If you are familiar with dating applications like Tinder, Hinge, Bumble and Okcupid you know how compelling they can get because they get you hooked. Have you thought of how to make a dating app, start making money, or maybe get into your entrepreneurial journey?
Or have you thought of developing an alternative application to Bumble? But before you enter this industry, you need to understand some of the statistics of this market. According to a survey, the whole betting market has seen tremendous revenue growth, and its market share is expected to be worth US$3.01 billion in 2023. The romance application industry is expanding briskly.
If you are thinking of crafting a dating application like Bumble, you must create your unique selling point, which will set you apart from other dating applications. Once you have your unique selling point, your first step in making a dating app is done.
It would be best to learn how to make a dating app for the next step in the process. Celect Studios is the pioneer company in the development of dating applications; we are equipped with the experience to craft a dating application that will make you money by providing customized dating applications on iOS and Android platforms. So, if you are looking for help, we are just a message away to cater to your needs.
Let’s delve into our topic of how to make a dating app.
Building the MVP version:
Before moving to our actual topic, let’s discuss the concept of MVP and building the MVP version of your dating application.
An MVP is a minimum viable product you launch with its only core feature to test its market demand. Following are the steps involved in the making of an MVP version:
Market Research: First, you must conduct market research to understand your competitors and familiarize yourself with their business models. This will guide you in creating a persona for your target audience.
Identify the Revenue Model: You need to select a monetization method for your application, like offering in-app purchases or monthly subscriptions.
Building the MVP version: You have done all your group work by now; it is time to make the MVP version of your dating application. This includes the development, testing, and optimization phases of your application.
App development timeline:
The app development timeline is a very subjective topic. Because if you are a one-person army, it will take a long time to develop a complete dating application. But if you are a team assigned to complete their task, the breakdown of the app development timeline is below:
It will take 900 hours to develop a basic mobile application.
- The backend development will take 300 hours to complete.
- The app’s testing and launch take around 60 hours to complete.
The app development timeline also includes all the following elements mentioned below:
- Sign in
- User Profile
- Geolocation
- Match Making
- Swipe
- Chat
- Push Notification
- Profile Verification
- Behavior Analysis
6-step roadmap to develop dating application like Bumble and Tinder
The 6-step process will guide you through making a dating app and assists you to establish your application business.
-
Research other dating apps:
Whenever we think of buying something new, we tend to do some research about it online to get the basic overview about the product. It would be beneficial if you researched to get an idea of market demand. Thus, conducting research is of utmost importance.
Following are some of the puzzles to research, which will give you clarification:
- Who will be your intended consumers?
- What is the future of dating applications?
- What is their market share?
- What will be the possibilities of growth for dating applications?
To get answers to the above puzzles and conduct research will familiarize you with the fundamentals of how to make a dating app. For example, by understanding your intended consumer, you will be able to understand for whom you are going to develop your Couples Apps dating application. The research you will conduct will give you a roadmap for what you will be doing with your application. Listed below are some of the tools you can use for research purposes.
- Google Trends: This will help you find trending dating applications.
- Answer the public: This will help you know what most people search for on Google.
- Think with Google: This website has different categories, giving you the latest analytics , testing bibliotheca, organization gimmicks to do in depth analysis, etc.
-
Comprehend the dating apps market:
Instead of contributing tireless work hours into crafting different elements for the dating application, I suggest you invest that time into making a list of the essential elements. Moreover, start analyzing the big dating apps for example Bumble and Tinder, and comprehending their basic components and how they offer matching options. Following are some of the points you need to consider while you search the industry for how to make a dating app:
- Analyze your category
- Craft a unique selling point for the romance industry
- You must discover the drawbacks and difficulties which your dating application should be able to solve.
People who use dating applications usually seek to find the perfect spouse. For now, niche-based dating applications are rising in this market, and users are outpouring valuable feedback for dating applications like Ashley Madison and Match. Following are some of the dating applications you need to consider while crafting the idea for your application:
- Hily: This is one of the most popular applications in the United States of America. The dating blueprint can find user activity and check backgrounds and interests. This app also lets you do video calling and helps you choose the right match by offering a compatibility quiz. Answering some of the quizzes in the examination will give suggestions based on your answers to your potential partner.
- League: Its algorithm will give matching recommendations based on career and qualifications. You will be notified via email about your potential matches.
- Coffee Meets Bagel: This dating application has a secret group for LGBTQ people. Its algorithm will match you with one potential match per day. Some other LGBTQ applications are Planetromeo, Grindr, and Scruff.
- Hinge: The target users are those thinking of quitting the application. However, they have lots of data to filter the search for a variety of users.
Until now, you have had an idea of different applications’ unique selling points. This will help you craft your own.
-
Categorize the require Specifications:
To summarize, we have explored the available dating applications and comprehended what exactly makes them successful. Your primary focus should be to get the attention of your users because, In this case, it will be difficult for you to retain your customers. Now, less is said about how to categorize the requirements to get maximum user engagement. You have to comprehend which features will help enhance user engagement, which is your business’s primary goal. Following are some of the questions you need to answer to get clarification about the specifications you will be giving to your users in your dating application:
- Will you be developing your application for cross-platforms?
- Which unique features will you be providing?
- You will be targeting a wider audience or want to develop a niche-based dating application?
Which monetization method do you wish to apply to your dating application? You have to add features based on your chosen method.
-
Give attention to the User Interface or User Experience of the Application:
If you are following the steps in the guide, then you will have the answers by now to what to add in your application. Your next step should be to start curating the UI/UX. In a nutshell, your mobile dating application should look captivating and have easy navigation.
It is possible that you have observed the user interfaces or user experiences of different dating applications are very seamless, which means that users can easily slide, write, and leave to accept or dismiss the incompetent ones. You can simply change from messaging to checking who is super into you without frittering away.
These are some of the tactics big applications like Bumble and Tinder use to generate significant revenue. To deploy a topnotch dating app, designers at Celect Studios use the following softwares to develop wireframes and prototypes of the mobile apps:
- Adobe XD: This software turns wireframes into lively prototypes and tests in mobile applications.
- Sketch: This software delivers compatible wireframes and supports multiple third-party plugins.
You need to pay critical attention to your application’s user interface and User experience because its success depends on them.
-
Craft Customized Dating Application:
Once the user experience and interface part is complete, the development process of your dating application starts. It would be best if you started building the MVP version of your application to check it with real users and understand your user base. You have to include only core elements to get started with your application’s development.
To craft a popular dating application, you will need a matching algorithm. The matching algorithm is how users get a match when they slide right or left.
You must include some crucial features to build a fruitful pairing blueprint using innovative technology like AI in your dating application.
- < UNK> Use Geodata: Integrating Google Maps into your dating application will help users find their potential matches and connect with people in their nearby locations.
- Algorithms for mathematical development: This algorithm comprehends information like gender, age, and music genre, leisure activities, and skill interests and then shows you potential matches based on those preferences. There is no guarantee that this algorithm will generate precise outcomes constantly because some users will fill in fake information. Hence, it’s not the application’s responsibility to save you from scammers.
- Behavior Analysis: This algorithm tracks the user’s behavior while using the application. You need to connect your social applications, like Facebook or Instagram, while using Tender so the algorithm can follow the better conduct of its users. The use of big data involves performing an analysis of behavior. This method promises to bring good and real outcomes compared to the mathematical algorithms.
- Integration of AR and AI: As we get personalized and customized recommendations on Amazon Prime and Netflix based on your taste, innovations like AI and AR also help offer customized experiences and behaviors.
When you are building the MVP version of your dating application, you get valuable response from your users in its early testing stage. You can give them updates in the next version of the application based on the feedback you will be getting. By building the MVP style of your mobile dating application, you will stay connected to your target audience and be able to get prior responses to your dating application.
-
Trial and Launch of your Application:
By now, you have successfully integrated every essential element in your romance application. Now you should check out your application. Is it possible that dating applications have errors? It is necessary to do beta testing of your application before it goes live. You must ensure that the dating application’s front and back ends Work without errors. You must complete testing of API’s, sign-up, sign in, and matchmaking for your application.
You should test the matching algorithm to check if it matches the potential dating partner according to the user’s preferences. For monetization, you need to add payment options to your website, like PayPal or Stripe, if you are opting for in-app purchases.
After the development, you need to test your application with a beta tester in order to launch it on the respective app stores. Both platforms have guidelines to follow before deploying your dating application.
Cost of developing a romance application?
The total amount of developing a Tinder-like application ranges from $100,000 to $150,000. The cost of development depends entirely on the project’s features, functionality, and complication. If you are looking to develop a bigger dating application like Tinder or Bumble, you might think that it will be expensive.
Because the price of the dating application may up and down subjected on the features you will be adding to it, the following are the possible phase-wise costs of development of romance app:
- The UI stage will cost you $5000 to $15,000.
- The Development Stage will cost you $5,000 to $25,000.
- The trial and launch stages will cost around $2500 to $10,000.
- Totally customized development will cost you over $50,000.
Tools Necessary for Development of Dating Application:
The infrastructure is an important step in the development of a romantic application. If you plan to create your dating application, selecting the right technology for the development of mobile applications is crucial. Following are the tools you will need to develop a profitable dating application:
- Languages for programming : Java, Swift and Kotlin.
- Frameworks for programming: React Native and Flutter.
- Databases:Redis, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB.
- Services of cloud: S3 Amazon.
- Gateway for Payment: Paypal And Stripe.
- Necessary Softwares:, Android Studio and Xcode.
What Elements Are Essential to Develop a Romance Application?
You need to include some features and descriptions in developing your dating application.
- Login and Registration: For first time users it is necessary for them to register through their Google account or by using their social media accounts. The existing users can directly log into the accounts utilizing the same credentials.
- Pop-up Notifications: This picture will help the users get notifications without opening the dating application. As an outcome, reports assist you to get user commitment and profit.
- Verification of User Profile: You need to add this feature to get the real users by asking them for their identity documents.
- Preference Selection: You need to include the picture to select the gender of the users so they can get the preferences accordingly.
- Search based GPS: This integration will help users find potential partners within or near their locations.
- Live video and AI chatbots: You need to add messaging and live video options to better understand their potential partner by talking to them.
- Security and Profile Blocking: You need to add data privacy and security guidelines to protect the user’s information, and users should also be capable of blocking suspicious profiles.
- App Gamification: This integration is very useful to enhance user engagement within the dating application, so adding some games is preferable.
- Similarity finding element: As the name indicates, you need to add facial recognition so users can look for potential partners who they find similar to them.
How to Make Money with Dating Applications:
You have given your well-earned money into developing your dating application. Your next step is to reap the fruit of your investment by getting into monetization. But the inquiry is: how do you monetize dating applications, and how to do it efficiently?
Following are a few categories of monetization, which we will be discussing below:
In-app Purchases:
Each dating application should be equipped with elements to improve user engagement. In a few years, joint dating applications have included premium access to profiles and limitless slides in in-app purchases to generate revenue and improve the User experience. You can add the following in your dating application:
- Increase your profile’s visibility
- unlimited slides
- Featuring of your profile
- Talk with a premium profile
- You can see who like you
- Give a gift
If you are offering different in-app purchases, this will improve your user engagement, and users will be able to get access to the premium features of your application.
To optimize your in-app purchases, you should consider the following strategies:
- Pre-Planning: During the development phase of your dating application, you need to make a roadmap for where you should be adding your in-app purchases.
- Branding: The branding and voice of your dating application should be captivating and appealing to the users. This will contribute to in-app purchases by incorporating a great copy of the products or services you are trying to sell within your dating application.
- Bundle offers: This is the most popular method to optimize purchases. Bundle offers provider users discounts, allowing them to make an informed purchasing decision at an affordable price.
Paid ads and Affiliate Marketing:
Everyone knows what affiliate marketing is. Affiliate marketing is a project based work, you will be paid by boosting the companies’ services and products without the users paying extra charges. You can introduce this feature into your application, where you will be marketing similar dating applications, products, or services. Once someone buys the product or service by clicking on your link, you will get paid your commission. You can keep track of yourself using the dashboard of a dating application.
Cupid Media, Match, and EliteSingles are popular dating applications that offer referral and affiliate projects to get more users.
Premium and Subscription based plans:
This is the most popular method to make money from your dating application. For instance, Tender Plus offers a subscription-based model. In Tinder app, you cannot access the premium features without subscribing to their membership programs. By subscribing to the subscription option in that indoor application, you can get unlimited swipes, increase your chances of getting potential matches, etc.
Video upgrade:
It is human nature to network with people we are interested in. Hands-on video calling and chat elements are crucial for your dating application—e.g., Harmony and Match.com—which generate revenue by providing their users with exclusive chat or video call options.
Monetization through Advertising
Another popular method of monetization is to integrate advertising into your dating application. When users view or interact with their apps, which will appear on the interface of your dating application, it will help you generate revenue.
A common example of this monetization method is Grindr. Their revenue generation method combines ADS and subscriptions to their premium features, called Grindr Xtra. The premium version of the dating application allows users to access a wider range of matches and other options. However, suppose you are considering selecting this monetization method. In that case, we advise you not to rely solely on this revenue generation strategy because sometimes it can be intrusive, and your users will be satisfied with the service.
While incorporating this method, you should keep in mind that you should not overload your user with advertisements and maintain a balance between the interface and the appearance of ads.
Conclusion:
You now have an exact idea of how to make a dating application. You have learned about the development process, the frameworks and tools you need, and the cost of developing a custom dating application. Additionally, you have become familiar with the different monetization strategies you can include in your dating application to generate revenue from it. You must take the pledge and start working on your dating application now.
