Ever since music apps like TikTok, Pandora, Spotify, and others ventured into the frame, the idea of music streaming has completely changed. What we think is that these apps are so much fun and an awesome source of entertainment and these keep the audience glued to them. A lot of people over the years have reached out to Google asking how to create an app like TikTok. In this blog, we are going to discuss TikTok app development costs, features, and process.

The moment you open your Instagram and Facebook accounts, you can find numerous TikTok (earlier known as Musically) popping up on the screen daily. Thus, there is no doubt that these social video apps are popular among the audience. Such has been the impact of the prominence of these apps, that today almost everyone is looking for a startup idea to create an app like TikTok.

TikTok entered the market and created a sensation with the way it made every person a rockstar. The application made sharing videos easy and fun. The platform is used to make a lot of fun videos that can be taken in the market and worked on.

The application lets users create short videos, feature music, speed up the video, slow down the video, or edit them. It allows users to post a 15-second video that would be interesting and engaging and the other users can be entertained with it. With time the app has grown in popularity and revenue and we need to understand that it is gaining popularity for its ease and the services.

Now as we talk about how to make an app like TikTok in this blog, the idea is to enlighten those who are intending or planning to enter the market with similar app ideas.

TikTok Market Growth and Stats

  • As per the report 2022, growth in social media users reached 4.62B with 58.4% in January month itself. Around 424M users join social media in the year 2021 alone.
  • TikTok has 1 billion monthly active users. Looking over the stats, TikTok has a huge contribution, covering 10.4% of people on earth. 
  • In the demographics, 56% are female while 43% are male.
  • According to the global web index, TikTok has 18% of global internet users in the age groups of 16 to 64.
  • TikTok impacts the short video marketing landscape to phenomenal heights. Mobile app users have spent more time watching videos and entertainment apps, this niche platform has already spent $50M on such videos.
  • In the global state of digital 2021, TikTok has been searched as the third most common search engine in 2020 on Youtube, this shows that the presence of short-term videos will overrule the market.
  • TikTok has become the political view showcase outlet over time. #BlackLivesMatter had been searched for more than 20B times with the tag.
  • After TikTok came, the market has seen many more new trends in social media; which directly reflects engagement. TikTok created a presence of 17.9% of micro-influencers and 4.9% of mega influencers.
  • The most popular influencer on the TikTok family is Carlie Damelio with a fan following of 123.5M as per Wiki sources. TikTok refurbished many trends like #cowboychallenge.
  • The facts here clearly reflect how well the app has made a fan base and thus is a clear indication that anything in the same domain with better and stronger features would surely earn better profits than thought before.

What Is TikTok Mobile App?

A Chinese Music Video Platform, TikTok allows its users to create music videos and then share them with their friends on social media, like Instagram & Facebook, with animations and music, thus making for a good entertainment dosage.

build an app like tiktok

Earlier known as Musical.ly, the mobile app is now known as TikTok and came with a whole new version of the entertainment buster app. It has a huge music community across the world and has established itself as the world’s fastest-growing mobile app in very little time.

Its iOS version has a very smooth UX/UI, the TikTok backend is interesting, and going by the latest report, TikTok has reached a milestone by securing 150 Million daily users. Despite facing some legal hurdles in Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, the app is witnessing rapid growth worldwide.

How does TikTok Work?

Basically, in the app, most people lip-sync to popular songs. Its users create and upload their videos, lip-sync, sing, & dance, browse the videos and also interact with other users’ content that covers several topics.

TikTok app programming language helps to hire mobile app developers to let users set live videos or live pictures as wallpaper and also enable them to take short videos & share them with their friends. Then, these videos can be spiced up by using filters & special effects, live effects & funny stickers. At the same time, the app enables users to watch millions of videos that are shared by others on the app.

The cost to build an app like TikTok includes features that one can select from amongst the relevant categories, such as serious videos, funny videos, informative videos, as well as interesting head-turning ones.

This way, TikTok serves as a platform for millions of its users to display their knowledge, talent & their precious moments. Besides, they enable you to add your favorite music and sound videos recorded by you.

Users can edit the videos with animations, funny animations, sounds, music, filters, and more. Besides, other interesting things, such as R&B, electronica, rock, pop, & rap can also be included in the app.

As per ProductHunt.com, the TikTok mobile app has more downloads than Spotify, Snapchat & Gmail combined on the App Store.

The app allows TikTok app developers to add 100+ face filters and emoji stickers to the videos and this plays a huge role in demarcating the videos up to the next level.

There are very simple and realistic editing tools within the app that allow users to trim, cut, merge, and duplicate video clips. All in all, it offers an awesome experience to its users, which they all love.

Steps to create the TikTok app

Without wasting time, let’s understand the steps to build an app like TikTok.

steps to create an app like tiktok
  • Research for the target audience

Understanding the extensive needs of your users is the essential thing for you to plan. What kind of behavior does your audience have while using similar apps, and what kind of content they are interested in, likewise is important for you to understand.

Security implementation, app utility, loading time, location of the device, secure internet connection, etc. are the dynamic features that can validate your app idea. This will make your app unique in the marketplace.

  • Underwire the prototype

Your app design is the hinge people are looking for as a success of their app. It should be visually appealing and clutter-free from the bulk of accessories.

The prototype is the initial process of winding the details so that the app can’t lose the aim of features, and reduce future costs and bugs.

  • Create MVP

The minimum viable product defines the best way to collect feedback & improvement tests. We have prepared a complete list of MVPs in features and price.

Basic UI, user profile, user login, geolocation features, social sharing, notification, image, and video creation = a total of 700 hours.

  • Introduce new features 

To retain the app’s longevity it is important to attach new features to the app. Features implementation is examined during the development process.

  • Apply emerging technologies

In the digitization world, emerging technologies are recreating the parallax. Artificial Intelligence is the new alternative to the real presence of humans. In-app creation, new businesses, and technologists are interested in working in cognitive with the latest technology.

  • Pick the best revenue gain model

Only development does not matter, how it works and up to what extent the business gains profits matter too.

The right planning at the initial level will decide how much your business model could land. Choose the right monetization strategy to create a potential social media app like TikTok.

  • Support the app after the release

Before releasing your app into the marketplace, make sure it fits with the Play Store rules.

Reaching your app presence in the Play Stores means post-marketing is equally important for better reach to the potential audiences.

Write a beautiful description of the app product on the Play Store, attach important screenshots relevant to the product, and add keywords, tags, logos, etc. to brief the app presence on the page.

Features & Functionality Required to Create TikTok-like Mobile App

When talking about how to make an app like TikTok, you need to make sure that an in-depth study of the TikTok features and functionalities; would make it easier for the developers to bring to the table a high performance.

Features & Functionality Required to Create TikTok-like Mobile App
  • Simple User Interface

A mobile app development company needs to provide a simple user interface to the app users, so they can do a lot within the app without any hassle. Make their experience of visiting your app fun yet extremely easy-going. In the case of TikTok, the app starts directly into the feed, going straight to a prominent video.

Now the following few videos are also new and quite famous (are measured with HEARTS). So, in this manner, TikTok ensures that the user’s first minutes (whenever s/he returns) on the app are absolutely amazing.

  • Hearts Are Currency

So, you have liked a video, but you still don’t intend to follow the creator yet? Well, no worry. Give a HEART with this non-committal double tap, which is just enough. It is the same as Instagram, though with one minor difference. Here, the creator profile tracks all hearts they ever received.

It lets creators metrics to chase (such as Followers/Fans) with one huge difference, like here, one breakout video may shoot up Hearts counts.

  • Hashtags

Hashtags are very popular among people and the TikTok app allows its users to make the most use of them. With hashtags gaining popularity over time, every platform is making the most of it.

If you are looking forward to making something interesting that would help you make your video popular just use some interesting and relevant hashtags that would make it easier to gain visibility on the platform.

  • Yes, Live-Ops

Live-Ops is important to make your app a success. Basically, Live-Ops work as enhancements to the overall game experience (in this case, the mobile app). Like, game events. Live-Ops work to keep the mobile app feeling fresh & full of activity.

For instance, we have hashtags on TikTok app coding, where it’s used just how it needs to be used on Instagram, with a huge difference, i.e. Freshness. On the TikTok app, they are usually new, trending Hashtags (#filterbattle, #freezechallenge, #transitionbattle, & a lot more).

Often they are seeded by TikTok like there is a @GlobalChallenge account that offers creators some new challenges to try each week. This way, by providing creators something to create videos about, TikTok ensures the content stays relevant and fresh.

  • Tools to Express

There are tools available in the TikTok app, which are all supreme-level. With many filters and AR effects, they tend to be pretty amazing. Besides, what makes these tools unique is they enable the creator to make quick edits, cuts, & slow down the speed & a lot more.

The application is an easy-peasy method to share what you are thinking. All you need to do is choose your favorite audio or record your audio and then move to the best filters and post your pictures. It is crucial to add beautiful colors and interesting elements to your work to become popular.

  • Social Feature

Duets is one exciting social feature offered by the TikTok app. Here, for instance, the creator can begin by recording a lip-sync video of theirs to a specific dialogue. Now the other TikTok software users who scan the very popular #Duetwithmehastag will see this and may try putting their own spin on that. This is beneficial in many ways, like in the case of the users, they can feel close to their much-loved stars by recording a duet with them, while thousands of pieces of content are spawned from just one piece of content, besides the scope for creativity is just immense.

Share the video with your loved ones through various social media accounts. We make sure to integrate WhatsApp, Instagram, and other application-sharing alternatives with your product to make sure it reaches the right people at the right time.

  • Original Sound

TikTok allows its users to use their original sound as well while creating the video, which allows them to showcase their full potential in front of the audience.

With interesting audio of your choice, you can either use an audio piece that you record or can opt for something from the music library. You can choose the trending videos too.

  • Music Library

When your experts think about how to make an app like TikTok, one point that they cannot miss is the need for unlimited music available in the music library for the audience.

  • Earn Money

This feature within the TikTok app is very much loved by the users as it allows them to make money by creating fun videos that are popular on the platform. The cost to make an application like TikTok isn’t a lot and since people earn using the app, they can earn money better.

With people gaining popularity over the application can be treated as influencers. A lot of brands choose to advertise their products through the application. They would partner with someone from their niche and sponsor a shoot for them.

Monetizing using the platform is a great idea as you are paid to do something that you love!

  • Post Video/Pictures

Using this functionality, the users can share their videos and pictures on the app. This lets the users build a bigger follower base and thus gain popularity over the platform. TikTok server is quite huge and can save every image and video shared over the years.

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  • Special Effects

This feature allows users to select background music and create magical clips pretty easily. The cost to develop a video-sharing app like TikTok majorly depends on the filters and other effects that we let our users modify the posts.

  • Social Sharing

The app enables users to share their videos on multiple social media platforms. Besides, they can also like, comment, and post other posts.

  • Share User Profile

This feature allows users to share their user profiles with other users to increase their popularity.

  • Add Other Social Media Account

Yes, other social media accounts can be added to the TikTok app, so this way users can create the videos and then share them on their favorite social platform, be it Facebook or Instagram.

  • Android, iOS

The app can be created for both platforms, iOS, Android, or both of them. Like, in the case of TikTok, it works wonderfully on both platforms.

As time passes and the competition in the field grows, it becomes quite difficult for the mobile application development company to bring on-screen solutions that are unique and interesting. If you want to stand out from the crowd and bring to your customers a unique experience, your app must offer the features and functionalities that TikTok does.

Related Blog: How to Create a Mobile App like Instagram?

Advanced Features That Will Make Your App Outstanding

When working on TikTok architecture make sure that you include some interesting functionalities that make it easier for you to have an edge over your customers. You must offer some features that make you better than the rest.

  • Real-Time Analytics 

Quite an important feature for Admin, from here s/he will be able to analyze live viewers & broadcasters in an overall graphical manner. Here, the admin is aware of real-time insights of the app usage and previous data to make further decisions.

  • Video Streaming Architecture 

With video streaming, the main goal of TikTok system architecture is that you implement every single detail to it. Ensure that you always stream from an external server and keep the mobile app lightweight. The broadcasting stream passes via the server to the user’s device then it stays there until the user watches it. Post usage will be deleted automatically from the server side.

Read Also: How To Develop an On-Demand Video Streaming Mobile App?

Meanwhile, the server will convert the broadcast and will be doing transmission to the application. For video streaming apps, cloud servers are a necessity. Also, take care of the scaling part of servers as more using the app will have more requests it will require to handle.

TikTok server cost is quite high owing to its popularity and usage. Besides, keep the option to save videos in the external storage of the user’s device, so that they can be later watched by the user. However, do take care of the copyright issues before allowing the user to save files in the local storage.

  • Geolocation 

This again is a great addition to TikTok system design. Users can find broadcasts as per their region and it allows them to choose which broadcasts to watch from the map itself. What the VOD app developer can do is they will mark markers in the map in a range around the user’s current location to show who is doing a live broadcast in that region. Live ones can be shown in blue while inactive ones in red. Meanwhile, the look can be customized anytime.

  • Push Notifications 

A crucial part of every mobile app, push notifications are useful for the users to keep them notified of the current happening without being on the app all the time. Thus, as their favorite broadcaster begins to stream something, she is going to get a push notification on the device for the same sans missing out on anything.

Other than that, the Scheduling feature in TikTok app architecture can also be implemented by the app developers. Having the flexibility to schedule future broadcasts makes the app much more interactive.

How to make an app like TikTok is a complex question to answer. With such amazing features and functionalities, there is a need to develop a similar app that would help you earn better results. The more modified and innovative experiences you offer, the more popular your app is.

Related Blog: How to Create a Streaming App like Netflix- Key Features & Cost

Why create a similar app like TikTok?

The app offers some great features that can make things much more fun for people. TikTok is not a simple app; unlike other applications, this works majorly on multimedia sharing by editing the videos as and when you want. Add movie songs, your favorite movie dialogues, etc. in your video and let that actor see the spotlight and present his talent in the public.

As you step towards creating a TikTok-like social video app, it is vital to understand the key features of developing an app like TikTok. Given below are the main functionalities to make an app like TikTok app.

  • It enables its users to watch millions of musical clips

The only way to succeed in creating a music video maker app is to offer something unique and varied to your users. Allow your users to explore more and have fun. In the case of TikTok, it enables users to watch a countless number of musical clips and provides the features that set TikTok apart from the rest.

  • Its users can shoot many short video clips of mere 15-second

TikTok made the most of the opportunity in its hands and transformed smartphones into a mobile studio. It is really fun for its users to make fun videos with its advanced technology and exceptional features.

One of them is, it enables the users to shoot short video clips of 15 seconds just for fun. Letting your users shoot short clips is important. Further, the users can share the short video clips on social channels, select sound from various categories, and directly record & edit the clips.

  • Using the Special Effects it offers, users can select background music and create magical clips

So, the audience that TikTok focuses on is the new generation. As a startup, if you plan to target youth through your video clip app, then offering special effects features is simply integral.

The easy-to-use and fun special effects offered by TikTok allow users to shoot entertaining videos. The image-capturing technology and artificial intelligence solutions make it possible to integrate special effects into the app.

  • The app allows its users to share their videos on multiple social media platforms

Using this lip-sync app, users create lip-sync music videos of 15 seconds and then share them on multiple social platforms, such as WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram & Facebook. Thus, it is clear that enabling users to share videos on multiple social platforms is a necessity for an app like TikTok.

Ultimately, with its amazing offerings, TikTok certainly has broken all records set by WhatsApp, Snapchat, YouTube & Facebook. A report by SimilarWeb states that the usage rank of the app is constantly going in an upward direction, and as per the latest trend by Google Trends, the interest in the app has simply increased over time.

These are some additional features that the Mobile app development team considers to build unique, user-friendly, and interesting solutions.

How to earn money from music apps?

The best way to monetize your app may need a little research. A few ways are using, you must offer which you can earn money from your music app, are:

A) In-app purchase

Even though TikTok doesn’t have these features, if you are keen on making a music app then keep in mind that the in-app purchase option can be a great opportunity to earn money. Make your music app cost-affordable for users.

In-app purchase means charging a small sum of money from the user to upgrade to the premium version or to unlock a few features.

B) Fundraising

Get connected with the investors to raise some investment for your app. Fundraising is a premium model of earning even for the TikTok app and the app went on to receive funds of $100 million from the high-class investors recently.

c) Selling the app

Create a music app and once the app is prominent among the targeted user base then you can get the buyers easily. Get connected with potential entrepreneurs or businesses. Make a deal that is the most profitable for your app business.

D) Advertising

In case you don’t find these above-mentioned ways interesting, then you can even choose to display advertisements in your mobile app. Target ads to your audience as per age groups, Location, Dislikes, etc. Meanwhile, advertising can be of many kinds, like Cost per install, cost per click, etc.

So, when you enter the market and build an app like TikTok, choose the right revenue model to earn great profits. The TikTok business model is quite transparent and can help you earn the best profits in the least amount of time.

Technology Stack to Develop an App like TikTok

When developing an app like TikTok, technology would be a strong point. The right technology would make your app the king of the market, if your on-demand mobile app development team uses the wrong technology the investment may fall to its face.

Technology Stack to Develop an App like TikTok
  • Streaming Media System: Nimble Streamer, Wowza Streaming Engine Helix Universal Server
  • Real-Time Analytics: Azure Stream Analytics, Spark Streaming, Apache Flink
  • Cloud Environment: AWS
  • Database: MailChimp Integration, Postgres, Cassandra, HBase, MongoDB
  • Universal Operating System: Debian
  • For emails: Mandrill
  • For Database Management: Datastax
  • For Powerful programming: GWT
  • Payments: Paypal, Braintree, e-Wallet app, Stripe
  • Phone, Voice & SMS Verification: Twilio, Nexmo
  • Push Notifications: Push.io, Twilio

Cloud Storage: For this, cloud storage services like Google Cloud Storage, Azure & Amazon S3 can be used. The storage server is crucial in media platforms as it handles thousands of requests per second much more efficiently.

Content Delivery Networks (CDSs): To serve user experience, one requires using highly scalable CDN services to stream media securely. For this, either one can configure its own media server or can use a cloud streaming server to stream, like Amazon Cloud Front.

Video/audio Transcoding: In this process, media files need to be transcoded in several media formats to make them supportable to all of the major devices and browsers. For this, either open-source software like FFMPEG or third-party solutions like Amazon Elastic transcoder can be used.

Media Server Configuration: The server requires to be configured to support all of the major devices and browsers. Configuration of HTTPS, RTMP & HTTP is required.

Player Configuration: Player configuration needs to be done as both desktop & mobile server quality-based content on user internet speed.

When you create an app like TikTok, one thing that you cannot compromise is that the technology you use plays an important role in providing you with the right support required. To ensure that the development process is in line with the needs and the timeline, we make use of agile development methodology with a structured team.

Required Development Team Structure to Make an App Like TikTok

It is vital to have a great team put together to create an app like TikTok. No amount of funds and features can help if your app doesn’t have the kind of team that can create absolute wonders with the app development process. For this, you will need:

Once your team is sorted, then you can focus on the cost that will go into the building of an app like TikTok. But before that, let’s learn how you can earn money from music mobile apps, like TikTok.

What is The Cost to Develop App Like TikTok?

This Chinese music video platform, TikTok, has a smooth UX/UI finish and is among the fastest-growing apps in the world. A few other examples of such apps are Dubsmash, Funimate, Vigo, Thriller, etc. Some factors that can be helpful to determine the cost to develop app like TikTok are the Number of Platforms (Android, iOS, or both), Development Region, Design Complexity, Requirement of resources, and the number of hours multiplied by the cost per hour.

Keeping all the above factors in mind, the development cost should be around $45,000 to create a TikTok-like app with basic functionalities for a single platform. However, in case you intend to add more features and create the app for multiple platforms, then the cost may go up to $55,000-$100,000 when getting the app developed in the Indian region.

Future of TikTok

Without having a smartphone in his palm, a Malawian musician at the age of 92, played his instrument with no idea how his efforts would return sometime. For his mashups and remixes, he got 80M views on social media, surging traditional music to another level.

You can see here, how vastly TikTok defines the marketplace.

Security is an ethical factor

TikTok has hauled in new policies and updated plans to make the video social network safer for especially youth. It played an important roadmap for people to address their vulnerabilities.

Animated video marketing

It reached new heights with the TikTok sensational video creation plugin. The world is constantly converging, making it ideal for easy integration of technologies like AI, ML, and VR.

  • More than 86% of the businesses agreed that AI plays a vital role in the mainstream; it changes the way we use social media.
  • It helps to create world-class videos, and animation, reduce the timeline, etc.

Conclusion!

Coming up with entertaining apps like TikTok is a great way to earn great profits. If you are looking forward to entering the market with an app like TikTok, then simply hire a Tiktok App Development Company who can make it easier for you to take over the market. Over the years, we have been providing solutions that can help you stand out from your competition and own a scalable app that is future-ready.

With virtual reality and artificial intelligence being dominant in the media industry, the application that is delivered to you is well-designed and can help you make a lot of money and a special place in the market.

THE AUTHOR
Digital Marketing Head
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Kamal Kishor, a digital marketing enthusiast and seasoned writer, idolizes exploring the dynamic technology market. With a background in computer engineering, he combines technical expertise and creative storytelling in his tech blog.

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