With the softening of cultural barriers in India, a spike in the education rate, and an increasing trend of westernisation, dating apps are no longer a ‘taboo’. Especially, the young generation, including millennials and Gen Z’s love dating apps more than the idea of dating. As a result, the demand for dating app development services is also increasing consistently.
According to our Global Sales Head, Tamanna Munjal, every month the sales team receives 5-8 inquiries for dating app development. Most of the queries come from aspiring entrepreneurs aged between 24 and 35.
However, Munjal states, “Most of these aspirational dating business founders lack a clear ideation, feature list clarity, and demand for Bumble and Tinder-like clones. That’s not the right approach.”
Our Content Lead and Market Trend Analyst, Yogita Singh, adds, “AI is the game changer in the world of mobile app development. Until an app does not provide an AI-powered personalised user experience, success can’t be a guarantee.”
Considering this scenario, we interviewed the real dating app users in our organization and asked them to interview their contacts. This blog is a treasure of real user insights for aspiring dating app business founders. Build with the right direction, build what users are looking for in the dating app. Engage High, Succeed Higher. Let’s dive in:
Table of Contents
Disclaimer – Please Note Before We Proceed
Readers kindly note that the data insights presented in this blog are based on the Survey answers that participants shared with our team.
The ‘opinions’ and ‘views’ presented in this blog are personal to the respondents. Ezulix does not endorse, promote, or validate any individual opinion expressed by participants.
The purpose of this blog is to analyse the emerging user expectations in the dating app ecosystem and exploring how technology may help achieve these user expectations.
Any references to verification systems, AI-based analysis, or enhanced user authentication are only conceptual discussions intended to highlight potential technological possibilities.
Implementation of such features must always align with the applicable data protection laws, privacy regulations, and platform policies.
A Common Mistake That Aspiring Dating App Business Founders Commit
As per Munjal’s observations and Singh’s further elaboration on it, the most common mistake that wannabe dating app business founders commit is planning Bumble and Tinder-Like dating apps.
The same match-making, swiping, and chatting – that’s it. Their mindset is ‘limited’, and we miss ‘out-of-the-box’ creative development ideas. Is that an entrepreneur mindset? Clearly, not.
Copying another successful app idea cannot bring the same success as the original one. According to Singh, “Why would I download another dating app that is almost similar to Bumble and Tinder, when I know that the crowd will be the same everywhere?”
Singh continues further and tells – “I have tried and tested various apps and all of them have 90% same crowd. Eventually, I stopped using these apps 1 year ago. Nothing new. The same matching algorithms.”
Key Takeaway
Founders must start thinking out of the box and leave the idea of ‘copying’ other apps. Bringing something fresh and new to the table can help achieve higher user engagement and product success.
Clearly, It’s Time to Address Users’ Pain Points
During our interview with the real users, we found various interesting facts. The dating app users seem highly frustrated with the present apps’ offer, and it is a genuine and highly lucrative business opportunity for the new dating app founders.
A SWOT Analysis of All Existing Dating Apps
| Strengths | Monopoly in the Indian MarketsPowerful BrandingStrong Brand Awareness Among UsersLarge User Base |
| Weaknesses | 90% Same Crowd Across PlatformsSimilar Match-Making Algorithms, No New MatchesSerious Users Drop-Off Within 1-2 MonthsUnverified Users Hardly 1% Serious Users |
| Opportunities | Evolution of AI & Its Capabilities to Enhance User ExperienceGrowing Acceptance Among Indian Users with Education & Westernisation |
| Threats | Misuse by Some Users for Financial FraudsUnscrupulous Crowd Such as-Already Married People Passing Time on Such AppsPolygamy: Users Who Date Multiple Partners Detectives And Agents Preying Upon Government Professionals |
Dating apps currently on the market have their own strengths and weaknesses. A new dating app business like yours should turn its weaknesses and threats into its strengths and opportunities.
Additionally, a dating app must exploit the existing opportunities at the earliest to outshine the competition and engage users.
Here we would like to quote Eric Ries, the renowned American entrepreneur and blogger, who mentions in one of his best-selling books, ‘The Lean Startup’, “The only way to win is to learn faster than anyone else.”
Dating App Development With Features That Real Users Want (India)
We surveyed 50 real users working in our organization, and asked them to interview 5 real users they know in their cousin and friend circles. This way, we were successful in surveying 250 real users, such that we had 125 male and female participants each.
This survey was not only interesting but also provided some eye-opening data that every aspiring dating app owner must know. Based on the survey answers, here’s what we found:
#1 No More Tinder-Like Dating Apps Please
Out of 250 users, 180 (72%) admitted that they do not want another Tinder or Bumble. Users are tired of swiping the same audience on both apps. Both apps provide a similar User Experience-
- Matches based on Distance, Location, and Lifestyle Interests like food habits, drinking habits, etc.
- In-App chatting
- Unmatch anytime
- Verification tick (but both apps verify the user name and photo against the user ID. Intentions of the users remain unverified.)
Users’ expectations have grown further, and they want solutions to genuine problems.
#2 Match-Making Not Aligned with Expectations & ‘Imagination’
Singh interviewed her relatives and cousins, and she came up with a unique problem. She tells – “Many users have accepted, and even I agree with them that matches are based on either physical traits like height, or the location, or lifestyle, or hobbies and interests. But finding attractive matches is a problem.”
Singh further added, “No offense to anyone, it is just a matter of personal choice, preferences, and subjectivity. I promise these thoughts have directly come from the real and potential users. And even I face the same issue when I use any of such apps.”
On condition of not revealing their names, out of 50 in-house participants, 30 agreed with Singh. Including Singh and 2 of her references, a total of 33 out of 250 users (13.2%) have accepted that they want to get matches that seem good as a couple.
#3 Matches Based on Life Values, Not Just A Couple of Filters
The biggest key finding of this survey that stole the whole limelight was that 240 out of 250 participants, that is, 96%, have admitted that they no longer want matches based on hobbies and interests. Rather, they want serious matches that align with their life values.
Values such as emotional maturity or intelligence (EQ), long-term partnership intent or short-term casual relation intent, family orientation, career vision, religious or spiritual alignment, humanity, compassion, honesty, etc., matter a lot for users, and they want genuine matches based on such values.
#4 Cheat-Guards – What If The User Can Know the Loyalty Level Without Stalking?
Out of 250 participants, 120 females (96% of females) and 125 (100% of males), that is, a total 98% of the participants show disappointment and fear of being cheated on.
One female user tells – “I find various matches, and I am in the habit of talking to one match at a time. I guess most of the females use dating apps that way if they are seeking a genuine partnership.
However, I often find male users online most of the time. In place of talking to one match seriously, they pass the time with multiple girls and talk to various girls simultaneously.”
Another female user reported that “It often happens that you start talking to one guy on a good note. A few days, things go great, but soon the guy either ghosts you or unmatch suddenly.”
A male user tells – “Female users also ghost male users once they find a better match. Basically, no one is serious. On such apps, users have so many options that they are always in the ‘hope’ of finding ‘better’.”
Thus, 98% of the users agreed with our survey team that they would like to have ‘cheat guards’ on dating apps. Basically, an option to auto-updated or manually update a status such as ‘hooked’ can help establish trust among users and filter the ‘available’ crowd.
#5 Behavioural Pattern Analysis – Matches Based on ‘Seriousness Level’
Users working in our organizations are technologically aware. 38 out of 50 (76%) of such users state that with the help of behavioural pattern analysis, an AI-driven predictive modeling technique, businesses may plan to build smart apps.
Dating apps that can analyse, think, and act can be very beneficial for the users. Through behavioural analysis, an app can mark suspicious profiles that-
- Connect and engage with multiple matches
- Use inappropriate or obscene textual, video, or image content
- Ghost matches frequently
If a user performs the above actions frequently, certainly he/she is passing time on the dating app and wasting time of other serious users. Eventually, spoiling engagement for other users.
#6 Better Chatting Options – Real-Time Chat Without A Glitch
About the chatting feature, 70 out of 250 (28%) users admitted that they do not like it on any of the apps. Users complain that the messages are delivered very late. Eventually, they want real-time chat with advanced UI/UX design like WhatsApp.
However, most of the dating apps provide emojis and voice notes as a feature but hardly any dating app offer in-app calling. Overall, 28% of the users are not satisfied with the basic in-app chatting feature.
#7 Genuine Background Verification
Our Content Lead and Market Trend Analyst, Singh mentions – “The current verification process based on Aadhaar number is not sufficient. Does it find out the marital status of a user? Clearly, it is easy to trick innocent users.”
Singh argues – “The verification process needs to be more robust and it should go beyond just name and photo verification. Fetching the marital status of a user from third-parties is also a valuable feature that can improve the authenticity of matches.”
#8 Photo is Different From The Person in Real Life
Out of 125 male users, 90 agreed that they met a matched female and out of those 90, 83 admitted having met a couple of females who looked different from the profile photographs. When we asked the same question to females, the percentage of meeting was lower than men.
Out of 125 females, only 50 mentioned that they met a male from such apps. Of those 50 females, 7 admitted that there was an ‘acceptable’ difference in a person in comparison to hi profile photo. This way,
- 72% of the males preferred to meet somebody from dating apps.
- 92% of those males admitted that the profile photos were edited and the girl in real life looked different (not as good as in the photos).
- Only 40% of the females preferred to meet somebody from dating apps.
- Of these 40%, only 14% found difference in the person from his profile photos.
- Additionally, females said that the difference was acceptable, unlike the males.
Can Dating App Development Solve These User Problems? Yes! AI Can Make It Happen
The user problems on dating app appear more emotional than practical. The question is – can technology solve emotional problems? Yes, it can. Choosing a dating app development company updated with the AI & ML technologies can help a business owner get a user-centric app.
Today, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies are advanced enough to address emotional problems of users on the dating app. Here’s is how:
- Image Recognition: Analysing Matches Without Social Stigma
Image recognition cannot directly analyse the physical attractiveness ethically. But a dating app can use this technology to at least flat heavily filtered photos. This way, a dating app can:
- Improve the quality of the mathes
- Overcome the photo vs reality problems among the users.
- Sentiments Analysis: Find Out The User Mindset, Refine Matches
Sentiments analysis is the most useful technique a dating app can use in the present-day scenario. However, monitoring the chat of a user is against privacy laws. Then, how sentiments analysis can work-
- Asking mandatory quiz before on-boarding a user and analysing values of the user.
- Ethically tracking user activities to find out user intent – long-term relationship or casual dating, etc.
- Track Behavioural Pattern: Guard Against Cheating
Tracking the behavioural pattern of the users such as ghosting profiles frequently, talking to one match but still actively engaging with other profiles, or chatting with multiple matches simultaneously are some behavioural patterns that can safeguard other profiles.
Such actions demonstrate inauthenticity and casual attitude on such platforms. Using Predictive Analytics, an app can notify the matches in advance.
Additionally, giving a manual ‘Status Update’ feature with smart In-App push notification to users who are actively engaged with one profile will immediately clarify the seriousness level.
Simply put, if one user seems engaged with a match, but either of the two show reluctance to update their status as – ‘currently hooked’, ‘in talking phase’, etc., is not serious about the other.
- Natural Language Processing (NLP): Higher User Security
Content moderation through NLP technique is another safeguard for all the users. Detecting manipulative, threatening, and disrespectful user tone through NLP can help other profiles filter out matches that seem ‘unsafe’.
Summary Table: User Pain Points & Technology That Can Address Them
To sum up, most of the dating app user pain points are addressable through technology these days. Check the summary table below:
| User-Required Feature | Technology-Based Solution |
| Real Profile Photos | Image Recognition |
| Better Match Quality | Behavioural Pattern AnalysisSentiments Analysis |
| Life Value-Based Match-Making | Machine LearningBehavioural Pattern AnalysisSentiment Analysis (From Quizes etc.) |
| Intent-Based Matching (Serious vs Casual) | Predictive Analytics Behavioural Pattern Analysis |
| “Cheat-Guard” or Loyalty Indicators | Optional Status Badges, such asCurrently HookedIn-Butterfly ModeIn-Talking Stage, etc. |
| Reduced Ghosting | Behavioural Pattern Analysis |
| Fraud Prevention | NLP-Driven Pattern Detection |
| Safer Conversations | Content Moderation Image Recognition + NLP |
| Genuine Identity Verification | Multi-layer KYC |
| Marital Status Verification (Where Legally Permitted) | Third-party government/authorized database integrations (subject to law and user consent) |
| Real-Time Chat Experience | WebSocket-based real-time messaging architecture + scalable cloud infrastructure |
Limitations of Dating App Development Services
However, advanced technologies such as AI and ML can elevate the user experience to the next level. Still, a few limitations might stay unaddressed based on data privacy. These include-
- No dating app development technooogy can prevent scrupulous users from intentionally lying about their age, marital status, life values, income, etc. Some sort of lying will always be there.
- Data protection and User Privacy laws will always prevent deep behavioural analysis. Eventually, 100% protection is not always possible.
- Marital status verification requires government APIs and marriage registration data, which might be a hurdle.
- Predictive analytics can be 99.9% accurate but 0.1% chances of misinterpretations will always challenge the model. May be a user talks to 10 users simultaneously, but is unsatisfied and hence unmatched the other user. But Predictive analytics will mark this user as ‘suspicious’ without ‘understanding’ his/her true emotions.
- Finding attractive matches with image recognition is also next to impossible. Physical Attraction is subjective, thus AI cannot offer accurate matches.
Thus, a dating app business owner will need to plan an app model carefully with an experienced team of mobile app developers.
Think You Can Launch a Dating App Aligned with Above User Preferencs? Let’s Build It Together
Do you have a dating mobile app development idea that can address the pain points found during this survey?
If yes, its time to connect and work on it together. Ezulix provides 15% discount on overal app development cost to the early stage founders. Additionally, we offer-
- CTO-Level Mentorship & Idea Validation
- Market Research Assistance
- UI/UX Design Research Assistance
- User Flow and App Blueprint
- Tech Stack Recommendation
- One-on-One Online/Offline Consulting Sessions with Exprienced Developers
Absolutely free. Contact us today, and get one step closer to your dream.
Found This Blog Useful? There’s More To Come in The Next One
Did you find this blog useful? We’re already planning its part-2 that will help you get the most ROI-focused admin panel development for dating apps. In the next part of this blog you will learn what features the owner-side dating app, that is, the admin panel must have to get higher revenues and engagement rates. Stay tuned.
Parting Thoughts
The user expectations are now much higher from online dating apps than ever before. Now, users don’t want just feature rich apps, but meaningful and emotionally sensitive ones. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning techniques such as Natural Language Processing, Image Recognition, Behavioural Pattern Analysis, Sentiments Analysis, etc. empower a dating app with better user engagement features. So, validate your dating app development idea with an experience team and launch a sparkling sensation for real users.
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