# 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.

## What makes ASO different in this category?

- **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]
- **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]
- **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]
- **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]
- **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](https://uptika.app/en/product/reviews): Reads reviews every 6 hours and splits them into complaints, bugs, requests and praise, so fake-profile or safety complaints surface early.
- [Keyword hunt](https://uptika.app/en/product/keyword-hunt): Finds meeting, chat and community searches from store autocomplete and your rivals' top 10 terms, measured for popularity and difficulty.
- [Localization](https://uptika.app/en/product/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.
- [Rival log](https://uptika.app/en/product/rival-log): Logs rivals' title, icon and screenshot changes by date.

## 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.

## Sources

1. [Categories and discoverability (Apple Developer)](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/categories/)
2. [Choose a category and tags for your app or game (Play Console Help)](https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9859673)
3. [App Review Guidelines 1.1.4, 1.2, 4.3 (Apple Developer)](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/)
4. [User Generated Content policy (Play Console Help)](https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9876937)
5. [Learning more about our Child Safety Standards policy (Play Console Help)](https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/14747720)
6. [Promotional content quality guidance for dating titles (Play Console Help)](https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/15678263)

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Uptika is an ASO and store-intelligence tool for the App Store and Google Play. https://uptika.app/en/categories/social-and-dating · Last updated: 2026-11-05