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I Submitted My 1st Solo-Developed, Pi-Themed Dating App Today! AMA & Happy Pi Day!
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this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2025
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Interesting. Dating apps are garbage for pretty well understood reasons.
What is your pricing? Do I pay only on mutual like or if I make the first move?
How are you going to get users? Users are notoriously ... what's a nicer word than stupid... about platforms. Look at how many people stick to Twitter and tinder even though they hate them, "but that's where people are!"
Thank you for the questions!
I’m thinking of pricing a mutual match at around $1.00 - $2.50 since the “super likes” (which are consumed whether you match or not) of the mainstream dating apps are around $1.50 - $5.00. I plan to give each user 3 free matches.
Both users pay to match. Both users should be invested in the match and it will encourage them to actually engage.
I am going to try to demo my app at my Alma Mater and start there. I’m trying to start geographically dense. I think this will be the most challenging part. But perhaps if people are fed up and desperate enough they will be willing to try.
Run this flow by me?
I load up the app. I see an attractive person. I hit "like". Do I pay now? Or do I only pay if they also like, so there's an extra step of "you both hit like but didn't pay"?
Does the other person get notified when I hit like?
I think Tinder started by going to college campuses, finding who was hot and popular, and paying for them to throw parties. Anyone who went was told to install the app.
I'm in NYC. I can get a date a week on the apps, but the quality varies. And like I just got ghosted twice this month. There's room for improvement.
Thank you for the questions!
First off, there will be 3 free matches. Let’s assume you have already used up the free ones.
The flow is this:
You buy “pledges” which are reusable “super likes”. They are only consumed when both people pledge to each other (match).
Right now the app does not have notifications (still in alpha) but the app does show you all the users who pledged to you. The app would only hinder itself if it hid likes because the app only makes money when users match.
Do I understand you correct, that I cannot like more profiles then I bought pledges? And then have to wait to get turned down by these profiles to get the chance to like again?
Yes. That is correct. It encourages thoughtful liking instead of mass liking and then deciding to pay or not later.
If I let users like first and then put the paywall up when they match, users might shift the filtering part of the process to when they get hit with the paywall. Then there could be a scenario where a lot of unpaid matches are left in a state of limbo or cancelled. Which would be disheartening (I think) for the user network.
Makes sense. But wouldn't that make users extremely picky on the other hand. Like, "I like her, but better spare my Like for someone else that might come along"? Or is the idea that people just toss in money for everyone they like? That seems rather expensive to me.
Yes, that may be true. I won’t know until I get real users to try.
Yes, it’s definitely more expensive than free. I don’t think we can get around that. I can’t think of a way that free works AND people don’t get spammed with likes AND people actually talk when they get a match.
If it’s $1-$2 per match and users are not willing to spend that to match with a user, perhaps they are not that interested in the first place.
I’m hoping it is more effective and cost effective than subscription apps but I won’t know until/if I get enough users.
Essentially the idea is to make each match a higher quality. If users want many chances at matching with multiple people they will have to pay for more likes. If they are in no hurry then they will just have to wait until the user decides to reciprocate or decline or a week pases
Pledge is kind of a weird term for it. Sounds like one of those culty christian "purity pledge" things. Would not recommend using that word. Maybe "like" or "wave" or "wink" or something like that.
Is it 3 free matches per lifetime? Or per some smaller period of time?
That's good that it doesn't hide matches. That's a really irritating behavior on Tinder, Feeld, and others. Just tell me who's already interested so I can focus on that instead of throwing more into the void.
Now, next questions: What, if anything, are you doing about conversation and profile? In my experience, a lot of people absolutely self sabotage here. They have a blank profile, or one without any hooks, and then they get upset that the only messages they get are "hey". Or they only send messages that are "hey", and then are like "i hate small talk why is only small talk happening"
Personally I don't think you can fix that without like several generations of intense investment in education, but maybe a well thought out app could nudge people in the right direction. Hell, even a thing that scanned a message for a question mark and reminded the user "If you don't ask them any questions, you're not going to seem interested in them" would make a difference.
Yes, I’m open to changing the word pledge. I just call it that because functionally that is what it is. It’s like “proof of stake” if you’re familiar with cryptocurrency.
It’s 3 pledges which is 3 matches for as long as the account and my app is active. How long it takes to get a match depends on the user I guess. They don’t expire though.
Yes, that conversational opener is an issue. However, I’m thinking that because both users already paid to match and message each other, there’s already an investment and incentive to actually get to know each other. I think it’s some psychological phenomenon where it’s a sunk cost and you should try to get to know the person even if you only paid $1-$3. I think that in itself will help. The problem with free and numerous likes is that there are a lot of non-genuine likes and that creates apathy and noise.
Also, my app allows for a wide variety of open ended questions, and multiple choice, multiple answers. So if users fill out their profile (which I’m hoping to incentivize by showing results like those free fun online quizzes), I think there should be plenty to start the conversation.
I’m interested in what you think about this though. I appreciate the feedback and your questions!
I think getting people to pay anything will be a hard sell. But I also think "free" creates bad incentives. This is probably "better" but humans are really bad at understanding things.
I wonder if a tip / pay what you want model would have legs. Probably there's too many freeloaders, sadly.
I would also feel pretty bad if I paid for the match and it fizzled out. Like we chat but don't have a date, or realize there's some deal breaker (eg: they're moving away in a month, they smoke, they hate bisexuals, etc). Some of that would be covered by the profile, but some won't, or won't be noticed.
I might try it, based on what I saw with the first couple free matches. But it would also get expensive really quickly. Cheaper than subscriptions though. I think hinge wants like $50/mo for it's top tier.
Like, do I pay $100 up front to have 100 likes in flight? Or do I bottleneck it to some smaller number and wait for the duds to expire? Wait for others to make the first move? The optimal strategy is unclear.
Sorry, sort of just rambling a bit.
Is NYC one of your target markets?
No problem with the “rant”! The discussion and your thoughts are highly appreciated.
Yes, free enables bad behaviors. I would be open to free and only tips/donations but I don’t think the business model would work. There are free dating apps like Firefly and Duolicious. However, the developers have to rely on donations and have no money for marketing. Additionally the unspoken problem is that bots and scammers will start spamming the network if the app gains enough traction. And those severely reduce the quality of the user network. By having paid matches, it greatly hinders bots by adding friction.
Yes, it could get expensive but I’d argue that it’d be more cost efficient and effective than any subscription app because my app allows for tons of filters and shows you who liked you already.
The strategy is up to the user! That is part of the design. If someone is really in a “dating phase” they can spend lots of money to get many simultaneous pledging/matching at a time. If someone is more just open to it but doesn’t want to invest a lot then they can pay for a few at a time.
NYC is not currently on the list. I’m going to start geographically dense and near where I am located (CA). But if it takes off, I’d definitely start in the cities.