How to Build a Messaging App Like Discord: The Complete Guide
Discord, with its rising presence, serves as a shining example of fostering community engagement and facilitating seamless collaboration. It offers an immersive world where communities flourish, players plan, and innovators come up with new ideas. In no time, it successfully became everyone’s favorite, especially in younger generations. But what could be the reason behind this remarkable success, and can someone achieve this same level? Come along as we explore Discord’s many capabilities and reveal the secret behind being the ultimate place for building and maintaining active communities. Additionally, learn how to build a messaging app like Discord and everything you would need in this comprehensive guide.
The Full History of Discord
Well, we have to tell this story for two reasons. The first reason is to empower whoever is searching for how to build a messaging app like Discord and actively looking for a guide to start his attempts. And the second reason is because this story is really fun and interesting. So, let us start telling the full story of Discord! Well, the first interesting fact about this story is that it never started as a messaging or chat app. The idea of discord first originated while Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevsky were finding their way through the video game industry. Through their journey, they started to develop a game of their own.
But along the way, they tackled an issue that faced all players around the world: limited communication throughout the gameplay, especially in multiplayer games. So, they decided to release their game with in-app chat communication that includes voice messages to streamline communication. They named this feature Discord, which will become the app name later on.
After releasing the game, they found out that people enjoyed the communication feature the most, as it made the gaming experience more enjoyable.
At first, the whole concept of Discord was to serve gamers and provide them with an effective way to communicate during games by including Discord servers. Discord was able to accomplish exceptional success given the fact that it offered something that all messaging apps on the market lacked.
The app was released sometime in 2015, and it was only a matter of time before it became a sensation among gamers and the gaming community. In less than a year, the app gained over a million users.
Discord For All and All For Discord!
For many years, Discord has been the main platform and app for gamers, but things changed completely in 2020. People started to discover Discord’s great capabilities to be more than a platform for gamers, as it can include all communities. This was very true, because Discord, after that, started to gain more users and have an abundance of communities where millions of people communicate. In 2020 alone, Discord gained over 300 million users, which never stopped growing after that and probably won’t ever.
What Makes Discord Special as a Messaging App and Who Are Its Biggest Rivals?
Discord emerged as a unique app that was different than any messaging app on the market. But what makes Discord this special? The first thing that sets Discord apart is the unique and advanced interface that makes it appealing, especially for younger generations. Discord has this futuristic look and feel that not only provides users with a seamless and advanced experience but also highlights its best capabilities. Let us not forget the endless customization options that Discord offers. Users can easily alter everything about the app to appeal to their preferences and needs. Themes, emojis, integration, and many more can be personalized according to the user’s wishes to craft a unique and tailored experience.
Lastly, the community-centered approach that Discord has is unique. Discord is built on the idea of establishing communities, which is very needed for gaming communities. This allows users to easily create communities, assign members to roles, and manage these communities seamlessly.
In such a fierce market, Discord has many rivals. However, we are going to give Discord a point, as no other app was able to gather all these capabilities in one place like Discord did. For instance, Twitch competes against Discord as a messaging app and platform for gamers that allows seamless communication while playing games. Slack is also one of Discord’s rivals when it comes to community-building features. Slack allows users to create major communities and channels. However, it is more on the business side.
What Are the Benefits of Building a Messaging App for Individuals, Communities, and App Owners?
Individuals:
Enhanced Connectivity
By facilitating real-time communication, messaging apps allow people to remain connected with loved ones, coworkers, and acquaintances no matter where they are in the world. This immediate connectivity encourages closer bonds and quicker information sharing.
Expanded Social Connectivity
Through the use of messaging applications, people from different parts of the world can interact and form connections despite physical distance. People may keep in touch and keep relationships strong even when they’re far away, thanks to various forms of electronic communication.
Enhanced Productivity
Whether it is for work or play, these applications make it easy to communicate quickly and efficiently. Users can increase productivity through real-time information exchange, collaboration, and decision-making.
Cultural Exchange and Exposure
Users can promote multicultural understanding and tolerance by interacting with people from diverse backgrounds on messaging apps, which exposes them to various cultures, traditions, and perspectives.
Communities:
Event Management and Coordination
Sometimes, members of a community will plan gatherings, seminars, or webinars. Improved community involvement can be achieved through the use of messaging apps, which facilitate the organization, advertising, and implementation of such events.
Empowerment and Advocacy
Communities built on messaging apps have the potential to promote equality and diversity, educate the public, and fight behind different movements, all of which can lead to positive social change and individual agency.
Inclusive Networking Opportunities
Messaging apps facilitate the development of welcoming communities where people can meet and interact around common experiences, perspectives, and identities. Everyone feels welcome and included, which boosts community involvement and participation.
Collaborative Learning Environments
Knowledge sharing, mentorship, and skill sharing are all made possible through the communities found within messaging apps. The participants in this learning community are given the tools they need to constantly improve themselves and acquire new skills.
App Owners:
Monetization Opportunities
Advertising, in-app purchases, and premium features are some ways that messaging apps can earn app owners money. App owners can learn more about their users’ habits and interests through various sources of information, which allows them to provide more tailored services and products and boost income.
Partnership Opportunities
If a messaging app is popular enough, it might entice other businesses or organizations to work with it, which can lead to integrations, partnerships, or collaborative marketing campaigns.
Adaptability to Emerging Technologies
New features, such as AI-powered chatbots, augmented reality controls, or voice assistants, frequently get involved in messaging apps. The app remains relevant and puts itself at the leading edge of technological growth by embracing these advancements.
Thought Leadership and Influence
If a messaging platform is doing as well as possible, its owners can be seen as industry leaders. Compelling content, advanced in-app conversations, and exclusive insights can increase the app’s legitimacy and authority.
What are the Top Features of Discord?
Discord is a feature-packed app full of capabilities and features that make it on the list of the best messaging apps ever.
One of the notable Discord features is channels and servers. Discord revolves around servers, which act as dedicated spaces for communities. Within servers, you have channels that organize discussions into specific topics or themes. This structure allows for seamless communication, ensuring conversations stay relevant and organized. Servers can be private or public, giving users control over who can join and participate. Another feature that is why Discord gained this much popularity is voice and video calls. Discord offers high-quality voice and video calls, supporting large group calls and screen sharing. The low-latency technology ensures smooth communication, making it ideal for gamers coordinating strategies or content creators collaborating in real time. The flexibility to switch between voice, video, and screen sharing within the same platform enhances user convenience.
The list of features in Discord can go on forever. Since the platform is still relatively new, it still has so much to offer. Innovative and big brands are now advertising on Discord too. With new technological advancements each day, Discord tries to adapt and is in the ongoing process of evolution, and is becoming a legitimate marketing channel for businesses.
Is It Possible to Single-Handedly Build a Messaging App Like Discord?
So, let us ask yet another important question: Can one person single-handedly build a messaging app like Discord? And most importantly, how do you build a messaging app like Discord? Both questions have many answers from multiple perspectives. The first perspective, which is based on traditional development, would suggest that it is unlikely that one person can single-handedly build an app like Discord. This is because the process of building this app would be a lot for one person to handle and probably would require hiring an outsourcing company or a development team to go through the development process seamlessly and generate a fruitful outcome. As per how to build a messaging app like Discord, that is a pretty long answer.
The development process of a unique app like Discord varies significantly. This would be in terms of many factors like the size of the app, complexity of features you would like to add, interface, and visuals, and the list can go on forever. Another thing that should be taken into consideration is the time and budget that developers would need to develop this app. Some experts estimate that to build a messaging app like Discord, you would need over five months and two hundred thousand dollars for the whole project. The objectives, goals, and values of the app also contribute to answering the “how to build a messaging app like Discord” question. According to the value you would like to provide for users, the development process will change entirely and can take multiple directions.
No-Code?
Now the other perspective that we can answer the two questions from is the no-code app builder, which has a brief answer for both questions. The first question’s answer would be absolutely. With no-code app-building platforms, one person can easily build a messaging app like Discord and go through the whole development process seamlessly. As per the second question, the development process through a no-code app-building platform is easier than ever.
This is because all that a developer would need is a good and reliable platform that includes all the features that the project would need. Aside from that, the intuitive drag-and-drop interface and pre-established modules solve all the issues that developers usually face while developing apps. An example of an app-building platform that can accomplish this is the nandbox app builder.
Nandbox excels in the category of messaging apps, given that the first outcome of the platform was the popular nandbox Messenger, which has over 1 million users. The nandbox app builder has a rich list of communication features that could help build a messaging app like Discord in no time. In addition, the prices only start at $49 to allow everyone to experience a unique and engaging app development experience. You can now try the nandbox app builder and enjoy a 15-day trial to get a glimpse of what a great and effective app development experience feels like!
