRUST certification and is SOC II compliant.

Redox is available in the US and Canada and follows an annual licensing structure. It additionally includes a base platform fee and a cost per transaction. The cost depends on the expected total message volume and the complexity of transforming to JSON/FHIR. Early-stage digital health companies can avail of discounts.

Redox offers different subscription durations at varied costs. Please note that extra taxes or fees might apply. In case you need assistance with this question, schedule a call, and we’ll help you find the best solution for you.

All Redox plans come with developer tools and sandboxes. You get a centralized dashboard and transmission logs, and more alongside those.

Redox is available as Software as a Service (SaaS). The application is hosted and operated over the Internet by the vendor. Customers are billed for usage through their AWS account.

InterSystems runs on four main solutions. These are Health Connect, InterSystems Iris, InterSystems Caché, and InterSystems Ensemble. 

Health Connect is a versatile healthcare integration engine that supports high-volume transactions. It engineers process management and monitoring for crucial applications. You can use it as a Platform as a Service (PaaS) or for on-premises/private cloud.

Health Connect brings along benefits like 

• swift scalability;
• zero-downtime stability;
• faster interface development, 

They all translate to cost savings. Health Connect caters to healthcare delivery systems of all sizes, from small clinics to large, complex networks.

At the heart of Health Connect is an efficient, multi-model data engine. This smoothly manages different types of information at high speeds. Other functionalities are:

• interoperability by design;
• quick failover recovery;
• user-friendly HL7 schema editing;
• and a flexible security model, and more.

  HL7 INTEGRATION: A REFERENCE FOR ITS BENEFITS, IMPLEMENTATIONS, AND APPLICATIONSRead also:

InterSystems Ensemble consolidates all the data you need to capture, share, understand, and use within your organization. There’s no need to invest time and money in assembling multiple tools to gain a comprehensive integration environment. Ensemble has everything covered.

Every component of your integrated solution is stored as an object in Ensemble’s efficient, multi-model data repository. This provides a unified and consistent view of the systems, applications, and services that make up your solution, significantly reducing the complexity often associated with integration projects. This makes solution development faster and management easier.

InterSystems IRIS represents the latest evolution of the InterSystems data management suite. It includes all the features of InterSystems Caché and Ensemble tools, and adds a number of exciting new abilities. This makes it easier to create and launch applications for businesses that are based in the cloud, are analytics-focused, and require superior performance and scalability.

InterSystems Caché makes it easier to design and launch applications. It offers multiple options for high-availability, including a sophisticated mirroring approach, giving your applications a high level of reliability. You would require less hardware than solutions from other vendors.

Caché comes with a flexible security model that’s easy to adapt. It includes simple provisioning features, making it effortless to control who can access your resources.

The general framework of Caché is simple, and its powerful system management tools mean that you need fewer database administrators (DBAs) than with other databases. In many cases, you might not even need a dedicated DBA at all.

Epic and Cerner l are major companies that provide technology for health information. These systems help big hospitals and health services in the U.S. to save and share electronic medical records easily.

Integrating a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) into the Epic Electronic Health Records (EHR) system necessitates a detailed process. It involves six key steps and typically takes about a year and a half. This task needs a clinical expert or health data integration company who can lead the process.

Cerner, on the other hand, focuses on making data accessible everywhere. Their Interoperability service ensures that healthcare professionals can get the information they need, no matter where it comes from. This aids in sharing data across different health services.

The specifics of integrating either Epic or Cerner are quite complex. If you’d like to understand more about them and see how they compare, we recommend reading this article where we discuss their differences.

Action Plans for Tackling Data Integration

If you’re looking to weave together health information from various sources, it’s essential to have the right approach. Here’s what you can to effectively merge information at your healthcare practice.

To consolidate health data from various sources, make sure your technology can handle different data formats. Use integration tools (ESB or iPaaS) that can standardize this information, ensuring it’s accurate and easy to read.

Before merging data, review and update all information. This helps avoid integrating incorrect or outdated data. Back up all vital data to prevent any loss during the process.

Creating a structure for your data simplifies integration. Set up workflows for gathering, processing, cleaning, and sharing data from various systems.

These are storage solutions for data. They allow for data searching and analysis, although they work differently. Data warehouses are great for storing structured data, while data lakes can handle a mix of unstructured and structured data.

Data integration is an ongoing process. Determine which information needs to be integrated first and which can be done later to avoid disruptions.

Traditional IT systems in many organizations can’t exchange data with modern systems. In contrast, using cloud-based solutions can provide a unified view of data from different systems.

Consider how the end-user will see the data. This will help you present your findings in a meaningful way, making it easier for users to access and utilize the data effectively.

Health Data Integration with The APP Solutions: Orb Health Case

Orb Health provides a service that makes healthcare easier to manage for health centers, systems, hospitals, and unions. It helps improve patient results and makes the transition from traditional fee-for-service to value-based care smoother, without needing to add more staff or infrastructure.

The APP Solutions helped Orb Health to extend their service to more patients. We set up remote contact centers that are connected to electronic medical records (EMR), helping to provide a seamless healthcare service. 

Here are the solutions we delivered:

Redox Integration

Redox integration simplifies the process of connecting digital health products to different electronic health records (EHRs) systems, saving time and avoiding complications.

Genesys Integration

This solution allows existing workforce management software to easily integrate with other systems, which makes setting up a contact center quicker and easier.

Power BI Integration

We opted for Power BI integration so that the company could take data from various sources and turn it into clear and interactive insights. By doing so, they would better visualize and understand important data.

Data Security (HIPAA Standard)

Ensuring that sensitive patient data is stored securely was a top priority, and necessary to meet HIPAA standards.

As a result of these solutions, Orb Health saw significant improvements, such as:

54% | 22% ED / Hospitalization Decrease

• 70% Care Gap Measure Closure
• $6 MM Annually Medicare Savings Per 1k Patient
• 26% Overall Patient Savings

Conclusion 

Connecting health information is a special task for every company. If you’re thinking about using Redox, InterSystems, or direct integration, we suggest you engage an experienced team. At The APP Solutions, we assist health groups to surmont their integration woes and build interconnected systems for improved patient results.

 

If you want to create a freelance platform, it’s time to get to work! According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the share of freelancers in the United States alone, from 2014 to 2020, grew by about 1 million per year. At the same time, Website Planet has put forward a bold estimate that the share of outsourced workers will increase to 67 million by the end of 2021. Meanwhile, ¾ of the respondents stated that they are looking for work through specialized websites.

Freelance Platforms vs. Covid 19

The global pandemic has shaken up the labor market across the planet. Online businesses have left their offices and moved to the video conferencing format. With the change in work form, it has become clear that many services, previously done exclusively in-house, can be painlessly outsourced, and this can result in various savings. On the flip side, a significant number of offline workers were left behind and forced to seek jobs online.

And here, gig marketplaces entered the scene because employers and employees needed guarantees of work done on time and fair pay. The revenues of the top 5 marketplaces in 2020 speak for themselves:

Upwork: $290 million

Fiverr: $104 million

Toptal: $100 million

99designs: $60 million

Freelancer: $52 million

In addition, the steady increase in the proportion of freelancers suggests that the profits of such freelance platforms will only grow. The market is not yet complete. If you build your product correctly, you won’t have to spend a long time looking for your place in the sun.

What is a Freelancer Marketplace, and How does it Work

A freelancer marketplace is a platform where businesses are looking for contractors for remote projects. Some of the obvious business benefits:

• Guaranteed safe execution of the contract (both parties are insured)
• Quality assurance (the customer can cancel the payment if the contractor is justly caught providing poor quality services)
• Concentration of talents of different skills and value, which are selected individually for each new task
• No need to hire an employee for specific one-time work

The customer places an order announcement and waits for a response. First of all, the most relevant candidates are shown as suitable for the price or with experience in the desired niche. Also, the client can offer a job to a specific contractor himself, having studied his portfolio and reviews from other employers. Even if AI fails to find a contractor for some tricky project, the freelance marketplace attracts live employees who manually help to find qualified candidates for the perfect (or at least acceptable) match between the customer and the contractor. A listed freelancer strives to earn a good rating to take on more expensive and attractive orders.

Marketplaces can be divided into:

For example, Upwork, which was founded back in 1999, is a general international freelance marketplace for both types of projects, full-time and part-time. Here you can register anywhere in the world and order/perform any kind of work – from engineering to graphic design, from copywriting to link building.

How to Develop a Freelance Marketplace Like Upwork

Before building your own similar project, think carefully about exactly what you want to create, and which specifics your website will have. After all, Upwork already exists.

Step 1. Shape your business idea

Define the audience you will work with – learn all about their needs. There is no perfect freelance marketplace. Take advantage of the merits and take into account the disadvantages of your competitors; bring novelty. The value proposition is based on:

• Availability. There are two approaches to the selection of freelancers who will work on freelance platforms. The first (as they do on Upwork) is to allow everyone to create a profile. The second (like Toptal) is to arrange a kind of interview, selection using test tasks so that you can cut out low-skilled workers. The second case looks more attractive because you are creating a pool of professionals. However, it needs a solid resource base because you will need to hire employees with a sufficient qualification level to check the test.
• Time. Carefully work out the payment acceptance mechanism to attract as many freelancers as possible from different regions where different payment systems are available. Make sure that payments get to them as quickly as possible without prejudice to the customer’s interests.
• Price. You need to decide on a list of services provided which will be included in the basic package, those in the premium package, what can be offered, and what is not available on other freelance marketplaces.

The next step follows from the last point.

Step 2. Select a business model

The most common model for a marketplace is commission. Some websites charge commission only from the contractor, others from both the service provider and the customer. There are eight monetization strategies for your freelance marketplace.

Commission model	Every milestone in the marketplace is subject to a commission. Its size can range from 5% to 20% (like on Fiverr or Upwork).
Gigs and Packages model	Fiverr offers a similar type of work. The contractor offers a price for a certain service, and the client decides whether to buy it or not, according to the principle of an online store.
Subscription model	There are several packages to choose from with different sets of services. First, the customer selects an acceptable monthly subscription, which can be downgraded or increased depending on their needs.
Freemium model	Free model with a basic package of services that expand upon payment. Most often, the model is used in combination with a subscription.
Deposit model	In this model, the customer must show his “solvency”. For example, the Toptal marketplace requires a $500 deposit from the start. The deposit can always be returned if the work performed does not suit the customer.
Advertisement model	The model a freelancer needs if he/she wants to advertise him/herself. You can pay for a promotion for a month, and then the profile will be displayed as a top contractor.
Custom price	A special offer for a certain period of time, when it is difficult for the clients to immediately assess the scale of work for the order. In this case, the clients can be offered a fixed price.
Mixed model	The best decision. You can combine the above models depending on the specifics of your freelance marketplace.

Step 3. Identify core features 

Having studied in detail the principles of how your competitors’ work, you will be able to determine the main characteristics that have to be included in the MVP version.

[The APP Solutions layout for a freelance marketplace project]

User profile

The user profile should be transparent on both sides. The contractor sees who orders the work from him, and the client sees what the contractor is doing.

[The APP Solutions layout for a freelance marketplace project]

How much he charges per hour and what experience he already has. The client can get acquainted with the portfolio, statistics on completed projects, and customer reviews.

[The APP Solutions layout for a freelance marketplace project]

The freelancer can be offered payment for a specific project or per hour. A time tracking program will then be installed on his computer.

[The APP Solutions layout for a freelance marketplace project]

Search and filters

The employer should be able to select candidates by price, skill level, geographic location (proximity), etc. 

[The APP Solutions layout for a freelance marketplace project]

Messengers

Those freelance marketplaces where the customer does not have an opportunity to communicate with the contractor through personal correspondence are greatly inferior in usability. Before starting any work, it is important to discuss the details in private messages.

[The APP Solutions layout for a freelance marketplace project]

Payment systems

This is the soft spot of many freelance marketplaces, which most often focus on payment systems popular in developed countries, while completely ignoring possible payment methods for residents of developing countries. When working with a global marketplace, it is important to consider, not only as many universal payment methods as possible, but also currencies. It will attract the attention of many freelancers who are not ready to lose a huge percentage due to conversion fees.

Security is also important – funds from the client’s account are held in a neutral account for several days before reaching the contractor. During this time the customer manages to approve the contract, and the freelancer will not be left without money since it is impossible to order something without the required amount on the account.

Reviews

The employer, as well as the contractor, can leave feedback about each other’s profiles. In an ideal scenario, only a verified user can write a comment, and only once.

[The APP Solutions layout for a freelance marketplace project]

Algorithms find contractors for a client according to his geographic location, rating, and price list. They can show both the best candidates for work and those best suited for the client’s jobs (for example, when the customer is ready to decline a well-qualified professional but hire a lower-cost talent).

One of the significant drawbacks of Upwork is the admissibility of the deadline being overdue. The contract is concluded on a specific date, but if the freelancer does not meet the deadline, he will not face penalties. But, for example, the copywriting marketplace iWriter, after the expiration of the agreed period, automatically takes away the refusal and transfers it to others. Because of this, authors often send low-quality articles just to be on time. What’s better? The progress bar gives a correct idea of ​​whether the contractor is in process or not.

[The APP Solutions layout for a freelance marketplace project]

Allow video calls within platforms, let users record voice messages, and share important files here. Screen sharing is also essential.

[The APP Solutions layout for a freelance marketplace project]

This will allow you to resolve issues faster. For example, on Upwork, a client can plan a meeting with a contractor, as in Google Suite. An excellent solution for people who do not speak English well can be live translation (Google Translate API).

Sometimes the customer is dissatisfied with the quality of the work performed, and the freelancer claims that he did everything according to the requirements. In such situations, referees are needed who can understand the situation and decide who is right.

Your dream team should consist of front-end, back-end, DevOps, designer, QA, PM. Choose the right technology stack – architecture, development, database, testing, deployment, and maintenance.

[The APP Solutions layout for a freelance marketplace project]

Step 5. Give timely feedback during the development phase

The client and developer need to define sprint points at which it will be possible to make edits if necessary.

Step 6. Launch the app’s MVP and continue the mobile app’s development

The team should not bring the project to “perfect perfection”. Otherwise they risk never launching.

Step 7. Sign an ongoing support contract

Support (at least for several months) is necessary, not only to fix bugs, but also to understand what can and should be added to the platform to improve usability and expand the functionality.

Pitfalls to Be Aware of During Upwork-like App Development

Delayed payments

To prevent incidents, a transparent account verification system is needed from both sides, so it will not be possible to install a random photo from photo stock. Оne of the significant disadvantages of Upwork is that there are very strict restrictions on customers’ payment cards and payment methods by which contractors can receive their payment. Consequently, if one of these methods is temporarily unavailable, almost half of the Upwork is “frozen.” Therefore, it is crucial to think over several universal payment systems that work throughout the world.

Working with payment methods that only work in US dollars is not a winning strategy. E-wallets already take away a percentage of a freelancer’s earnings. If you consider the percentage spent on conversions, it may turn out to be a completely ludicrous amount. As a result, freelancers will look for a marketplace that works with their own currency, or at least a payment method that works legally in their country.

The problem already mentioned above regards the passage barrier to work on the freelance marketplace: not to moderate at all or conduct a strict selection? It seems that a platform which has just started working, and has no credits, will find it challenging to get good freelancers – experts in their fields. A rating system can solve the quality dropout problem. Having handed over several projects, the performer receives feedback from employers based on which his rating is formed. Before submitting a project, the client can familiarize himself with the candidate’s experience.

Another dilemma is that beginners do not understand how much their services should cost and may unconsciously overestimate or underestimate themselves. In the same way, any entrepreneur who has not previously encountered a specific type of activity may not know a fair price for the job he offers. Therefore, an algorithm that gives both the client and provider an understanding of the  usual price of services would come in handy.

Developing a Freelance Marketplace like Upwork with The APP Solutions

Although there are already more than enough platforms, you can still find your way, as the number of freelancers around the world is growing every day. So you can create both an all-for-all platform and a niche product. The APP Solutions can help you with this. 

There are two options for creating a marketplace:

• Template
• Own development

The first option is suitable if you are not completely sure of your idea and want to test what will come of it. However, if you have a clear business strategy, and fully-fledged roadmap in your hands, you need to work according to the second option.

FAQ

How does Upwork work?

The AI algorithm analyzes a customer’s ad and suggests freelancers best suited for a specific project based on job type, order value, and other individual wishes. Furthermore, those who have found each other conclude a contract and work on the project begins.

The main source of income is the commission charged to the contractor. Clients can also cover some of the costs through a premium account. This immediately makes him more attractive in the eyes of the contractors. 

Depending on the amount of the transaction, the commission itself also varies (20% for orders up to $5,000, 10% – up to $10,000, 5% – from $10,000). In addition, the platform charges contractors for payment processing and an administration fee of 2.75%.

Here is a common set of features for freelance websites like Upwork:

• Registration and user profile
• Advanced search
• Payment processing and transaction fees
• Job listing
• Bidding mechanism
• Messenger
• PM tools
• Payment methods

It depends on the feature list. If you need a simple service provider marketplace, it will take 6 to 8 weeks only, and if you need a complete clone of Upwork, it will take 3 to 3.5 months.

We’ll stand behind your platform and provide you 6 months of support for any code-related errors. In addition, we will be available to you anytime when you get issues or want to extend further.What is covered in the maintenance period?

Free support includes fixing of any code related errors for 6 months but if you need any upgrades or want to add any new features then that will be chargeable.