Marriage, guided by faith and family.

Before anyone reaches a single profile, we ask them to affirm three things: that they follow or sincerely seek this tradition, that their intention is lawful marriage alone, and that everything on their profile is true. It sets the tone for the whole platform — everyone here has made the same promise you have, so you're not browsing among strangers with unknown intentions.

Every profile is checked before it appears in Discover — for real photos, honest details, and alignment with the Solemn Declaration you made at signup. It's usually quick, and it's how we keep the community trustworthy for everyone in it.

So browsing stays intentional instead of turning into a swipe habit. Each member gets 15 profile views and 5 likes per day, resetting every 24 hours — quality over quantity, on purpose, on both sides of every match.

So we can show you people within a realistic distance for meeting family, arranging a visit, or eventually marriage — not matches on the other side of the world. It's never shown to other members as an exact address.

Messaging only opens once two people like each other. It keeps conversations wanted on both sides, and protects everyone from unsolicited messages.

When a guardian manages a profile, some actions — like sending an introduction request — go through them by design. It reflects how the family wants to be involved, not a restriction on the person themselves.

The Solemn Declaration isn't a formality — everyone on the platform affirms their intention is sincere and their information is true. A single account misrepresenting itself puts that trust at risk for everyone else.

So the app answers to the community using it, not to advertisers. No ads, no selling data — just the features people actually need to find a serious match.

Privacy is built into how ShiaFamily works, not just a promise we make — voice and video calls are one example. Once you've matched, you can talk — by voice or video — right inside the app without ever exchanging phone numbers. Neither of you sees the other's real number, and each match gets a combined 30 minutes of calling to share between voice and video, so it stays a quick, low-pressure way to hear or see someone before you decide to share more.

So a Verified badge actually means something. It comes from a private selfie our team reviews to confirm you're a real person behind your profile — not a stolen photo, not a fake account. That selfie is never shown to other members and never added to your profile photos; only the badge itself becomes visible once you're approved.

To help you get a feel for how ShiaFamily works, you'll see a set of AI-generated demo profiles mixed into Discover early on — they're a preview of the experience, not real people you can build a relationship with. Each one is clearly tagged with an "AI Demo" label, right next to their name, so there's never any confusion about who's real.

They're also a good illustration of why the Verified badge matters: these demo profiles are never verified, so as more real members get their badge, it becomes an easy, at-a-glance way to tell a genuine, verified person apart from anything that isn't.

Accounts that go quiet for about 3 months are deleted, so Discover stays full of people who are actually active rather than old, abandoned profiles. You're never deleted without warning — an email goes out 7 days beforehand, and simply logging back in any time before then cancels it, with your profile, matches, and messages exactly as you left them.

If the 7 days pass, your account is anonymized the same way a self-requested deletion works — your name and photos are removed, but anyone you'd matched with keeps their chat history. You're always welcome to create a new account whenever you're ready.

On the sign-up screen, choose "Choose a username" instead of email. Pick a username and a password, and that's all you need to get started — no email required.

Because there's no real email on file, you'll also set a 6-digit recovery PIN during sign-up. This is important: it's the only way to reset your password later if you forget it, since we have no email address to send a reset link to. Choose a PIN you'll actually remember — if you lose both your password and your PIN, we won't be able to recover the account for you.

Go to Profile → Edit, and update any section — basics, intention, faith tags, interests, or photos — at any time.

Settings → "Hide my profile." You'll stay logged in and keep your matches and messages, but won't appear in anyone's Discover feed until you turn it back on.

Two settings, and one of them matters far more than the other:

Reveal your photo, match by match — the real control, right inside each chat. Once you've matched with someone, you decide there whether that specific person sees your real photo or your avatar. Feel comfortable with them? Reveal it just to them. Not there yet? Keep the avatar up with them, even if everyone else sees your real photo. It's entirely your call, one match at a time, and you can change your mind anytime.

Show profile photos — a blanket setting in Settings. On by default, so your real photo shows unless a chat says otherwise above. Turn it off and everyone sees your avatar instead, everywhere, no exceptions.

Both can be changed back at any time.

Profile → Share my profile. This creates a public link you can send to family or friends — no ShiaFamily account needed for them to view it, so a parent or wali can see your profile without downloading the app.

It respects your photo privacy the same way Discover does — if your real photo is hidden, whoever opens the link sees your avatar too. And you're fully in control of the link itself: turn sharing off anytime and it stops working immediately, or generate a new link, which quietly retires the old one so anyone who still has it can no longer get in.

You'll get a notification the moment someone likes you — it just won't say who, so open Discover → Likes you to see them. That list shows everyone who's liked you and is waiting to hear back; tap Like back on someone there and it's an instant match.

Discover → Passed keeps everyone you've said no to, exactly so you can change your mind. Open their profile from that list and tap Like — it works just like liking them the first time, and if they'd already liked you, it's an instant match.

Open their profile from your Matches list and tap "Unmatch." You'll be asked to confirm — unmatching removes the match and deletes the conversation for both of you, permanently. Neither of you reappears in the other's Discover feed afterward, so it's a clean, quiet way to end things without blocking or reporting them.

From their profile or from any chat thread, open the menu and choose Block or Report. Blocking is immediate and they won't be notified.

This is set during onboarding based on who's managing the profile. To change it afterward, reach us through Settings → Contact and we'll help you migrate it correctly.

Donations are one-time via Stripe, not a subscription — there's nothing to cancel. For a refund or billing question, reach us through Settings → Contact.

Settings → Delete Account. This anonymizes your profile permanently — your name and photos are removed. Matches you've chatted with keep their message history, but your identity is gone.

Open your conversation with them and tap the phone icon for a voice call, or the video icon for a video call. It only works between two people who've matched, no phone numbers are ever exchanged, and each match gets a combined 30 minutes of calling to use across voice and video — once that's used up, calling that match again isn't available. Missed or declined calls show up in your chat history, so you always know what happened.

Go to Settings → Identity verification, then Take a selfie. It's reviewed privately by our team — never shown to other members and never added to your profile photos — and once approved, the Verified badge appears on your profile automatically.

In the ShiaFamily app, go to Settings → Security and turn on Biometric Login. You'll be asked to enter your password once to confirm it's you — after that, your device's Face ID, Touch ID, or fingerprint signs you in instantly, right from the login screen, with no need to type your password again.

This is a device convenience, not a new account system — your credentials stay securely stored on your device (in its own hardware-backed Keychain or Keystore, not on our servers), and biometrics simply unlock what's already there. It's available in the app on iOS and Android; the website doesn't have biometric hardware to use.