Botinder
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Guide

This guide walks you through every step – from download to your first swipe. You do not need to install Node, Appium or any Android tools yourself: everything is included in the download.

What you need

  • A computer running Windows, macOS, Linux, or a Raspberry Pi.
  • A smartphone (Android or iPhone) with the Tinder app installed and logged in. iPhones are controlled via a Mac.
  • A USB cable that transfers data (not charge-only).
  • Your license key and download link from the purchase email.

Part A – Prepare your phone

To let the computer control your phone, you enable a few developer settings once. This is a standard feature on both systems and can be turned off again anytime. Pick your phone system below.

Unlock Developer options

  1. 1 Open Settings on your phone.
  2. 2 Go to “About phone” (Samsung: Settings → About phone → Software information).
  3. 3 Tap “Build number” 7 times in a row. You will see “You are now a developer!”.
💡 Some devices ask for your screen PIN afterwards.

Turn on USB debugging

  1. 1 Go back to Settings → System → “Developer options” (Samsung: at the very bottom of Settings).
  2. 2 Scroll to “USB debugging” and enable it. Confirm the prompt with “OK”.

Connect & allow

  1. 1 Connect the phone to the computer with a USB cable.
  2. 2 Pull down the “USB for …” notification and choose “File transfer” (MTP), not “Charge only”.
  3. 3 A dialog “Allow USB debugging?” appears. Tick “Always allow from this computer” and tap “Allow”.
💡 No dialog at all? It is usually a charge-only cable – use a data cable and try another USB port.

Prepare Tinder

  1. 1 Make sure the Tinder app is installed and you are logged in.
  2. 2 Keep the phone unlocked while the agent runs (consider extending the screen timeout).

Enable Developer Mode (iOS 16 or newer)

  1. 1 Connect the iPhone to your Mac with a USB cable. Tap “Trust” on the “Trust This Computer?” prompt and enter your iPhone passcode.
  2. 2 On the iPhone, open Settings → “Privacy & Security”.
  3. 3 Scroll all the way down to “Developer Mode” and turn it on. The item only appears after the iPhone has been connected to the Mac at least once.
  4. 4 The iPhone asks to restart → “Restart”. After the restart, tap “Turn On” and enter your passcode.
💡 iPhones before iOS 16 have no “Developer Mode” – skip this step there. Controlling an iPhone requires a Mac (the macOS build of Botinder).

Connect & trust the iPhone

  1. 1 Keep the iPhone connected to the Mac via USB. Confirm any repeated “Trust” prompt with “Trust”.
  2. 2 Keep the iPhone unlocked – without granted trust the agent cannot drive it.
💡 No “Trust” prompt at all? Use a data cable (not charge-only), lock/unlock the iPhone and try another USB port.

Prepare Tinder

  1. 1 Make sure the Tinder app is installed and you are logged in.
  2. 2 Keep the phone unlocked while the agent runs (consider extending the screen timeout).

Part B – Set up your computer

Choose your operating system:

  1. 1 Download the archive “botinder-agent-windows-x64.zip” from the purchase email.
  2. 2 Right-click the ZIP → “Extract all” into a folder of your choice.
  3. 3 Connect your phone (see Part A). On first connect Windows installs the USB driver automatically – wait until it finishes.
  4. 4 Open the extracted folder and double-click “botinder-agent.exe”. On first launch Windows may warn “Windows protected your PC” → “More info” → “Run anyway”.
  5. 5 Before the first swipe, enter your license key & Anthropic API key in config.yaml (see Part C).
  1. 1 Download “botinder-agent-macos-arm64.zip” (Apple Silicon) or “…-x64.zip” (Intel).
  2. 2 Double-clicking the ZIP extracts it into the same folder.
  3. 3 Connect your phone (see Part A).
  4. 4 The app is not App-Store signed – on first launch macOS says “Apple could not verify ‘botinder-agent’ is free of malware”. Click “Done”, then open System Settings → “Privacy & Security”, scroll down and click “Open Anyway” for the blocked app; confirm “Open” in the next dialog. Only needed the first time.
  5. 5 Faster via Terminal: cd into the extracted folder and run “xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine .” once (clears quarantine for all files), then “./botinder-agent start”.
  6. 6 Before the first swipe, enter your license key & Anthropic API key in config.yaml (see Part C).
  1. 1 Download “botinder-agent-linux-x64.zip” and extract it: “unzip botinder-agent-linux-x64.zip”.
  2. 2 Connect your phone (see Part A). Note: some distros need udev rules for adb or you must be in the “plugdev” group.
  3. 3 In a terminal, cd into the folder and make the binary executable: “chmod +x botinder-agent”.
  4. 4 Start with “./botinder-agent start”.
  5. 5 Before the first swipe, enter your license key & Anthropic API key in config.yaml (see Part C).

On the Pi, Botinder runs entirely without a screen – perfect as an always-on mini server. You operate everything over SSH (terminal).

  1. 1 Connect to the Pi via SSH: “ssh user@pi-address”.
  2. 2 Download the ARM64 archive (link from the purchase email): “wget <download-link> -O botinder.zip”.
  3. 3 Extract: “unzip botinder.zip && cd linux-arm64”.
  4. 4 Connect your Android phone to the Pi via USB (see Part A for USB debugging).
  5. 5 Make executable and check: “chmod +x botinder-agent && ./botinder-agent doctor”.
  6. 6 Enter your license key & API key in config.yaml (Part C), then start with “./botinder-agent start”.
  7. 7 For 24/7 operation: set it up as a service with the bundled script, so Botinder keeps running after every reboot.

Part C – Enter license & API key

Open the file “config.yaml” in the extracted folder with a text editor and enter two values: your license key from the purchase email and your Anthropic API key (used to score profiles). On the first start the license activates automatically – no terminal command needed.

# config.yaml
license_key: XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX
anthropic_api_key: sk-ant-...

The license is bound to this device on first start. Without a valid Anthropic API key the bot will not run. Use “doctor” anytime to check that everything is ready.

Part D – Start

Now simply start:

Windows: double-click botinder-agent.exe
macOS/Linux/Pi: ./botinder-agent start

The agent opens Tinder, swipes automatically and drafts messages. To stop, close the window or press Ctrl+C.

Not working?

  • ▸ Run “doctor” – it shows exactly what is missing: ./botinder-agent doctor
  • ▸ “No device found”: try another (data) cable, USB debugging on, tapped “Allow” on the phone?
  • ▸ Still stuck? Write to us: Go to contact form