How to create your own messenger from scratch: a complete guide

Today, more than 5.1 billion people use messengers, which is almost 63% of the world's population. 80% of adults (19—64 years) use such apps every day and spend 2-3 hours there. Teens (13—18 years old) are even more engaged: up to 91% chat every day. At the same time, most people install not one, but 2—5 messengers at once — for different purposes. The market is mature, active and continues to grow.

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Under these circumstances, the idea of creating another messenger seems risky — but only at first glance. In practice, users are looking for new tools that more accurately solve their problems: from private communication to process automation. Increasingly, messenger development is being carried out for a specific audience, business model or internal infrastructure. This can be a secure corporate chat, a channel for communication within a school, a niche solution with a custom interface, or an application that further integrates with the company's services.

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Chatbots, channels, AI — what's trending

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Modern messengers have long gone beyond sending messages. The main trends of 2023—2025:

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• Chatbots and automation. Companies are actively introducing bots into applications to relieve operators and speed up support.
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• Public channels and communities. Telegram and WhatsApp are developing broadcasting models for subscribers. Messengers are increasingly reminiscent of social media.
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• AI and smart feature development. Auto-translation, suggestions, summarization — artificial intelligence makes chats more flexible and functional. This is especially important for work scenarios: it is easier for the team to navigate long conversations, record the results of discussions and make decisions faster.

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These trends are important for those who are planning to create their own product: the user is waiting for a tool that will cover specific requests, more precisely than universal solutions do.

If you're looking for how to create a messenger that will actually be used, start developing by understanding who you need it for.

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Private users: easy, fast, private

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The majority of users want one thing: convenient, safe and functional communication. It is important for them to:

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• send text and media quickly, easily find the contacts you need;
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• use stickers, reactions, disappearing messages;
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• be sure that everything is encrypted and not readable by outsiders.

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Personal messengers should create a sense of control and trust.

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Business: Where the customer is, there is support

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Small and large companies use messengers as a sales and support channel — it's easier for a client to write than to call or wait for an email. Therefore, it is important for businesses to:

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• integrations with CRM and other systems — to link correspondence to the customer's profile;
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• the ability to customize chatbots — to automatically respond to typical requests;
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• built-in analytics — to track key indicators: response speed, satisfaction, reasons for calls.

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It is important for business not only to communicate, but also to work with data — correspondence history, analytics, reports. When creating a messenger aimed at companies, you should consider both security and compliance issues (for example, GDPR compliance).

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Startups and niches: smaller but more accurate

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Interest in custom mobile apps is growing. Small teams launch messengers for gamers, activists, students, developers, and communities of interest. The values of these users are:

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• anonymity;
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• focus on a specific topic;
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• no superfluous stuff (ads, trackers);
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• unique features (for example, audio chats, creating private groups, customizing the interface).

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It is in these niches that new approaches and formats are often born, which are then taken up by giants. Therefore, you can create even for a narrow target audience — the main thing is to know why.

If you want to come out with a new messenger, it's important to understand who you'll be competing against. There are dozens of large and niche players on the market today. Everyone has their own audience, their own style, and their own weaknesses that can be avoided.

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WhatsApp — stability and simplicity

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The most popular messenger in the world. More than 3 billion monthly users. Everyone is used to the app's simple interface, stability, and end-to-end encryption by default. But WhatsApp also has weaknesses: functionality is added slowly, the design hardly changes, and customization is almost impossible.

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Telegram is a messenger with social media ambitions

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Unlike WhatsApp, which focuses on personal chats, Telegram is developing as a super app. Public channels, groups, bots, cloud storage, interface customization, and mini apps are available here. This approach opens up ample opportunities for creating content and developing your own services within the ecosystem. Telegram's strength is its flexibility and rich functionality, but this also creates vulnerabilities: spam, channel duplication, and fakes.

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WeChat is a steroid messenger

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In China, WeChat is everything: messaging, social media, payments, government services, games, food delivery. This is a super app that you don't have to leave. WeChat is hardly developed outside of China, but its model is inspiring: the messenger can become a digital ecosystem. Such a model requires the comprehensive development of several areas at once: messages, payments, and mini-services.

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Facebook Messenger — strong integration, poor privacy

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Messenger is built into Facebook and Instagram and is easy to use to communicate with followers, receive notifications, and respond to content. But in terms of security, it is inferior: end-to-end encryption is not the default, but only in separate “secret” chats. Young audiences are moving to other platforms, and Messenger is gradually losing its relevance, including due to outdated solutions at the development level.

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Different categories of users — different tasks. To make an app that will actually be used, you need to understand who will come there and why.

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Private users: privacy and ease of communication

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For everyday communication, it is important that the app is fast, convenient and secure. Users are waiting for:

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• instant sending of messages, photos, videos and voice notes;
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• end-to-end encryption by default;
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• disappearing messages with a timer;
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• the ability to hide your profile and restrict access to certain contacts;
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• no built-in ads and tracking of actions in the app.

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Business: automation and integration

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For companies, the messenger is a full-fledged working tool. Such an application should provide:

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• integrations with CRM and other services;
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• API for chatbots, autoresponders, and business newsletters;
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• built-in analytics on customer interactions;
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• compliance with data security and confidentiality requirements.

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Enterprise users: secure collaboration

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Internal communication values reliability and manageability. The team app must support:

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• secure group chats with the possibility of moderation;
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• end-to-end encryption and flexible access rights system;
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• integrations with task trackers, calendars and internal systems;
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• automatic archiving of correspondence and compliance with data storage standards.

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If you're looking for how to create your own messenger from scratch, it's important to define a set of features in advance. In this section, we'll look at what features a typical application includes and what to consider when developing it.

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Basic features

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• Authentication
  Login by phone, email, social networks. Import contacts for a quick start.
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• Messaging
  Texts, delivery statuses, history, editing, group chats.
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• File transfer
  Photos, videos, documents, geolocation are just a few taps away.
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• Notifications
  Customizable push signals.
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• Safety
  End-to-end encryption, chat protection, two-factor authentication.
  

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Advanced features

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• Calls
  Voice and video, including group videos. Adaptation to a weak Internet connection.
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• Chatbots
  Automating tasks. Opportunity create own bots via API.
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• Channels and groups
  Public communities for creations and promoting content within the app.
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• Disappearing messages
  Auto-delete timer for private correspondence.
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• Integrations
  CRM, clouds, analytics, payments — everything that makes the product easy to use.

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Interface and experience

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Even with the most powerful features, no one will use an awkward app. Your goal is an interface that requires no explanation:

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• minimalist design,
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• fast work,
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• dark and light themes,
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• offline mode,
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• stability on Android, iOS and the web.

Have you decided to figure out how to create your own messenger for Android and other platforms? The process consists of five stages involving a team: designer, analyst, developer, tester. Together they work out logic, interface, stability, and security — everything that ultimately determines the quality of an application.

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1. Research and planning

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How much does it take: 2—4 weeks

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What's going on:

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This stage is the foundation of all future development, and it starts with questions: who will be the user? why does he need another app? which features are required and which ones can be delayed?

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To begin with, the analyst studies the market, competitors, and current user requests. Then trends are studied and the weaknesses of existing solutions are identified. Based on the collected data, terms of reference for developers are drawn up, use scenarios are described, and the composition of the MVP is determined. This allows us to estimate in advance the scope of work, the timing and the approximate cost of development. At the same time, wireframes are being created — screen prototypes that reflect the structure and logic of the application.

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2. Design

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How much does it take: 3—6 weeks

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What's going on:

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• UX scenarios are being designed (entering the application, searching, working with messages and contacts);
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• a visual style is created: chats, buttons, profile, attachments;
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• it is being adapted to mobile platforms (iOS, Android) and the web;
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• the prototype is being assembled in Figma.

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At this stage, it is important to create an understandable logic of interaction. First impression, speed of development, and engagement depend on how user-friendly the interface is.

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3. Development

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How much does it take: 10—20 weeks

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What's going on: 

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The development team writes code, assembles the infrastructure, and connects everything into a single product.

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• Front-end development (6—12 weeks): React Native is the most commonly used, allowing you to write the same code for Android and iOS. For the web — React or other SPA frameworks. Such tools accelerate cross-platform development and updates.
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• Backend development (4—8 weeks): languages — Node.js, Python, Go, Java. For real-time messaging, use WebSocket or gRPC.
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• The main functions are implemented: authorization; chats; notifications; integrations; encryption; API for bots and connected services.
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• The infrastructure is being configured: servers, database, file storage, protection against DDoS and vulnerabilities.

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At this stage, you can already see how your application works: its speed, responsiveness, and scalability.

4. Testing

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How much does it take: 4-6 weeks

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What's going on:

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Testing is what turns a prototype into a complete application. No development is complete without the following steps:

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• Functional testing: It checks how the application behaves in key scenarios. The process of sending messages, calls, and transferring files should be stable: messages arrive, calls do not end, files are not damaged
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• Load testing: It assesses how the system is coping with a high simultaneous load (10,000+ connections), whether the server is stable, and whether the database fails. This stage is especially important for large-scale development.
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• Cross-platform testing: it is checked whether the application works and appears the same on Android, iOS and in the browser, and whether there are any critical differences in the interface or logic.

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You need to test everything: from registration and UI to interaction with the server and push notifications. It is also important to avoid negative scenarios: slow mobile Internet, lack of memory on the device, disconnection, etc.

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5. Launch and support

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How much does it take: 2—3 weeks

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What's going on:

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A messenger is considered ready when the app is published on the App Store, Google Play, and the web version. But even after that, the team continues to develop through regular updates, improvements, and tests. At this point:

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• feedback from first users is collected;
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• bugs are fixed;
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• updates are released every few weeks: from small things to new big features (for example, AI bots or custom themes).

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On average, the full messenger development cycle — from research to launch — takes 5 to 8 months. Specific deadlines depend on the complexity of the functions, the number of platforms and the degree of elaboration of the project at the start.

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When creating a messenger with your own hands, it's important to remember: every phase is important. Mistakes at the start lead to losses in the final. So don't rush — build on a solid foundation.

After publication, it is important to understand how the application will earn money and develop. It is advisable to think through the monetization model in advance — it affects the features, design and final cost of the product.

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Monetization models

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• Advertisement. Built-in banners, promotional messages, partner placements within chats and channels.
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• Subscribe. Disable ads and advanced features: voice transcription, stories, premium emojis, privileges for channel owners. Reasonable cost is important here.
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• In-app purchases. Stickers, themes, bots — monetization without affecting the main communication scenario.
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• Commissions. Revenue from paid calls, business integrations, and connections (for example, to CRM).
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• Donuts. Users support authors, and some go to product development. Suitable for small projects with an independent model.

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How to promote a messenger

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A good app needs not only to be created, but also to promote it; otherwise, they won't know about it.

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• SEO and ASO. Optimization for search queries, proper card design in stores.
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• Ads and influencers. Promotion through social networks, Google Ads, YouTube, affiliate reviews.
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• Retention. Notifications, inviting friends, regular updates, working with feedback.

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Well-designed marketing helps not only to bring the application to the market, but also to retain users without constant costs for paid traffic. As a result, the cost of attracting is reduced, engagement increases, and promotion becomes sustainable even with a limited budget.

Creating a messenger paves the way to a product that will connect users and make a profit through thoughtful monetization. If you are thinking about how to write your own messenger, it is important to assess tasks, audience and technical capabilities. We will help you develop a messenger with unique features and a reliable architecture. Do you want to stand out in the market? Apply for a project assessment today.

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