Online Personals Watch: News on the Online Dating Industry and Business

Match Group Quietly Acquired Salams, Backlash Grows

TURKIYE TODAY - Match Group quietly acquired Muslim matchmaking app Salams in late 2023, with the deal only revealed in a February 2025 earnings report. The move sparked backlash from users who said they were not informed. Criticism intensified after Match appointed Spencer Rascoff as CEO - the same day the acquisition was disclosed. Rascoff's past board role at surveillance firm Palantir and public support for the Israeli military have raised concerns among Muslim users. Some communities are now boycotting Salams and urging users to switch to other platforms.

See full article at Turkiye Today

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Dating App Salams Exposes User Data for 18 Months, Compromising Privacy of 6M Users

CYBERNEWS - Salams, a Muslim-oriented dating app, failed to protect user data, leaving it vulnerable for 18 months. Cybernews researchers found an exposed .env file with sensitive credentials, accessible since Dec 2022. The breach risked personal information, including usernames, emails, and location data. Despite the discovery on Dec 8, 2023, the file was only secured on May 20, 2024, endangering Salams' 6M users. The app was previously known as Minder.

by Vilius Petkauskas
See full article at Cybernews

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How Muslim Millennials Are Looking for Love

CNET - Apr 10 - More Muslims than ever are turning to apps like Minder and Muzmatch to find romance. "We're the generation that was born with the rise of technology and social media," says Mariam Bahawdory, founder of Muslim dating app Eshq, which, similar to Bumble, allows women to make the first move. "Online dating is generally viewed by some as desperate. But as more people sign up for these apps, that notion is being challenged," says Muzmatch CEO and founder Shahzad Younas. Minder, which launched in 2015, has had ~500K sign-ups. Haroon Mokhtarzada, the CEO, says he was inspired to create the app after meeting several "well educated, highly eligible" Muslim women who struggled to find the right guy to marry. Muzmatch was founded in 2015, and it reached a million members this year.

by Abrar Al-Heeti
See full article at CNet

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Veil, a Matchmaking App for Muslims

THE NATIONAL - Apr 4 - Since the matrimonial app for Muslims, Veil, launched on March 18, co-­founder Adam Ward admits he's been amazed by the response it has received. At least 100 new users sign up every day. Veil is very discreet and respectful, with images of users kept anonymous until they match with the intention of getting married. There are at least two other apps created solely for Muslims, Muzmatch, which has close to one million users, and Minder. However, while Muzmatch gives users the option to hide or display images, Veil is the first app to introduce what Ward calls a "digital veil", an opaque filter that's applied to all profile pictures to hide the identity of users until a match is mutually made. It's also the first app of its kind to be based in Dubai, with a second office in London.

by Yvonne Kerr
See full article at The National

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Minder: Tinder For Muslims

STEPFEED - Mar 6 - Minder, the Tinder-like dating app for Muslims, has been getting a lot of attention lately, despite the fact that it's been around for a while. It has ~20k active users. Here's what people think of it.

by Leyal Khalife
See full article at StepFeed

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Muslim Tinder: Swipe Right For ‘Halal’ Love

INDIA.COM - Oct 13 - Minder, the Muslim twin of Tinder, launched this February - along with Salaam Swipe and Crescent - and competing with the already established MuzMatch. All four dating apps are very similar to Tinder, where users can see a few photos, a brief profile, and can swipe right if they are interested. If the other party also likes what they see, a chat feature will be enabled. On a given scale, users can choose how religious they are - moderate, conservative, or not religious - as well as if they wear a hijab or keep a beard.

by Nadia Kadri
See full article at India.com

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Western Muslims Swipe Right On Minder

THE DAILY BEAST - Feb 24 - Muslim-Americans are going mobile in their quest to find love. They use Minder which is like Tinder but for Muslims. The app launched around Valentine's Day and has already received 2K requests for approval. The app will be released to the public within two weeks. Minder is not the only one. Ishqr is a Muslim dating site that does not allow users to see the faces of the profiles they are interested in before swiping on. Crescent is on Instagram and will launch an app for iOS and Android phones soon. And Salaam Swipe, created by Canadian-Muslim Khalil Jessa, plans to launch this year. The Muslim market is still untested when it comes to monetizing these apps and hard to measure. The U.S. Census Bureau doesn’t track religious affiliation but estimates of the number of Muslims in the US vary between 2M and 7M people.

by Shaheen Pasha
See full article at Daily Beast

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