Tinder has been enjoying worldwide fame since it was launched in the year 2012. With iconic swipe feature, the dating application is being used by global users of age 18 to 34 years. It boasts of having over 3.7 million paid subscribers, up by 81 percent over the same quarter in the year 2017. The popularity of Tinder has lead to a spurt in the number of dating apps in the market. Many of the wannabe entrepreneurs are now entering the market to make the best of dating app development.
Analyzing the growth of the inclination towards dating application development, here is the comprehensive guide to ensure that your dating app does not sink into oblivion.
What makes Dating App Development a Great Choice?
Revenue in the online dating segment amounts to whopping 1,383 million USD in the year 2018 itself. This revenue is expected to exhibit an annual increase of 3.9% (CAGR 2018-2022) resulting in the market value of 1,610 million USD by the year 2022. In addition to this, user penetration is expected to hit 6.3% in 2022 from 5.7% in 2018. The United States of America serves as the highest source of revenue amounting to 590 million USD in global comparison (Source). Here are some of the other reasons that make dating app development an excellent choice for the enterprises:
- Statista states that over 11 million US adults use dating mobile applications at least once a month (Source). This number is twice to the users who use PCs to access the websites of the same category (Source).
- The number of single adults across the USA is continually on the rise, accounting from 31.4 million users in 2010 to 35.39 million in 2016.
- Survey reveals that 84 percent of the users are using dating apps for serious relationships, while 43% of the users use it for friendly contacts (Source).
- Dating applications are one of the most appealing options for the younger generation of internet users. About 30% of the US adults of age 19 to 29 years are using online dating services (Source).
What are Different Types of Dating App?
How does Tinder Work?
Tinder, as we know, is a free dating application available on the platforms like iOS and Android. Geographical proximity is one of the main features of this application, enabling users to find the nearby matches easily. You can simply swipe left for rejecting the suggest match and right for showing your interest.
Tinder uses information gathered from the Facebook profile to analyze the user’s data and offer matches on the basis of geographical locations, common interests, and mutual friends. Users can specify their preferences like age range and gender. Mutual swipe results into the match.
The popularity of the application can be attrcibuted to its simplicity and the fantastic visuals. You can simply log in using your Facebook credentials rather than following a tedious registration process. However, that does not make it necessary to give the same information. Users can always edit the personal description.
Features Offered by Tinder
The features of a dating application directly determine its development cost. While tinder uses geolocation mapping for matches, some of the apps use traditional personal information. Some apps use user surveys, while the niche dating apps for the selected group of people.
Here are some of the notable features of Tinder:
1) Registration and Login
As mentioned above, Tinder does not feature a lengthy registration process. It preferably allows you to log in using Facebook credentials. User’s profiles are then used to build up the initial Tinder profile.
2) Discovery Settings
The details extracted from the Facebook profile of the user is used for suggesting the possible matches. A user can set up filters to refine the search using discovery settings. These filters can be the made specific to a specific area, gender, and/ or age.
3) Private Chat
When both the users swipe right, or in other words, it is a match, a private chat window is opened for communication.
4) Push Notifications
Tinder also offers the users with notifications on the go through Push Notifications. Users are instantly sent an alert for the matches and messages to ensure that they do not miss out any update.
5) Other Important Features
Besides these significant features, Tinder also offers the users with a wide array of functionalities to deliver a great experience. Some of these features are available with the premium Tinder subscription.
- Super-likes
- Rewind button
- Location change
- Unlimited right swipes
- Tinder social (Swiping between the groups of people)
- In-app features
- Advanced matching algorithms
- Social media integration
- Protection from uncensored content and abuse
- User anonymity
- Tinder moments
- Match suggestions
How does Tinder Function?
Developing an app like Tinder requires three essential elements. That is, design, app development, and an API. The app uses RESTful API to connect the web-based client app to the server. This, in combination with the real-time API, provides faster data transfer.
On the core, Tinder consists of user management, chat feature, and the notifications. To enable this, it uses database frameworks like MongoDB, SMS notification services like Twilio, mapping tools like MapBox, besides many other elements.
Technology behind Tinder
Technology stack for Tinder mainly includes:
Programming Languages: JavaScript, Python, HTML5
Platform for Building and Testing the Apps: AWS Mobile Platform
Database: MongoDB, Redis
Custom Map Designing: Mapbox
Data and Transaction Security: GoDaddy SSL certificate
Besides this, Tinder uses smart GPS integration for identifying the user’s location.
Cost to Develop an App like Tinder
Owing to the intricate architecture and time-consuming mobile app development, building a dating app can be an expensive affair. The simplest version of the app might require as many as 1000 hours. Here is the expected time break-up:
- Single platform app development- almost 1000 hours
- Backend- 200+ hours
- Designing- At least 100 hours
- PM/ QA- up to 100 hours
*The estimations stated here are based on global data. However, actual estimation can only be provided after understanding your requirements and analyzing them. For more information contact us.
How to Develop a Dating App for Your Business?
Now that we have discussed Tinder, here is the strategy that you can follow in order to develop a similar app for your business:
1) Know Your Target Market
Determining the market of your potential customers is one of the most crucial steps for developing the app that can be next great dating application. It is also worth noting that preparing a list of potential customer does not mean excluding any particular set. This data will give you a better understanding of the potential users and enable you to plan the delivery and marketing accordingly.
Two parameters play a crucial role in understanding the target audience:
- Demographics: This aspect includes factors like:
- Age
- Gender
- Location
- Income level
- Occupation
- Ethnic background
- Psychometrics: This is a slightly tricky aspect that requires you to analyze traits through a series of questions. This questionnaire includes:
- What are the users like, as people?
- What are the common personality traits of the users?
- What is their typical day or week like?
- What are their core values?
- What interests them? What are the hobbies?
- What is the users’ attitude towards online dating?
- What problems do they encounter when it comes to online dating?
Answers to these questions will help you determine the project scope and promotion strategy. Once these questions get a perfect answer, it is vital to understand how and why will your application fir into their daily lives?
2) Study Your Competitors
Online dating industry is flooded with a plethora of choices for the users. These choice start from low-quality apps to the ones highly trending. Both the categories have plenty of lessons to teach:
- Analyze the key features that top trending apps offer. What gives them ground to stand firmly in the market?
- Observe the reviews on popular as well as least favorite dating apps. What is loved by the users and what they don’t really like? This information will help you reduce the drawbacks and give you a competitive edge over the others.
- Pay attention to the local as well as global competitors. Even if they are not up to your scale, apps from both the categories are your competitors.
3) Create a Matching Algorithm
This is the most important aspect of the dating application. Make sure that your matching algorithm works flawlessly. No mathematics or science can define the perfect algorithm that you should be following. According to eHarmony, common interests and user’s appearance are the most important factors that users pay attention to when looking for a match. One of the surveys concluded that 64% of the online dating platform users search for the common traits in the suggested matches. On the other hand, 49% of the users consider appearance as an important factor.
Ensure to make an algorithm that offers users with something new. While there are dating apps that work on location-based algorithms, that suggest matches based on restaurants or bars, and also the ones that suggest matches according to the familiar friends, just don’t focus on developing apps that are the clone of others.
4) Take Care of Users’ Basic Needs
In addition to the specific requirements of the users, there are two more aspects that you need to take care of while developing a dating app. That is, security and intuitive user interface.
a) Intuitive User Experience
An easy to use interface is what every user demands from an application. While it makes the app’s user experience pleasant and addictive, it makes it easier for the users to navigate through the app. While you might be looking forward to including the best and maximum of the features in your app, it should not be done at the cost of user experience.
Here are some of the tips that you can follow:
- Keep the user workflow as simple as possible.
- Ensure that the number of movements required to complete an action is less.
- Limit the screens that the user should navigate through in order to complete a particular task.
- Keep the number of fields to fill limited. Do not stress the users much.
- Keep the on-screen text optimized.
- Ensure to keep the Call to Action clear
b) Security
With security, we don’t just imply to the user’s data security, but also to the security of the users overall. Some of the users can be creepy people while some others can be dangerous ones. Ensure that you follow proper security checks while registering the users. For example, some apps ensure that user information is verified from multiple platforms including all the social media tools. In addition, some other verify that the users upload their original pictures.
Here are some of the security measures that you can add to your list:
- Verify Profile: Ensure that users verify their contact details like email address, contact number, etc. along with links to the social media platforms. Higher the anonymity of the user, higher the chances of him/ her being a threat to other’s security.
- Filtering Messages: Implement a manual or automatic algorithm to check that users are free from threatening or abusive messages.
- Block and Report Option: Make sure that the users are free to report the indecent behavior and have the authority to block unwanted users.
4) Brainstorm the Features
Besides ensuring the security of users, great UI/ UX, and efficient matching algorithm, multiple other must-have features help you gain popularity of the algorithm.
- Discovering People: Discovering People: In addition to a great matchmaking algorithm, you can also gift your users with high-end features. You can opt for adding filters that enable them to customize the matches according to criteria such as location, preferences, age, etc.
- Messaging for Effective Communication: Encourage the users to get started with the conversation as soon as it is a match from both the sides. This can be done using pop-ups, push messages, etc.
- Inbuilt Features should be Simple As Well As Handy: Make important features like messenger, profiles, etc. easily accessible to the users. This way users are more likely to use your application for the simplicity and ease of use it offers.
Conclusion
Dating app development has been one of the promising sources to the one looking to make a long-lasting impression in the industry. They continually strive to bring in more and more innovative features to address the bespoke requirements. Our comprehensive guide will help you test the true potential of your idea. All you then have to do is, join hands with an experienced dating app developer and count in the profits.
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