Sakinah Privacy Policy

Last updated: 25 September 2026

Sakinah is a free Muslim companion app for iPhone (Qurʾān, prayer times, adhkār, qibla and more). It is published by Hamza Lachehab El Hilali ("we"), who is responsible for the data the app collects. This policy explains what data the app handles, where it goes, and the choices you have.

1. Data that stays on your device

Everything you record in Sakinah is kept in the app's storage on your iPhone. That includes your journal of prayers, your adhkār and tasbīḥ counts, your ḥifẓ progress, notes you write in the Hijri calendar, bookmarks, your reading and listening position, your prayer place and all your settings. Downloaded Qurʾān editions and recitations are cached on the device too.

This data is never sent to us, to advertisers or to analytics services. Like any app's data, it is included in your own iPhone backup (iCloud or computer) if you back up your device; that backup belongs to your Apple account, not to us. Deleting the app deletes this data from the device.

2. Advertising (Google AdMob)

Sakinah shows ads from Google AdMob on a small number of screens: Home, the More tab, the Hijri calendar and Settings. It also shows an occasional full-screen ad when you close the Hijri calendar or Settings. No ad is ever shown on a screen where worship is in progress (the Muṣḥaf, adhkār, tasbīḥ, ruqyah, the prayer and wuḍūʾ guides, and similar), and no full-screen ad appears while a recitation, a dhikr, the ruqyah or the adhan is playing.

To choose and measure ads, Google's software in the app collects information such as your IP address (and the approximate location derived from it), device model, operating-system version, language, ad interactions, and — only if you allow it — your device's advertising identifier (IDFA). The ad requests Sakinah makes contain nothing from your worship data, notes or precise location.

• Consent. Where the law requires it (for example in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland), Google's consent message asks you before ads are personalised. If you do not consent, ads may still appear, but they are not personalised.
• Tracking. iOS asks whether Sakinah may let Google use your advertising identifier. If you decline, ads still appear but are not based on tracking across other companies' apps and websites.
• Unsuitable ads. We block ad categories that do not suit a Muslim worship app, including dating, sexual content, astrology and gambling-style casino games.
• No ads for supporters. If you hold a monthly supporter subscription, the app requests no ads at all.

Google's use of this data is described in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services and the Google Privacy Policy.

3. Usage statistics and crash reports

To find crashes and understand which features are used, Sakinah uses Google Analytics for Firebase, Firebase Crashlytics and Google Tag Manager, together with Apple's MetricKit performance reports.

• Usage statistics come from a fixed list of feature events, for example that a screen was opened, a reciter was chosen or a supporter subscription was bought. These events cannot carry text you wrote, counts, dates, places or positions in the Qurʾān. Saving a Hijri-calendar note is recorded only as "a note was added", never its text or day.
• Crash and performance reports contain technical details: device model, iOS version, app version and where in the code a problem happened.
• Firebase also records standard device information (such as model, iOS version, language and a country derived from your IP address) under a random app-instance identifier. We never attach a name, email or user ID.

This information is used to keep the app working and to improve it. It is shared with Google's advertising services only if you have allowed tracking when iOS asks, and — where the GDPR applies — consented to it in Google's consent message. Without both, Sakinah tells Google Analytics that this data may not be used for ads or ad personalisation. Crash reports are never used for advertising.

Firebase Crashlytics deletes crash reports after 90 days. Google Analytics keeps event-level statistics for at most 14 months; the reports built from them contain only totals.

You can turn all of this off in Settings → Share usage & crash reports. When it is off, Firebase does not run and no statistics or crash reports are sent. Google Tag Manager may still ask googletagmanager.com whether the app's configuration has changed; that request carries no statistics about you. See the Firebase privacy information.

4. Location

With your permission ("While Using the App"), Sakinah uses your location to calculate prayer times, point the qibla and find nearby mosques and parking. Most of this is calculated on your iPhone. Location leaves the device only in these cases:

• Apple Maps. Searching for nearby mosques or parking, getting directions, showing the map, and looking up the name of your city go through Apple's MapKit and geocoding services. See Apple's Privacy Policy.
• Official prayer timetables. When your prayer times follow an official timetable (for example Morocco's Ministry of Habous), the app downloads a month of times from AlAdhan (api.aladhan.com). The request includes your prayer place's coordinates, rounded to two decimal places (about 1 km), and your chosen calculation settings.

Your location is never given to advertisers or analytics services.

5. Content downloads

Some content is downloaded when you first use it: Qurʾān editions, recitations, the recordings of the adhkār, and gold and silver prices for the zakāt calculator. These come from public servers such as everyayah.com, quranicaudio.com, quran.com, huggingface.co, hisnmuslim.com, github.com, cdn.jsdelivr.net, raw.githubusercontent.com, gold-api.com and currency-api.pages.dev. As with any download, those servers see your IP address and the file requested. Sakinah sends them no other information about you.

6. Purchases

Supporter subscriptions and one-time gifts are handled entirely by Apple through the App Store. We never see your payment details. The app only learns from Apple whether you currently hold a supporter subscription, so that it can turn ads off.

7. Photos and notifications

• Photos. If you save an āyah picture, the app asks for permission to add it to your photo library. It never reads your photos.
• Notifications. Adhan and reminder notifications are scheduled on your iPhone. No server is involved.

8. Children

Sakinah is a general-audience app and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

During setup the app asks your age; the question is optional, and you can change the answer in Settings → Age. If you say you are under 13, the app never shows the tracking prompt, ad requests ask Google to treat you as a child (no personalised ads and no remarketing), and usage statistics are never shared with Google's advertising services. Your answer itself stays on your iPhone.

9. Your choices and rights

• Ad consent: Settings → Privacy & ad choices lets you review your consent for personalised ads where the law requires it.
• Tracking: iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.
• Usage statistics and crash reports: Settings → Share usage & crash reports.
• Location: iOS Settings → Sakinah → Location.
• Deleting your data: deleting the app removes everything it stored on your iPhone. We hold no copy of it.

Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR), you may have the right to access, correct or delete personal data, or to object to its processing. Because we do not hold data that identifies you, most requests concern Google; you can manage those at My Ad Center or contact us below and we will help. You may also complain to the data protection authority where you live.

10. Legal bases and transfers

For readers in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland:

• Personalised ads, and sharing usage statistics with Google's advertising services, happen only with your consent, which you can withdraw at any time in Settings → Privacy & ad choices.
• Usage statistics: Google Analytics stores its identifier on your device only if you agree to "Store and/or access information on a device" in Google's consent message. Without that agreement it sends statistics without the identifier.
• Non-personalised ads and crash reports rely on our legitimate interest in keeping a free app funded and working. You can switch crash reports and statistics off at any time in Settings → Share usage & crash reports.
• Supporter purchases are handled by Apple to provide what you bought.

Google may process this data outside your country, including in the United States. Google takes part in the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, its UK Extension and the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework.

11. Changes to this policy

If we change how the app handles data, we will update this page and the date at the top before the change reaches the app.

12. Contact

Hamza Lachehab El Hilali
Questions about privacy: hwteach2018@gmail.com