How Much Does It Cost To Develop an Online Dating App?

Long gone are the times when dating a person was taboo. With increasing reliance and dependability on smartphones, apps and other technological advancements, people have shifted their lifestyle and the way of thinking.

The Online dating app is a cult of the same lifestyle shift, helping millennials middle-aged persons to newly single find suitable matches for having a short-term romance or a long-term relationship. In fact, online dating app development companies have kept it high-key by providing a pool of choices when it comes to navigating a dating app.

As we all know, the dating app space was hugely dominated by the behemoth ‘Tinder’, which instilled the habit of swinging right (or left) to find a partner.

But let’s agree romance is a bit more complicated and it’s not one-size-fits-all. So, basically, Tinder is a bit old school and our filters are quite specific.Well, at Codiant we love to construct witty, unique and exclusive dating apps that pluck avant-garde features and spice up a mundane concept to a fresh demanding app product.

In this blog post, we will discuss how the definition of a basic dating app can be revived with forward-looking and innovative features. At the end of the post, we will also help you to get a rough ballpark figure or the estimated cost to develop a mobile app.

Related reading : Types of Dating App Business Models

Key Features of an On-demand Dating App Development

1. User App

• Easy Onboarding : Daters can register in the app through email/ phone no/social login and password.
• Profile Verification : This is the most crucial feature of the app. Reliability is a primary key in dating apps. Fake profiles or spammers can disrepute your app. Users should be able to access the app only after their account verification is done via contact number or email ID.
• Upload Picture : Users should be able to upload their profile picture by picking one the gallery or from a live camera. You can also restrict users to upload the display picture only from the camera to regulate authenticity.
• Profile Management : Users should be able to manage their profiles by adding fields like bio, hobbies, interests, photos, occupation, location, etc.
• Settings : Users should be able to perform actions like change passwords, contact information and deactivating or delete profiles. Settings fields can be customized as per your requirements.
• Profile Discovery : Users should be able to search for potential daters or say matches:

1. By browsing the list of available matches nearby them (through Geofencing), location-specific or based on compatibility.
2. From the search bar by name, profile ID, tags or keywords, etc.

• Profile Details : Once the user likes a profile he/she should be able to click a user and check:

1. User’s Profile Picture
2. Location
3. Send Message Request
4. Send Interest
5. Like The Picture

• Set Privacy and Visibility: The user should be given control to keep their profile public or private when they are dating a person.
• Likes and Visitors: If your dating app allows the user to like other user’s profiles then the user should be able to get notifications of persons’ details who have liked the profile. And same if in case the person has visited the user’s profile he/she should be alerted with the visitor’s details. However, this feature is optional and depends upon your personal reasoning.
• Refer, Share, and Earn : To increase the app user base, keeping this feature is only profitable for you. Allow app users to invite friends, refer your app or share through channels like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, SMS, and mail, and in return, you can give them in-app points to be used to access member profiles.
• Send Invitation: The most happening feature of the app that calls for the user’s attention. Nevertheless, this feature can be used in the following ways:

1. Users can send requests for messages: Once the receiver accepts the message invitation they can do in-app chat without having to swap phone numbers.
2. Users can send people invites of friendship or for dating: You can keep it interesting by offering users two options i.e. be a friend before dating or directly send a request for dating.
3. Send invites for parties or events: Many dating apps provide this feature where daters can hang out for parties, or for events like sports, tours, etc. to take friendships to another level.

• Accept/Decline Invitation: The user can accept or decline the invitation or interest sent for message/friendship/date/event.
• In-app Chat: Users can send offline messages or chat in real-time with emojis’ and rich media. They should also be able to send their current location. (Customizable)
• Mark Favorites: Users should be able to mark favorite profiles that be saved as their potential interests.
• Mark Spam/Report User: If a user finds other user’s profile as inappropriate, violating terms of use or abusive, he/she can mark it as spam and report it to the admin. The admin in turn can take necessary actions.
• In-App Subscription: Users can purchase premium features on a monthly or yearly basis to increase the number of people they can access to view profiles.
• Make Payment: Multiple payment gateways allow users to make seamless payments through cards, net banking, or mWallet integration in the app.

2. Admin Panel

• Dashboard: Admin should be able to see the total number of users, the total earnings, and total number of active daters, etc.
• Profile Verification: The Admin can check the user’s profile and authenticate the profile by verification process via email, phone and social identity.
• Manage Subscriptions: The admin can manage customer’s in-app subscription plans.
• Manage Membership Packages: Admin can manage membership requests (extend/terminate).
• Revenue Tracking: Admin can track total revenue and earnings.
• Multi-language Support and Translations: Users can keep the app multi-lingual to extend its geographical reach.
• Push Notifications: Admin can send pop-up messages, notifications and alerts to the users if they find matches, or receive messages.

Technology Stack Required To Develop A Dating App

Mobile SDK: Android and iOS

Frontend iOS Development: Swift, React Native

Frontend Android development: Android studio (Java), React Native

Database: PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis

Cloud Storage: Amazon S3

Web Server: Nginx

Real-time Analytics : Hadoop, Spark, BigData, Cisco, IBM

General Utilities: Twilio, Elastic Search, Google Maps, Google Analytics

Payment Gateway: Stripe, PayPal

Streaming Video : WebRTC

Related reading: How We Created A Social Online Dating App

How Much Does It Cost To Develop An On-Demand Dating App?

The total cost to develop a dating app depends upon the following factors:

• No. of Platform (Android and iOS)
• Front And Back-End Development
• UI/UX Development
• Website Connectivity
• Third-Party APIs Integration
• App Development Company’s Location
• App Complexity and No. Of Hours Spent

Moreover, the app development cost depends upon the advanced features you integrate into the dating app.

The Ballpark Figure

A basic version of the dating app costs you around $18000-$20000 (depends upon the features), a complex app with advanced functionalities and features can go up based on the functionalities you opt to integrate.