How to Make a dApp: Non-Techy Decentralized App Development Guide for Business Owners

Konstantin Kalinin

Head of Content

September 20, 2023

What was the last time you used a dApp? I bet many of us will answer never. Even a tech-savvy person can’t always tell a decentralized application from traditional software. So why does that matter at all?

Thanks to Bitcoin and other crypto reaching new all-time highs during the last bull market, developing dApps — apps that live on blockchains — is quickly becoming a hot topic. We’re here to help you separate hype from useful applications of this remarkable, though not-entirely-brand-new, technology.

Keep reading to learn how to develop dApps. It’s not that big of a deal. And no, you don’t need to be able to specify a Pragma Solidity version to make awesome dApps!

Top Takeaways:

• Decentralized apps run on multiple platforms at once — on a blockchain (in the form of a smart contract) and in mobile or web applications. Therefore, when you make a dApp, you rarely end up with a single application.
• The major hurdle with dApps is new user onboarding, as they need to be educated and provided with appealing user experiences. Therefore, decentralized app development requires a combination of UX/UI expertise and the knowledge of web3 technologies.
• Before you develop a dApp, you need to choose a blockchain, decide if you want to go beyond transactions, and identify the solution’s architecture, among quite a few other things.

Table of Contents:

1. Difference Between a dApp and App
2. dApp Market Overview
3. Pros and Cons of dApps
4. Examples of Decentralized Apps
5. Key Features of a Decentralized Application
6. Architecture of a dApp
7. Tech Stack for Building a dApp
8. Create a Decentralized Application in 5 Steps
9. How Much Does It Cost to Develop dApps
10. How Topflight Apps Can Help in Building Decentralized Applications

Difference Between a dApp and App

We use traditional apps every day, whether to write an email in a web browser interface or check the weather on our mobiles. Such applications have one thing in common — they rely on working with servers to sync data.

Can you spot the difference between these apps?

Decentralized apps, on the contrary, run on peer-to-peer networks called blockchains, with no central servers. Their functioning depends on the consensus among blockchain participants, and there’s no need for a central authority.

Some tech pundits argue that dApps are driving the web 3.0 revolution that seeks to replace centralized architecture with the decentralized, blockchain-based approach.

Also check out our article about the difference between web 2.0 and web 3.0.

You’ve probably come across this truism that “you’re the product” if you’re using software without paying for it. Well, dApps strive to return the power to the user by removing intermediaries and establishing trust through automated distributed cryptography.

Related: Guide to creating a payment gateway for cryptocurrency 

What’s interesting about dApps vs. apps is that they often look the same to users on the surface. The only giveaway is dApps always have some crypto token and an economic model (tokenomics) built-in, but then again, there are plenty of centralized apps like CoinBase that deal with crypto and still depend on private servers.

So you can never tell whether you’re working with a dApp or a regular app based solely on its looks because they can look identical. However, advanced users can always work with dApps even without a graphical user interface. It’s the back-end stuff that matters when dealing with dApps.

We’ll talk about what’s so interesting about the back end of dApps shortly, but first, let’s briefly review what’s happening in the dApp market today.

dApp Market Overview

If you plan to create a decentralized app, it helps to know your competition and trends ushering the new wave of dApps.

I’d like to start by reminding you that peer-to-peer apps are not an entirely new concept. You’ve probably downloaded a couple of movies on services like BitTorrent. This software has been around since the early 2010s and also works off a decentralized protocol.

What makes modern blockchain protocols stand out is the new shared trust mechanisms that are cryptographically secured. This secure, immune nature of distributed ledger technology (DLT) expands over dApps and other intrinsic benefits they inherit from the blockchain.

We’ll look at the benefits that dApps bring to the table in a bit, but first, let’s see what decentralized apps exist today.

DappRadar lists close to 8,000 dApps tracked across 25 different blockchains:

The first thing you’ll notice when exploring the world of dApps is how many of them revolve around finances and games. That’s because these applications operate on blockchains, and blockchains live and breathe transactions: that’s their core function.

So if every action in a decentralized solution is a transaction on a chain, no wonder games and DeFi (decentralized finance) apps dominate the space.

Other notable categories of decentralized software include:

• marketplaces (took off with the NFT craze)
• exchanges
• gambling
• identity management
• wallets

Related: Online Marketplace App Development: Everything You Need to Know and How to Create an NFT Marketplace in 2022

As you can see, everything that has to do with digital assets gets a lot of users. At the same time, categories like Healthcare have little to show off:

The main premise is that dApps are perfect for financial apps, and health software needs to take into account HIPAA and patient data management. Companies are still figuring out how to approach that, and I’ll share a few ideas when we get to the steps for building a decentralized app on blockchain.

For now, let’s just appreciate that there’s a lot of momentum going in this space, presenting many opportunities for pioneers interested in building a dapp on Ethereum or other popular blockchain.

In terms of blockchains, most dApps live on Ethereum — the first blockchain to introduce smart contracts, making decentralized applications possible. Some other popular chains with dApps include EOS, Binance Smart Chain, TRON, and Neo.

Choosing a blockchain (or chains) to make dApps is pretty significant, and we’ll cover it when discussing the steps for building a dApp.

Pros and Cons of dApps

Why do we even need decentralized software? After all, we already have a myriad of apps for pretty much everything. There have to be some advantages to switching to dApps.

Benefits of dApps

• no central authority

No central authority means there are no intermediaries (e.g., financial institutions), and users can transact directly, peer-to-peer. This, in turn, implies fewer fees as users should only pay transaction fees, which generally are very low.

Another benefit is that a truly decentralized application can have multiple front ends. Virtually anybody interested in a product (by following code repositories) can create a user-facing interface working with an open-source, decentralized app since its source code is stored transparently on a chain.

• impressive uptime

Smart contracts powering dApps operate 24/7, and as long as a blockchain housing the contract lives, they will continue to function flawlessly. However, remember that the front ends that you build while creating a dapp will still depend on centralized servers: so choose your hosting provider wisely.

• ability to take part in the decentralized economy

Users working with decentralized applications typically do so due to financial gain incentives. They can earn tokens or cryptocurrency that can be traded or exchanged for fiat later on.

• security and data integrity

The major appeal of blockchain technology is its security because there’s no single point of failure. In other words, it’s next to impossible to hack a chain and take over a decentralized application.

• privacy

All transactions can be traced on the blockchain; yet, they are completely anonymous.

Drawbacks of dApps

• transparency

Since all transactions are publicly available on a chain, there’s an issue with storing customer data. How do you arrange for storing this information without disclosing it during dApp blockchain application development? There are workarounds, and I’ll touch on that in the development section below. However, remember that as a database, blockchain is the last technology you should consider for storing large amounts of data.

• maintenance

A dApp is more challenging to manage than a regular application because you need to account for blockchain specifics when designing a decentralized solution. For example, once such an application has been deployed to a decentralized network, it’s very difficult to update. Traditional mobile apps get updates on average within two weeks.

• scalability

How well your dApp scales will largely depend on the network congestion. There’s a proverbial example of CryptoKitties that brought all transactions on the Ethereum blockchain to a screeching halt when thousands of people decided to try a crypto tamagotchi.

• user-friendly interface

A large proportion of dApps is built by developers who don’t necessarily have much UI/UX design expertise. As a result, an average Joe may find interfaces of many dApps quite intimidating.

Fortunately, these disadvantages are easily overthrown by the benefits of using decentralized software. Plus, certain workarounds may help you avoid most of these issues during blockchain dapp development (more on that later).

Examples of Decentralized Apps

Uniswap

UniSwap is one of the leading decentralized exchanges. This dApp allows for seamless exchange of ERC20 tokens on Ethereum.

Rarenote

Rarenote provides personalized information on medicines under development and clinical trials for rare disease patients.

OpenSea

OpenSea is the largest peer-to-peer marketplace for NFTs, including gaming items, digital art, and other blockchain-based assets.

Key Features of a Decentralized Application

A dApp can have absolutely any feature that regular apps have had for years. Let’s think about a decentralized Uber app for a moment? Is it possible? Theoretically, yes. The app wouldn’t be as snappy, and we’d have to settle any issues with drivers ourselves, but in general — yes, that’s doable. This decentralized Uber would have all the features of the standard Uber app, including payments, search, messaging, notifications, etc.

All I’m trying to say is it’s hard to describe features of a “typical” dApp because it can be anything, right? Still, there are specific traits that make decentralized apps stand out. What are these and how do they help dApps get the traction?

Crypto wallet

Since user onboarding to any decentralized app starts by connecting a crypto wallet, this becomes an essential part of any software working on a blockchain.

Your customers will need a wallet to receive bonuses and awards either in the form of virtual money, currency, or non-fungible tokens.

You can learn more about how to develop a crypto wallet in a separate blog.

Token

A dApp always has the primary token that users need to access different software options. The token fuels any transactions that happen in the app’s background. We talk about how to create a crypto token in a separate blog.

Transaction-based actions

Like any regular application, you’d expect a dApp to perform specific actions. The only difference with “normal” apps is that decentralized ones require transactions to function.

As already mentioned, other than these fundamental features, decentralized software can have absolutely any features we often find in other applications. That’s because, on the surface, we typically interact with traditional website-based and mobile apps while using dApps.

I can almost hear your, “Wait, whaaat?” Let’s go down the rabbit hole.

Architecture of a dApp

It’s time we take a look at a typical architecture of a dApp. Don’t worry, we won’t go too technical. There are just a couple of things you need to grasp, really.

Purely transactional dApps

We already know that dApps live on blockchains. To be more precise, the specific part that lives on a blockchain is a smart contract — a piece of software that automatically executes, e.g., to pay out a user’s bonus, transfer an NFT, or perform any on-chain action inside the app.

Users interact with a smart contract through the web, desktop, mobile, or any other type of software with familiar user interfaces. The only thing that often puzzles customers is they need to connect (or create and connect) a crypto wallet to work with a dApp.

Take any typical user interface, connect it with a smart contract so that user actions make the smart contract do different things — and you already have a decentralized application. That’s already enough for purely transactional dApps.

dApps and centralized servers

There’s one caveat, though. If you’re looking to build a decentralized app that allows users to do more than merely carry out transactions, you still need a server-based back end.

That’s where you will keep user data, such as their profile information, etc., because you simply can’t fit it onto a chain. That’s where you will be able to get reports and analytics on your dApp performance. In short, it’s going to be the other half of your decentralized dApp — and it’s going to be centralized.

Oracles

Finally, if your smart contract relies on some external data, you will need to add decentralized oracles to the equation. Decentralized oracles work like nodes on a chain. They must come to an agreement about any piece of information before sending it to a smart contract.

We should also mention that your dApp doesn’t have to rely on a single smart contract. In fact, it’s common for complex decentralized solutions to run on multiple interconnected smart contracts that execute and can launch subsequent actions on other contracts.

Tech Stack for Building a dApp

To tell you the truth, the technology stack for creating a decentralized app can be completely different based on:

• blockchain you target
• front ends you envision (mobile/web)
• features your dApp offers

The standard kit for developing a dApp on Ethereum includes the Truffle suite of software along with Ganache, programming language Solidity, and development environment Remix. These tools work perfectly with Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and other EVM-based blockchain networks.

You can use any appropriate technologies on the front-end side, e.g., React.js, Node.js, and Web3.js for web and Swift/Kotlin or React Native for mobile. So, to create a React app that interacts with an Ethereum smart contract, you’d need to write a frontend code in React.JS and connect it with the chain using appropriate web3 APIs.

For more details on choosing a tech stack for a blockchain development project, check out this blog on how to develop a blockchain application.

Create a Decentralized Application in 5 Steps

As discussed in the architecture section, when you create a decentralized application with blockchain, you need to work on a smart contract and front ends.

The smart contract is a code that lives on a chain and executes automatically when certain conditions are met. Think of it as a sort of back end of your dApp.

Front ends are necessary for users to interact with the contract. These are traditional web and mobile applications, preferably with an appealing and intuitive interface.

In addition, you may have to develop a back-end system aggregating analytics and allowing you to run reports and manage some aspects of the dApp. Put simply, it’s a web application connected to the smart contract via oracles and third-party APIs.

There are quite a few pieces to juggle, as you can see. A competent app development team skilled in building dApps will help you sort out all these technical intricacies. At Topflight, we’ve recently introduced a Pre-flight Workshop to help business owners approach this kind of technically challenging projects.

Here’s the 10,000-foot view of the steps you need to take when creating dApps.

Step 1: Build a smart contract

A smart contract or combination of smart contracts is where you’d put the decentralized business logic of your dApp. What actions do you want the dApp to perform automatically, relying on the chain consensus algorithm? The answer to this question will guide your decentralized application development process.

Whether it’s going to be simple transactions, a chain of algorithm computations, or something else, all of these automatically executing features will need to reside in smart contracts.

Since smart contracts function on a blockchain, you’ll need to pick one or a few blockchains if you envision a cross-chain dApp. Typically, founders choose to create a dApp on Ethereum, but other chains support smart contracts too.

The Ethereum network is an easy pick because it has many users who already have crypto wallets and can onboard faster. However, if you plan to introduce your own crypto wallet, the users don’t even need to know which blockchain your dApp works on.

Related: Smart Contract App Development Guide 

At the end of the day, if you are actually looking to onboard a massive, disparate audience unfamiliar with blockchain technology, it doesn’t matter what blockchain to onboard them on.

Step 2: Build front ends

Of course, you can’t make a decentralized app without developing “normal” user-facing mobile and/or web apps. By normal, I mean they shouldn’t look drastically different from other apps we use every day.

The fact that user actions trigger some smart contract functions on a blockchain instead of connecting with a central server should have a minimal effect on the UI. In other words, to engage customers, decentralized application design must be as inviting as a UX/UI of a regular app.

Related: UI/UX guidelines to designing a successful app

Therefore, to create a captivating user experience, plan on starting with a prototype:

• low-fidelity UI
• high-fidelity UI
• user testing
• reinforce the UI/UX based on the feedback

Take into account that calling a smart contract function from a user-facing UI takes some time as transactions are not executed immediately on a blockchain. It’s a good idea to have some sort of animation built-in on the front end to show users their action is still in progress until it gets verified on the chain. Here’s how UniSwap handles that:

Another great idea is to simplify onboarding for users with existing wallets by integrating with WalletConnect and similar services that make it easy for users to connect their wallets.

You should also keep in mind that users might want to explore your solution before connecting their crypto wallets. So hiding all features until they do is probably not the best tactic to create dapps.

Step 3: Create centralized back end

If you’re building Ethereum dApps that require massive data storage or plan on running reports or envision any other functionality that’s out of the scope of on-chain transactions, you will need a web solution on a private server.

Such an admin portal will connect to smart contracts and front-end applications for customers to offer additional features to you as a business owner (to control your dApp) and users.

Step 4: Test rigorously

Like with any other app development project, you should start testing your dApp as early as possible during development. Every new build has to go through a thorough QA process.

Related: QA testing Guidelines: Steps, Process, Best Practices 

While testing front end apps is a more or less standardized procedure, smart contract testing is a little unique in that you have to use a testnet to verify its functionality.

Otherwise, once you’ve deployed a smart contract to the mainnet, such as Ethereum, you can’t longer modify it. This means any lurking bugs that made it to the mainnet will remain intact.

Step 5: Deploy and maintain

As a final step, you need to deploy your dApp. This involves uploading mobile apps to the App Store and Google Play, switching your back-end portal to a live production environment, and adding a smart contract to the blockchain. Services like Infura will help you lessen the DevOps efforts required for deploying a decentralized app.

As for maintenance, it’s more of an ongoing process. Even though the smart contract will remain the same as a blockchain app immune to changes, you’ll still need to update things on the front end.

How Much Does It Cost to Develop dApps

A proof of concept of a decentralized application may cost between $60,000 and $80,000, depending on its feature set, and the price for developing a full-fledged solution will depend on how many front ends you need, etc. To build dapps that include more advanced features like staking and minting, among others, you need to budget in at least $150,000 for an MVP.

How Topflight Apps Can Help in Building Decentralized Applications

At Topflight Apps, we strive to balance at the cutting edge of technology, making sure it makes a real impact on your customers’ lives. Right now, we are in the process of polishing several dApps, focused around fintech and crypto.

Hopefully, this blog has helped you get a better picture of how to build decentralized applications. Feel free to schedule a meeting if you have more questions or if you are ready to start this exciting venture.

Related:

1. How to Make a DeFi Lending Platform
2. How to Build a DeFi App
3. How to Build a Market ready Fintech App
4. How to Make a Private Blockchain
5. How to Develop a DeFi Staking Platform
6. How to build a DeFi Exchange Platform
7. How to Create a Crypto Exchange
8. How to Start a DAO

[This blog was originally published on November  3, 2021 but has been refreshed to keep up with more recent updates]