Himanshu PatelThere’s an app to find your love.
Of course, you know the same. The hundreds of the dating apps flooding the app stores and allowing the people to fill the love gap in their lives, which could be a casual fling, starting a long-term relationship, or a rebound to get over a breakup.
In this holiday season, where everyone is locked down and maintaining the social distance, the dating apps become incredible on demand solution to find the right mate and date with them.
According to stats, 30% of US adults are using the dating app, that’s an average of 26.5 million smartphone dating users by 2020. Tinder, which is the most popular dating app and cast a wider net of users is ranked 179 in the Google play store by March 2020. Moreover, Tinder revenue stood at $1.15 billion in 2019, which grew at 123% CAGR from 2015.
The global usage and concrete figures showcase that developing a dating app like- Tinder is a lucrative opportunity. With growing mobile usage and increasing people’s preferences to find the soulmate or stay in the short-term relationship on dating apps due to lack of time, there is a bigger room for innovative dating app development.
Geared up to capitalize on dating Android app development? If so, before you begin penning down the app idea and the list of features, there are a couple of things that you should do before partnering with the dating website Development Company.
Here’s how to build the right dating app:
- Learn the basic functionalities of the dating app.
- Assess the advantages that each feature will bring.
- Create an MVP to get a better idea of the future app.
- Decide on technology stack before the development begins.
- Turn MVP into a full-fledged dating application
- Select the monetization strategy
Our business consultants based on the analysis of the popular dating applications found that all of the dating apps leverage some kind of matching techniques to enable matches in the app. All the dating mobile app solutions somehow fall into five categories, which are:
- Geolocation based matching
With GPS components in dating apps, the matching algorithms aggregate potential matches based on the location. The app suggests a list of users in the defined location proximity with a little information about every user. The users can make new acquaintances by liking the profile and starting the communication with them.
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- Mathematical-based matching
This algorithm brings the old-school dating concept where the answers to a given questionnaire are used as a basis to match the compatibility of the users. Based on the answers, the compatibility rate is calculated and the list of users is presented. OkCupid app is the best instance of it.
- Behavior-based matching
Questionnaires not always answered accurately, which leads to mismatch. That’s why complex behavior-based algorithms collect data from various sources such as social accounts, profiles, musical playlist, groups visit, and others, and then connect the dots to identify every individual’s behavior and then suggesting a list of users accordingly.
- Advanced matching
Taking a step further, the emerging technologies are also in the trend to ensure precise matching. Artificial intelligence and AR & VR technology are leveraged in dating apps for personalized recommendations other than matching.
- Niche dating apps
Such ios apps target a specific segment in the world. For instance, the app just focuses on connecting professionals or people with white-collar jobs. The League is one such app that allows people to date with people in their social circles or professions. The Grid is also a women-friendly app that allows women to make the first move for the date.
Once you are clear with dating algorithms to keep in the app, it’s time for creating an MVP. MVP for dating includes the following features:
- Social onboarding
Eliminating the long registration process, the users are allowed to register and log in using social accounts such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn.
- User profile
The user profile is automatically created by extracting information from social channels where the demographics, interests, hobbies, and other information are mentioned. The users can view each other’s profiles and like or dislike each other accordingly.
- Location awareness
The users are allowed to specify the location where they want to find the best mate and date with them. There is no restriction upon choosing the location because some users want to date with the person in nearby locations or cross-borders.
- Matching
Using any of the aforementioned matching techniques enabled in the app, the list of users is suggested to every user as the best match.
- Chatting
When the user finds a match in the list and likes the profile, they can start communicating with each other to better understand mutually. The chatting system enables one-to-one communication along with stickers and GIFs to make the chatting fun.
- Push notifications
No matter if the user is online or offline, they will get a reminder as in-app notification for the new match, when it’s found so that users can quickly start chatting.
- Swiping
Swiping gestures are more liked by the users as compared to tapping on the phone. It’s also a good move for the small screen size to enable most of the functionalities with the least content. Dating app also features swiping gestures like- swiping right means to like someone, swiping left means skip, and others.
- Settings
The users can change the settings of the basic features like- turn on/off notification sound, filters customization, categories selection, and more to customize the dating preferences.
- Not to forget admin panel
The users are endowed with admin control power which gets enabled when they log in on the desktop. The admin panel allows the users to block the users, resolve issues, and pretty more.
The next question pops-up is- How can you monetize with dating application solutions?
What we have discussed is all about how can you develop the app that engages the users and let them use the app repetitively. What about the ultimate thing- ‘Money’ for which the app is built for? There are four ways to make the investment pays off:
- Subscription
The users will pay a subscription fee monthly or annually for using the dating app.
- Advertisement
The app when sells space to third-party companies for placing the ads, the companies will pay a certain amount in the exchange.
- In-app purchase
The premium features or elements such as in-app icons, smiley, or currency can be availed by paying dollars.
- Premium plans
There are some membership plans with exclusive features that can be unlocked when the user purchases the plans.
Hold on! Before jumping on the MVP development bandwagon and testing the app idea success, it’s good to choose the technologies and tools to use for dating app development on two platforms- iOS and Android. The technology stack, which NectarBits- the dating app development company use:
Programming languages- Java, Kotlin, and Swift
Frameworks- Node.js, Express.js, Next.js, and React Router
Database- PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and Redis
Payment gateway- Stripe, Braintree, and PayPal
Web servers- Nginx
Cloud storage- – Amazon S3, and RDS
In-app chat- Twilio
Finally, it’s vital to discuss that matters the most- Dating app development cost.
The app development cost is the foremost thing about which you must be clear beforehand. It must be given equal importance to know which features, design, advanced functionalities, third-party integrations, and other things had a direct impact on the cost.
Here we have estimated in detail which section and feature incur how many development hours and then development cost accordingly. For tinder-like dating app development on either of the platforms:
The app development team includes developers, designers, QA & testers, back-end developers, and project managers. The time invested in different features development:
- Social onboarding – 15-26 hours
- User profile – 45-60 hours
- Geolocation – 15-30 hours
- Data syncing across social channels- 20-30 hours
- Matching – 80-90 hours
- Messaging – 60-80 hours
- Push notifications – 13-20 hours
- Feed – 30-45 hours
- Swiping – 10-15 hours
- Settings – 20-30 hours
- Admin panel – 20-40 hours
Overall, the app development = 800-1000 hours
App designing= 100-120 hours
Back-end development = 200-250 hours
QA & testing = 200-300 hours
Project management = 100-150 hours
In total, around 1500 working hours will be invested and based on the hourly rate the dating app development cost will vary. On average, you can expect the cost ranges between $17,000 to $25,000. For the detailed and exact estimate, it’s better to connect with the dating app & website development service providers and know the same.
Conclusion
After Tinder’s popularity in the dating industry, the bunch of entrepreneurs has thought of sailing the love boat with a unique dating app development. It’s a good idea, but it only works well when the app is developed rightly, targeting the user base aptly, and engaging the users like no one with addictive dating features and services. Devise a strategy to know the app development cost and the revenue it brings after the launch to stay profitable. Don’t go haphazardly else it won’t bring optimal success.
My two cents: If you are low on budget, the on-demand dating app is a perfect fit to get a start in a matter of days. It comes with some cons so you should look at the flip side as well. All the best! Contact us
