Free: Listing X-Ray: measure your app page in 10 seconds
Uptika
EN
TürkçeEnglishEspañolPortuguês (Brasil)DeutschFrançais
Start free
TRENESPTDEFR
Sign inStart free
Social & dating

Grow your social or dating app safely.

ASO for social and dating apps starts with how differently the two stores set up the category: the App Store has no separate dating category and lists dating under Social Networking, while Google Play has its own Dating category, and Social and Dating apps there must comply with the Child Safety Standards policy.

Start free Pricing

Last updated: Markdown version

Review insights for a demo app in the Uptika dashboard: complaints, bugs, requests and praise with quotes from reviews
Sample view · demo data
Social & dating

What makes ASO different in this category?

  1. 01

    A dating category only on Google Play

    On the App Store, Social Networking is for apps that connect people by text, voice, photo or video, and dating is one of its examples. On Google Play, Dating (matchmaking, meeting new people) is its own category, Social covers social networking and messaging sits in Communications. The App Store age rating questionnaire asks about social media capabilities, and apps that have them show a Social Media content descriptor on their product page.[1][2]

  2. 02

    Required tools for user content

    On the App Store, Guideline 1.2 requires apps with user-generated content to filter objectionable material, offer reporting with timely responses, let people block abusive users and publish contact information. Google Play's User Generated Content policy asks for accepted terms before posting, in-app reporting, and blocking for one-to-one interactions.[3][4]

  3. 03

    Child Safety Standards

    On Google Play, apps in the Social or Dating category and anonymous or random chat apps must publish standards against child sexual abuse and exploitation, offer an in-app feedback route and name a point of contact, all declared in Play Console. Being adults-only does not take an app out of scope.[5]

  4. 04

    App Review treats dating as well established

    Guideline 4.3(b) names dating among kinds of apps that are well established on the App Store and says new submissions are not accepted unless they offer a meaningfully different or improved experience. Guideline 1.1.4 lists "hookup" apps under prohibited content.[3]

  5. 05

    Inclusive promotional copy

    Google Play's promotional content guidance for dating titles says promotional messages must not target a narrow audience by age, religion, sexual orientation or ethnicity, even if the app lets users filter by those criteria.[6]

Features that matter most

Reviews and insights

Reads reviews every 6 hours and splits them into complaints, bugs, requests and praise, so fake-profile or safety complaints surface early.

More

Keyword hunt

Finds meeting, chat and community searches from store autocomplete and your rivals' top 10 terms, measured for popularity and difficulty.

More

Localization

Shows the languages each App Store storefront indexes and the ones you are missing, since the same app is searched with different words in each country.

More

Rival log

Logs rivals' title, icon and screenshot changes by date.

More
Chart Movers

This category's charts

The free Chart Movers tool shows this category's top 10 today, the climbers, new entrants and launches of the last 90 days.

App Store · Social Networking

US · Chart Movers

Daily: a category's top 10 in a country, the climbers, new entrants and apps launched in the last 90 days.

Open tool

Google Play · Social

US · Chart Movers

Daily: a category's top 10 in a country, the climbers, new entrants and apps launched in the last 90 days.

Open tool

Google Play · Dating

US · Chart Movers

Daily: a category's top 10 in a country, the climbers, new entrants and apps launched in the last 90 days.

Open tool

One-Star Reasons

Sorts an app's recent 1-2★ reviews by reason: crashes, ads, price, login, speed, with the version gap.

Open tool

Questions

Which App Store category should a dating app use?

There is no Dating category on the App Store; Apple lists dating among its Social Networking examples. Apple says the primary category should reflect the app's main function and where users naturally look for it.

Do the Child Safety Standards apply if my app is adults-only?

Yes. Google Play says the presence or absence of child users is irrelevant to this policy; every app in the Social or Dating category is in scope.

Read more

Choosing an app category and reading top charts on both stores

How to choose a primary and secondary category on the App Store and a category plus 5 tags on Google Play, and how to read category top charts.

Read the guide

How to fill in the App Store age rating

Set an App Store age rating step by step: questionnaire sections, what leads to 4+, 9+, 13+, 16+, 18+ or Unrated, Made for Kids, overrides, rejection risks.

Read the guide

Guideline 4.3 spam rejections: 4.3(a) vs 4.3(b) and how to fix them

What App Review Guideline 4.3(a) and 4.3(b) Design Spam say word for word, how they differ, the evidence that sets an app apart, and a reply skeleton.

Read the guide

Google Play promotional content (LiveOps): events, offers and featuring

Google Play promotional content (LiveOps): eligibility, content types, submission timing, featuring quotas, text rules and App Store in-app events compared.

Read the guide

Sources

  1. Categories and discoverability (Apple Developer)
  2. Choose a category and tags for your app or game (Play Console Help)
  3. App Review Guidelines 1.1.4, 1.2, 4.3 (Apple Developer)
  4. User Generated Content policy (Play Console Help)
  5. Learning more about our Child Safety Standards policy (Play Console Help)
  6. Promotional content quality guidance for dating titles (Play Console Help)