Step-by-Step Guide: Building a Tinder Clone with Adalo

Building a dating app like Tinder seems straightforward on the surface—swipe right, match, chat—but the technical reality is far more complex. You need real-time user interactions, secure authentication, location-based discovery, image handling, push notifications, and payment processing for premium features, all working seamlessly across multiple platforms. For most founders and creators, hiring a development team to build this from scratch means months of work and tens of thousands of dollars before you can even test whether users want your product.

That's where Adalo comes in. Adalo is a no-code app builder for database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps—one version across all three platforms. AI-assisted building and streamlined publishing enable launch to the Apple App Store and Google Play in days rather than months. This tutorial shows you exactly how to leverage these capabilities to create a fully functional Tinder clone complete with swipe mechanics, mutual matching, messaging, safety features, and subscription monetization—without writing a single line of code.

Why Adalo Is Ideal for Building a Dating App Like Tinder

Adalo is a no-code app builder for database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps—one version across all three platforms, published to the Apple App Store and Google Play. This makes it the perfect foundation for creating a Tinder-style dating app, where users expect a polished native experience with smooth swipe interactions, real-time matching, and instant messaging—all without you needing to write a single line of code.

For dating apps specifically, app store distribution is essential. Users expect to find your app in the Apple App Store or Google Play, download it natively, and receive push notifications when they get a new match or message. Adalo handles all of this out of the box, letting you focus on crafting an engaging user experience with swipe mechanics, profile customization, and safety features rather than wrestling with deployment pipelines or platform-specific builds.

This comprehensive tutorial walks you through building a Tinder-style dating platform using Adalo’s no-code tooling. While continuous/background GPS, websockets, and some advanced recommendation algorithms aren’t native, you’ll still deliver a fully functional app with swipe mechanics, mutual matching, messaging (via foreground refresh + push notifications), safety/reporting, and premium subscriptions. You can even publish the same app to the web, native iOS, and native Android with Adalo, all without writing a line of code or rebuilding anything.

Prerequisites and Initial Setup

Step 1: Create Your Adalo Account

1. Navigate to Adalo.com and create an account
2. From your dashboard, click Create New App
3. Choose Mobile App (best for location access and device features)
4. Name your app (e.g., “TinderClone” or your brand)
5. Select Start from Scratch for full control

Step 2: Configure App Settings

1. Pick a brand palette (e.g., pink/red accent for romance)
2. Choose modern, legible fonts (e.g., sans-serif families)
3. Set rounded corners (e.g., 12px) and consistent spacing (8/12/16px scale)
4. Enable responsive layouts where applicable (for future web/PWA)
5. Continue to the main editor

Setting Up the Database

Step 3: Extend the Users Collection

1. Click the Database icon
2. Open Users and add properties:

Identity & Profile

• Display Name (Text)
• Date of Birth (Date) — compute Age from DOB for consistency
• Bio (Text – Multiline, ~500 chars)
• Gender (Text)
• Interested In (Text)
• Location (Location or lat/lon fields; see distance notes later)
• Profile Verified (True/False)

Media

• Photo 1–6 (Image)
• Profile Video (URL/File, optional)
• Instagram Handle (Text, optional)
• Spotify Artist (Text, optional)

App State

• Last Active (Date & Time)
• Account Status (Active/Inactive/Banned)
• Verification Status (Pending/Approved/Rejected)
• Premium Member (True/False)

Tip: Keep DOB as the source of truth and calculate Age to avoid drift.

Step 4: Create Matches Collection

1. + Add Collection → “Matches”
2. Properties:

• Match Date (Date & Time – Automatic)
• Status (Text) — Pending, Matched, Unmatched
• User 1 Liked (True/False)
• User 2 Liked (True/False)
• Chat Enabled (True/False)

Step 5: Create Swipes Collection

1. + Add Collection → “Swipes”
2. Properties:

• Direction (Text) — Like, Pass, Super Like
• Swipe Date (Date & Time – Automatic)
• Swiper (Relation → Users)
• Swiped User (Relation → Users)

Step 6: Create Messages Collection

1. + Add Collection → “Messages”
2. Properties:

• Message Text (Text – Multiline)
• Sent At (Date & Time – Automatic)
• Read (True/False)
• Type (Text) — Text/Image/GIF
• Image (File/URL, optional)

Step 7: Create Reports Collection

Safety is essential in dating apps. Create Reports:

• Report Type (Text) — Fake Profile, Inappropriate, Harassment, Spam, Other
• Details (Text – Multiline)
• Evidence (Image, optional)
• Reported At (Date & Time – Automatic)
• Status (Text) — Pending/Reviewed/Resolved

Step 8: Define Relationships

1. Users:

• Many-to-Many with Users for “Liked Users”
• Many-to-Many with Users for “Passed Users”

2. Matches:

• User 1 → Users (Many to One)
• User 2 → Users (Many to One)
• One-to-Many with Messages

3. Messages:

• Sender → Users (Many to One)
• Match → Matches (Many to One)

Installing Essential Components

Step 9: Add Marketplace Components

Open the Adalo Marketplace and install:

1. Swipe/Card Stack (for Tinder-like swiping)
2. Image Carousel (multi-photo profiles)
3. Maps (UI for location features)
4. Chat UI (or implement custom chat lists)

Step 10: Add Verification & Messaging Utilities

• Camera (selfie prompts for photo verification)
• File Uploader (ID or additional images)
• Phone verification via third-party (e.g., ClickSend/Twilio) using Custom Actions
  
  • Docs: Custom Actions · ClickSend · Twilio Verify

Authentication & Onboarding

Step 11: Welcome & Auth Screens

1. Welcome with logo, tagline, CTA buttons
2. Sign Up – Basic: Email, Password (≥ 8 chars), Phone (for verification)
3. Sign Up – Profile: Name, DOB (compute Age), Gender, Interested In

Step 12: Photo Verification Flow

1. Verify Profile screen with selfie pose instruction
2. Use Camera; store verification selfie separately from public photos
3. Update Profile Verified upon admin review

Building the Core Experience

Step 13: Discovery (Swipe) Screen

1. Add Card/Swipe component bound to Users
2. Filters:

• Exclude “Passed Users”
• Exclude “Liked Users”
• Apply preferences (gender, age range, distance)

3. Card UI:

• Main photo
• Name + computed Age
• Short bio
• Distance (if using location)

Distance logic: Store lat/lon for each profile. Compute distance (e.g., Haversine formula via formula/custom action) before filtering. Maps renders UI but doesn’t do proximity math automatically.

Step 14: Swipe Actions

• Right (Like):

1. Create Swipes (Direction = Like)
2. Check if other user already Liked → if yes, create Match, set Chat Enabled = true, show match animation
3. Add swiped user to current user’s “Liked Users”

• Left (Pass):

1. Create Swipes (Direction = Pass)
2. Add swiped user to “Passed Users”

• Up (Super Like):

1. Create Swipes (Direction = Super Like)
2. Notify the swiped user
3. Decrement Super Like balance if premium-gated

Step 15: Profile Detail Screen

2. Image Carousel of all photos
3. Full bio, interests, optional education/work
4. Optional Spotify Artist
5. Instagram grid (requires Instagram API + user authorization per Meta policies) — Instagram Basic Display API
6. Actions: Pass, Super Like, Like

Step 16: Matches & Messages

• Matches screen:
  
  • New Matches (horizontal list): Chat Enabled = false → tap to start chat and toggle on
  • Messages (vertical list): Chat Enabled = true → show last message, unread badge, timestamp
• Chat screen:
  
  • Header with avatar/name + Unmatch
  • Messages list filtered by Match; sort oldest → newest
  • Composer (text + optional image upload)

“Real-time”: Use foreground refresh/polling (e.g., a timer while the screen is open) and push notifications for new messages/matches.

Safety & Moderation

Step 17: Reporting

1. “Report User” form with reason dropdown, details, and optional evidence
2. On submit: create Report, notify admins, optionally soft-hide the profile pending review

Step 18: Blocking

1. Block action on profile and chat
2. Maintain Blocked Users relationship
3. Exclude blocked users from discovery and disallow chat

Step 19: Safety Center

1. Safety tips and platform guidelines
2. Easy “Report” access
3. Privacy/security controls (e.g., logout all devices)

Monetization & Premium Features

Step 20: Premium Screen & Gating

1. Premium benefits: See Who Liked You, extra Super Likes, Boost profile, Unlimited swipes
2. Gate features with Conditional Visibility and Counts (e.g., daily swipes)

Step 21: In-App Purchases

1. Use store-compliant IAP via IAPHUB for Adalo
2. Follow setup docs in Adalo Help
3. On purchase success, set Premium Member = True
4. For web or non-digital goods/services, use Stripe (IAP rules apply to digital goods on iOS/Android)

Step 22: “Who Liked You” & Boost

1. Create a screen filtered to users who liked the current user
2. Blur/limit visibility for non-premium; show count as teaser
3. Implement Boost as a timed flag that raises listing order/sorting

Notifications & Engagement

Step 23: Push Notifications

Configure push for:

• New match
• New message
• Super Like received
• Daily recap / new suggestions
  See Notifications in Adalo Help: Trigger Push Notifications

Step 24: Email/SMS (Optional)

• Transactional email via external services
• SMS via ClickSend or other providers using Custom Actions

Testing & QA

Step 25: Seed Test Data

Create 20–30 diverse test users with varying ages, interests, and locations. Include multiple photos.

Step 26: Validate Core Flows

• Sign up, profile completion, and photo verification
• Swipe → mutual match → messaging
• Report & Block flows
• Premium purchase/unlock logic
• Notification triggers

Step 27: Preview on Devices

Use Adalo’s Publishing & Testing docs for device/web preview:

• Testing & Preview

Performance & Data Hygiene

Step 28: Optimize Lists & Media

1. Load 10–20 profiles initially; lazy-load/batch subsequent sets
2. Compress images before upload; prefer modern dimensions for portraits
3. Use conditional visibility to avoid over-rendering
4. Review Optimize performance tips: Guide

Step 29: Distance & Queries

1. Pre-compute distance on data write or at query time (cache where possible)
2. Keep computed fields small and indexed where supported
3. Offload heavy logic to External Collections if needed

Publishing & Compliance

Step 30: Prepare Store Assets

1. App name, description, keywords
2. Screenshots and icon set
3. Privacy policy & terms covering data handling and moderation

Step 31: Submit to Stores

1. Apple App Store — follow Adalo’s step-by-step:

• Publish to Apple (Apple Developer Program fee applies)
• Dating apps on iOS are commonly rated 17+; confirm with Apple’s age-rating criteria — Guidelines

2. Google Play — follow Adalo’s guide:

• Publish to Google Play (Play Console one-time fee applies)

3. Web/PWA — deploy a PWA/web version for broader reach:

• Web/PWA

Note: Timelines depend on account setup and Apple/Google review outcomes. Build time varies by scope and team.

Scaling & Extensibility

Step 32: External Collections & Backends

• Connect APIs or a backend (e.g., Xano) via External Collections for heavier workflows or analytics
• Docs: External Collections · Xano integration

Step 33: Analytics & Iteration

• Track signup completion, time to first match, message reply rates, and premium conversion
• Iterate on onboarding, filters, and recommendation ordering

Additional Resources

• Adalo Product Overview — Product
• Component Marketplace — Marketplace
• Publishing & Testing — Help Center
• Notifications — Push Setup
• External Collections — API Integration
• Custom Actions — Integrations
• Responsive Design — Overview
• Pricing & Plans — Pricing

Important Considerations

Compliance & Payments

• For digital goods on iOS/Android, use store-compliant IAP via IAPHUB. Use Stripe for web or non-digital goods/services.
• Location features are foreground; continuous/background GPS and websockets aren’t native—simulate with timers/refresh and push.

Performance

• Keep lists lean; paginate
• Compress images; prefer cached assets
• Offload heavy computation via External Collections

Content & Safety

• Clear reporting and blocking tools
• Safety guidelines and visible policy links
• Moderation workflows for timely review

Note: This Tinder-style clone follows Adalo’s native capabilities and recommended workarounds. It delivers swipe, match, chat, safety, and premium experiences while allowing you to scale with external services when needed.

FAQ