Christian dating app Upward rebranded for marriage-focused Gen Zers

Six years after launching Christian dating app Upward, the conglomerate Match Group is relaunching it as a marriage-focused app for young singles.

Upward is now centered around "modern courtship." "For a generation told to keep things casual and see where they go, saying you want marriage can almost feel countercultural," said Lauren DeFord, director of brand marketing at Match Group, in a press release shared with Mashable.

"Built for people dating with marriage in mind, Upward is a home for singles who know what they want, hold strong standards and believe dating should lead somewhere." SEE ALSO: FBI warned ICE agents of fake 'tradwife' dating profiles The shift comes amid a deluge of " tradwife " content on social media, of young women rejecting (or claiming to reject) modern attitudes for more traditional gender roles in their relationships.

The trend has reached a new peak in 2026 with Yesteryear , a novel about a tradwife influencer who wakes up in 1855, which has been on the New York Times bestsellers list for 23 weeks.

For several years, young adults have also been decrying hookup culture and casual sex, while also reportedly having less sex than in generations past.

Politics also reflects this cultural moment: The Trump administration is encouraging women to have more children while restricting reproductive rights .

And, according to data, young adults want to tie the knot.

Match's recent Singles in America survey found that 72 percent of Gen Z want to get married .

Match Group research also found that around one in four U.S. singles between 18 and 34 strongly identify with traditional values around family, faith, and community.

"Many countries in the world have matrimony apps, and for whatever reason, the U.S. has never really had one," Match Group's global chief marketing officer, Stephanie Danzi, told Mashable in a Zoom interview.

"Upward was almost naturally emerging as a bit of a matrimonial app by the way that people were using it." Danzi works specifically with the Everyone Everywhere portfolio, which includes affinity dating apps like Upward, Salams (for Muslim users), and HER (for Sapphic users).

At a time when Gen Z is frustrated by the dating scene — particularly dating apps — Match is betting on Upward to fill a gap.

Hinge vs.

Upward Hinge , another app in Match Group's portfolio, is "designed to be deleted." Both apps are relationship-focused, Danzi said, but what makes Upward different is its focus on marriage specifically and the timeline for marriage users are looking for.