Tinder breakdown and analysis (Android)

September 14, 2016

 

 

I was recently asked by an employer how I would create a app like tinder If I could. I am here to give a detailed explanation on it now.

Tinder is one of the most popular dating apps out there right now. The question still lies around how do you create a app such as this one. Well I will show you how.

When you first download the Tinder app on the Google Playstore you are brought to a page like the one below. It a simple page containing a fragment container in the middle. When a right or left gesture swipe is registered it goes into the next fragment in the fragment container. In the bottom you have a button that uses a Facebook Api to access your Facebook account. The page overall is pretty simple to write.

In the next page you are brought to the one shown below. The page has an Action bar on top with three sections to it. One leads to the main screen were your able to swipe left or right. The second leads to a list of people that came to terms meaning they both swiped right at each other. The third section or button leads to your profile. This is where you can edit your personal info and settings.

Let’s start off with the main section which is the first button if your reading from left to right. The function of this page is simple. Swipe left to reject or swipe right if you approve. This is all stored in some database that checks weather the person was rejected or not. I’m going to break it down a little further. The person you have in front of your screen has some sort of identification number. When you reject that person he or she checks off as rejected in an array or database. If you swipe right the person checks off in the array and can longer be visible in the main screen. That person is later put into a bundle or putExtra and sent off into the next page which is the chat list window shown below.

The second window is pretty simple. It’s just a custom list adapter filled with all the people that have come to terms with you. Each row contains a photo, name, and date that person was added. Each row has a click listener that brings them into a chat window.

The chat window is also a custom list adapter or at least most of it is. Each row contains a photo and written message of that person. At the bottom you have a EditText field and a send message button. Every time the button is pressed and EditText is not null another row is added with a text string containing your message.

 

Last but not least we have our third button on the action bar up top. This is probably the most complicated part of tinder. In the latest version it includes a profile picture up top. In the middle a My tinder plus text and a settings text.

 

The Profile picture settings has access to a Facebook Api which allows you to see all the photos you have used in the past. Here you can change your photo and info about you. When you are finished with the photo and info settings it is put inside bundle and put in a displayable format people can see your nicely written info.

 

In the main setting you can gain access to special features in Tinder. Under that we have “Show Me” features and many more. We are going to start with show me. Each profile contains a set info indicating their id and gender. The show me allows you to view men or women in this fashion. If you clicked view men, it looks for people who have men in their gender array. The search distance used google Api to determine how far the person is from you. This is why Tinder needs your location when you first have access to the app. The Show Ages looks at every person age and either skips it if it’s not in the range or keeps it if it’s in range. Then you have App settings. Here you can either choose to get a notification or not. In order to get notification, you have to use the built in Google APi’s to access this in your code. Under this you have a selection between miles and kilometer to see how far away you are from that person.

One thing I didn’t go over yet was the manifest. In the manifest you need access to internet and also fine location. Other than that I pretty much went over the important features of the Tinder App.

 

 Summary

Like I said before this is a breakdown of the Tinder app and analyzation. There are multiple ways of creating the app. I can think of a couples of ways but this is how I would make the Tinder app. If you have any questions, feel free to email me. If you want more posts keep checking out my website and social media!