Swipe Right on Success: Building Your Own Dating App with FlutterFlow and Supabase 🚀

Ever wondered how those swiping dating apps work under the hood? 🤔 This guide, based on James NoCode’s YouTube tutorial, breaks down the process of creating a Tinder-style dating app complete with matching, chat, and maps functionality – all without writing a single line of code! 🤯 Get ready to become a no-code app wizard! 🧙‍♂️

Why This Matters in Everyday Life 🌎

Dating apps have revolutionized how people connect, and building one yourself unlocks a world of possibilities. Whether you’re dreaming of launching the next big dating platform or simply want to understand the tech behind these apps, this guide provides the blueprint for success.

1. Architecting Your App’s Foundation 🏗️

Think of your app like a house. Before you start decorating, you need a solid foundation. That’s where app architecture and database design come in.

App Screens:

Login Screen: Where users sign in using their email.
Home Screen: The heart of the app featuring the swiping mechanism.
Matches Screen: Displays a list of successful matches and acts as the chat screen entry point.
Map Screen: Shows the geographical location of your matches.
Settings Screen: Allows users to customize their preferences like gender, age range, and search radius.

Database Schema (Supabase):

Supabase, our powerful and free backend service, will store all our app data. Here’s the breakdown of the tables:

Users: The built-in Supabase table for user authentication data.
Profiles: Stores additional user information like gender and profile picture.
- Relationship to Users: One-to-one (one profile per user).
Preferences: Stores user preferences, including desired gender, age range, and search radius.
- Relationship to Users: One-to-one.
Swipes: Records each instance of a user swiping left or right on another profile.
Matches: Records instances where two users have swiped right on each other’s profiles. This table is populated by a Supabase function, triggered every time a new swipe is created.
Messages: Stores all the messages exchanged between matched users.

💡 Pro Tip: RLS (Row Level Security) policies in Supabase control data access. Set up permissive policies initially for testing, but refine them later for data security.

2. The Magic of Supabase Functions ✨

Supabase functions are like automated helpers that perform tasks behind the scenes. We’ll be using two key functions:

1. handle_match()

This function runs every time a new swipe is added to the swipes table. It checks if there is a reciprocal swipe, and if so, creates a new entry in the matches table. This way, matching logic is handled efficiently on the backend.

2. get_potential_matches()

This function allows you to query for potential matches based on user ID, desired gender, and search radius. It intelligently filters out users you’ve already swiped on, keeping your dating pool fresh and exciting.

💡 Key Takeaway: Offload complex logic to the backend with Supabase functions for a smooth and performant user experience.

3. Building the Front-End with FlutterFlow 🎨

Now that our backend is set up, let’s bring the app to life with FlutterFlow:

Home Screen:

Use FlutterFlow’s built-in “Swipeable Stack” widget to create the swiping mechanism.
Call the get_potential_matches() function through an API call to display potential matches.
Design cards to showcase user profiles, including images, names, and ages.
Add “Like” and “Dislike” buttons that trigger right and left swipes respectively. These buttons should update the swipes table in Supabase.

Matches Screen:

Use a “List View” to display your matches.
Fetch match data from the matches table in Supabase, filtering to show only your matches.
Display user profile information like name and picture.
Add a “Delete” button for unmatching, which updates the matches table by setting an is_deleted flag.

Chat Screen:

Use a “List View” to display chat messages.
Fetch messages from the messages table based on chat_id.
Create distinct row layouts for messages sent by you and messages received from the other user.
Add a “Text Input” and a “Send” button for composing and sending new messages.
Implement sorting on the created_at field of the messages table to display messages in chronological order.

Map Screen:

Use the “Google Maps” widget to display the map.
Fetch location data from the match_locations view in Supabase.
Create map markers for each match based on their location coordinates.
Set the initial map center to the authenticated user’s location.

Settings Screen:

Use various input fields (text fields, dropdowns, sliders) for capturing user preferences.
Save user settings in real-time by updating the preferences table.
Consider using a slider for the search radius, offering a more intuitive user experience.

💡 Pro Tip: Use components in FlutterFlow to create reusable UI elements for a more efficient design workflow.

4. The Finishing Touches 🪄

With your core functionality in place, focus on polishing your app:

Empty State Handling: Create informative screens for scenarios where there are no matches or potential matches to display.
Visual Appeal: Use appealing colors, icons, and images to make your app visually engaging.
Error Handling: Implement mechanisms to handle potential errors gracefully.

5. Your No-Code Toolbox 🧰

Here are the resources mentioned in James NoCode’s tutorial:

FlutterFlow: https://flutterflow.io – The no-code platform for building beautiful and functional Flutter apps.
Supabase: https://supabase.com – The open-source Firebase alternative for backend needs.
Generated Photos: https://generated.photos – A website for generating placeholder profile pictures.
Google Maps API: https://developers.google.com/maps – The Google Maps API for integrating maps into your app.

Taking Your App to the Next Level 🚀

This guide provides the building blocks for a basic dating app. With a bit of creativity and further exploration of FlutterFlow and Supabase, you can enhance it with: