Frequently asked questions

The app is for marriage-minded desi Muslims aged 18 and over, living in the United States or Canada. You can join as a man or a woman looking to marry, or as a wali — a woman's male guardian who oversees her conversations.

Yes. Creating a profile, searching, saving favourites, and sending a limited number of interests each week are all free. A premium subscription unlocks a few extra features — see the Pricing page for details.

No. Every profile is reviewed by our team before it appears in search. We look for completeness, sincerity, and adherence to our community guidelines. Profiles that do not meet our standards are returned with feedback — not silently removed — so you know exactly what to address. You'll receive a notification once your profile is approved or if any changes are requested.

Editing your profile content — or adding or removing a photograph — takes it offline immediately. It will not reappear in search until you resubmit it for review and our team approves it again. This ensures that no unreviewed content is ever visible to the community. Toggling your photo-privacy setting or temporarily hiding your profile does not trigger a re-review.

A wali is a woman's male guardian — typically her father or brother — as recognised in Islamic tradition. A woman may invite her wali by email. Once he accepts and confirms the link, he can:

• See all of her active conversations.
• Read every message within them.
• Close any conversation at any time.

He does not approve or decline who contacts her, does not send messages, and does not decide who she talks to. Those decisions are always the woman's own.

No. A wali is warmly recommended but never required. A woman can submit her profile, search, send interest, and have conversations entirely without one. She can invite or change her wali at any point, and she can revoke the link if she chooses.

Yes. Wali oversight is based on the current, confirmed link — not on who was linked when a conversation first opened. When you change your wali, your new wali gains access to all your existing conversations, and your previous wali loses access to all of them immediately.

Either a man or a woman can send interest to the other. The person who receives the interest reviews the sender's profile and either accepts or declines it themselves. A conversation opens only on acceptance — nothing is shared or discussed before that point.

Free members can send a limited number of interests per week. The cap is the same for men and women. Premium members have no weekly limit. If you reach your limit, you can wait for the window to reset or upgrade to premium.

Yes. Once interest is accepted and a conversation opens, both parties can exchange messages freely — there is no message limit and no premium requirement to keep talking. The weekly cap applies only to sending new interests, not to messaging within existing conversations.

Yes. Either party — or the woman's wali — can close a conversation at any time. Once closed, no new messages can be sent. The conversation history remains readable, but the exchange cannot be resumed. You can send fresh interest to the same person again if both parties wish to reconnect.

By default, a woman's photographs are hidden from everyone except herself and our admin team. She can choose to reveal them to premium members at any time using a toggle on her profile. Men's photographs are visible to any approved member who can view their profile, at no cost.

No. Photographs are stored in a private, protected bucket and are never publicly accessible. They are served through short-lived, signed links generated by our servers — these links expire quickly and cannot be used to share or index a photograph outside the platform.

Only approved members of the opposite gender can see your profile in search — men see only women, and women see only men. A woman's wali can also view the profiles of men she is in conversation with. Users who have blocked you, or whom you have blocked, cannot see your profile at all.

• Unlimited weekly interests — no cap on how many you can send.
• See who has favourited your profile.
• View women's photographs when she has chosen to share them with premium members.

No. Women and walis can use all core features of the platform entirely free — including building a profile, searching, sending interest, and messaging. Premium is mainly aimed at men, since viewing women's photographs requires it.

You can cancel from your billing settings at any time — no hoops to jump through. After cancelling, your premium access continues until the end of the current billing period. You will not be charged again, and you will not lose access mid-period.

No. Payment is processed entirely by Stripe. We never see, handle, or store your card number or payment credentials — only the subscription status and renewal date are passed to us.

You can report a profile, a message thread, or a user directly from their profile page or from within a conversation. Reports are reviewed by our team and acted on where necessary. You can also reach us via our contact page if you have a concern that does not fit the in-app report form.

Blocking is immediate and mutual. You disappear from each other's search results, neither of you can send interest to the other, and any existing conversation between you is closed. The other person is not notified that they have been blocked.

Yes. To request deletion, use the support section in your account settings and select "Account" as the topic. We will delete your personal data within 30 days of your request, except where retention is required by law or to resolve an open dispute. See our Privacy Policy for full details.

You can reach us at support@therishta.app, or visit our Contact page. If you are already a member, the quickest route is the support form inside your account settings.