Iran Govt launches Islamic dating app to encourage marriages

Tehran: A government-approved Islamic dating app is reported to have been launched in Iran with the declared aim of encouraging lasting marriages among youth. The app called Hamdam, 'companion' in Farsi, facilitates a platform where people could search their match, apart from providing detailed information regarding marriages in Islam.

Though dating apps are available in Iran, Hamdam is said to be the first and only dating app approved by the government. Iran's cyberspace police chief, Colonel Ali Mohammad Rajabi, said that besides Hamdam, all other dating apps were illegal in the country.

The app has been developed by the Tebyan Cultural Institute, part of Iran's Islamic Propaganda Organization, Hamdam helps bachelors and single spouses to find appropriate matches with the assistance of 'artificial intelligence.

Tebyan head Komeil Khojasteh, speaking at the unveiling, said family values were threatened by outside forces. "Family is the devil's target, and [Iran's enemies] seek to impose their own ideas" on it, he said, adding that the app helps create "healthy" families.

Registration on the app is free but the users have to go through a psychology test after verifying their identity before browsing. According to the app, the service consultants will arrange meetings of families after the match is made and the couple will be monitored by the consultants for four years after the marriage.

Iran's authorities, including the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have warned several times about the country's rising age of marriage and declining birth rates.