Create an Open Source WhatsApp clone app using Mesibo

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

This multi-part series will describe the design and implementation of a commercially deployable WhatsApp like app having real-time messaging, voice and video communication. By the end of this article series, you will create fully functional Android and iOS applications which you can even publish on Google and Apple App Store under your own brand name. You will also create a web based messanger.

For this article series, we have selected WhatsApp as a use case since it’s easy to relate. However, the technology and techniques described in this article series are equally applicable to any domain that requires real-time communication, for example, telemedicine, customer support, social apps, to name a few. You can easily change code or change login mechanism once you master the basic concepts.

Ready? let’s get started. Remember, for all our subsequent discussion, we will refer the app as Messanger.

Messenger Features

Let’s quickly learn about some of the key features of both these apps which we are about to build and run. Both these open-source apps are fully functional real-time messaging, voice and video calling apps. Some of the key features are,

  • One-on-one messaging and Group chat
  • High-quality voice and video calling
  • Rich messaging (text, picture, video, audio, other files)
  • Encryption
  • Location sharing
  • Message status and typing indicators
  • Online status (presence) and real-time profile update
  • Push notifications

It won’t take much before you build your own Android and iOS app with all these features yourself. But if you can’t wait, you can also try them from Google Play Store OR Apple AppStore

Prebuilt Messenger Apps

If you prefer to try Pre-built messenger apps instead of building it, you can download it from:



 

Note that, we do not send OTP for App login. Instead, you need to login to your mesibo account and click on Demo Apps menu to generate OTPs yourself.

Alright, let’s get going!

Prerequisites

Before we dive into building and running a fully featured Messenger for Android, iOS and Web, ensure that you’ve read the followings.

It is expected that you are already familiar with the mesibo API and you have created basic apps using mesibo API. If you have not, ensure that you read the get-started and first-app tutorial mentioned above and try simple apps before proceeding with this tutorial.

You must run this code on a real device! Hence it is also expected that you have access to Android or iPhone to run this app.

Introduction

This tutorial is broken into multiple parts. Instead of making you wait till the end to build both the apps, we will quickly build apps first and then dwell into details later.

  • In this part, we will learn about the features and key components of both the apps.
  • In the next three part, we will download the source code for Android, iOS and Web Apps, build and run it.
  • In the fifth part, we will learn about customizing both the apps.
  • In the sixth and seventh part, we will learn about hosting entire platform on your own-premise.
  • Finally, we will discuss contributing and requesting support if you need any help.

Key App Components & Third Party Libraries

These apps use the following Mesibo SDKs.

  • Mesibo Core SDK
  • Mesibo Messaging UI Module
  • Mesibo Call UI Module

These apps also use the following third-party libraries/services for Android App.

Conclusion

In this part, we have learned a brief about Messenger app features and key components.

In part 2, we will start building the Android app.

On to Part 2 >>

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