Future Of Ihsan App

As-salamu alaykum,

I regret to announce that Ihsan App's service will be indefinitely unavailable pending a re-write of the software stack (if any).

Background

I started off Ihsan App back in 2019 as an alternative to the then Reddit ISO thread. The platform aimed to provide a slightly better, yet simple, filtering option to the ISO thread and other existing apps back then. The goals were to be a Shariah compliant, privacy respecting and free alternative to the other platforms while specifically catering to the needs of the r/MuslimMarriage community.

After a lot of deliberations with members of the subreddit, the platform went live with what I believed was a fair balance of the platform's features based on community feedback and requests.

The Good

Alhamdulillah, I consider the platform to be somewhat successful. There have been success stories on it but most importantly, I managed to keep my promises around it being free, halal and privacy respecting at best effort throughout its entire run.

One of the reasons I started this project was that the alternatives were (and still are) exorbitantly expensive and/or the ownership/business-model behind them were fishy.

I understand that good projects are born out of good funding with a sane business model that returns good profits to allow for the product to grow. However, my rant is that I am yet to come across an Islamic matrimony platform that is fairly priced let alone one that runs on a non-profit model.

The Bad

Like any other software, the stack powering Ihsan App has been on a gradual decline, especially the frontend. It has reached the point where a re-write makes more sense as compared to fixing the bugs. At this point the UI is practically unusable on iOS among other accessibility issues.

Lack of moderation has also been an issue especially when dealing with troll accounts.

Also, there have been no significant addition of features and some of the features seem half-baked e.g. the chat interface.

Future Of Ihsan App

Unfortunately, my personal issues coupled with work have left me with little to no time to work on a re-write of the platform immediately.

Given the growing issues with it, I have decided to indefinitely suspend the service pending a gradual re-write.

Inshallah, I believe Ihsan App will make a return in the near future and that is why I will hold on to the domain (also to prevent abuse around it).

Alternatives

In spite of me being critical of other platforms, I always suggest using every available halal platform to find a potential since that is the end goal.

My personal recommendation is the ISO thread here.

F.A.Qs

1. What will happen to my data? All data will be permanently destroyed in the coming weeks including any and all backups.
2. I have an existing connection. How can I get in touch with them? DM (not chat as I rarely check that) me on Reddit before the end of the year (2023) and I will assist you.
3. Do you have a timeline for the re-write? No timeline as of now. Any announcement will be made here, Reddit and Discord.

Thanks to everyone who made this project possible and contributed in any way!

Any discussion around this should happen on the Ihsan App Discord server.