What features should you include in your app (3)

1. WHAT FEATURES SHOULD YOU INCLUDE IN YOUR APP? As the examples of market leaders show, video chat apps can have dozens of features. However, you shouldn’t launch all those features at once. It’s sensible to start with a minimum feature set that will meet your users’ basic needs to validate if all features are useful and necessary. Below, we discuss must-have features you should consider for your application. by Stephanie Potter REGISTRATION 1 To register in a video chat app, users should leave their phone number and name. These are usually the only two required pieces of information. Users should be free to choose whether they want to share other data such as date of birth and location. PROFILE MANAGEMENT 2 Once users register in your app, they should be able to manage their profiles. It should be easy for a user to set a profile picture, configure notifications, and adjust privacy settings. CONTACT LIST Users should be able to find their contacts fast. That’s why implementing a contact list is important. You can either allow your users to save contacts manually or develop functionality to import phone numbers from users’ devices. 3 CHAT 4 Since video calling is mainly built into chat apps, a chat feature is an integral part. Chatting can be an additional or the main way of communication for your app users, depending on their preferences. Moreover, it’s great to use chat when video calling isn’t appropriate or when the internet connection is weak. FILE SHARING 5 Your users should be able to share files such as photos, documents, audio, and video inside each chat. This will provide them with a comprehensive chat experience. ONE-ON-ONE VIDEO CALLS 6 This feature is what video chat apps are about. Your initial goal when creating such an app is to provide users with the ability to communicate via a video connection. That’s why you should provide high-quality video and audio transmission. PUSH NOTIFICATIONS 7 This feature allows users to be notified of all activity in their chats. At the same time, users should be able to mute or turn off push notifications if they don’t need them. AUTOMATIC BACKUPS 8 You should allow users to access their full chat histories. To do this, you need to implement automatic backups that store all data under any conditions. You can also give your users a choice of whether to back up their chats. For example, Viber asks its users every month if they want to make automatic backups.