1. What is actually prohibited. Under Inappropriate Content -> Sexual Content and Profanity (https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9878810) Google does not allow apps that contain or promote sexual content or profanity, including pornography, or any content or services intended to be sexually gratifying, and does not allow apps or app content that appear to promote or solicit a sexual act in exchange for compensation - which is what rules out escort (compensated dating) and sugar-dating style listings. Nudity may be allowed where the primary purpose is educational, documentary, scientific or artistic (EDSA) and is not gratuitous. Catalog apps that list book/video titles get only a narrow exemption: sexual content must be a minor fraction of the overall catalog, must not be actively promoted, must contain nothing illegal, and access must be restricted for minors.
2. Dating apps must actively block minors - it is a Play Console control, not just a store-listing label. Per Age-Restricted Content and Functionality (https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/16302250), apps whose core functionality is to facilitate matchmaking or dating - as well as apps whose core functionality is randomly connecting users with people they do not know, or letting users communicate anonymously with deliberately hidden identity - are required to use the Play Console functionality and tools to block minors (target audience and app content controls, https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9867159).
3. Incidental dating features are treated differently - and you own the age gate. Google's article on apps with incidental dating or matchmaking features (https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/16838200) states the policy may not apply where dating or matchmaking is not the core functionality, provided the app adopts appropriate minor protections and age-gating safeguards for those mature features. Google explicitly does not mandate a specific age-gating technology, but states it is the developer's responsibility to ensure the mechanism is robust and effective - and that simple age gates which can be easily circumvented may not be considered reasonable.
4. If your app hosts user content, moderation is mandatory. Any app hosting user-generated content - in a dating app that means profiles, photos and messages - must implement and maintain a robust, effective and ongoing moderation system (https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/12923286, plus the User Generated Content policy at https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9876937). Concretely: a clear, accessible Terms of Use that users must accept before engaging (a step that cannot be skipped by the user, and which is separate from your Privacy Policy); in-app reporting and blocking for both users and content; features that are clearly labelled and readily accessible; and timely action on reported users or content.
5. Answer the content rating questionnaire truthfully and declare the audience. Content ratings (https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9859655) are assigned by separate third-party rating authorities based on your questionnaire responses, and they drive both age-based availability and which ads are suitable to serve. Understating dating or mature features to obtain a lower rating is the classic cause of enforcement after review.
6. Ads and the Families question. Ads delivered in your app must be suitable for the app's content rating, and Families Policies (https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9893335) apply once children are in the target audience - so an adult-content or dating app should not be declared as family- or child-directed, and any ad SDK or mediation setup must be configured accordingly.
7. Action checklist. In Play Console review App content: target audience and content, the content rating questionnaire, and the age-restriction/minor-access controls; verify every dating, matchmaking, random-chat or anonymous-chat surface in the app is declared; confirm the age gate cannot be trivially bypassed and is enforced before the restricted feature becomes reachable; confirm report and block exist for both users and content and are reachable in-app; keep the Terms of Use visible and consented; and audit store listing assets (screenshots, preview video) - suggestive imagery is rejected directly and counts against the account.