How To Develop An App Like BBC Sounds: A Complete Guide

Today, music streaming apps have become the go-to solution for entertainment, learning, and information in a world that is always rolling.

Whether you are travelling or in a no-network area, these apps never let you stop consuming your audio content.

One of the leading names in online streaming apps is the BBC Sounds, which redefines the way people listen to podcasts, stream music, or news.

Do you also want to be a part of this revolution and develop an app like BBC Sounds? Then you need to proceed with a bold vision, and you can achieve it with the right strategy.

If you end up reading this blog, then it will guide you through the strategic steps to build a successful app. Further, additional information related to this is provided to you.

Understanding the BBC Sounds App With a Few Statistics

Before you delve into learning how to develop an app like BBC Sounds, you must have an initial knowledge of the BBC Sounds app.

BBC Sounds is an over-the-top (OTT) free audio streaming app introduced by the BBC. The app offers users to stream live radio, on-demand audio, and podcasts.

The app is also available as a website and can be available to work on various devices, including smartphones, smart TVs, and cars.

If you are someone who wants to listen to various BBC audios, which include your favourite programs, podcasts, radio stations, and music, all in one place, this is the app.

So, there is no way to miss your favorite BBC radio shows; you can catch up or listen to them anytime and from anywhere.

BBC Sounds app offers autoplay features so you can listen to multiple episodes of a podcast series in one go.

Also, the app offers personalised recommendations to discover new audio you may love. Other than these, the app offers various interesting features to its users.

If you look at the statistics of audio streaming apps, you can understand that an app like BBC Sounds has a shining future.

As per the reports, it is estimated that the global audio streaming market size in the year 2024 to be $43.7 million.

Moving further, it is estimated that the same market size will reach $115.3 million by the year 2030.

Thus, during the forecast period, i.e., between the years 2025 to 2030, the audio streaming market size will grow at a CAGR of 17.3%.

How Does BBC Sounds Work?

If you are sure that you will create an app like BBC Sounds, then it is crucial to know how the app works. This will make the whole app development process easier.

We have broken down in detail how BBC Sounds works below.

► Access the App BBC Sounds

You can access BBC Sounds from their official website, or install the app from the Play Store and App Store. After installing the app, create your profile with all the required details, name, preferred music genre, news or sports, etc, for personalised recommendations.

► Live Listening

From the top of the homepage of the BBC Sounds app, you will get to listen to the BBC’s network station live. The network includes Radio 1 Dance or Live News. Moreover, users of the app can tap the Station & Schedules, allowing them to listen to 40 local radio stations.

► Filter and Recommendation

The BBC Sounds app offers its users a filter browsing option, and the app comes with various categories. Users can browse categories like speech & music, audiobooks, crime & justice, and more. Get recommendations for a vast category of content based on your listening.

► Enjoy Listening Features

Two types of listening features are offered by the BBC Sounds app. Users can bookmark episodes within the app to listen to them later when they are ready. Don’t worry if you can’t complete episodes in one go, pick up where you left off from the continue listening feature.

► Offline Listening

For travellers, this app can be an excellent listening solution without the need for internet connections. Users can pre-download podcasts, music, and programs from the app on their device. So, users can listen to the content when they can’t access the internet.

Steps to Develop an App Like BBC Sounds

Now we have come to explain the core part of this blog: how to create a podcast app similar to the BBC Sounds. Here we have tried to tell you about the whole development process through clear steps.

So, let’s start to understand the process broken down below to develop an app like BBC Sounds.

1. Research and Planning

In the first steps of the development process, you have to carry out thorough research and plan out how you want to create your app, like BBC Sounds.

As part of your research, study all the competitor apps like BBC Sounds (including it).

Understand how the app works, what features the app offers to users, where the app is lacking, and the demand of the target audience. This will help you fulfill the gap and demand of the target audiences.

2. UI/UX Design of the App

After the research and planning, start developing the app, starting with its design. For the music streaming app design, use Figma to create the app’s prototype.

Creating a prototype helps you to figure out the design and the layout of the app. You must create a strong UI or user interface of the app to offer an excellent UX or user experience.

You must focus on a clean, simple, and easy-to-use layout and design for home, search player, library, etc.

3. Develop the App

After completing the design of the app, proceed to build it, in which we have to develop the backend and frontend of the app.

In the frontend, you have to develop the home screen, user login, audio player, search & filters, and other features of the app.

Then build the backend or the backbone of the app, authentication system, streaming service, APIs, metadata, etc. Building a backend means making the app stable and secure to use.

4. Test the App

Done with the developing the app now comes the crucial part before you deploy it is testing. Perform testing of the app to resolve any issues and fix the bugs.

It is important to test the app because you don’t want your users to face any problems with the app.

In this step, carry out the unit & integration testing, end-to-end testing like Cypress, Detox, etc., usability testing with real users, and performance testing, especially streaming. Also, get feedback.

5. Launch & Market

After successfully testing the app, now comes the time to launch the app on different app download platforms like Google Play, Apple Store, etc.

From these platforms, the user can download the app seamlessly for their personal use. Also, set up the basic analytics to track the app usage.

Before launching the app, market the app via various mediums like social media, email marketing, etc, to create the buzz and attract users to download the app.

6. Post-Launch Maintenance

Your work is done after launching the app; you must keep the app relevant and updated to beat the competition.

Also, post-launch maintenance helps to keep the app free from any issues like bugs and malfunctions.

Check that the app doesn’t slow down due to increasing users, and keep the content and features updated.

With the rising cyberattacks, keep users’ data safe by updating the security batch from time to time and integrating the latest technologies.

Key Features to Consider in the BBC Sounds App

You have learned how to build an app like BBC Sounds, and you have to choose the right features to integrate into the app. To match the success of the BBC Sounds app, you must know about its features.

So, below we have listed a few of the must-have music streaming app features. Let’s take a look at them.

♦ Live Listening

If you want to develop an app like BBC Sounds, then the must-have feature is live listening. The users of your app must be able to listen to or stream all available radio stations, which includes the local stations as well.

♦ Push Notifications & Recommendations

Add the features of push notification features and recommendations to your music streaming app. This helps you notify users about the new episodes of programs you have subscribed to.

Also, users must get personalised recommendations for shows as per their listening history.

♦ Live-Track Info

Live track information must be there in your app for both live and on-demand programs. This feature will make it easy for users to know what they are listening to at the moment. The information should clearly show the name of the program.

♦ Play Queue

The play queue feature should be integrated into your app, similar to BBC Sounds. This will allow users to access a comprehensive list of stations and their schedules. This feature will allow users to see what’s currently playing and what’s coming next in the queue.

♦ Playback Speed Control

Playback speed control is a must-have feature that you should integrate into your music streaming app. The feature will allow users to control the speed of on-demand programs and podcasts. They can rewind, fast-forward, and even pause the programs.

Modern Tech Stack to Develop the BBC Sounds App

Now, after the features, you must know the modern technologies you must consider to develop an app like BBC Sounds. We have taken the responsibility and have listed the music streaming app tech stack that you must work with.

➤ Frontend Development

To create the frontend of an app like BBC Sounds, the technology that must be used consists of React Native (iOS + Android), Swift/Kotlin, and Flutter.

• React Native will help build a JavaScript framework for cross-platform mobile apps, allowing code reusability and faster development.

• Swift and Kotlin are used to develop native apps separately for iOS and Android, respectively. It is best to build platform-specific features for the app.

• Flutter is another cross-platform framework that is popular for its performance and expressive UI capabilities.

➤ Backend Development

For backend development of the BBC Sounds app, it is best to use technologies like Node.js, Python, and Ruby on Rails.

• Node.js allows you to build scalable and efficient server-side applications that are mostly used alongside the Express.js framework.
• Python is a versatile language that uses frameworks like Django that allow you to build robust libraries and tools to handle data and logic.
• Ruby on Rails is a framework used to build web applications, which is popular for its productivity and convention-over-configuration approach.

➤ Database

To build the database of an app similar to BBC Sounds, you can use technologies like PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and Cassandra.

• PostgreSQL is one of the powerful open-source relational databases. It is best for managing structured data like user information, playlists, and music metadata.
• MongoDB is a NoSQL database. It is the ideal technology to handle unstructured data like user preferences, recommendations, and sometimes even audio files.
• Cassandra is also a NoSQL database, which is popular for scalability and the ability to handle large amounts of data, and is suitable for handling massive music libraries.

➤ Streaming & Storage

To build the streaming and storage system of an app like BBC Sounds, the best technologies to use are listed below:

• AWS S3 (Simple Storage Service): This technology serves as a cloud storage service, storing music files and other media assets.
• Google Cloud Platform or Azure: These are alternative cloud platforms for storage and hosting.
• Firebase: The real-time database used for live listening sessions and personalised playback. This technology is used.
• HLS (HTTP Live Streaming): This streaming protocol offers your users a seamless listening experience across different network conditions by allowing adaptive bitrate streaming.
• RTMP (Real Time Messaging Protocol): This is a protocol used mainly for streaming audio and video, and for live streaming.
• FFmpeg: This is a tool used for encoding and decoding audio and video, which is useful for processing and preparing media files for streaming.
• Wowza: This is streaming server software used to manage and deliver audio and video streams.

Cost and Time Required to Develop an App Like BBC Sounds

So, you have learned the whole app development process similar to BBC Sounds from the above discussion. Now, it’s time to acknowledge how much you have to invest in its development so that it helps to make the budget.

The average cost to develop an app like BBC Sounds ranges from $25,000 to $250,000 and more. Further, the average time you will need to develop an app like BBC Sounds is between 6 to 12 months or more.

The cost and time to develop an app like BBC Sounds is totally dependent upon the different factors of app development.

Factors include complexity, features, tech stacks, location of developers, and more. If you are creating an app with advanced technologies and integrating smart features like AI/ML, then it can cost you more than $250,000 and take more than 12 months.

Conclusion

If you aim to deliver an immersive, intelligent, and personalised listening experience to the audience, investing in building an app like BBC Sounds is an excellent idea.

If you are planning to develop an app like BBC Sounds, then you have to start with the right strategy, features, and technologies.

The whole development process must be clear to you. Remember that you need to integrate the best features into the app and use the best technology to offer the best app performance and scalability.

If you are confused, you can hire the best music streaming app development company, Nimble AppGenie, today. Expert guidance will help you build a scalable music streaming app.

Now, it’s your turn to stand out among the competitive music streaming apps industry, building the next big app like BBC Sounds.

FAQs

Niketan Sharma

Niketan Sharma, CTO, Nimble AppGenie, is a tech enthusiast with more than a decade of experience in delivering high-value solutions that allow a brand to penetrate the market easily. With a strong hold on mobile app development, he is actively working to help businesses identify the potential of digital transformation by sharing insightful statistics, guides & blogs.