Dating App — Internship Prototype

Overview

This Dating App was developed during an internship as a prototype project.
It is designed to help users connect via secure authentication, profile creation, and preferences-based matchmaking.
The app supports Google OAuth login, secure image uploads via AWS S3, SMS/OTP verification using Twilio, and session-based authentication.

The prototype demonstrates a scalable, secure foundation for building a modern dating platform.

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Features

• 🔐 Authentication

  • Email/password login with bcrypt & JWT
  • Google OAuth (Passport.js integration)
  • Secure sessions with cookies

• 👤 User Profiles

  • Create/edit profile with bio, age, gender, preferences
  • Upload profile photos (AWS S3 storage)
  • Match filtering via

    react-select

• 💬 Communication

  • OTP/SMS verification with Twilio
  • Real-time notifications (prototype with

    node-cron

    )

• 📅 User Engagement

  • Match suggestions based on preferences
  • Session handling with

    express-session

  • Profile browsing & liking (prototype level)

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Tech Stack

Frontend

• React 18
• React Router DOM 6
• React Bootstrap + Bootstrap 5
• Axios (API calls)
• React Select (match filters)
• React Toastify (alerts & notifications)
• JWT Decode (auth handling)

Backend

• Node.js + Express
• MongoDB with Mongoose
• JWT + bcrypt for secure auth
• Passport (Google OAuth 2.0)
• Express Session & Cookie Parser
• AWS S3 with

  multer-s3

  for media storage
• Twilio API for OTP & SMS services
• Node-cron for scheduled tasks
• Morgan for API logging

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Architecture

• Frontend → React-based SPA with Bootstrap UI
• Backend → REST API (Express + MongoDB)
• Authentication → JWT & Passport Google OAuth
• Media Storage → AWS S3 (images, profile photos)
• Messaging/Notifications → Twilio + Node-cron prototype
• Deployment → Internship prototype (local/server environment)

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Project Stats

• Frontend Dependencies: 9
• Backend Dependencies: 17
• Auth Methods: Email/Password + Google OAuth
• Prototype Features: Profiles, Auth, AWS S3, Twilio OTP
• Completion Date: July 29, 2024

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Links

• GitHub Repo: GVR-DatingApp
• Live Demo: (Not deployed — prototype stage)

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Status

This project represents a working prototype, showcasing the core structure of a scalable dating app.
While not fully production-ready, it demonstrates secure authentication, cloud storage, and third-party API integrations, making it a solid internship project milestone.