Modern-day technology has changed the way people connect with others. The dating app development industry has boomed ever since this tech invention of how to create a dating app has prospered.
Well, ‘how to create a dating app’ has become the most popular question that has spiked the curiosity of many with the US being the largest revenue market for dating apps with $387.70 million in revenue in 2022.
Apps like Tinder have not only generated revenue for the economy but also changed interpersonal relationships. Building relationships have now become even easier with online mobile app like Tinder and Bumble.
If you want to know how to create a dating app, then you will have to be familiar with some ground rules for creating an app like Tinder or Tinder clone apps.
If you are interested in knowing how to create a dating app, then you must also know how much dating app development costs. This article will provide you with all the details you need to create a dating app.
Let’s have a glance over these statistics which will tell you exactly why it is best to create a dating app that is highly profitable.
- There were over 366 million online dating service users in 2022. It is estimated that by 2027, apps like Tinder and online dating will have 440 million people.
- Additionally as of 2022, internet dating generated 2.86 billion U.S. dollars as the online dating market shows no apparent signs of a slowdown.
- In a recent study, there were about 19% of internet users in the United States that had claimed to be currently using an online dating app or platform. Interestingly, about 27% of participants claimed to have used an online dating app in the past.
- Tinder has become synonymous with online dating with 32% of users in the U.S. market by January 2022. With the industry competition growing fierce, it was followed by Bumble (22%), Hinge (15%), and other apps like Tinder.
Let’s move forward to find out the details on how to create a dating app like Tinder. Now that you are clear on how much it will cost to build a dating app, let’s move on to how to create a dating app.
Dating App Development Features and Technologies
To ensure that you include all of the features that popular dating apps like Tinder and Bumble have, here are some of the secret weapons of apps like Tinder that you can monetize to create a dating app.
Tinder leveraged intuitive designs the best way by providing a simple and easy-to-use UI, To create a dating app, you must keep your features very simple.
Tinder’s functionality is really simple for users such as the swiping features being one of the best. Alongside, users get to connect via their social networks and this social authentication helps the platform gain more trust from its users.
Apps like Tinder also support logging in with a Facebook account. So users can see whether they have common friends, common interests, and favorite places.
Tinder uses geolocation to see which social spots they visit frequently, other users who have visited that particular spot also receive a notification only after the app user leaves that place.
When it comes to how to create dating app, this feature helps in providing users with interest-based matches.
Apps like Tinder uses a matching algorithm that companies the profile of new users with other profiles which are already there in the database and helps them by suggesting relevant matches.
Despite having a very clear-cut functionality, apps like Tinder hides their fairly complex algorithms that work at the backend. Users can only see one person while there are thousands of users swiping left and right.
Each user that people get to see in a different order, which essentially means that it’s the developer’s task to restructure the profiles into different groups.
How to Create a Dating App – Feature Checklist
How to create a dating app from scratch is to know some of the important features and technologies. Here are some of the features that you must decide on before you get to how to create a dating app.
1. User Profile & Social Networks
Building apps like Tinder and Bumble require you to leverage social media apps like Facebook and their open authorization protocol like OAuth.
The registration can be implemented for the ease of logging in as the app itself does not remember the login and password of the social media account.
Another way of logging in is by using your phone number. With an app like Tinder, you can further use any existing kind of user authorization.
You can empower your app by allowing users to sign in via social networks like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn for offering a more seamless experience.
The users will also be able to edit their profiles and update their bio, photos, gender, and other personal data on the client side. Whereas, on the server-side, appropriate records are saved.
Tinder also allows visitors to create a web profile that is not only limited to the application. The user is then redirected directly to the app when they click ‘Like Me on Play Store or the App Store’ if the app is not installed.
The backend mechanism works as follows, the client-side requests are made to the server, and the server remembers that the user wants their photo to be seen when they click the link. The server then generates the link and shows the picture to everyone who clicked the link.
When your focus is on how to create a dating app like Tinder, try and use the same approach when you create a dating app. This is generally how Tinder works with their user profiles and authorization.
2. Settings and Notifications
Focusing on how to create a dating app, you must provide your users with settings that allow adjusting for the convenience of their users.
You can activate or disable notifications for new matches, messages, likes, and super likes, for instance. Additionally, you can select your preferred units of measurement when displaying a distance (km or mi).
Your application can interface with Apple or Google servers to implement receiving notifications. The server notifies the app via push notifications.
Your development can use FCM (Firebase Cloud Messaging) for Android and APN (Apple Push Notifications) for iOS to create a Tinder clone with a similar user interface.
In addition to the standard settings mentioned above, you can change Tinder-specific settings, such as enabling or disabling discovery so that other users could or could not find a profile, choosing to show men or women, or both, specifying the search radius and the age range of the users to be found.
Therefore, make sure user accounts are correctly configured if you want to create an app similar to Tinder.
3. Geolocation and Communication
The application’s foundation is geolocation. The app’s sole purpose is to help you find people nearby, therefore without it, it is useless.
To create a dating app similar to Tinder, your dating app development team can use Core Location and the Geolocation API. They could use the MapView classes and android. location package for Android, and the CLLocationManager class and Map Kit framework for iOS.
Only when members on Tinder have similar interests may they start a conversation. The chat is disabled if not. Usually, the RESTful API or HTTP is used to implement this function.
In order to prevent the server from becoming overloaded, permanent socket connections are not used. The polling interval is configured based on how frequently messages are sent.
Users can link their Instagram accounts to their Tinder profiles to make recent Instagram photographs accessible on Tinder. Instagram does not receive any Tinder content, though.
You should pick a monetization model if you’re wondering how to create a dating website or app and make money from it. With a paid subscription, users can access more features on apps like Tinder.
4. Monetization: In-app Purchases
You should pick a monetization model if you’re wondering how to create a dating app and make money from it. In-app purchases are the key to increasing your mobile app revenue.
With a paid subscription, users may access extra features on Tinder. For instance, they can alter their position, go back and undo the last swipe, or turn off adverts. The in-app Billing API for Android and the Store Kit framework for iOS is used to integrate in-app purchases.
You can now visualize how to create a dating app like Tinder. The price list required to construct a Tinder app cannot, however, be completely understood from the list of features. The visible options are only the very beginning.
Remember to implement crucial components like the database architecture, data access object (DAO) layer, Rest API, etc.
5. Simpler Designs and Better UI
Customers are likely drawn to Tinder mostly by its high quality and straightforward design. Users don’t want to waste much time figuring out how to use your software. They anticipate it to be simple to use and intuitive. Tinder is a fantastic illustration of a user-friendly interface in this regard.
Therefore, you include UI/UX design services in your app development budget. Look for a supplier who has significant experience creating dating applications as your main criteria.
Choose the Tech Stack for an App Like Tinder
Before diving deeper into the stages of how to build a dating app, you will need to choose the technologies that will power your app. Although, the main thing you need to keep in mind while you learn more about how to build a dating app like Tinder is to keep scaling your business revenue model.
There is a specific algorithm in place that defines who and when to show to create a match and this can be implemented on the server side of the application. Whereas the backend can be made with the help of Java, .NET, React, or other server-side technologies.
You can also decide on the payment gateway for your apps such as Stripe or PayPal for monetizing the subscription models.
How Much Does It Cost to Create a Dating App like Tinder?
Now that you know how to build a dating app, it’s time you get to know the costs associated with each aspect of dating app development.
The cost of dating app development depends on a lot of factors such as the complexity of functions and the development company you choose to build a dating app. For each platform—Android & iOS app development—you are would be looking at 600 hours of development time.
The majority of the time will be used to implement chat features and AI & ML capabilities in the app. Which can require 300 hours or more. Here is the hour’s breakdown for the features to create a dating app like Tinder:
- Matching functionality – 90 hours
- GPS location – 7 hours
- Settings – 60 hours
- Authorization – 22 hours
- User profile – 85 hours
- Notifications – 25 hours
- Chat functions- 125 hours
- 3rd party services integration – 30 hours
Hire the Best Dating App Development Company
We, at Resourcifi, are a leading dating app development company having over 12+ years of industry experience. Now that you are aware of how to build a dating app, always remember that features & tech stack are the determining factors for the cost estimates and approximate budget required for dating app development.
Without having a thorough understanding of an application’s functioning, a time estimate for its development is difficult. How to creating a dating app like Tinder can be complex as it may have a simple UI but complicated algorithms but our dating app development experts will help you in creating a dating app!
Our expert developers are here to help you to create a dating app with all the feature-rich technologies and solutions you need for your ideas! Contact us now to know the cost estimates of dating app development.