Privacy policy
Last updated 5 November 2026
Estiqamah is a worship companion app for iPhone and Android. It's made by Yara Hassan, an independent developer in Cairo, Egypt. In this policy, "we" and "us" refer to Estiqamah. This policy explains what information the app uses and why. If you have a question, write to [email protected].
What we keep on our server
- Your account: your name, email address, username and password. Your password is kept protected, and no one, including us, can read it.
- Female or Male (optional): if you choose to tell us, we save it with your account so the app can show women users the options meant for them, such as recording a Shar'i excuse. You can change it at any time in Settings.
- Your record: your prayers, azkar, Qur'an progress and khatma, recitations, duaas, journal entries, history and settings. It's saved to your account so it comes back if you change phones. Only your account can read it.
- Group khatma (Circles): the circles you start or join, and the juz you claim. Other members of a circle see its name, the members' usernames and who has claimed which juz. They never see your record.
What stays on your phone
- Your location. It's used on your phone only, to work out prayer times and the Qibla direction. It's never sent to us and isn't included in your account's backup. You can also enter your location manually instead of sharing it.
- Travel updates (optional, iPhone). If you turn on "Update when I travel" and allow location "Always", your phone lets Estiqamah know when you've arrived somewhere new, even while the app is closed, so your prayer times and reminders update by themselves. This happens only on your phone: your location still never reaches us, and isn't kept as a history of where you've been. You can turn it off anytime in Settings, or in your phone's settings.
- Reminders. Prayer, azkar and Qur'an reminders are scheduled on your phone itself. We don't send them from a server.
- Widgets. The Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets show your prayer times, what you've ticked, today's wird and a word for the day. The app keeps this in a space on your phone that only Estiqamah and its widgets can read. A prayer you tick on a widget is saved there too, and added to your record the next time you open the app.
- A copy of your record, so the app works without internet.
Permissions the app asks for
- Location, only for prayer times and the Qibla. It's optional: you can enter your location manually instead.
- Location "Always" (iPhone), only if you turn on travel updates, so your times can update when you arrive somewhere new. It's optional, and the app works fully without it.
- Notifications, only for the reminders you turn on.
- Alarms and reminders (Android), so your reminders arrive on time and aren't held back by the phone to save battery.
The app doesn't use your microphone, camera, contacts or photos, and doesn't use an advertising ID or track you across other apps and websites.
Listening to the Qur'an
When you press play, the recitation streams from a Qur'an audio service. Like any website, it sees your internet address and which surah is being played. Nothing about your account is sent to it.
Emails
We email you only about your account: the code to confirm your email, the code to reset your password, and a notice if your password changes. These are sent through an email delivery service on our behalf. If you contact support from the app, your email includes the app's version and your phone's model, to help us answer.
What we don't do
- No ads, and no advertising or analytics trackers.
- We don't sell your information or share it for advertising.
- We don't use your record for anything except showing it back to you.
- This website doesn't use cookies or tracking.
Why we use your information
Simply, to make Estiqamah work for you: to sign you in, keep your record safe so it's waiting for you on a new phone, and run the circles you join. Your location and reminders are only used if you allow them, and you can change that anytime in your phone's settings.
Services we rely on
Like most apps, Estiqamah relies on a few trusted service providers, who handle information only to provide their service to us:
- a secure cloud database, which keeps accounts, records and circles;
- an email delivery service, for account emails;
- web hosting, for this website and our support email;
- a Qur'an audio service, for recitations;
- Apple and Google, who deliver the app and the phone's own services under their own policies.
Some of these services may be based in a different country from yours. Wherever they are, your information is kept secure, and each one receives only what it needs to do its job.
Information is sent over encrypted connections, and each account can only reach its own record.
Keeping and deleting your information
We keep your account and record for as long as you have an account. When you delete your account, your account, your record, your circle memberships and your juz claims are deleted from our server straight away, and can't be recovered. Any copies in our hosting provider's routine backups are removed within 30 days. How to delete your account.
Your choices
You can see and change your name, username and email in your profile, save a copy of your record from Settings, and delete your account at any time. If you have a question or a complaint about your information, write to [email protected] and we'll reply within 30 days. If you're ever not satisfied, you can also reach out to the data protection authority where you live.
Who Estiqamah is for
Estiqamah is made for a general audience. It isn't designed for young children, and we don't knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you learn that a young child has made an account, let us know and we'll remove it.
Changes
If we change this policy, we'll update the date above, and tell you in the app if the change is important.