How to Develop an App Like Instagram?

![How to Develop an App Like Instagram](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/bol9uib4j7tsd6sn37sn.png "How to Develop an App Like Instagram?")
Nowadays, photography is an integral part of social life. To capture moments in high-quality and bright pictures, you no longer need to invest in a professional camera. Since every smartphone has a camera, their owners take a lot of shots and gladly share them with the help of apps. 

Instagram, the leading app for sharing photos, is well known all over the world. According to the official statistical information the service provides, daily users post over 80 million pictures on Instagram. Over 3.5 billion likes are given every day, and more than 400 million users are active monthly in this app. It is impossible to enumerate all of the events people potentially need photo sharing apps for parties, celebrations, travelling, self-promotion and much more.
![instagram_icon](https://d32myzxfxyl12w.cloudfront.net/images/ckeditor_assets/pictures/193/content_instagram_appicon.jpg)
Have you ever wondered how much it costs to build an iPhone app like Instagram? It is worth mentioning that the [development cost](http://mlsdev.com/en/blog/53-how-much-does-it-cost-to-develop-a-mobile-app) will depend greatly on the features and functionality of your app, as well as on the complexity of its design. Let’s take Instagram as an example and examine it in detail. 

Let’s imagine you decided to build a photo-sharing app like Instagram. The first thing you should do is to analyze the key features to discover in which direction you should start moving.

So, the main functionality of Instagram includes:

1. Authorization (performed through email, phone number or Facebook);
2. Creating and editing profile;
3. Messaging;
4. Image customization;
5. Determination of geolocation;
6. Viewing profiles of other users, following other users;
7. Feed;
8. Search by different parameters (popular posts, usernames, tags and places);
9. Tags;
10. Mentions;
11. Settings.

Take a look at the Instagram interface. It is the best example of photo and short video sharing application with a simple, user-friendly and stylish design. The app is so easy and intuitive, those new users should not have any difficulties figuring out how it works and using it.

![Instagram_UI](https://d32myzxfxyl12w.cloudfront.net/images/ckeditor_assets/pictures/651/content_screen.png)

When developing your own app, you should not copy the ideas from Instagram, but you can follow the good successful examples and make your product feature-rich and user-friendly.

## Technical Background
Let’s imagine you decided to make an iOS or Android app like Instagram, that is an application for a single OS. 

Below are the features an MVP of an image sharing app should have.

Authorization
- creating a new account;
- signing in into the existing account via social networks.
 
Editing profile
- adding personal data;
- editing personal data;
- removing personal data.
 
Post creation
- uploading pictures were taken in the app or existing images from the gallery;
- mentioning people, adding tags.
 
Feed
- subscribing (one-way following); 
- liking;
- commenting.
 
Social features
- sharing;
- inviting friends from Facebook.
 
Image customization 
- cropping;
- rotating;
- image adjustments;
- applying filters.
 
Geolocation features
- determining geolocation of the existing image;
- determining current geolocation and adding it to the post.
 
Messaging
- text and photo messaging.
 
Notifications
- push notifications.
 
Search
- by username or full name;
- by tags;
- by post description.

In the table below you can see the approximate time estimate for an MVP of a photo-sharing app:

![the approximate time estimate for an MVP](https://d32myzxfxyl12w.cloudfront.net/images/ckeditor_assets/pictures/652/content_2_table.png)

As for UX, it will approximately take 64-96 hours. You will spend about 48-64 hours on UI. Additional design features will tentatively take from 16 hours and will depend on the complexity of the tasks. Being simple and unintrusive is the best you can be here. All the icons, images and fonts should be easy to perceive and inviting to the eye. And don’t forget to develop a great logo for your app, that will distinguish it in the market, attract the users and pass along its message. 

## Key Performance Indicators of An App 
1. Users
You will need to measure the performance of your app. Therefore, its KPI should be considered when developing your product. The first indicator to pay attention to is the number of active users.
 
2. Engagement
The quantity of users who signed up for your app does not alone determine success. There are other significant factors like average time people spend on the app, frequency of daily logins, number of files they upload and likes they leave. All these indicators show how dedicated the users are and how likely they are to continue using the app. 
 
3. Retention
You should remind users about your app occasionally when the time is convenient for them. Push notifications serve this purpose. However, before sending any, you should study your audience and schedule your pushes when the users should be available and likely to spend some time in the app. There are other ways of keeping them in the application like organizing various competitions of best themed pictures, quizzes and giveaways.

## Monetizing Your App
![Monetizing Your App](https://d32myzxfxyl12w.cloudfront.net/images/ckeditor_assets/pictures/653/content_3_monetizing_your_app.png)
There are the most widely used and appropriate ways of monetizing the discussed type of the app: 

Sponsorship and advertisements (In photo sharing apps, businesses can create their profiles, advertise themselves by posting images and gain followers). 
In-app purchases (here you have a wide choice of things you can put for sale, from custom filters and effects to enabling users to sell their photos and you getting the commission for it).
Offering special deals to active users.

## The Bottom Line
Let’s sum up what you should do after you decided to launch your photo sharing application. 
The steps are below:

- Analyze the market and develop your strategy;
- Get support of investors;
- Hire a development team to [build an MVP](https://mlsdev.com/services/mvp) for you; 
- Work out your PR and marketing steps and launch the promotion campaign several months prior to the product release;
- Add unique features to your app to get it into the spotlight;
- Perform thorough app testing to make sure its quality is flawless and it is user-friendly;
- Enjoy your success, but be on the lookout for competitors. 

Keeping up with the latest tendencies and remembering that the largest room you will ever have is the room for improvement is a must. If you deliver the highest quality product to people and do your best to enable them to fulfil their needs in an easy and convenient way, success will find you.

Find out more here: [How to Develop an App Like Instagram?](https://mlsdev.com/blog/70-how-to-develop-an-app-like-instagram)