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How to Develop a Social Networking App like YUBO

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Social networking apps like YUBO were developed to connect people. Earlier, there were Orkut, Myspace, Hi5, and some other social networking apps, then Facebook was launched in 2004, completely transforming the social networking segment. 

As of today, people are demanding more interesting apps, and this is where an innovative social networking app like YUBO comes into the picture and continues to evolve the space by offering dynamic features and immersive user experiences. 

Currently, the social networking app market is estimated to be $117.18 billion in 2025, and is expected to reach $837.32 billion by 2034, growing at a CAGR of 24.42%. 

 These figures make it clear that investing in social networking app development like YUBO is a highly promising opportunity.

If you’re planning to develop such an app, your success lies in creating a product that’s deeply aligned with your target users’ expectations and supported by strategic marketing. 

To begin with, read this blog as it will walk you through everything you need to know, from the development process to monetization strategies. So, without further ado, let’s begin with a quick overview of the YUBO app.

Overview of the YUBO App 

YUBO is a popular social networking app developed by the TWELVE APP in 2015. It was created so that users can connect and create communities. The app has many features, such as live streaming, profile verification, communities, and more, that users love. 

Also, it has cutting-edge functionalities, which make it unique in the market. The app is LGBTQ+ friendly, has a “Pixels” feature that allows users to create and trade in-app digital art collectibles. Moreover, it also has its own virtual currency, known as YuBucks, that allows users to make in-app purchases for new premium features, profile boosting, and more. 

At the time of writing, the YUBO app has 85 million active users. It has raised millions of dollars in funding from several investors as well as generated $67 million from its own revenue streams in 2024. 

Benefits of Developing a Social Networking App Similar to YUBO 

Before discussing the development, let’s first understand the advantages of building a social networking app. Hence, the following are the top benefits of developing a social networking app like YUBO. 

1. High Revenue Potential

Social networking apps have the potential to generate revenue in millions, and even billions. Take an example of the YUBO app, which has generated $67 million in 2024. By developing a social networking app and monetizing it by using different monetizing strategies, you can also gain massive users and generate consistent and scalable revenue for your business. 

2. High Return on Investments

Once developed, social networking apps like YUBO have low marginal costs for adding new users. With the right backend infrastructure, you can scale as you eventually gain new users post-launch of your social networking app, without proportionally increasing expenses. This will lead you to have high ROIs on your development investments. 

3. Competitive Differentiation in a Niche Market

You can develop a social networking app similar to YUBO for the underserved niche, for example, professionals, gamers, athletes, or hobbyists. This way, you can differentiate your app in a highly competitive market and build a loyal and targeted user base. 

P.S. – YUBO targets a niche market, i.e., Gen Z, with real-time, interest-based social interaction. 

4. Opportunities for Strategic Partnerships

By developing a successful YUBO clone social networking app, you can open new doors to collaborations and partnerships with top brands, influencers, other entertainment platforms, and advertisers. This will help you with not only boosting your business revenue, but also help you enhance your brand visibility in the targeted market. 

5. Valuable User Data and Insights

You can develop a social networking app like YUBO and collect users’ valuable data, such as behavioral and demographic data, after taking users’ consent and following the data privacy standards like CCPA and COPPA. Later, you can use this data to train AI for personalization, targeted marketing, or future product enhancement or development. Also, this data can become a business asset in itself.  

6. Exit Strategy & Acquisition Potential

Social networking apps have high acquisition potential. If your social networking app, like YUBO, gains significant traction, it may attract buyout interest from larger tech firms or media companies looking to expand their social or content ecosystem. Think of Instagram, which was acquired by Meta (then Facebook) in 2012. With a similar strategy, you can make a high-value exit and ensure strong returns for early stakeholders.

Also Read: Social Media App Development: Trends, Types, Features & Cost

How to Develop a Social Networking App like YUBO 

The following is the step-by-step process to build a social networking mobile application like YUBO. 

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Step#1. Define Your Niche and Audience 

To start developing your social networking app like YUBO, you need to first decide the niche you will target. YUBO addresses Gen Z and an interest-based niche. You can choose the same or a different segment, such as professionals, athletes, artists, professionals, hobbyists, etc. 

Once you have determined your niche, research the market to understand your targeted users’ needs, preferences, behavior, pain points, and more. 

Also, study the existing apps to understand how they work, which features make them stand out, their monetization strategies, and more. With this detailed analysis, your development journey becomes streamlined.  

Step#2. Set Up the Development Team 

You need experts to develop the YUBO clone social networking application. Hence, it is recommended to hire mobile app developers who have experience in developing similar apps. However, properly analyze the expertise, experience, and capabilities before hiring them. 

Another option is you outsource the project to a leading offshore development company with proven expertise, so that you can focus on your core business, and the development part will be taken care of by your partner company. 

Step#3. Design UI/UX 

In this stage, design the UI/UX for your social networking app similar to YUBO. While designing the user interfaces, you need to keep in mind that they must be intuitive, sorted, uncluttered, and engaging. 

You can use advanced tools and software like Adobe Photoshop and Figma to create the UI/UX. Also, implement the best practices to make your app’s UI/UX visually appealing. 

Step#4. Develop the MVP 

Once UI/UX are designed, start with developing the minimum viable product (MVP) of your social networking app like YUBO. The MVP includes the core features needed to validate your concept and gather user feedback. 

This approach allows you to build, test, and iterate efficiently, minimizing risks and reducing costly rework. Once each stage is approved, you can move forward with confidence, gradually adding advanced features and scaling the app.

Also, integrate cutting-edge functionalities, APIs, and emerging technologies to enhance your app’s performance, security, and grab users’ attention and engagement. 

Step#5. Testing and QA 

Post-development, test the app rigorously to check bugs and glitches and fix them. You can perform manual and automated testing to ensure your YUBO-like social networking app’s compatibility, performance, security, and other factors. 

You can also release the Beta version of your app to gather user feedback. Based on the feedback, you make the relevant changes and deploy the app on a full scale.  

Step#6. Launch the App 

After the testing is complete, release the social networking app like YUBO for your targeted user base. Publish the app on the Google Playstore and App Store. Further, you need to market it well to educate your users about the new social networking app on the market. 

For marketing, you can use a combination of offline and online marketing strategies. Do app store optimization, SEO, advertisements, influencer marketing, hoardings, and more to promote your YUBO-like social networking app.  

Step#7. Maintain and Upgrade 

After your app is in the market, monitor its performance using key performance indicators (KPIs). Keep an eye on the app downloads, engagement rate, uninstall rates, and others, and conduct surveys to understand what users love and what needs improvement. 

Also, frequently upgrade your social networking app like YUBO with the latest app versions, new UI, features, and functionalities, to keep the users intact and your app relevant. 

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Top Features to Add to a Social Networking App Similar to YUBO 

Besides the basic features like user registration, in-app texting, user profiles, and others, we have listed the top features to integrate into a YUBO clone social networking app to attract users and gain a competitive edge. 

1. AI-Personalized Social Feed Mood Selector

The current social networking apps have a feed that shows posts and content on the interests that users selected while signing up. While developing your social networking app, you add an AI feature that lets users choose their mood, like chill, hype, or deep talk, and their feed dynamically changes, all in real-time. 

2. Digital Doppelgänger

You can also integrate a feature that allows your users to generate their own AI version. This AI agent in the social networking app will interact, post, and chat based on the user’s personality traits and behavior. It can be very useful for users who want to stay active while offline. 

3. AI-Based Icebreaker Generator

This feature will use machine learning and natural language processing to automatically suggest context-aware conversation starters when a new match or friend is added. The content provided will be tailored to both users’ profiles, content, or shared interests, hence, the chances for “breaking ice” and initiating conversations will be high. 

Also Read: How AI is Being Used in Social Media: Enhancing the User Engagement

4. Geo-Fenced AR Hangouts

With this feature of a social networking app like YUBO, users can join augmented reality social spaces when they are near specific locations, such as cafés, campuses, events, etc. After joining these AR spaces, they can interact virtually, send friend requests, leave AR notes, photos, or digital tags, and discover other users nearby in real time.

5. Social Credits 

This feature of a YUBO-like social networking app gamifies positive behavior by tracking users’ friendliness, responsiveness, and helpfulness and offering them in-app credits (currency). Users can use these credits to make in-app features, unlock premium features, special chat rooms, AR spaces, customize their AI avatars, and more.

6. Time-Limited Friendships

This feature is highly inspired by the short “stories” in social networking apps like Snapchat and Instagram, which vanish or expire after 24 hours. Similarly, this feature allows temporary connections, for instance, for 24 hours or 7 days, to encourage more spontaneous and low-pressure socializing. This feature can be ideal for introverts or event-based networking.

7. Social Carbon Footprint Tracker

It is a unique and purpose-driven feature to integrate into an app like YUBO. This feature will measure and visualize the impact of a user’s online behavior on others within the app. Positive actions will give a plus point, and negative actions will deduct points. Users can view their own social footprint points and also receive feedback and tips to improve their digital presence.

So, these are some cutting-edge features that can give your social networking app, like YUBO, a competitive edge. Rest, you must integrate all the basic features, which may differ depending on the type and niche, into your app. 

Technology Stack To Build a YUBO-like Social Networking App

The following is the technology stack that you can use to develop a social networking app similar to YUBO. 

Category Technology Stack 
Frontend DevelopmentFlutter / React Native (cross-platform), Swift (iOS), Kotlin (Android)
Backend DevelopmentNode.js / Django / Ruby on Rails
DatabasePostgreSQL / MongoDB
Real-Time CommunicationWebRTC (for video/audio), Socket.IO / Firebase Realtime Database
AuthenticationFirebase Auth / OAuth 2.0 / Auth0
Cloud & HostingAWS / Google Cloud / Microsoft Azure
Media StorageAmazon S3 / Cloudinary
Push NotificationsFirebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) / OneSignal
Location ServicesGoogle Maps API / Mapbox
Analytics & MonitoringGoogle Analytics / Mixpanel / Sentry / Firebase Analytics
Admin PanelReact.js / Angular + Node.js backend / Laravel Nova
AI/ML FeaturesTensorFlow / OpenCV (for content moderation, facial detection, etc.)
Payment GatewayStripe / Razorpay / PayPal (for in-app purchases or subscriptions)

Using these tools and frameworks, you can build your social networking app like YUBO. Please note that this technology stack is for recommendation purposes only. You can use other tools as well that suit your project goals and requirements. 

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Monetization Strategies for YUBO Clone Social Networking App 

These are proven monetization strategies to generate revenue from your social networking app, similar to YUBO. 

1. Freemium Model with Premium Subscriptions

This is the first monetization strategy for an app like YUBO. In this strategy, you offer basic features for free and charge for premium ones, like unlimited swipes, advanced filters, profile boosts, or an ad-free experience.

2. In-App Purchases  

With this strategy, you enable users to buy in-app items, such as virtual coins, digital gifts, stickers, or emojis, and in return, users need to pay in fiat or cryptocurrency. This helps maintain steady and predictable income for your business.  

3. Advertising & Sponsored Content

You can run advertisements of brands, in the form of posts, videos, or sponsored posts, subtly within the feed or live streams without disrupting the user experience, and charge them based on the impressions, clicks, and conversions. 

4. Data Insights & Analytics for Brands

Another proven monetization strategy for social networking apps is offering anonymized and aggregated user behavior data and insights to marketers and brands interested in your app’s audience, and generating revenue from it. 

Conclusion 

It is estimated that the market for social networking apps like YUBO will grow exponentially in the coming years. Hence, it is the right time you invest in developing your own social networking mobile application. 

By developing an app like YUBO, you can generate revenue, gain a competitive edge, create opportunities for partnerships with other businesses, and ehance your brand image. So, develop your social networking app like YUBO using this guide. We have provided all the information that will help you on your development journey. 

Further, if you want to partner with us for your social networking app development, then feel free to reach out to us. We have a team of 100+ mobile app developers who have created many innovative social networking apps like Kendra G, LocoTables, and others. More details on www.quytech.com

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. Is developing an app like YUBO profitable?

Yes, YUBO has raised millions of dollars from investors and even generated $67 million from its revenue streams in 2024. By developing an app like YUBO, you can also generate high income by monetizing it with the right strategies.

Q2. Which are the best frameworks to develop a social networking app like YUBO?

To develop a social networking app similar to YUBO, you can use React Native or Flutter if you are developing a cross-platform app. If developing a native app, you can use UIKit or SwiftUI for iOS and the Android SDK and Jetpack Compose for the Android version.

Q3. How much does it cost to develop a YUBO-like social networking app?

The cost to build a social networking app like YUBO depends on the type of social networking app you are aiming to develop, technology stack, technologies, development team, and many other factors. If you have an idea in mind, feel free to reach out to our team, and we’ll provide a tailored cost breakdown based on your specific requirements.

Q4. What are some popular social networking apps like YUBO?

The popular social networking apps like YUBO are: 

– Facebook – 3.05+ billion monthly active users
– Instagram – 2+ billion monthly active users
– TikTok – 1.6+ billion monthly active users
– Snapchat – 800+ million monthly active users
– Discord – 200+ million monthly active users
– Twitch – 140+ million monthly active users

Q5. Is there any social networking app that Quytech has developed?

Quytech has developed numerous social networking apps and platforms, such as LocoTables, Kendra G, and many others. Refer to our portfolio to learn more.

Q6. How can I reach out to Quytech?

To contact us, click here, fill out the form, and submit. Our team will follow up with you promptly. You can also email your business inquiries directly to [email protected].