Real Dating — a dating app with verified profiles, designed and led end to end

The problem: trust, the blind spot of dating apps

Fake profiles, catfishing, romance scams: distrust has become the norm. Real Dating takes the opposite stance — making verification and sincerity the heart of the product, to make real, lasting relationships possible rather than endless scrolling.

The answer: authenticity, verified

Every profile goes through identity verification. Discovery works by affinity, exchanges go through encrypted messaging, and the whole service is protected by two-level moderation — automatic, then human. The goal: that the person on the other side really is who they claim to be.

What was built

A Next.js PWA backed by a NestJS API (PostgreSQL/Prisma, Redis, real time via Socket.IO), available as iOS and Android mobile apps (Capacitor). Features include identity verification, discovery by affinity, matches, encrypted real-time messaging, a Premium area (subscription and one-off purchases), an administration and moderation back office, SEO and analytics.

Security, performance, accessibility, GDPR

The app was designed from the outset for security, performance, accessibility and GDPR compliance — non-negotiable requirements for a service that handles sensitive personal data and private conversations.

My role: product design & technical leadership

From defining the product to technical coordination and go-live: functional scoping, architecture, technical trade-offs and leadership of the build, to deliver an app that is coherent, secure and sustainable over time. The service is live: real-dating.fr.