Building a Dating App with No Backend: How I used Rust, Tauri 2.0, and P2P Mesh Networking to Fight the Loneliness Pandemic
Ben Sivan created Aura, a dating app that operates without any central server, aiming to address privacy concerns and the conflict of interest in traditional dating apps. The app uses a local-first architecture: all user data—swiping history, chats, and profiles—is stored in an encrypted SQLCipher database managed by a native Rust backend. For networking, Aura employs libp2p to scan for nearby devices, forming a gossip mesh that propagates encrypted discovery packets. The network uses a store-carry-forward mechanism, where phones carry encrypted profiles and gossip them to peers as users move. Sivan migrated the app to Tauri 2.0, leveraging Rust for performance and security. The project is open-source, with details shared on DEV Community.
Demonstrates a viable serverless architecture for privacy-sensitive apps using Rust and P2P.