7 Common Developer Mistakes You Must Avoid When Building Chat Apps

Vigneshwar Published On February 28th, 2024 Tech Talks

Chat apps are increasingly popular among the modern generation in recent years. Right at this moment, users can access more than 5.7 million apps from their Google or Apple play stores collectively. But most of these apps get uninstalled after their first use.

One main reason for the early uninstallation of apps is a highly competitive market. On the other hand, it also points to some of the silly mistakes committed by chat app developers. This article will focus on giving you a heads-up on the flaws you could avoid as a mobile or website chat app developer before deployment.

Let’s delve into the first app development mistake on the list.

Insufficient Planning

The most common mistake people or mainly developers make while developing chat is to include a planner. Often, they fail to realize that planning is a very important communication tool for achieving a business’s end goal.

So before you start to develop a chat application, especially if it’s from scratch, you must own a dedicated project plan. If you have successfully mastered this then you can easily overcome nasty surprises along the way.

You just have to make sure to include the below factors:

• Development time
• Development cost
• Money 
• Right number of coders and 
• The correct infrastructure in your project plan

If you’ve done this, then you are halfway close to achieving success. But, remember to choose your infrastructure wisely because only the right framework will let your chat platform scale with your business’s growth.

Therefore, we advise you to jot down even the intricate things you’ll need to do for better results. Now, let us head onto the next common developer mistakes, we usually come across.

Inadequate Learning

Without adequate knowledge of a particular concept can lead to a pretty big downfall. Particularly, if you are into chat app development.

You might have a brilliant idea in your mind, an excellent concept, but bet you it won’t make a standout. Because, as live chat developers, your vision should be focused on the time and resources required to build an app.

Decide on what features to include, and what trails to leave behind, and then sit with a horde of techies and validate its performance. This way you can alleviate all the mobile or website chat mistakes that you might succumb to.

 

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Unattractive User Interface

Did you know that about 10 percent of users quickly shift from one app to another because of poor interface? True! Often as developers, you focus only on chat features, frameworks, backend servers, technologies, and blah blah to include in the app.

What you miss is the user interface part, which is crucial for getting your users or target audience glued to the app. 

An unappealing, less interactive, and functionless app can damage the effort put into developing one.

And to avoid this type of app development mistakes, hire expert designers, make them craft beautiful websites, or simply use a premade chat SDK. As they come with exceptional in-built UI kits and components.

All of which can be changed and customized as per your need.

Skipping Skip-Test

Your deadline might be near, or you must be short on funds, so, you must have decided to skip testing your product one last time.

Do not get surprised, as developers seldom do this act before an app launch. What a real shame isn’t it? Because a month’s or year’s work gets wasted on such stupid decisions.

So, make sure to include a testing phase because what looks very intuitive to you must not be the same for other users. Get their input on what can be changed or what best can be implemented. 

Remember that your visuals should also include other users’ perspectives, thoughts, and ages. 

Finally, do not hesitate to undergo plenty of tests while developing an app and try to collect feedback from every possible person. 

But, if you have already launched your product then try collecting real-time feedback from users and letting them rate their experience. Onto our next common developer mistake is

Compromise On Security

Security is very very pivotal for any app, distinctively if you are using chat API for website or mobile apps. Because, when messages are left unsecured, it gives a path for third-party intrusions. 

So, whenever you build a chat app or buy a web chat API, make sure to have a greater focus on the security part.

If you are using ready-made chat platforms like MirrorFly, you can have a relaxing cup of coffee, as they manage everything with best-in-class tools and services. 

Elsewise, we suggest you take some extra baby steps to cover this part.

Missing Chat Features

Could be distraught to users if you skip to including chat features that they highly value.

You could choose to let them go due to time, money, or knowledge, but some chat features are considered to be essential for user experience, security, and performance of the app. 

If you are still unclear on what we are speaking about here, we’ll help you with this. Include features like typing indicators, private and group chats, push notifications, VoIP calls, sharing, attachments, emojis, and GIFs in your chat app. 

If you feel your in-house developers are not equipped with such concepts, simply opt for providers who offer a chat API for Flutter & React Native as they have most of the features built-in.

Give Users The New

Do not underestimate the header thinking it to be a bit of common advice. If your chat app does not allow for customizations then trust me, they are not going to like it.

Because, with a plenitude of chat applications in the market, your app would fail to stand out from the crowd.

So, if you want your business to explode positively, make sure to include top features. Which by far aims to give utmost success.

For this to happen, creativity is very much required. Pick people who are young, ready to accept changes, and enthusiastic enough to bring in ideas.

And, try to collaborate with people from various teams to brainstorm ideas that yield positive results. If not, you can always get help from communities or developer blogs that would guide you in making your app a success.

Let’s Call It A Closure!

We believe this article on common developer mistakes has done a fair job in giving you a wider view of the obvious pitfalls and will help you go a long way in your chat app development. 

On the other hand, you can absolutely eliminate all these mistakes by integrating chat APIs into your apps. It works wonders! When you integrate our customizable chat SDKs, you can include features that best suit your brand with zero scopes of mistakes. 
If you think this is a good idea, don’t wait a minute. Contact us, and our experts will help you build amazing chat features into your apps.  Keep building wonderful apps!

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