Faith Meets Match: The Religious Dating Apps Help Singles Find Love
Finding a lifelong partner is no easy feat, but finding someone who shares the same morals and values can be even more challenging.
Faith-based dating apps SALT, Mutual and Proposal are combining tradition and technology to match singles with a desire for marriage built on a shared faith foundation.
SALT is a Christian dating app whose mission is to provide a better way for Christians to meet and date, according to its website. Launched in 2018, the app features faith-based profile questions, badges and conversation starters to make it easier for singles to meet others who share their faith.
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With more than 500,000 global users, the app has matched singles representing more than 50 countries around the world.
Sarah Paxton, Operations Manager at SALT, said the app allows singles to meet in a low-pressure setting.
“[SALT] is an opportunity to meet people without some of the pressure of traditional dating,” she said. “It’s a way for people to get to know people and explore potential connections in a more low-key way.”
Will Oyowe, 38 and Nicole Ng, 39, of London, matched on SALT in 2021. Having had no luck with mainstream dating apps, including Coffee Meets Bagel, Hinge and Tinder, they decided to try SALT to find a spouse who shared their faith.
Shortly after matching, the two went on their first date and continued to date for three years before getting engaged.
Oyowe said he knew after one month of dating Ng that she was “the one.”
“I met many women before, but I’ve never met a woman in which I felt a deep connection to,” he said. “She’s someone who understands me, and it’s very hard to find someone who understands you well.”
On May 3, 2025, the two were married.
Ng said faith-based dating apps work best when you have faith.
“Faith-based dating apps can be good when faith is the center of your life,” she said. “They are a great option for people who value faith as the first priority, and they must align with their spouse.”
For members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mutual is the number one dating app, according to its website. Launched in 2016, the app is similar to mainstream dating apps in that it allows users to scroll through other users’ profiles and “like” them if they're interested. It includes faith-related elements, such as asking users how often they attend religious services and read the Bible.
With more than 150,000 monthly users, the app has matched more than 90 million singles since it launched a decade ago.
Michael Patterson, Co-Founder and President of Mutual, said the idea behind the app was to create a “mutual” space for Mormons to meet.
“When we launched Mutual, we noticed that all the mainstream apps in the space are really trying to be neutral and appeal to everyone and everything and what that results in is apps that don’t feel authentic or curated to the community that they need to attract,” he said. “Our goal with Mutual is to take the good behind what dating app technologies were trying to do and pull out a lot of the bad.”
Brian Sibiya, 32 and Pina Sibiya, 39, of Melbourne, Australia, matched on the site in 2019.
Shortly after matching, the two began having phone and video calls, which later turned into plans to meet in-person. Pina flew from Perth, Australia to County Cork, Ireland to meet Brian, which was followed by a visit to Perth from Brian in Dec. 2019.
Brian said that the trip was a turning point in their relationship.
“COVID-19 hit that January and Perth closed down completely and they didn’t let anyone in or out,” he said. “We didn’t know how long COVID was going to last, so we both decided, let’s try this out and see what happens.”
They were wed on Oct. 10, 2020. Today, the couple travels across Africa, Australia and Europe with their son, Koa, 4, and daughter, Keeva, 1 and documents their adventures on social media.
Pina said using a faith-based dating app made her realize how much she wanted faith to be a priority in her marriage and family.
“What I loved about when I found Brian is that the most important thing for him is that he is God-fearing,” she said. “That was the most important thing because if we were to get married, I would want my children to have that in their life and I would want my children to grow up in the church and have the same values.”
For many Muslims, Proposal is a matchmaking and wedding app of choice. Its mission, according to its website, is to make it easier for single Muslims to find their life partner in a safe, secure and convenient way. Launched in 2018, the app blends technology and tradition by combining highly sophisticated artificial intelligence with Islamic culture and values.
The app also hosts in-person matchmaking events in major cities across the United States and Canada, as well as offers wedding planning services for couples. With more than 100,000 users since its launch, the app has matched 50,000 singles through its online matchmaking service and 5,000 singles through its in-person matchmaking events.
Faisal Qureshi, Founder of Proposal, said the app has changed the way Muslim singles meet.
“Muslims do not have any platform where they go and connect with the opposite gender,” he said. “We wanted to provide a moderate platform to facilitate marriages.”
Omar Ahmed, 35 and Fatima Ahmed, 29, of Seattle, met through Proposal in 2022. Initially meeting at one of the app’s in-person matchmaking events in San Francisco, they later reconnected on the app.
Omar said the app gave him the opportunity to meet someone who shared his faith outside of his typical social circle.
“In Seattle, it’s difficult to meet friends, let alone meet people,” he said. “I’m not very into going to these events, but I was in town, and I thought I might as well try it out.”
In 2023, the two were married. Fatima said shared faith sets the foundation for strong marriages.
“Faith is your life, it’s what you believe in and how you want to go about life, so when you agree, and you have those same strong beliefs together, then you have a foundation and once you have that foundation, everything else becomes a little bit easier,” she said.
Allana Haynes is a community news reporter covering Howard and Carroll counties for Baltimore Sun Media. In 2017, she graduated with a Master of Science degree in journalism from Columbia University.