A Salams alternative for Arab singles
HeyArab, Editorial teamUpdated Oct 28, 20262 min read
Salams is a solid app for Muslims who want to get married, and it's open to every sect. If you're looking for a Salams alternative because culture matters as much to you as faith, or your family isn't all Muslim, here's an honest comparison.
Who Salams is for
Salams calls itself a halal Muslim marriage app. It's made by Affinity Apps and has two sides: Salams Love for marriage and Salams Friends for making friends. Its App Store listing says it welcomes Sunni, Shia and Ahmadi Muslims, as well as converts, and that more than 6 million Muslims have joined.
Profiles can show your sect, how often you pray, your education and your job. It checks photos with a selfie, blocks screenshots of chats, and sells Gold and Diamond plans for extras. If you're a practicing Muslim and want to marry, it's a good app.
Why people look for apps like Salams
Some reasons we hear from Arab singles:
- They want someone who shares their culture, not only their faith. The food, the humor, the dialect, the way family works.
- They're Arab and Christian, Druze or not religious, or their family is mixed.
- They want to date a while before marriage comes up. Still serious, just slower.
- Their Arab community is small, and they'd like more control over who sees them.
How HeyArab compares to the Salams app
| HeyArab | Salams | |
|---|---|---|
| Made for | Arabs of any faith or none | Muslims of any sect |
| What people want | Marriage, long term, either, or friends | Marriage, plus a friends mode |
| Religion | Optional, with a soft filter or a dealbreaker | Central, with sect and prayer on profiles |
| Culture | Heritage and languages on every profile | Faith comes first |
| Verification | Optional selfie check and vouches | Selfie check |
| Where | US and Canada | Many countries |
Salams details come from its App Store listing in October 2026. Check the app for anything that's changed.
What HeyArab does differently
Culture comes first. Your profile shows where your family is from and the languages you speak. You can start with your own community, like Lebanese singles or Iraqi singles, or keep it open to every Arab background.
Faith is there if you want it. You can add your religion and your sect. Your filter is soft by default, so people who match it come first. Turn on the dealbreaker and you only see people inside it, and people outside it don't see you either. More on that in Arab dating by faith.
You can hear people. A 30 second voice intro tells someone a lot more than a photo.
Family is out in the open. You say how involved your family is, from involved early to private until it's serious.
Friends can vouch for you. People who know you can add a few lines. You approve each one, and up to three show on your profile at a time.
Where Salams might suit you better
If faith is the first thing you want to share, and you want sect and prayer up front on every profile, Salams does that well. It also works in many countries, and HeyArab is only in the US and Canada for now.
If you're Muslim and want to keep things halal on HeyArab, our halal dating guide covers how.
Other Salams alternatives
- Muzz is the biggest Muslim marriage app. See our Muzz alternative page.
- buzzArab is for Arabs and Muslims of every faith, and messages are free.
- Baklava is made for Arabs living in the West, with no religion filter when it launched.
All of them are in our guide to the best Arab dating apps.