“Reel- In!”

Welcome to Instagram’s endless adventure. All the celebrities and famous faces on Instagram often command massive followers. Cristiano Ronaldo is a prime example of this phenomenon, with an incredible 638 million followers.

Now, entrepreneurs, are you ready to build a social media app that leaves a lasting impression and drives business growth? A platform with powerful technologies that can handle high volumes of Instagram reels and integrate with advanced features such as highlights, interactive stories, and unlimited likes.

So, stick to this blog for every tiny piece of information on how to build an app like Instagram that captivates and connects popular faces worldwide.

 

What Is Instagram?

Developed by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger in San Francisco, Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms. Users can share photos or videos and make reels as short videos. Instagram provides followers and a following for users and constantly motivates them to make more followers famous. Launched in 2010, Instagram offers advanced or premium features such as stories, reels, posts, and IGTV for content. This platform also provides business profiles for businessmen for brand promotion and visibility.

 

Instagram Market Value & Current Statistics

Today, almost everyone is an Instagrammer, and its user-friendly & appealing interface is one of the major reasons behind it. Also, let’s discover the current market value and stats of video apps like Instagram to know their importance.

• In 2019, Instagram generated around $14 billion in advertising revenue.

• Around 70-75% of the content on Instagram is in image format, 13-15% are videos, and the rest are carousels.

• There are 1 billion active users on Instagram (per month).

• Instagrammers between the ages of 25-30 years spend at least half an hour per day on Instagram.

• The USA has around 120 million Instagram users and is expected to reach 1.2 billion users by the end of 2023.

These figures indicated above clearly signify the rising importance of Instagram-like social networking app development. Now that you know the market value and are pretty satisfied to develop an app like Instagram, let’s understand how it works.

 

How Does Social Media App Like Instagram Works?

Instagram is a very easy-to-use social media application with a visually appealing and intuitive UX/UI. Moreover, the Instagram algorithm is counted for making the user feel delighted by the content uploaded on Instagram. Its working algorithm is like this –

1. User upload a post that is displayed to a small percentage, i.e., ≈10% of the subscribers.

2. Instagram’s engagement level is measured with likes, shares, comments, and saves.

3. If the engagement level is high, the Instagram post will be displayed to the remaining users as well. On the other hand, if there is low engagement, very few people will be able to see the post.

So, this is how popular social media or video-sharing app like Instagram works and help both general users and businesses gain a strong social presence.

 

Top 5 Instagram Alternatives

To create an app like Instagram with unique functionalities or features that attract more users worldwide. Observe the existing or similar apps to understand their working and strengths. So, here we provide the best Instagram alternatives:

 

 

1. Twitter

It is one of the most popular social media platforms, providing real-time updates and allowing users to share short videos. It mainly focuses on quick, accurate news, the latest trends, and public conversations. To develop app like Twitter is a massive opportunity for entrepreneurs to grow their businesses rapidly.

 

2. Snapchat

Snapchat is one of the most trendy or viral multimedia messaging platforms. It allows users to send snaps and videos to their friends and family. This platform provides various snap filters, lenses, and discover. It provides unique features such as snap streak, stories, and location with GPS.

 

3. Mewe

It is the best social media platform for sending photos, videos, text messages, voice and video calls. This platform focuses on the user’s privacy and offers advanced features like customizable profiles. To develop a social media Mewe app it allows users to join group video calls and create a video call room.

 

4. Pinterest

Pinterest is a discovery app that offers fashion ideas, home decor, and food recipes. It allows users to explore or search for ideas on various topics and share them with friends and family. This platform provides a pin option for easy organization and to lock the explored content.

 

5. TikTok

TikTok is the most used social media platform for sharing short-form videos. It allows users to make short-form videos about various types of content. It provides a wide range of editing tools, music, and effects. It is the best social media apps to use in making short videos with robust editing tools..

 

How to Develop An App Like Instagram?

Now comes the important question you’ve been looking for, i.e., how to develop an app like Instagram? It is quite challenging, but it can be overcome if you know the right steps to create social media apps like Instagram. Let’s review each step one by one.

 

 

1. Conduct Extensive Research

Without knowing the current market scenario, it is impossible to develop a successful social media app like Instagram. That’s why it is crucial to conduct extensive market research, as it will help you know about the market of similar apps like Instagram. The time invested in researching before social networking app development will benefit you while creating an app. So, don’t take this step for granted; instead, focus on it.

 

2. Perform Competitor Analysis

Besides research, performing competitor analysis is a must to define the vision of your app like Instagram. It will help you learn from your competitors and know their key strengths, functionalities, and weaknesses. Identifying all this will help you create a video sharing or social media app that will outshine competitors in no time.

You can consider the following list of the best social media applications for conducting competitor analysis.

• Instagram
• Flickr
• Retrica
• Pinterest
• Hipstamatic
• Snapchat
• Unsplash

 

3. Validate Your Business App Idea

Creating an application like Instagram is definitely a challenging task as no one knows about the target audience at the beginning of the process. So, one of the best ways is to take potential users’ reviews to know their interests, preferences, and more. After that, it will become easier for the users to finalize the USP of the video-sharing app development process. Other than this there are different Entertainment app development ideas as well.

Also, to make the process a little easier, you can work by dividing the business model into small chunks, as it will ease your job.

 

4. Think of Attractive Social Media App Design

This era is all about modernization, where users tend to buy products and services that looks appealing or grab their attention at first glance. That’s why focusing on UX/UI is crucial while working on mobile app development. For that, you need to study the latest trends in app design while exploring the latest innovations and consider them during app development.

If you are availing of social media app development services, ask the developers to keep the design simple and appealing, making your Instagram-like app stand out among the rest.

 

5. Choose Appropriate Tech Stacks

None of the business applications can be developed without implementing the right tech stacks. Thinking about what tech stack to use for Instagram App Development? Here is the answer. Check on the following data.

 

Tech Stacks
Type	Android App	iOS App
Language	Kotlin	Swift
Networking	OkHttp 3, Retrofit	Alamofire

 

 

 

 

Tech Stack	Back-end Development
Language	Node.js (JavaScript)
Framework	Express 4, Django
Database	MySQL, Cassandra, PostgreSQL
Messaging	Socket.io
API documentation	Swagger
Web Server	nginx, Gunicorn

 

The tech stacks you choose will impact social networking app development costs, so think twice before implementing anything.

6. Pick Unique Features

When Instagram was developed, it was nothing more than a photo-sharing application. After successful testing and validation, the creators added more features and functionalities to Instagram. Now, the application serves multiple purposes at a time.

So, if you are planning to create a social media app like Instagram, you need to think out of the box to beat the competitors and outshine them. We will discuss the features in detail later in this blog. Till then, continue reading.

 

7. Start Instagram-Like App Development Process

Once you are done with all the steps mentioned above, it is time to develop an app like Instagram. But, before that, choose the development platform for which you want to create an app, i.e., Android, iOS, or both. The development stage is basically divided into three different phases that are –

• Coding
• QA & Testing
• Deployment

 

Once the process of on-demand app development is completed, test your application properly to ensure that all the errors and bugs are removed before you launch the app on the Google Play Store or App Store.

Creating a perfect app like Instagram that earns you success and profit isn’t as challenging as it seems to be. With these steps, one can easily develop a better social networking app in less time. We all know that features are the heart of any mobile application and decide the success of an app. So, here we have highlighted the essential features of an Instagram-like app.

Essential Features Required to Develop An App Like Instagram

Are you working on creating an app like Instagram? Wondering about the features to include? Here is the list of the essential features required to develop an app like Instagram that will make your app successful within less time.

 

 

1. Registration & Authorization

User registration and authorization is the foremost step of any mobile app development process, and the Instagram app is no different. Add multiple options for user sign-in and sign-up to enable users to register on your social media app in a go. Do not keep the registration process lengthy; otherwise, the majority of the users will leave your app without even registering.

2. Profile Management

While creating a video app like Zoom similar to Instagram, don’t forget to add the profile management feature to your app like Instagram. This feature will enable the app users to log in to the account and edit their personal information name including name, phone number, email address, profile pic, etc.

3. Upload Photos & Videos

Now comes a crucial feature of your social networking app, i.e., uploading photos and videos. There are multiple ways to implement this feature and make your app stand out from the rest. So, think about adding photos, previewing content, and including videos. Deciding this will also help you estimate the cost to develop an app like Instagram, as the more features you include, the higher the cost will be.

 

4. Social Media Networking

Social media applications are all about sharing photos, videos, and creating networks, so including this feature is a must. It will help the users stay in touch with their friends while sharing content among their networks. It is one of the best features to increase app engagement and generate more revenue and profit within less time.

5. Geo-Location

Social networking apps are not only about posting photos; there is a lot more like sharing places and vacation spots that will require geo-location features. Adding this feature will make your social media app more valuable and exciting for the users while enabling them to share their location through posts, videos, live, and more. Here are some of the new trends in geolocation app development for different industries.

 

6. Search Filter

Creating a successful app like Instagram isn’t possible without inserting a search filter. So, offer users the ability to search for content, groups, tagged photos, news, and more. It is another amazing feature to increase engagement on your application and double the profit in no time.

7. Push Notifications

Push notifications are one of the strongest assets to keep the users updated about the ongoing app activities while increasing user engagement. So, enabling push notifications while developing video apps like Instagram will help the users and benefit businesses in bringing more reach and engagement.

8. Commenting & Messaging

Real-time messaging and commenting make Instagram a popular social media application. This amazing feature lets the users easily communicate with their friends via text message and comment on each other’s posts. The feature is very similar to apps like Whatsapp which is also messaging app development.

9. Stories

Stories automatically disappear after 24 hours if the users don’t save them. This feature helps social media app users share interesting moments or memories that they don’t want to appear on the feed. So, you can also ask the developers to include such a feature while availing of on-demand app development services. To add more privacy to this feature, you can add a ‘Close Friend’ feature where only the chosen connections will be able to review the story.

10. Privacy Setting

Finally, the last yet crucial feature of creating social media apps like Instagram is Privacy settings. It will help make some personal adjustments to the social media application and help users remain ensured of their safety and security.

So, these are some essential features that can help you craft a successful social media app like Instagram. Every social networking app feature mentioned above will contribute to your app’s success, so try to incorporate all of them while creating an app like Instagram. The more features an application contains, the higher will be its cost, so review all the features before adding them to your Instagram-like app.

How Much Does It Cost to Develop An App Like Instagram?

 

The cost to develop an app like Instagram reels varies depending on multiple factors, including app size, complexity, and more. Usually, the video app development process ranges between $8,000 – $25,000. Businesses can only get a final mobile app development cost once everything is decided. Still, to get an estimated idea, here is an overview of the development cost based on development time & platform.

 

Social Media App Development	Estimated Cost	Time Frame
Simple App Development	$8000 – $12000	2 to 6 Months
Medium-Complex App Development	$12000 – $21000	6 to 8 Months
High-Complex App Development	$25000+	9+ Months

 

Tech Stack to Build an App Like Instagram

To develop a social media website with extensive functionalities, choose the best tech stacks to handle the highly automated operations. So, here is the list of the robust tech stacks:

 

Category	Tech Stack	Description
Frontend	HTML5, CSS, Javascript	These powerful platforms build robust user interfaces.
Backend	Node js, Django, PHP	Powerful backend frameworks build robust applications.
Database	MYSQL, MongoDB, SQL	Securely stored massive data
APIs	REST, GraphQL	Sharing data between applications, systems, and devices.
Authentication	OAuth, JWT	Verifies the user’s identity and access token from a trusted server.
Cloud Services	Microsoft Azure, AWS	Allowing apps to access resources in the cloud.

 

5 Monetization Techniques to Build an App Like Instagram

Create a mobile app like Instagram with extensive functionalities, but don’t know how to generate revenue streams from it. So, here, we provide multiple monetization techniques or opportunities to make an acceptable profit:

 

 

1. Advertising

In this first technique of monetization, allow third-party businesses to display their items in your app and charge fees for advertising. Advertising can take various formats, such as banner ads, display ads, native ads, and pop-up window ads. It can increase the company’s valuation and generate new revenue streams.

 

2. Subscription Plans

Develop social networking app like Instagram offers paid subscription plans such as basic, primary, and enterprise. If any user wants to access the full potential of the app, then they have to purchase the premium plan as monthly or yearly. So, these subscription plans can grow the business and increase the user base.

 

3. Collaboration and Partnership

In this monetization technique, you collaborate or partner with related businesses or vendors to sell their items through your app. You can charge a commission-based fee for every sale of their products. According to the instant messaging app development company, these commission-based fees can generate new revenue streams to grow their businesses.

 

4. Freemium Model

Build a social network app like Instagram, which offers a basic version with limited features. Users must buy additional features or subscription plans to access all the app’s functionalities or services. Thus, these freemium models can generate revenue streams and profit from the app.

 

5. Transaction Fees

Let’s move to the last monetization technique: charge a fee for every payment transaction through your app. Earn transaction fees when the user purchases something from the app; then, the transaction fees will be added to the checkout process. So, these transaction fees can increase the company’s valuation and user base.

 

Conclusion!

In the process of how to make a social media app like Instagram, consider every little detail, including Instagram app features, cost, and tech stack. We hope this blog has helped you understand the steps to developing an app like Instagram and more. Now that you are well-versed with the entire social media app development process, it is time to get into it.

If you are willing to avail social networking app development services, it is advisable to connect with experienced professionals only. It will help you get a well-structured and feature-rich app like Instagram at the right time and within the desired budget.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How Much Does it Cost to Build an App Like Instagram?

The cost to build a mobile app like Instagram is around $8,000 to $25,000, depending on the project’s requirements, size, complexity, deployment platforms, infrastructure, features, and functions.

 

2. How Long Does it Take to Build an App Like Instagram?

To develop an app like Instagram, it takes 5 to 9 months overall. The time depends on the project’s requirements, the number of features, and the developer’s working hours.

 

3. How Can I Monetize a Social Media App Like Instagram?

There are various methods to monetize a social media app like Instagram. So, here is the list of the monetization techniques:

• Subscription plans
• Freemium Model
• Advertising
• In-app purchase
• Delivery fees

 

4. Which Technologies Are Used to  Build an App Like Instagram?

Powerful or extensive technologies are used to build an app like Instagram. Here is the list of the robust technologies:

• Java
• Python
• Kotlin
• Swift
• Flutter

 

5. Why do Businesses Invest in Social Media App Development?

Most businesses invest in social media app development because it offers a higher return on investment, and photo sharing social media app development is a lucrative opportunity for businesses to increase their valuation.

• Globally reached
• Increase sales
• Brand reputation