iOS A question to you all

[oreotrain]

Okay, first off, I know you don't like guys like people like me. Who am I to ask some questions without contributing anything right? I feel the same thing in my forum too. Unfortunately, I don't have much knowledge about iDevices, so I don't really think that I can contribute any valuable info to you guys. I can tell some stuff, but noone would gain anything from it.

So I have a question, and I don't really know where to ask this. I hope you guys can help me.

So basically, I wanna make something like the so called application Whatsapp. Let's just say it's gonna be for me and a couple of friends of mine.

We made the GUI so that's done. However I need some help on the technical/server side.
How does it work?
Would it cost a lot of money to make something like a personal messenger? How can I make sure that the conversations of mine are transfered safely (encrypted)?

So I don't really want you guys to answer these three questions above. I have no intention of pissing you off by asking stupid details. We gathered up as a group of friends, and we raised some money to invest to this. I just need you guys to answer the question above.

Can you guys tell me who to contact to make something like this? I need guidance, because I am kinda lost. I don't know where to go or what to do, yet I really wanna do this.

I will appreciate every single answer. Thank you for reading.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

There are three possible ways I can think of making this work:
1&2 - Use bluetooth or bonjour. Devices will have to be near each other for this to work. The cost will be about $100, to get a dev account from Apple with permission to install apps you develop on your own devices. Throw it up on the App Store for free and have you and your friends download it, then pull it from the store. The app store step isn't really necessary, but it will allow the apps to continue working after your dev account expires (they last a year. When it ends, anything you installed on your device that wasn't from the app store expires with it.)
3 - Use an internet server. I think these cost around $100/year for something as basic as what you need. You'll also need to pay $100 for a dev account from Apple.

As far as encryption... I don't know anything about how to handle that. I have a key that looks something like com.<myname>.<myappname> that is required for an app to read broadcasts it receives... it's more secure than nothing... the intent is to make sure anyone receiving it by mistake can't accidentally read it... but if they receive it by mistake (on the sender's part) and want to read it, it's not too difficult to crack, I don't think.

Disclaimer - I have no experience with doing #3 (internet server). I have done #1 (bluetooth) as a proof of concept before, and I have implemented #2 (bonjour) in apps I've actually sold.

 

[MattInOz]

If you have an app somewhat like IM then why not use an IM backend?
Fun 4 part tutorial I've found a while back.
building-a-jabber-client-for-ios-server-setup/

Walks you through setting up a test server and building a iOS Client for it.
Might give you a few clues on how to do what you looking at.

 

[oreotrain]

There are three possible ways I can think of making this work:
1&2 - Use bluetooth or bonjour. Devices will have to be near each other for this to work. The cost will be about $100, to get a dev account from Apple with permission to install apps you develop on your own devices. Throw it up on the App Store for free and have you and your friends download it, then pull it from the store. The app store step isn't really necessary, but it will allow the apps to continue working after your dev account expires (they last a year. When it ends, anything you installed on your device that wasn't from the app store expires with it.)
3 - Use an internet server. I think these cost around $100/year for something as basic as what you need. You'll also need to pay $100 for a dev account from Apple.

As far as encryption... I don't know anything about how to handle that. I have a key that looks something like com.<myname>.<myappname> that is required for an app to read broadcasts it receives... it's more secure than nothing... the intent is to make sure anyone receiving it by mistake can't accidentally read it... but if they receive it by mistake (on the sender's part) and want to read it, it's not too difficult to crack, I don't think.

Disclaimer - I have no experience with doing #3 (internet server). I have done #1 (bluetooth) as a proof of concept before, and I have implemented #2 (bonjour) in apps I've actually sold.

I am thinking of hiring a server. What I wanna do is something like the famous BBM for me and my friends to chat. Money is not an issue. We have around 2000$ saved for this. By the way, we are around 50 people.

Thanks for the answer.