Dating App Builder

How Do Dating Apps Work?

An important question to answer is how dating apps work. Almost all dating apps are location-based. The algorithm for a dating app is a two-part process. The first part is a perfected system of showing you potential ‘matches’ according to your real-time location.

This location-based display allows you to meet people that are nearer to you and makes it easier for both people to meet up in a real-life. The location-based algorithm is simple, and a user can increase or decrease the range of their matches. The second part of the dating algorithm is more complex, but it is always the location-based algorithm that plays first.

Each major dating app has its own secondary algorithm. With evolving techniques, the second part of the algorithm varies wildly across apps.

An app algorithm may be based on the number of likes a profile gets. This factor would boost how likely you were to see a particular profile. Well-liked profiles appear to more people and if a well-liked profile likes a profile, their rating will rise too. This internal scoring system ranks people. Simply put, people with better appearances ranked higher. Since this type of algorithm does not take much personal information about a person except for their preferences and photographs, it is a very simple system.

Another type of algorithm works on categorizing people into similar groups based on behavioral analysis of various people on the app. The scoring system mentioned earlier may still tie into this algorithm.

Then, there is a more detailed and older format algorithm that categorizes people based on the various internal questions and surveys. As the app user keeps answering the questions, the prospective matches keep trimming or increasing. It gives a wider array of people to see and helps match people who have similar tastes.

The ‘correct’ algorithm for a dating app doesn’t exist since predicting human behavior and preferences aren’t possible with the help of an algorithm.

How do dating apps make money?

Coming to an important aspect of having a dating app, making money on dating apps is really simplified. Advertising and subscription-based plans are the most common ways to monetize a dating app. In more professional terms, 90% of dating apps work on the ‘freemium’ model. The subscription plans for various dating apps have various ways to get users subscribed.

Case Study 1

The ‘Iconic’ Swipe

With their Iconic Swipe gesture, this popular dating app was among the first dating apps to become a watershed moment for the dating app industry. The success of this dating app lies in its unique and simplistic approach to dating. The app gets over 1 billion swipes every day.

The success of this popular dating app will never truly be crossed and even today, it remains a solid app for the dating industry and the industry leader. Its iconic ‘swipe’ interface gamified dating in a way no one else could. So many have followed this dating app’s approach to dating and literally, every app incorporates some form of swiping as a gesture.

Business Model

This app’s business model has by and large remained the same. They are not as keen on advertising themselves to the masses. Its popularity comes from word-of-mouth marketing. When the dating app was new, it marketed itself to sorority girls as an exciting way to connect. This followed an influx of men onto the app looking for a way to connect and socialize. This proved to be a massively successful marketing strategy and the dating app caught on like wildfire.

This dating app basically uses the strategy of creating ‘value’ for potential users. The ‘value’ is people near you that are like you and are looking for the same thing. Their business model also incorporates maximum gamification of the dating space. The swiping mechanic psychologically feels like ‘gambling’ making users question themselves if the next profile is the one for them. This addicting user interface is what makes this app insanely successful in the dating space.

What sets the app apart is that it also softens rejection. Other dating apps keep asking for more information and not getting matches after filling 10000 questions makes you feel sad. This dating app is much simpler. It is a modern take on love at first sight and first appearances. It is weirdly more realistic than other dating websites.

Their business model also incorporates various features for more matches. This aspect has been discussed in detail in the revenue model.

Target Audience

As mentioned above, this dating app began through sorority students and made its way to literally everyone on the planet. Their target audience is everyone from the age of 18 to 60. The app doesn’t have a true target audience, but it is most popular among people in their 20s. However, the later age demographic of people from their 20s to 30s keeps rising ever so steadily.

Revenue Model

This popular dating app works on a ‘freemium’ model. The founders have promised that the base app and swiping for matches will continue to be free. The app does provide an upgrades and subscriptions. Apart from this, the app has also monetized its app for advertising. Every 4-6 swipes you see a clickable advertisement that you can swipe away.

The premium subscriptions have upgraded features over standard version. The subscriptions allow you to have infinite swipes a day, allow you to ‘boost’ your profile for more people to see, give you ‘super likes’, let you rewind a swipe if you left swipe accidentally and remove advertisements. You can also buy boosts and super likes as in-app purchases for your profile individually.

Boost: Boost is a mechanic in the app that allows you to surpass the algorithm and have your profile appear to more people and at the top of people’s recommendation lists for a day.

Super Likes: Super Likes highlights a profile that has liked you and can be used to display a more enthusiastic engagement towards a person. In the free version, you have one super like per day and in the subscriptions, the super likes go up to 5 per day.

Case Study 2

Business Model

This dating app is a more ‘serious’ way to date. At signup, the app creates a personality profile for you. The personality profile has evolved over the years. It originally had 450 questions and it was reduced to 50. Prospective members complete a proprietary questionnaire about their characteristics, beliefs, values, emotional health and skills. The app algorithm then takes these and matches it with people in the database showing you potential matches. This questionnaire has worked like wildfire to ensure that the app survives in the modern markets. This dating app offers both paid and free service options.

What sets this dating app apart is that it can even reject applicants if they don’t meet the necessary criteria. They have certain pre-placed rules for who is approved and who is not. Their subscription rates for paid members are more expensive than other dating websites.

Target Audience

This popular dating app tries to deter casual dating with its expensive subscriptions and its target audience has always been people serious about long-term dating. This dating app is one of the most trusted dating websites in America and has an excellent brand reputation for the same.

Revenue model

The app has a simple business model and uses the website as its main channel. It also offers a mobile app that works properly only after your questionnaire is approved on the website. It has a subscription-based service with a single premium subscription and a basic free one. The free version provides you with limited services, matches and how much you can see about a person. The premium model goes out of its way to provide you with the best possible matches there are.

How to develop a location-based dating app?

Developing a location-based dating app is harder than most people think. There are a lot of intricacies involved in developing an app. To succeed in the modern-dating app space, you need to involve machine-learning algorithms to know your user’s preferences and wants. You also need to USPs and an intuitive user interface. There are many more features required as a rule for dating apps. Then comes the revenue model you’d like to follow. Let us learn more about this step-by-step.

That’s right! It is Time to Create Your Own Dating App with Appy Pie’s Dating App Builder

‘How?’, you ask. It is very simple. Appy Pie’s Dating App Builder is a no-code app building platform that allows you to make dating apps within minutes. The best part? You do not need any coding skills or programming knowledge for it!

Just follow the steps given below and create your very own dating app.