A Hawaya alternative in Canada: where to go now
Hawaya was Match Group's marriage app for Muslims, grown out of Harmonica in Egypt, and it closed in February 2023. People still search for it because they wanted what it promised: seriousness, family in the picture, and a way to meet that did not feel like a nightclub. Amanina is not Hawaya and is not affiliated with it. It is a Canadian matchmaking app built around that same seriousness, for the whole Arab table.
What happened to Hawaya
Hawaya began as Harmonica in Cairo, was acquired by Match Group, relaunched as Hawaya in 2019 and served Muslim singles in the Middle East and the diaspora. In February 2023 Match Group shut it down. There is no official successor, and accounts were not moved anywhere. If you had a profile there, it is gone; what you can carry forward is what you learned about how you want to meet someone.
What Hawaya's members were looking for
Most people who chose Hawaya over the mainstream apps wanted three things: an app that treated marriage as the goal rather than an afterthought, a place where family involvement was normal rather than awkward, and a community where faith could be spoken about plainly. Those are not niche wishes; they are how most Arab families have always married. They deserve an app built around them, not a feed with a halal label.
How Amanina approaches the same seriousness
Amanina is built in Ottawa for the Arab diaspora and everyone woven into it: Arab Muslims, Christians, Druze, Jews and secular members together. There is no feed. A small number of introductions arrive, each with a plain-language read of why this person and you might fit and the one honest question worth asking first. You answer "interested" or "not for me", and a conversation opens only when both say yes.
Family is a participant: a parent or trusted elder can be invited to take part in a structured way, and a mother can open the door for her adult child and hand it over with consent. Every member verifies they are a real person before being introduced to anyone. Photos stay private until both choose, and heritage is part of your story, never a filter.
Where Amanina is different from what Hawaya was
Hawaya was a Muslim app. Amanina is multi-faith by design, because Arab families are: a Maronite mother, a Sunni father and a daughter who would say "cultural" all belong at one table here. Hawaya was global; Amanina is Canadian first, based in Ottawa, in English, Canadian French and Arabic, with data held in Canada under Quebec's Law 25 standard. And Amanina is free to join, with introductions and conversations free, installed from your browser with no app store.
Common questions
- Is Hawaya still available?
- No. Match Group closed Hawaya in February 2023. There is no official successor and no way to recover a profile.
- What replaced Hawaya?
- Nothing officially. People who used Hawaya have moved to Muslim apps such as Muzz and Salams, and, in Canada, to Amanina, which is built for the whole Arab table with explained introductions and family able to take part.
- Is Amanina like Hawaya?
- In seriousness, yes: marriage is the goal, family is in the picture, faith is spoken about plainly. In shape, Amanina goes further: no feed, a written reason with each introduction, multi-faith by design, and a Canadian company holding data in Canada. Amanina is not affiliated with Hawaya or Match Group.
- Is Amanina free?
- Yes. Joining, introductions and conversations are free, and it installs from your browser with no app store account.