Launched in 2011, Snapchat has become not just an app, but a social phenomenon — and the product keeps showing users the new way of communication. 9 of 10 US mobile users aged from 13 to 24 use it every day and there are 203 million people who use Snapchat daily globally.
Snapchat is estimated at $22 billion which makes it one of the most valuable digital companies in the world.
That is hard to say if a Snapchat clone would be as popular as lucky as an original product, which managed to bit the competitors in the highly competitive field of social networks. However, we recommend you study its experience to plan the next revolutionary product.
Core Technologies of Snapchat
Snapchat was created in 2011 by Reggie Brown, Evan Spiegel, and Bobby Murphy who were Stanford students. Today, it is the most popular social networking app in the US and France, and the second popular in the UK and Canada.
How to make a Snapchat clone? Advanced data architecture, UX and UI, as well as innovative technologies are behind it. Let’s look upon core tech components of today’s Snapchat app:
Machine learning (ML)
The Discovery section adapts to users’ tastes and styles of enjoying the content due to ML. The system learns users’ behavior and shows content that is more likely to be appreciated by users and keeps them inside the app. The same approach is used for advertisement targeting.
Facial recognition
Snapchat was first to use face recognition for mass digital entertainment. One could check how it works taking snaps or creating Stories using lenses. The technology is based on face mapping and outputting coordinates for facial features. On the second stage, Snapchat allows you to create an animated layout in front of your image.
Augmented reality (AR)
Due to the technology, you can add 3D visual elements to your photos or video. The app detects and tracks real objects around you and proceeds their images with a smart graphics engine.
Location-based content
Snap Map is an interactive tool to find out if there are any friends somewhere near you and what they are doing right now. Snaps, ActionMoji, and Stories are also geotagged and can be seen for your friends only, for anybody in the same place (Geofilter), or for everybody. You can also contact a friend who is nearby.
Snapchat Features
To create a Snapchat clone you’ve got to list the features that the product contains. Although Snapchat is only 8 years old, it has a long history of improvements and innovative features implementations. Here, we’d like to name key features of Snapchat of 2019 accessible in native iOS and Android apps:
Personal profile
To use Snapchat a user has to sign up, set the profile, and upload content using its login. The one can sign in with Facebook, phone number, or email. After that, they create BitMoji avatar.
Creating media content
Your phone camera and media galleries should be integrated into the Snapchat digital environment, so users can take video and pictures and upload them to the Internet.
Lenses and content editing
Snapchat allows you to draw on photos, add text captions, generate smart 3D graphics, overlay virtual pictures on the top of real-time images, and use filters to customize the content. Here, ML and AR are mostly used.
Content self-destruction
Snaps exist a few seconds and Stories live for 24 hours since it was published.
Audio and video calls
You can leave multimedia notes for friends or the group of your mates. The app needs to have access to your microphone and inbuilt dynamic.
Location tracking and geofilters
Those features allow users to adjust media to certain geo area and make it visible to people who are there using Snap Map.
Chats and notification
Snapchat was originally designed as an instant visual content messenger with content vanishing feature. Snapchat is still based on media. The app also sends push notification about new snaps and updates.
24-hours Stories
How to make a Snapchat clone? Users could watch a broadcast of small videos played one by one. That could be videos of friends or those that were put to your Discovery section by AI engine.
How Snapchat Type Apps Are Monetized
Snapchat technology is exceptional, its monetization strategy is an example of brilliant marketing. This year the app generated 39% bigger revenue than next year. In 2019, most of Snapchat revenue comes from advertisement. The second most popular income source is premium accounts.
Make an app like Snapchat, learning its Freemium features:
— Advertisement (Snap Ads)
Sponsored content from brands is usually shown in the Discovery section to manually targeted audience or those who were chosen by the self-learning engine. The average price is $0.10–0.15 per view. Ab Inbuilt ad manager also has advanced analytics tools.
— Sponsored Snaps
In Snapchat, snaps have geotags and are linked to a geographical area. Local offers could be promoted with geofilters. This content is shown between regular snaps.
— Partnership with brands
Snapchat partners can create promotional facial filters, 3D graphics layouts, sponsored lenses, have customized brand profiles, and add events. Such a partnership could be commercial, social, or cross-promotional.
— Premium accounts
All Snapchat users have default Freemium status and got access to the app for free. Purchasing premium account they can view Stories more than one time, see no ads, use extra lenses, and keep the content private.
Conclusion
If you’re thinking of making a Snapchat app clone, consider that today’s app is both a social networking platform and instant messenger. Why is it so successful? The answer is — advanced technologies (ML, AR, and hardware incorporation), as well as a great marketing concept. Snapchat is a product that created its niche by itself.
How to make a Snapchat clone in 2019? Start with market research. Snapchat is mostly used by teens and young people from developed countries. Then, study your competitive environment and try to match upcoming technologies with your target audience’s desires in the way your competitors have not done yet.
Make an app like Snapchat using the Freemium monetization strategy where the major revenue comes from advertising inside the app.