How to Develop A Voice Assistant App?

The power of Artificial Intelligence is growing with time and now, the use of AI is not only limited to large-scale organizations. The AI integration is bringing a lot of significant modifications in the digital business world, whether it is your smartphone, TV, or tablet, it can automatically search the things of your interest just via getting your command. AI-enabled voice assistant apps like Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant, etc. are doing great in the present time.

This sudden growth is due to the surge of voice technology that is also providing new breaks for the people who are looking for better opportunities in this sector. A lot of businesses are now preferring AI assistant apps as it provides a competitive advantage to their app. Similar to others, you can also try to develop a virtual assistant app to attract people by providing them the next level of convenience. If you are also willing to invest in voice assistant app development, then keep scrolling to go through a detailed guide about how to make a voice assistant app?

Voice Assistant App- An Overview

Voice assistants are just a piece of software able to cope up with natural language processing (NLP). These apps accept a voice command and respond to an answer in the audio format while giving them the exact information they asked for. With the voice assistant apps, it is easier to perform operations like playing music, calling, opening an app, switching on or off the lights, and a lot more. Currently, the scope of users’ engagement with the virtual assistant apps is increasing day-by-day and that is providing significant growth to these apps-

• The virtual assistant receives the user’s audio request, then processes it into phonemes known as the building blocks of language.
• These phonemes are modified into a string of the request approximately via the help of Speech-To-Text. It is kept within the JSON file including additional data about the user, the session, and the session.
• In the cloud, JSON will be processed to drive the content and request’s intent.
• Based on intent, the response will be done. It will be within a larger JSON file, whether it will be as SSML or as a string.
• The response will be managed using AI (Text-To-Speech) and returned to the user with high-quality text to speech voices for a natural and engaging experience.

Reasons Why Businesses Are Shifting Towards the Voice Assistant Technology

There is a plethora of reasons that drive the businesses’ interest in voice recognition app development solutions that lead to the increasing popularity of voice assistant applications.

1. Easy-to-Use

These apps make the operation process easy and smooth without any interruption. Be it anyone, adults, children, or elder people, they all can use the app easily and start the conversation by pressing the button to give instruction to the voice assistant.      

2. Emotional Connection

Voice assistant app development companies create the voice assistant app in such a way that users get a touch of the emotional connection while interacting with a personal assistant. It starts motivating them to use these assistants more.

3. Instant Results

Businesses are choosing virtual assistant app development services due to their speed of giving commands. Instructing through voice communication is way faster than typing or touching. All the users have to do is to give commands to Alexa and get the outcomes instantly.

4. Intriguing

AI has given a lot of contributions in the domain of mobile app development, and it has drastically changed the whole landscape. Using voice assistant apps like Siri, Alexa, etc. is fascinating for the older generation and children as well.

Why are Voice Assistant Apps Being So Famous?

The shift towards voice technology is the main reason why these voice assistant apps are getting so much popularity. Due to the continuously changing and growing demands of the user base, they are choosing voice commands despite giving the instructions by typing in search engines. That’s why businesses hire voice assistant developers from leading firms to have a proficient app to attract a large segment of target audiences.  

According to the stats, in 2019, there were logged 3.25 billion digital voice assistants that are being used worldwide. After that, there were recorded 4.2 billion voice assistants in 2020. Now, it is predicted that the number of digital voice assistants will be increased to 8.4 billion units by 2024- that is quite a hike in the number of recorded values. Below you can get details through a graphical representation-   

Popular Voice Assistants Existed in the Market

In the digital market across the world, voice assistants are doing great and gaining immense popularity. There are various virtual assistants such as Apple’s Siri, Google Assistant, Alexa, and others. That’s why most businesses are integrating voice assistants while having mobile app development services. Here you can know about them in detail-

1. Google Assistant

Google Assistant has backed the mass of Android devices used by people worldwide irrespective of dedicated smart speakers as they have smaller numbers. The main aim of Google assistant is to please users by providing an intuitive and light interface and an amazing experience. Google assistants have their primary focus on using time along with the idea to become a general part of the daily routine of users while providing fun.

Skills built for Google are amazing when it comes to games and engagement pieces as these are attentive towards family-friendly fun. Recently, there has been added canvas for games that represent its standard approach. Google’s platform is very much sterner regarding the submission of skills as it has a smaller directory.

Google Device’s Names: Google Home, Nest
Used Phrase: Hey Google

2. Apple’s SIRI

As per the sources, Siri has recorded more than 375 million active users. This voice assistant is backed by a lot of Apple devices and well-adopted by a large segment of users worldwide. You must require expert mobile app developers to create an iOS app with voice assistant integration using Swift. They must be experienced enough if you want to have a competent app.

Device Name: Siri
Used Phrase: Hey Siri

3. Amazon Alexa

In 2019, it was noted that Amazon has outstripped 100 million devices, and it was due to the sale of their smart speakers & smart displays mostly along with the fire range, streaming devices, and tablets. Skills built for Amazon intended to skill purchasing. While searching for an efficient platform to enlarge your eCommerce services or offer a subscription, you can go for Amazon anytime. There is no need for ISP for Alexa skills, it supports all kinds of uses and is open for all submissions.

Device Names: Amazon Echo, Amazon Fire
Used Phrase: Alexa

4. Other Voice Assistants

Apart from these, various other voice assistants in the market are also doing great when it comes to user base or revenue. These assistants are Microsoft’s Cortana, Samsung’s Bixby, and the famous open-source voice assistant Mycroft. These all are good, and their process can guide you on how to make a voice assistant.

How to Create a Voice Assistant App like Alexa or Siri?

When it comes to how to create a virtual assistant app like Siri or Alexa, there are mainly three important methods to follow in order to get a well-built voice assistant app. The first method comprises the voice assistant technology’s integration to a mobile app with the help of APIs, while the second method will help you with the voice assistant app development process using APIs and open-source services. In the third method, you can build a virtual assistant app from scratch and then, integrate it into your mobile app.

Let’s navigate to the detailed discussion of these three methods so that you can get a better understanding of how to develop an app like Siri or Alexa-

The First Method- Plan the Strategy

This method involves the integration of available voice technologies into the mobile app along with the APIs and other mobile app development tools. Overall, the development process of an app like Siri or Alexa is very complicated, and hence, you must have to take the help of a top-notch mobile app development company. With this method, you will need to have a kit helpful to define the objectives as sorts of requests, and then, these will be categorized into domains. Although here we are going to focus on three main technologies preferred by most of the users-

• Siri

At starting, Siri was not available for most of the third-party apps but in the present time, the whole scenario has changed a lot with the release of iOS 10. In the worldwide developers’ conference 2016, it was announced that Siri can be integrated with the applications that existed in the areas such as messaging & contacts, audio & video calls, photos search, payments via Siri, and workout car booking.

There is available a specific SiriSDK by Apple to enable the integration containing two frameworks. The first one has the range of tasks that provide support within the app and the second one informs on a custom visual representation after one task is performed. Each of the app types involves a specific range of tasks called intents. These intents have subsequent custom classes with well-defined properties in SiriSDK. In the below image, you can see the processing of Intents by Siri.

• Cortana

While knowing about how to implement voice assistance in an app, you must study Cortana’s process. Cortana voice assistant belongs to Microsoft that is used in desktop and mobile apps. It provides users a chance to set the voice control without calling Cortana directly. Let’s jump on how to make a request to a specific app? Simply there are three ways for app name’s integration into a voice command:

Prefixal: When the app name holds in front of the speech command.
Infixal: When the app name holds in between the vocal command.
Suffixal: When the app name holds at the end of a command phrase.

Users can also active either the foreground or background of the app with speech commands via Cortana.

• Google Assistants

Google has always backed the developers by showing them loyalty, it doesn’t have any strict guidelines like Apple for design. It has less approvement time in the play market and it is not as fast as the Apple app store. While talking about smart assistant integration, it is more conservative. Currently, Google Assistant only works with the chosen apps including Lyft, eBay, Airbnb, and more. These have permission to create their own Now Cards through a special API.  To make Google Assistant app command for your app, you must register the app first with Google.

Here is a thing to consider that is the difference between Google Now assistant and voice actions. The Now assistant is only available for selected apps only, whereas voice actions are open to integrating with any third-party app through voice actions API.

Second Method- Custom APIs & AI Tools’ Integration

These above-mentioned technologies are not the only way to integrate voice management into your app. There are available different custom APIs and AI tools for developers as well.

Below, we have provided some prominent ones that will be helpful to make your own voice assistant-

• Jasper

This tool is the most appropriate for those who choose to program the major segment of AI without any support from outside and make the custom AI assistant on their own. Jasper is written in Python and can listen & learn. The first capability is proposed by the active module and the second one is proposed by the passive. It is always ready to perform any task anytime. By studying constantly, it is able to provide you with precise data in less time.

• Melissa

Looking for how to develop an app like Alexa? Don’t forget to consider Melissa as it is an essential tool for those who are new in the development field and want to create their own AI assistant app. Melissa consists of various parts, hence if you want to add or alter a specific feature, just do it without doing changes in the complete algorithm. Melissa has the ability to take notes, speak, upload pictures, read news, play music, and do a lot of other things. It is written in Python and works on different OS such as Windows, OS X, and Linux.

• Dialogflow

The Dialogflow supports conversion technology from voice to text. In this, voice recognition performs commands and also responds. It has both free and paid versions for its users. The difference between both versions is that the paid tool allows users to work on the cloud. Hence, it is appropriate for those people who want to confidential their data on priority.

• API.ai

API.ai consists of a broad range of intents helping the other party in how to make a voice assistant. This tool supports translating the voice commands into text leading to the implementation of related tasks along with voice recognition. Identifying and coming to the results is not something unique for this service as well.

API.ai provides both paid and free versions but the paid one permits users to work in a private cloud. Therefore, if any user is concerned with their privacy, they can easily go for it. APi.ai includes a wide range of APIs for Android, iOS, Cordova, Windows Phone, Node.js, Python, C#, Unity, and others.

• Wit.ai

To use Wit.ai, you must set up two significant elements in your app that are intents & entities. Intent holds up the actions performed by the user, similar to Siri. Entities depict the characteristics of a given intent such as the user’s place and time. In this, developers don’t need to produce the intents on their own as they get a long list to select from. Despite it, this tool is completely free for both private and public use. There are various Wit.ai terms to follow while having a virtual assistant app development service using it.

Similar to API.ai, Wit.ai has a lot of different APIs for Android, iOS, Python, Ruby, C, Rasberry Pi, Windows phone developers. For front-end developers, this tool has also got a plugin for JavaScript.

Third Method- Required Features and Technologies

If you intend to make your own voice assistant app like Alexa or Siri using Artificial Intelligence, it needs cloud support comprising other coding languages. Current voice assistant apps use natural language processing and speech recognition technologies to interpret and process the language further. Ensure while having voice recognition app development services, you possess proper skills and resources as it is a complex process. Here are some of the appropriate technologies to create a voice assistant app-

• STT (Voice/Speech to Text)

This process includes the conversion of voice or speech signals into digital data, for example- text data. This speech might come in the form of a stream or a file. To process it, there can be used CMU Sphinx.

• TTS (Text to Speech)

It is just the opposite of the speech-to-text that translates users’ texts or images into human speech. It works when a user wants to know the correct pronunciation of a word, they do not know.  

• Noise Control

Noises coming from traffic, electrical appliances, surrounding people, and others sometimes make the user’s voice unclear and difficult to hear for a voice assistant. To ensure the voice is clear, this technology alleviates or removes the background voices to make the process easy. This feature will be advantageous while providing users with an amazing experience overall.  

• Intelligent Tagging & Decision Making

Intelligent tagging is used to interpret the user’s request. For instance, if the user is asking where can he go for the weekend? Then this technology will tag all the top-rated resorts and places as per the user’s interest. Any iOS or Android mobile app development company that knows how to create a virtual assistant properly can help you integrate this technology.

• Voice Biometrics

While developing your own AI assistant, you must consider this significant option security feature. Through it, the voice assistant is able to distinguish who is giving commands and is it necessary to respond to them. Hence, voice biometrics help users to avoid the funny situations when Alexa or Siri turns off the lights or lowers the house’s temperature while hearing dialogues from TV characters.  

• Voice Interface

Usually, it has two parts called the voice and the call out. The voice interface is referred to as what users hear or see as a response to their request. While the callouts are the ones when users see the graphical representation on the screen.

• Speech Compression

In this, the voice data will be reformed in a concise format by the client-side of the app before sending it to the server. The reason behind it is to fasten the app’s performance without any delays. G.711 standard is a perfect match for this mechanism.

Things to Keep in Mind While Creating an App Like Siri

Undoubtedly, there are a lot of things to consider before starting a mobile app development process. Similarly, while beginning the virtual assistant app development process, you must consider the below-mentioned points.

Step 1: Select the Right Platform

Conducting proper research about the existing platforms is a necessary task to do before starting the development process of a voice assistant app. Among all the existed platforms and available services, choosing the required ones is a complicated decision to make. To develop an AI personal assistant, you must pen down what is the suitable platform to go with and from where your target audiences belong to? Then, it will be easy to select the right platform for your voice-based app.

Step 2: Choose Only Required Features

To make your voice assistant app’s performance fast and flawless, you must include some of the significant features in it. Here you will need to look for the competitor’s apps to see what people like so that you can also add those features into the app. Attractive features are a lot helpful to grab the attention of users and make the app popular. Choose wisely as it can have an impact on the overall voice assistant app development cost.

Step 3: Create with End-Users in Mind

While getting in-depth knowledge about how to create a virtual assistant, you must keep the end-users in your mind. It will highly impact the entire development process- who they are, what they like, what they are looking for, their age and a lot more is necessary to know to develop an AI assistant app according to their preference.

How Much Does It Cost to Develop Voice Assistant Apps Like Siri, Alexa or Google Assistance?

When businesses look for developing a virtual assistant app, the first question that comes to their mind is how much does it cost to develop an app like Siri or Alexa? If you are also looking for an answer to this question, then you are at the right place. Here we are going to talk about the cost assessment to create a voice assistant app and the factors that can fluctuate the complete cost. These factors include-

• The chosen platform for voice assistant app
• Preferred technologies to develop the app
• Designing & developing tools
• Developers’ experience and location
• The complexity of the app

These above-mentioned factors are highly responsible when it comes to deciding the final cost of the AI assistant app. Based on these, the general cost to develop an app like Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant would be around $40,000 to $50,000.

Further, there are other aspects as well such as if you are having outsourcing services from the Asian region, then the estimated cost will be reduced, but on the other hand, if you are going to have services from European countries, it can increase the cost as well.

Take a Note

As we all know how much popularity voice assistant apps like Alexa or Siri are gaining worldwide. These have become an irreplaceable part of the daily lives of the people as these are now used in different domains. If there is any suitable time to get into the voice technology industry, it is now! This industry is booming at a fast speed and launching various capable voice assistants to get entry into everybody’s home.

At present, when AI-powered mobile apps have become a trend and each person wants to have the advantage of it, businesses are also taking the lead. From the above article, they can have a complete idea of how to make a voice assistant app that can stand out among all the competitors.