Updated: January 6, 2024 
In the past two decades, the technical revolution has impacted the conventional human lifestyle in a huge manner.
Switching from letters to WhatsApp & iMessage chats, sharing a photo dump on Instagram after every vacation, and using dating apps to find dates – our reliance on mobile apps has increased dramatically in the past two decades.
As surprising as this may sound, the online dating industry is booming exponentially. According to Statista, the market is currently generating a revenue of $700 million and is further projected to cross $800 million by the end of 2024.
There are multiple reasons why people choose online dating in this fast-paced world.
First and foremost, it gives them a chance to communicate with their match before meeting in person.
Secondly, dating apps allow people to highlight their ‘likes & interests’ and meet people who share the same passion.
As of 2024, Tinder and Bumble are ruling the online dating industry. The latter, started by Whitney Wolfe Herd in 2014, is the second most popular dating app with an active user base of nearly 50 million users.
With its short-term success categorized as ‘remarkable’, it’s safe to say that many business owners want to launch an app like Bumble.
If you’ve been trying to follow in the footsteps of Herd, continue reading.
This comprehensive guide will walk you through the step-by-step procedure of building an app like Bumble, the cost to develop a dating app like Bumble or Tinder, and how to hire a dating app development company to launch your Bumble clone.
So, without any further ado, let’s dive in.
A Quick Overview of Bumble’s Usage and Market Statistics
Now, before we go any further, let’s first analyze a few Bumble statistics that showcase its market growth and dominance in the online dating industry.
Bumble started its journey in 2014 after Whitney Wolfe Herd left Tinder as a VP of marketing. The primary objective of Bumble was to build a ‘feminist’ dating platform where women are in charge of making the first move
Within a time span of six years, Bumble managed to generate a revenue of $337 million
In 2021, Bumble witnessed a 127% year-on-year increase and managed to secure a revenue of $765 million Bumble became profitable in 2021 when it bagged an overall net profit of $286 million.
By the end of 2021, Bumble had an overall customer base of 50 million users, which is further growing exponentially, across 150 countries
How Does Bumble Work: A Sneak-Peek at Its Algorithm
Unlike Tinder and other dating platforms, Bumble’s algorithm is slightly different. It’s specifically tailored as a ‘feminist’ dating platform that allows women to make the first move. This way women are in charge of talking to a person and can stay away from unwanted requests.
However, when it comes to the user interface, Bumble follows a pretty similar user flow to Tinder. Users can swipe right or left to accept or reject a profile.
In addition to opposite-gender matches, Bumble also promotes same-sex matches and allows users to swipe right/left on the same gender’s profile.
Here are some of the additional characteristics of Bumble that separate it from other dating applications.
Bumble BFF – Apart from romantic dates, users can also use Bumble to meet new friends online using the Bumble BFF feature. Instead of a dating partner, swiping right in the BFF mode will help people connect with friends instead of a dating partner.
Bumble Bizz – Bumble Bizz acts as a professional platform for users where they can upload resumes, add pictures, and mention new skills, allowing users to build a professional network.
With these multiple business models, users can use Bumble for finding dates, connecting with new friends, and even finding work opportunities professionally.
What are the Key Features of an App Like Bumble?
At this point, you know the business model and a brief history of Bumble. So, let’s get to the next phase of this guide, i.e., the features you’ll need to integrate into your dating app like Bumble.
Even though the majority of Bumble’s features are similar to other available dating platforms, there are a few key functionalities that set it apart from the crowd.
To build a successful dating application like Bumble, you’ll also have to integrate similar additional features to keep the users engaged and help them connect with the right people.
A solid algorithm coupled with these essential features will help you launch a high-performance dating app for the younger audience.
A few integral features of a dating application include:
1. User Authorizations and Profile Management
User authorization is necessary for maintaining the desired app security.
Using their social media profiles or mobile numbers, users can set up their accounts with your dating platform and secure them with a password.
Once the user gets onboard, the app will navigate them through the entire interface and introduce them to different features.
Users can then move to the profile management section to update their personal information including pictures, bio, interests, dating preferences, etc.
2. Left/Right Swipes
Based on a user’s preferences, the algorithm will filter through its database and showcase relevant profiles.
The user can then choose to swipe left or right to connect with new people.
To make users’ dating experience a bit more interesting, you can further incorporate features such as Superlike and unlimited likes so that users can swipe as many profiles as they want.
3. Chat Panel
When it comes to developing an app like Bumble, a fully-encrypted chat panel is a necessity.
After two people have matched up on your dating app, they can move to the next level and start talking to each other.
Keep in mind that the chat panel you design must be entirely private so that no unauthorized users could access it.
4. Geolocation Support
The primary advantage of online dating is that it allows users to find dates within a particular location.
It means it’s necessary to incorporate your dating app with geolocation support.
This will narrow down the profile suggestions to limited profiles that belong to the specific location.
Geolocation support can also help users find nearby restaurants to plan their dates more conveniently.
5. Avatars
In today’s AR/VR and NFT-driven world, digital avatars have become a nomenclature.
By integrating such gamification elements, you can uplift the dating experience for the users and help them meet new people in a more interactive manner.
Users must be able to create digital avatars for their profiles and even use the avatars of their favorite famous personalities for their profiles.
How Much Does it Cost to Develop a Dating App Like Bumble?
As a professional dating app development company, we always get bombarded with these queries:
“How Much Would it Cost to Develop a Dating App Like Bumble?”
“How Much Would I Have to Pay for a Dating App in 2024?”
“Is it affordable to get a Dating App Like Bumble?”
“What costing models your team uses to build a dating app like Bumble and Tinder?”
If you have similar queries, you’d be disappointed to know that there isn’t an exact answer to any of these questions. The cost to build a dating app depends on multiple factors.
These factors include your preferred features, chosen mobile OS, business model, tech stack, and the development team you hire.
Furthermore, if you choose to build an MVP first, you can cut down the development cost by a huge margin.
For readers who don’t know, an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is an initial version of a mobile app that’s designed with limited features with the sole purpose of receiving user feedback to further optimize the user experience while launching the final product.
It’s worth pointing out that you can develop an MVP for under $30,000, given that you outsource the development process to offshore developers.
As compared to first-world countries, offshore developers have comparatively lower development rates (due to economic differences).
Consequently, you can get your MVP developed at an affordable price.
The same goes for the full-scale version of the app. The cost to develop a dating app like Bumble can range between $50,000 to $80,000 if you choose to outsource dating app development.
How to Hire a Dating App Development Partner for Your Business?
Once you have set a rough budget in mind for your Bumble-like app, the next step would be to look for a technical partner who could turn your idea into reality.
Basically, you can follow one of the two approaches to hiring dating app developers – either recruit a professional mobile app development company or interview individual candidates to establish an in-house development team.
The truth is in-house vs outsourcing has been a long-standing debate and every business owner has his/her own take on which approach to follow.
Outsourcing app development to third-party developers is cost-effective, however, it may not give you as much leverage over your project as you want.
Since a remote dating app development team will operate from a different location, you may not always get real-time updates on the project.
An easy way to tackle this situation is to recruit a professional development agency with a strong brand reputation. These companies follow an ethical, transparent, and time-tested development approach that keeps clients involved throughout the development cycle.
On the other hand, if you want to recruit an in-house development team, you can partner with a consultation agency to find the best talent accordingly.
How to Build a Dating App Like Bumble – Understanding the Development Cycle?
After you have a basic idea of which features you want to integrate into your app and found the right tech partner, let’s move toward the development cycle.
Whether you hire an offshore dating app development company or an in-house team, you’ll most likely follow the same development approach to build your dating app.
Here’s a quick overview of the dating app development cycle.
1. Market Analysis and Documentation
Start your development journey by conducting in-depth market research to evaluate your competitors, market standards, and user behavior patterns.
This accumulated data will make it easier for your development team to build a roadmap for the journey ahead.
You can also document your findings and list out all the features you want to incorporate into your dating app like Bumble.
2. UX/UI Design
The design will always be the biggest USP of a dating app. If you can’t provide customers with a quirky design and interactive user experience, you’ll fail to retain potential customers.
So, after you’ve built an initial roadmap, let the design team craft multiple prototypes to decide on the user interface and user experience.
Having multiple prototypes will give you the liberty to decide on a user flow that best suits the target audience.
3. Development
While the UX/UI engineers design an interactive user interface for your dating app, the development will start working on the backend.
Based on your business objectives, the developers will choose the most appropriate tech stack and utilize their expertise to build a feature-driven backend.
During this phase, the developers will also integrate multiple APIs to connect your dating app with other systems so that it delivers the desired functionality to the end users.
4. QA Analysis and Testing
There’s no doubt that testing is the most integral part of building any mobile application. The same goes for a dating app like Bumble.
So, after the developers have written the code, your QA team will take over the project and run different test scenarios to validate the functionality of each module.
5. Market Deployment and Maintenance
Product deployment and continuous maintenance are the final stages of the development cycle.
It doesn’t matter which development model you choose, this is where you’ll end up after completing the development phase.
Before you step into the market with your app, make sure to have a pre-deployment awareness campaign to ensure you get enough exposure.
You can also run exclusive offers to acquire new customers. Post-development, the team will also have to closely monitor the user feedback to introduce new changes to the app.
How Does an App Like Bumble Make Money? Revenue Models for a Dating App
A successful launch of your dating app like Bumble is merely the beginning.
To build a profitable business, you’ll need to choose the right revenue model that helps you generate profit without affecting the user experience.
In general, there are multiple revenue models you can use to make money using your dating app. These revenue models include:
1. Monthly/Yearly Subscriptions
Let customers gain access to exclusive features such as unlimited swipes and super-likes in exchange for a monthly subscription fee. Apps like Tinder and Bumble already use the subscription model to make money.
2. Freemium Model
Freemium is another revenue model ideal for dating apps. With this type of revenue model, you can offer your app for free and charge users for a few premium features.
If you want to use this revenue model, make sure that your premium features are worth users’ money. No one will pay for premium features if they don’t captivate the customers.
3. Advertisements
Advertisement has always been a reliable revenue model in the mobile app development industry.
You can run paid ads within your app and charge the advertisers for the exposure they receive.
However, keep in mind that these ads should not interfere with the user experience at all.
Conclusion
We hope this guide helped you get one step closer to how to build a dating app like Bumble.
It’s no secret that online dating has become a lucrative market and can help business owners generate huge revenues.
The key factor to succeed in this market is to bring something new to the table.
So, start identifying a USP for your dating app and hire expert dating app developers from RV Technologies to turn your idea into reality.
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