Frequently asked questions

A culture-first dating app for the whole Arab diaspora: Levantine, Egyptian, Iraqi, Khaleeji, Maghrebi, Yemeni, Sudanese and beyond. It’s made for people who want someone who already knows the songs, the food, and the small things that mean home.

Not yet. We’re getting ready to open in the US and Canada. Join the waitlist on this site and we’ll tell you the day it’s out.

In the US and Canada for now. You sign up with a US or Canadian phone number, and your city comes from your phone’s location. More countries will follow.

Enter your phone number and we text you a code. No password to remember. Then add the basics, a few photos and a few prompt answers. You can finish the rest of your profile later.

No. HeyArab is for Arabs of any faith or none. Faith is part of the profile, and you can choose “Prefer not to say” if you’d rather not share it. Some people filter by faith, so sharing yours can help the right people find you, but it’s your call.

It’s a dating app. When you set up your profile you say what you’re looking for: marriage, a long-term relationship, friends, or open to either. You can also choose not to say. If marriage is the goal, you can add your timeline and how involved your family will be. Nobody has to want marriage to be here.

No. The app comes in English, Arabic and French, and you can switch the language in Settings. Plenty of people here grew up in the diaspora and speak a mix, and that’s fine.

Yes. Making a profile, browsing, liking, matching, chatting and calling are all free. Free accounts get a set number of likes a day. HeyArab Club lifts that limit and adds a few extras. You’ll see current prices inside the app.

Photos, the basics (where your family is from, where you live, faith, languages, what you’re looking for), and prompts you answer in your own words. You can also add a voice intro, up to three songs, vouches from people who know you, and a Good to know note for your matches.

Up to six. Your first photo is the one people see first, so make it a clear photo of your face. Hold a photo to move it. Your profile needs a few approved photos and prompt answers before it shows up in Discover, and the app tells you what’s missing.

Every photo is checked before it goes live, to keep the community safe and real. We tell you if one can’t be used, and why.

Photos that don’t clearly show you, contain nudity or someone underage, are misleading, or that you don’t have the right to use. See our Community Guidelines for the full list.

You can write an answer, record it in your own voice, run a quick poll like “Knafeh or ka’ak?”, or pick a real place, like the bakery you always go back to. Pin your favorite so it sits right under your main photo.

Thirty seconds in your own voice, answering a question you pick. People hear how you talk before the first message. You can re-record or delete it any time.

Yes. Add up to three songs, each with a short caption about why it made the cut. People can play a preview and like a song to start a conversation.

A short note, up to 150 characters, that only your matches can read. Things like how to say your name, or how fast you usually reply. It never shows in Discover.

Yes, in two ways. Review my profile looks at your photos and answers and tells you what to change. Polish my answer suggests a tidier version of something you wrote, in your voice, and you decide whether to use it. Both are automated and have a daily limit.

You see one profile at a time and either like or pass. If you both like each other, it’s a match and you can start talking. Passed on someone by mistake? You can undo it straight away.

Yes. You can like a photo, a prompt answer, a voice intro, a song or a place pick, and add a short note with it. The note is optional, but it gets you noticed.

Set age, distance, height, religion, relationship goals and marriage timeline. People outside your filters still show up, just further down. Turn on Dealbreaker for a filter if you want it strict, and we’ll hide anyone who doesn’t fit.

You’ve seen everyone who fits what you’re looking for right now. New people join all the time. Widening your filters or turning off a dealbreaker shows you more.

Your Likes tab shows how many people liked you. With HeyArab Club you see who they are and what they said, and you can match with them from there.

Free accounts get a set number of likes a day, and it resets every day. HeyArab Club has no daily limit.

Yes. Pause your profile in Settings. You disappear from Discover, but your matches and chats keep working. Unpause whenever you’re ready.

Text, voice messages and reactions. You can reply to a specific message, and unsend one if you change your mind, though they may have already seen it.

Profiles never show a phone number or an Instagram. When you’re ready, tap + in the chat and share yours. They only see it if they accept. If they say not now, you can ask again later.

Yes, voice and video, right in the app, so you don’t have to give out your number. You each need to send a message first. If the other person turns on their camera, their video stays hidden until you tap to show it.

Yes. Go to Settings, then Privacy, and turn off Calls from matches. Nobody can call you until you turn it back on.

The chat ends and neither of you can message the other anymore. If something was wrong, report them too, so our team can take a look.

Photos are reviewed before they go live. You can also verify yourself with a short selfie check that’s compared to your profile photos, and a verified badge then shows next to your name. Verification is optional. Vouches from people who know you add another layer of trust.

Tap ··· on any profile or chat. Blocking works straight away and they aren’t told. Reporting sends what happened to our team, and we look at every report. Reporting doesn’t block them, so block too if you don’t want to hear from them again. For anything serious, email safety@heyarab.app.

Don’t send anything. This is the most common scam. Other signs: they push you to WhatsApp or Telegram before you’ve met, keep dodging a video call, or bring up an investing app. Stop replying, report them, and block. You’re never penalized for reporting in good faith.

Yes. Pick people from your phone’s contacts, like a cousin, a coworker or an ex, and you won’t see each other. They’re never told. Only the numbers you pick leave your phone, and we keep a scrambled code, never the real number.

Your own list of words, phrases or emoji you don’t want to see. A like whose note uses one goes to a separate Hidden likes pile, with no notification, and the sender isn’t told. An auto filter also catches slurs, sexual comments and harassment. You can still look through the pile any time.

We review photos before they go live, offer optional selfie verification and vouches, use both automated and human moderation, and we act on reports. The app also blocks screenshots on other people’s profiles.

Yes. Tap Appeal this decision on the screen you see in the app and tell us what happened. A person reads every appeal, and we reply within one business day.

A few honest sentences from someone who knows you, like a friend, a sibling, or a cousin, that appear on your profile. It’s a trust signal rooted in how our communities work: people who know you speak for you.

Anyone you invite who genuinely knows you. You approve every vouch before it appears, and up to three can show on your profile at a time.

No. You send them a link and they write a couple of lines, no account needed. The link works for 30 days, and you can cancel it any time.

No, they’re optional. Profiles with a vouch or two tend to feel more trustworthy to the people you match with.

An optional membership. You see who likes you and what they said, get unlimited likes, and can go incognito. Current pricing is shown in the app.

Only people you’ve liked can see you. You still see everyone in Discover, and when you like someone you show up for them, so they can like you back. Your matches and chats stay as they are.

Plans run from a week up to six months, and longer plans cost less per month. You’ll see current prices in the app before you pay.

Memberships are billed through the App Store or Google Play, so you cancel from your phone’s subscription settings. Your perks last until the end of the period you’ve paid for.

Sign in with the same phone number, then tap Restore purchases in Settings. Use the same Apple ID or Google account you paid with.

Other members of the HeyArab community. We don’t sell your data or show your profile in public search. Read the details in our Privacy Policy.

No. We save your city, not your exact spot, and distances are rounded so nobody can work out where you live. Moved? Use Update location in Settings.

Yes. In Settings you can turn each kind on or off: new matches, messages, likes, and tips from us.

In the app, go to Profile, then Settings, then Delete account. Your profile, photos and voice intro are erased. Messages you sent stay in the other person’s chat. If you can no longer sign in, see heyarab.app/delete-account for how to request deletion by email. Our Privacy Policy explains what’s kept and for how long.

In the app, go to Settings and tap Report a problem. You can follow your request there, and we’ll let you know when we reply. Or go to our Contact page and email us. We answer every message.