Instagram is a popular photo and video-sharing social media platform that allows users to capture, edit and share visual content with their followers.
As of 2024, Instagram has over 2 billion monthly active users. This substantial user base represents Instagram as one of the leading social media platforms worldwide.
Even with huge popularity, Instagram has some downsides, which you could choose to build a photo and video social media app.
For example, Instagram struggles with moderating harmful content, including misinformation and hate speech. Additionally, Instagram has been scrutinised for its data privacy practices, including how it collects and uses user data for targeted advertising.
As a market debutant, you could help solve these user problems by offering better content moderation and transparent data policies.
So, in this guide, we'll delve into the features your social media app needs and explain how you can create your own social media app like Instagram using Builder.ai.
What is a photo and video social media app?
A photo and video social media app is a platform where users can capture, edit and share visual content with their followers or a wider community. These apps typically allow users to interact with posts through likes, comments and shares, fostering social engagement and creative expression.
Photo and video social media app are here to stay
Photo and video social media apps have gained huge popularity because modern-day users are choosing visual communication as a popular self-expression platform. The global market size of these social media apps is projected to reach $5.45 billion in 2024. Moving forward, in 2027, it's estimated to grow to $6.55 billion. This year-on-year growth is a clear sign that these platforms are here to stay.
Also, technological advancements in smartphone cameras and app functionalities, along with continuous innovation in features like live streaming has widened its scope. Further, the rise of influencer culture and the business opportunities these apps present, such as targeted advertising and ecommerce integration, hugely drive their growth and promise their place in contemporary society.
Types of photo and video-sharing apps
Here are the different types of photo and video-sharing apps, along with examples. 👇
Social media platforms
General-purpose social media apps like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter allow users to share photos and videos alongside text updates.
Secondly, visual-focused social media platforms like Pinterest target visual content, enabling users to discover and save ideas through images and videos.
Storytelling and ephemeral content
Social media apps like Snapchat and Instagram lets users share stories, emphasising ephemeral content that disappears after a set time, encouraging spontaneous and authentic sharing.
Similarly, platforms like Facebook Live, Instagram Live and Twitch allow users to broadcast live video content, fostering real-time engagement.
Creative and editing-focused
Apps like Lightroom and Snapseed offer advanced editing tools for enhancing photos before sharing. Moreover, platforms like TikTok, Adobe Premiere Rush and InShot provide video editing features for creating polished content.
Niche and community-based
Photography apps like 500px and Flickr cater to professional and amateur photographers, offering a space to showcase high-quality images. Special interests platforms like Behance (for designers) and DeviantArt (for artists) serve specific communities with shared interests.
Messaging and private sharing
Platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram offer photo and video sharing within private or group chats. Likewise, apps like Signal and Wire focus on secure and private sharing of media, ensuring user privacy.
Must-have features of a photo and video social media app
Here are the must-have features of a photo and video social media app. 👇
User authentication
Secure user registration process like log in and logout functionality and password reset options will help your users in account recovery and build user trust.
Photo and video uploads
Easy-to-use media upload functionality boosts user participation. It helps by supporting multiple file formats and sizes, catering to your users diverse content needs. Also, options to add captions and location tags improve content discoverability.
Editing tools
Built-in editing tools for enhanced photos and videos in your app can attract creators. Moreover, a variety of filters and effects to choose from encourages creativity for your users.
Personalised feed
Personalised feed based on followed users and interests increases user satisfaction. Also, chronological or algorithm-based content display keeps your users engaged with infinite scrolling for seamless content consumption.
Social interactions
Like, comment and share posts with ease will foster community building on your platform. Alongside, interactive elements like polls, quizzes and challenges enhance the user experience.
Direct messaging
Private messaging for one-on-one or group conversations holds personal connections for your users. Further, multimedia sharing within messages improves communication.
Search functionality
Robust search features with filter and sorting options for users, makes it easier to find content and aids navigation.
Analytics
Performance metrics for posts and profiles can provide valuable insights into follower growth and engagement and help your users understand their audience. These tracking tools can then help your content reach and support strategic planning.
Who should you choose to build your photo and video social media app?
There are many ways you can create a photo and video social media app. If you’re a programmer, you could create one yourself. Just remember, this might take a while. An Instagram-like app is about 5 million lines of code.
Alternatively, you can hire a team of mobile app developers, as they can build robust photo and video social media app with a range of custom features. However, the challenge here is to accurately calculate the total cost of app development.
They often charge on an hourly or daily basis, and once you factor in the costs of app development, design, app testing and listing, the expenses quickly spiral out of control.
No-code app builders are a simpler, more budget-friendly solution. You don’t need coding skills to use them and you can build apps quickly by dragging and dropping pre-made components.
However, no-code platforms may lack the flexibility to add complex features or unique customisations and scaling the app as your user base grows can be problematic due to performance limitations.
This is where Builder.ai comes in. 👇
Why Builder.ai is different
Builder.ai offers the best of both worlds by providing a solution that bridges these gaps. It provides the customisation and scalability of professional developers along with the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of no-code builders, making it an ideal choice for developing your photo and video social media app.
Around 80% of all software is made up of around 650+ features. We package each basic feature as a reusable Lego-like block. Explain your idea to our AI companion, Natasha, and she uses these blocks to rapidly create an outline of your app.
The work is completed faster and cheaper because Natasha handles all the repetitive coding. Then it’s off to our app design team and mobile app developers. They personalise it and create any bespoke elements you need.
To build your photo and video social media app, simply head over to Builder Studio 4.0. The Builder Studio 4.0 platform has been built with user convenience in mind and intuitively guides you through the app creation process.
Let’s dive in with the step-by-step process 👇
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1 - Discuss your ideas with Natasha
On Builder Studio 4.0, you’re greeted by Natasha. You can express your video sharing app idea to Natasha via voice, text or uploading a PDF or doc file.
Before you chat with her, have a checklist of app features and be as descriptive as possible about your app idea. The more detailed information you give to Natasha, the better her suggestions will be.
For instance, a prompt could look like this:
“I want to create a photo and video sharing platform like Instagram where users can capture and share their moments with people around the world. It needs to have a feed that displays content from users you follow, as well as a discovery section to explore new content.
“The app should include user registration and login features, along with the ability to follow other users and share content on social media platforms. It also needs to enable users to like, comment on and save posts.
“To generate revenue, the app should support in-app purchases and offer advertising opportunities. Additionally, it should provide features for editing photos and videos, creating stories that disappear after 24 hours, and sending direct messages to other users.”
Based on your prompt, Natasha will ask you some supporting questions and you simply need to answer them based on your requirements.
2 - Choose a base
Once you’ve provided your requirements to Natasha, she’ll create a custom framework for your app based on everything you tell her. She'll also suggest some pre-built bases she thinks are best suited for your app.
For instance, in the above image, once you tell her to create an app like Instagram, she’ll suggest a custom base similar to Instagram and share any matching core bases as well.
You can choose up to 3 you feel are related to your big idea by simply clicking the ‘+’ icon. These selections make it easier for us to understand the features your app needs. When you’re ready, click 'Next'.
3 - Make it mine
The 'Make it mine' step aligns your app with the identity of your brand. In this step, you can give the name to your app, choose the colour scheme using the colour wheel and upload the logo of your brand.
If you already have a website, you can add the link and Builder Studio will automatically pick your brand’s colours and logo.
Once you’ve personalised your app’s name, colour and logo, you can click ‘Next’.
4 - Refine your app idea
Now comes the fun bit.
In the 'Refine idea' stage, you can review and customise your app journeys and features and also create an instant prototype of your app.
Journeys
In only a matter of seconds, Natasha creates app user journeys with corresponding features.
Go through these journeys carefully and see if your app needs additional journeys. For instance, check if you want to add journeys for monetization, sending notifications or any other relevant journey.
To add journeys, click on 'See more suggestions'. Doing so will open the list of pre-built journeys. You can browse the list and select the journeys you’re missing. You can also add custom journeys by clicking on 'Add custom journey'.
Features
By clicking on individual journeys, you can see the feature list each journey contains. Doing so will open the features list each journey contains. You can scroll through the features list and check if a journey contains non-essential features or if you want to add extra features.
To remove a non-essential feature, you can hover over the feature and click ‘Remove’. This way you can manage project costs. If you’re not sure what features to remove, you can click on individual feature and check the label at the top. We highly recommend keeping the ‘Essential Features’.
In case you want to add more features, you can simply click the ‘+’ button. Clicking the ‘+’ button will take you to the list of pre-built features. Here you can go through different categories or use the search bar to look for missing functionality. In case you don’t find the feature you’re looking for, you can also add a custom feature by clicking on 'Add custom feature'.
Instant prototype and user flow
Once you’re happy with the journeys and features of your app, you can create a prototype by clicking on 'Preview your app' in the top-right corner.
Sign up and Natasha will create a working prototype of your app. You can click on the screen at different areas to progress through the journey.
You can also see the user flow by clicking on the 'Flow mode' at the top of the screen to see how users will interact and navigate within your app.
If you need extra help, Natasha is on hand to help.and you can interact with her at any time by clicking on 'Speak to Natasha'.
She’ll provide you with suggestions and help you find features or journeys from the library. Or you can click on 'Book a demo' to talk to our product managers who’ll guide you through your app development journey.
Click on 'Save & Continue' to go to next step and also to save your progress or it might get lost.
5 - Plan delivery
It’s time to choose the platforms you want your video app to be available on. Want a video-sharing iOS app? Click iOS. Fancy a video-sharing Android app? Hit Android. Not sure whether Android or iOS is better? Choose both to develop simultaneously and see how it changes the price and timelines.
Next, you can choose to add Natasha to your platform to supercharge the customer experience of your photo and video social media app. Natasha uses Large Language Models (LLMs) to engage your customers in fluid, human-like conversations.
Need more control? In the development speed, you can change the speed of each phase. Need it super fast? Pay extra and we’ll make it happen. No rush? Great, you can make big savings with relaxed timelines.
Next up is Design. If you have your app designs ready, you can save your costs by clicking 'You have design' and we’ll reduce your costs accordingly. You can share your design files (preferably in Figma) and our designers will upload them, so you can kick off straight away.
If not, you can choose the 'We do your designs'. Here, you simply need to add your brand assets and we'll do everything from storyboarding to fully designed screens.
Now it’s time to plan the phases of your project. Here you get three options:
- Clickable prototype: you’ll get a visual representation of your app to test with users
- Basic build: you’ll get an MVP (Minimum viable product) – a hard-coded but simplified version of your idea; this allows you to collect feedback and iterate before you do a full build
- Full Build: you’ll get market-ready software, including a kick-off with our product team and review sessions
After that, you need to select your support plans. With 'Full Build' you get one year of Studio One support included free of charge.
Once you’ve planned your delivery, click on 'View Buildcard'.
6 - Review Buildcard
Buildcard provides you with a bird's eye view of all the selections you made in the previous steps. Here, you can review all the features, cost per feature and delivery details.
You can also download the PDF of Buildcard or invite others to show your team members what you’re building.
If you want to make any changes, simply click on 'Edit Buildcard' under 3 dots in the top-right corner
If you’re happy with everything, click on 'Add billing details' to go to the next section. Alternatively, if you want to review it with experts, click on 'Review with an expert'.
7 - Select your payment plan
We offer weekly or monthly payment instalments, with visible payment dates and amounts for each option. You can also choose to pay upfront to reduce the cost of your build.
Simply select your preferred billing cycle, then click 'Continue' to proceed.
You’ll be asked to input your payment details and agree to the terms and conditions. Once that’s done, click 'Continue to Payment'.
Once your payment is done, you can set up a meeting with our product managers to begin your app development.
8 - Monitor your app build in real-time
With Builder Home, your real-time project dashboard, you can monitor development progress and make sure your app is exactly the way you want it.
This includes access to a suite of collaboration tools to help improve your app design. You can chat with your team of experts in Builder Meet, brainstorm in Builder Whiteboard and visualise your ideas with free Tailor-made prototypes from Builder Now.
Conclusion
While photo and video social-sharing apps like Instagram have revolutionised how we consume content, they also have their own set of challenges.
Creating your photo and video social media video app isn't just about entering a competitive market; it's about creating a space that better serves the diverse needs and preferences of the audience.
With the right features and a user-centric approach, your photo and video social platform can provide a refreshing alternative to the industry giants.
This is where Builder.ai comes into play. We simplify the app development process and make it accessible to even those with limited technical knowledge. With us, you can bring creative self-expression through photos and videos to millions of people.
If that sounds good, hit the banner below and kick off your photo and video social media app project with us today 👇
Want to start your app project with us?
Book a demoSpeak with one of our product experts today.
By proceeding you agree to Builder.ai’s privacy policy and terms and conditions
Stories published by the editorial team at Builder.ai.
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