How to Create an iOS Video Streaming App

Wondering how to create an iOS video streaming app?

In this guide, we will answer the most popular questions about video streaming app development: How much does it cost to build a streaming app? How to make your own video streaming app?

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According to Statista, the projected revenue in the Video Streaming (SVoD) market) worldwide market is expected to reach US$108.50 billion in 2024. It is further projected that the revenue will experience a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 8.27% from 2024 to 2027, resulting in a market volume of US$137.70bn by 2027. This indicates a promising growth potential for the market.

Video Streaming App Development

Take the following steps to create an IOS video streaming app:

1. Review prominent video streaming apps and compare your ideas for a video streaming app with them

You might have come up with many ideas for your proposed iOS video streaming app. How do these ideas compare with the popular live streaming apps and well-known VOD (Video-On-Demand) streaming applications? 

To find that out, analyze the following prominent streaming apps:

• Netflix streaming service;
• Amazon Prime Video/ video streaming app;
• HBO Max/ video streaming service and app;
• Hulu/ video streaming platform and app;
• Disney +/ video streaming service and app;
• YouTube and YouTube TV;
• Apple TV+/ video streaming app and service;
• Discovery +;
• Paramount +;
• Peacock.

By reviewing these apps, you can get excellent ideas.

2. Form a senior team to initiate and plan your proposed iOS VOD and live-streaming app development project

Now that you have reviewed popular streaming mobile apps, you need a team to kick off and plan the project. An experienced project manager (PM) to lead this team. A software architect with adequate experience should assist this team. This team also needs a few experienced business analysts (BAs).

The PM should have the following expertise:

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• Important PM methodologies;
• Key PM best practices;
• PM functional and knowledge areas;
• Useful project management tools;
• Prominent PM frameworks.

BAs should gather the business requirements. The architect should decide the non-functional requirements (NFRs) and build the technical solutions.

3. Identify the features to offer in the proposed iOS VOD and live streaming app 

BAs in your team should interview the business stakeholders in your organization. They should gather functional requirements. BAs should analyze and document the requirements. Subsequently, there should be a requirements review. The PM should proactively manage requirements.

The proposed iOS video streaming app should have the following features:

• User management;
• The ability to search for streaming content;
• Live streaming;
• VOD (Video-On-Demand) streaming;
• Subscription;
• Billing;
• Customer support;
• Geolocation tracking;
• Ratings and reviews;
• In-app purchases;
• Push notifications;
• Options to share suitable content on social media accounts;
• Video analytics.

Note: The above is not an exhaustive list of features and capabilities.

4. Identify the features of the iOS video streaming app MVP (Minimum Viable Product)

You should validate your business ideas for an iOS video streaming app. Market feedback offers the best indication of whether you have a winning idea. You need to launch an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) to gather market feedback.

An MVP needs fewer features than the final product. However, it’s a functioning product. Review our MVP guide and prioritize the important features of your MVP.

5. Decide on the non-functional requirements of the iOS video streaming app

The software architect should analyze the non-functional requirements (NFRs) of other video streaming apps. Furthermore, the architect needs to study the industry benchmarks. 

You need the architect to decide on NFRs like performance, scalability, security, maintainability, testability, etc. The architect should document the NFRs adequately.

6. Decide on a software development approach and technology stack 

You need the architect to choose a technology stack and software development approach. The architect needs to do the following:

A. Select a suitable software architecture pattern 

You can expect a successful iOS video streaming app to handle a considerable user volume and traffic. This adds to the complexities of the project. Your architect needs to select a suitable software architecture pattern to navigate these complexities. The architect needs to think through the architectural decisions clearly.

B. Select a cloud provider and cloud platform

An iOS VOD and live streaming app development project can get a significant boost if you use a cloud platform. The architect in your team should choose one by analyzing the following factors:

• The cloud deployment model suitable for your project, e.g., public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud;
• Strengths of different cloud providers;
• The type of cloud platform suitable for your project, e.g., IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service), or MBaaS (Mobile-Backend-as-a-Service);
• Strengths of different MBaaS platforms.

C. Decide on an API development approach 

You will likely use a few 3^rd party APIs; however, you should build your own APIs for core features. The architect in your team should review API development approaches like GraphQL and REST. GraphQL offers several advantages. However, more developers know how to develop RESTful APIs. 

D. Identify 3^rd party software development kits

Using a reliable 3^rd party mobile development software can expedite your iOS video streaming app development project. The Dacast iOS SDK (software development kit) is an example. You can use this SDK to integrate the Dacast player into your iOS app securely. 

Note: Developers creating streaming apps for Android devices can also use the Dacast Android SDK. They can integrate it using Android Studio.

E. Decide on the iOS development technology stack 

First of all, we recommend you develop a native iOS app. Native apps utilize technologies that are best suited for the respective native operating systems. These apps make optimal use of the features of mobile devices. 

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These factors make native apps performant, user-friendly, and secure. Native apps typically get high ratings from users on app stores like Google Play Store and Apple App Store. 

You should use Swift for native iOS development. This modern programming language offers security, productivity, maintainability, and performance.

F. Decide on databases for iOS video streaming app development 

The architect in your team should decide on the right databases. A few well-known open-source SQL databases are MySQL and PostgreSQL. MongoDB and Apache Cassandra are a few prominent open-source NoSQL databases. 

The architect might analyze several factors before choosing a database, e.g.:

• Data integrity, ease of use, scalability, etc.;
• Pros and cons of SQL and NoSQL databases;
• Advantages and disadvantages of MongoDB and PostgreSQL;
• Whether to use MySQL or MongoDB.

7. Plan your iOS live-streaming app development project

You have now decided on the software development approach and tech stack for iOS video streaming app creation. The PM in your team should now plan the project. The PM should utilize the agile methodology. 

A good project plan must cover all the key aspects, e.g.:

• Quality management;
• Organizing the tools like a mobile development environment;
• Human resource management;
• Communications management;
• Risk management;
• Outlining the project schedule and milestones;
• Budgeting.

8. Hire software developers for iOS streaming app development 

You now need to form an entire software development team; therefore, take the following steps:

A. Identify the required project roles

You should hire competent people for the following roles:

• iOS app UI (user interface) designers;
• Native iOS developers with Swift skills;
• iOS testers;
• DevOps engineers.

Note: You should look for a few developers with code review experience.

B. Look for developers with knowledge of the online video streaming industry 

You need developers with good knowledge of the video streaming industry. Programmers should know the following:

• How video streaming services work;
• The opportunities that the streaming businesses have;
• How the streaming apps process video content;
• The importance of a content delivery network (CDN) for streaming apps;
• Evolution of technology for streaming content;
• Important technology solutions used by services like Facebook Live, online TV broadcasting, and other streaming services;
• Modern standards and specifications for streaming media;
• Strengths of the leading online video hosting platforms;
• Challenges faced by streaming platforms;
• How the encoding of video files is done;
• How the video file is delivered to users when they start streaming;
• Best practices adopted by popular music streaming services;
• The factors impacting video quality;
• How VOD (video-on-demand) streaming utilizes online video hosts;
• How on-demand streaming services manage aspects like streaming schedules, subscription videos, etc.;
• Technology solutions to secure video data and video files;
• Emerging technology solutions that cater to mobile live streaming;
• Key factors that influence the success of a TV live-streaming service;
• What constitutes “value” to consumers when they watch TV online;
• The importance of adaptive bitrate streaming for video and audio streaming;
• Well-known live streaming SDKs (software development kits) in the market;
• How the app monetization aspect of a streaming app works;
• Key factors behind the success of Apple Music, Apple iTunes, popular online sports broadcasting services, and leading online TV stations;
• How streaming services like online sports channels use video analytics to grow their business;
• The importance of a scalable mobile app when users play games online or watch a TV series online;
• The importance of additional features like in-app purchases, push notifications, the ability to search for favorite movies, etc. 

C. Choose an appropriate hiring platform

Hiring freelance iOS developers might appear to be a good idea for you. We don’t recommend this approach for an iOS video streaming app development project though.

Freelancers work only part-time on your project. Managing part-timers gets hard. Freelance platforms don’t offer any project management support. Freelancers might leave your project mid-way, and you will need to find replacement developers.

Hire full-time iOS developers from a trustworthy software development company like DevTeam.Space. Our dedicated developers have the relevant expertise. They have the required experience and motivation. We provide project management support, which further mitigates your project risks.  

D. Interview the iOS developers

You have chosen the right hiring platform and posted your job ad. Review resumes and interview candidates now. You should ask questions that help you evaluate the hands-on skills of candidates. Avoid asking only theoretical questions.

Our sets of interview questions and answers can help you. Check out the following:

• SQL interview questions;
• iOS interview questions;
• Swift interview questions;
• Software engineer interview questions.

E. Onboard developers effectively

Having hired developers, you need them to become productive quickly. Effective onboarding helps. You should share the relevant project documents. Describe the project context and explain the requirements.

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You should provide access to the technical environment of the project including the code repository. You should introduce the new developers to your existing team; furthermore, explain the roles and responsibilities.

Describe the project plan and explain the project schedule. Set up a communication process with the new developers. Explain the work approval process; furthermore, establish accountability.

9. Design and develop the proposed iOS video streaming application 

Your team needs to design and develop the application now. They need to take the following steps:

A. Plan iterations 

The PM should work with the team and implement the scrum framework. The team should analyze and estimate features. Subsequently, the team should schedule features in “sprints”. “Sprints” are iterations in scrum parlance. 

B. Design the iOS app UI (user interface)

The UI designers in your team should design the iOS video streaming app user interface. They need to use the Human Interface Guidelines for this.

C. Implement application security solutions

Your team should design and implement a robust security solution. It might include the following:

• Modern technologies like digital signatures;
• Multi-factor authentication (MFA);
• Data encryption;
• Proactive mitigation of application security vulnerabilities.

D. Develop APIs 

The project team should take the following steps to develop RESTful APIs:

• Use tools like Postman and Swagger to develop and document APIs;
• Secure APIs using authentication, encryption, quotas, and throttling;
• Host APIs using a cloud computing account;
• Design API endpoints;
• Create rules for API requests and responses;
• Test APIs.

E. Develop, test, and deploy the iOS video streaming app

Do the following to develop, test, and deploy the iOS app:

• Code the app using Xcode;
• Integrate the Dacast iOS SDK;
• Integrate your own APIs;
• Conduct systematic code review activities;
• Test the app using XCTest;
• Submit the app to the Apple App Store using the relevant guidelines.

Submit a Project With Zero Risk

Building high-quality VOD and live-streaming apps takes significant effort. Organizations need expert iOS app development experts. 

At DevTeam.Space, we provide top-quality software developers with relevant expertise. Our full-time developers are trained in our AI-powered agile process. You can expect quality since our developers are vetted.

If you want to learn more, please fill out our DevTeam.Space product specification form. An experienced account manager will get in touch to answer any questions you might have.

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