FORBES - May 26 - New data gathered by the dating app company S'More suggests that putting chemistry ahead of "hotness" and relationships over casual encounters may become the new norm in online dating, and some of the biggest players in the industry are getting in on the trend. S'More survey found that physical attraction was no longer rated as the most important factor when searching for a potential match. "Covid-19 certainly changed the equation," says CEO Cohen-Aslatei. "But beyond that, our data shows that people are starting to expect more from dating apps. They want real connections, not the fake photos and hyper-sexualization that has characterized so much of online dating over the past decade." S'More has developed a suite of features aimed to reduce the superficiality of online dating, and slow down the process. For one, users aren't able to view a clear photo of a potential match until they have had a meaningful conversation with that person. S'More is not alone in its effort. Tinder and Bumble recently added games to their video product, MeetMe added blurred video dating, and Chispa, a Match Group app for Latino and Latina singles, connects daters based on answers to trivia games. MuzMatch, a Muslim-focused dating app, also lets women keep their profiles blurred from men.
29 posts categorized "Muzmatch"
S'More: "Tinder-fication" of Online Dating Is Over
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Can Arranged Marriages Be Modern?
SKY NEWS - May 20 - Put 'arranged marriage UK' into Google search, and one of the first things to pop up is the UK government's guidelines concerning forced marriages which explain they are illegal. Dr Aisha K. Gill, a professor of criminology and an expert on forced marriage explained: "An arranged marriage is a marriage which is based on choice and consent, and that's absolutely key in understanding it. An arranged marriage is when someone else such as a family member, a matchmaker, even apps, helps you find a person to marry."
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Muzmatch Is Building a Bakery in East Sudan
MUZMATCH - Apr 16 - This Ramadan, muzmatch is partnering with Ethar Relief to raise $150K to build a bakery in East Sudan to provide fresh bread and jobs to refugees. If you would like to donate, you can do so here https://muzmatch.app.link/Donate.
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Match Group Sues Muzmatch
BLOOMBERG LAW - Feb 16 - Match Group accused U.K.-based Muzmatch of copying Tinder to create a similar digital matchmaking service for Muslims. Match Group called Muzmatch a "Tinder clone" in a patent-infringement suit filed Feb. 12 in federal court in Waco, Texas. Muzmatch copied Tinder's "world changing, draggable-card-based, mutual opt-in app interface" in a dating app dedicated solely to one cultural group, Match claims in the complaint. Both apps offer users digital stacks of cards containing photos of potential romantic matches in close geographic proximity, which the user can accept or discard by swiping.
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MuzMatch and BuzzArab - Top Muslim Dating Apps
THE NATIONAL NEWS - Feb 10 - Muzmatch, the world's largest Muslim dating app, has gained 1M new users in the previous six months alone, 35% of them of Arab ethnicity. It was founded in 2011 by British-Asian Shahzad Younas as a marriage website for Muslims. The app claims 4M users worldwide and 50 employees. Family pressure is often given by Muslims and Arabs as a factor in deciding to tie the knot. Sherif Omar, the founder of the BuzzArab dating app, says: "There are a lot of negative connotations around online dating. In Arabic you don't even use the word date." BuzzArab has ~400K active users. Most of the users are in Morocco, France, Algeria and Egypt. Muzmatch plans to launch across South-East Asia and the Middle East. After successfully completing a $7M Series A funding round in 2019, Mr Younas has big ambitions for his company. While Mr Omar is not looking for investment, he is considering the scope for growth in the US, Canada and Australia, which are homes to large Arab communities.
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Muzmatch Celebrates 4M Members
OPW - Feb 4 - Dating app Muzmatch has just crossed the 4M member mark. Founded by an ex-Morgan Stanley banker, the app caters to Muslims who are looking to find a partner to marry.
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Muzmatch: Diversity & Inclusion
MUZMATCH YOUTUBE CHANNEL - Jan 18 - Muzmatch CEO and Founder Shahzad Younas took part in Google's Fireside webinar, discussing building a diverse and inclusive culture, motivation while working from home, and how Muzmatch helps connect people through lockdown.
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Muzmatch Expands Ethnicity Filters
SALAAM GATEWAY - Sep 29 - In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement in the US, several dating and matrimonial platforms pledged to remove their ethnicity filters in a bid to fight discrimination.One of them is Indian matrimony website Shaadi.com. The company ditched its skin tone filter in June 2020. The site previously asked users to declare the colour of their skin using options such as "fair", "wheatish", and "dark". Other companies have defended their continued use of ethnicity filters, such as Match. Muzmatch removed all its colour-focused groups, such as Black/African and White/Caucasian and added choices such as European or West African. According to Muzmatch, ~52% of matches on the app are between members of different ethnicities. UAE-based Muslim matchmaking app Veil say that the app's twelve ethnicity/nationality search list options are based on Veil's user feedback and common search data. The company does not plan on making any changes to those areas.
by Heba Hashem
See full article at Salaam Gateway
See the top news on Match.com See the top news on Muzmatch
See the top news on Shaadi See the top news on Veil
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Dating Apps Gaining Ground in Socially Conservative Pakistan
SEEKING ALPHA - Aug 11 - Dating apps like Tinder look to gain some ground amid changing attitudes around casual dating in socially conservative regions like Pakistan. Dating for women is still frowned upon in the heavily patriarchal society, but attitudes are changing in the cities, where single women are increasingly using the apps to connect with partners. Most Tinder users in the country are 18-40 and come from major cities including Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. Bumble is also gaining ground, as is Muzmatch.
by Jason Aycock
See full article at Seeking Alpha
See the top news on Tinder
See the top news on Bumble
See the top news on Muzmatch
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Muzmatch Celebrates 3 Million Members
MUZMATCH - July 7 - Dating app Muzmatch has just crossed the 3M member mark. Founded by an ex-Morgan Stanley banker, the app caters to Muslims who are looking to find a partner to marry.
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Muzmatch Adds Video Date Feature
FORBES - May 24 - Online dating app Muzmatch serves ~2.5M Muslim users around the world. Its new video dating feature makes the world's first religious-themed dating app to include video calling. According to Muzmatch's own in-house surveys, 83% of its users had trouble finding a spouse because of lockdowns. According to CEO Shahzad Younas, the new function doesn't come without some controversy as video dating is rejected by many Muslims. Some followers would consider it "haram" or forbidden.
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Muzmatch Raising $100K to Build a School in Pakistan
MUZMATCH - May 18 - Muslim dating app Muzmatch is big on charity. In 2018, the app raised £8K to feed school children in Sudan; and in 2019 Muzmatch raised £14K to help end forced marriages. This year, the app is partnering with Read Foundation to build a school for children in Pakistan.
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Coronavirus Has Changed Dating Apps Irreversibly
SIFTED.EU - May 4 - Dating apps say that virtual features will last beyond the pandemic as video dates become the new norm. "The current normalisation of video communication is in one way irreversible," says Philip Jonzon Jarl, the cofounder of Swedish dating app Relate. "There might be a new kind of pre-date step being born." Founded in 2018 to make matches based on "values" rather than profile pics, and with $1.3M behind it, Relate has seen its active users increase 40% during lockdown. Another UK app, The Intro, was founded in London in 2019, just months before lockdown. Founder George Burgess, who previously launched several educational apps, says this has pulled in thousands of users across the capital - despite having raised just £750k. Her, a UK-based dating app geared towards lesbian, queer, bisexual and bicurious women and non-binary people, has 5.5M users around the world. Founded by Robyn Exton in the UK in 2015, it has raised $2M to date. Her moved its matchmaking mixers online to host virtual speed dating events. The founder says virtual speed dating will almost certainly continue after the pandemic. Meanwhile, Swiss dating app Once has built a live video feature in just five days. Already ~18K virtual dates have taken place on the app. The record duration of a virtual date so far is 11 hours and forty minutes (between two people in Paris). Not every dating app has been fast off the mark. Happn says it has seen an 18% increase in the lengths of in-app conversations and will launch video dating this month. Muzmatch, the worlds' biggest dating app for Muslims, is also preparing to launch video and voice calling within the coming weeks.
by Kitty Knowles
See full article at Sifted.eu
See all posts on Her See all posts on Happn
See the top news on Once See the top news on Muzmatch
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Muzmatch Is the World's Largest 'Halal' Muslim Dating App
ALBAWABA - Feb 14 - Muzmatch brands itself as a platform for Muslims to date and get to know each other for the purpose of marriage. When muzmatch was first released, it took them four years to get to one million users. After that, they glided into two million users within just six months. Currently, almost half of matches on muzmatch are intercultural and interracial. Muzmatch is not the only Muslim-focused dating app. Minder, for example has a Tinder-like interface but is made for Muslims who want to "halal-date", and Muzproposal is similar to Bumble in that the woman alone can initiate the conversation after matching.
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IDEA Launches Social Safety Badge for Dating Apps
BUSINESSWIRE - Dec 9 - IDEA (The Internet Dating Excellence Association) is launching the Social Safety Badge and Guidelines for high quality dating apps. "The goal of this badge is to help users identify dating, matchmaking and social apps that are distinguished in their commitment to a safe and exceptional experience for users," said IDEA President Mark Brooks.
The guidelines cover:
- Respect For Others
- Respect For The Rights Of Others
- Respect For Minors
- Respect For The Community
- Respect For Larger Community
The following dating apps are in the initial launch group and have signed on to the badge, stating that they will adhere to the guidelines:
- CitySwoon
- GlobalMuslimMatch
- Happn
- Jaumo
- LunchClick
- MeetMe
- muzmatch
- Namoro
- Once
- Say Allo
- Skout
- Tagged
- Vouch
IDEA was formed in 2007 as the Internet Dating Executive Alliance and changed to the Internet Dating Excellence Association in 2018. The group is made up of 700+ dating industry executives and dating company leaders and innovators from around the world.
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