Month: May 2026

When an app becomes part of prayer

Kaaba, Mecca emerging from a smartphone screen
Image by Gulzer Hossain from Pixabay

How do you mix religion and technology? Riasat Islam a Computer Science lecturer at Queen Mary University of London tells us about his research as part of a team investigating how technology can best support faith.

Around one in four people in the world are Muslim. That is about two billion people and many now use mobile apps as part of everyday religious life. These apps can show prayer times, provide Qur’an reading, list dates for fasting, suggest supplications, or help find the Qibla: the direction of the Kaaba in Makkah, which Muslims face during prayer.

This may sound like a small corner of the app world, but it is not. Some Islamic lifestyle apps have reached tens of millions of users. Muslim Pro, one of the best-known examples, reports more than 190 million downloads worldwide. Its parent company, Bitsmedia, has also raised US$20 million in an early round of funding. So Islamic apps are not tiny side projects. They are part of a large digital ecosystem used by millions of people, but they can still go unnoticed in mainstream technology research.

That is what made us interested. Our research asked a simple question:

How should technology be designed when it supports something as personal as faith?

We reviewed 11 popular Islamic lifestyle apps and interviewed Muslim app users about their experiences. We didn’t only look at what features the apps offered. We wanted to understand how those features supported religious practice, learning, motivation, and connection.

Many apps were good at providing information. Prayer times, Qur’an text, Qibla tools, supplications, Islamic dates, and reminders were common. These can be genuinely useful, especially when someone is travelling, studying, working, or living in a place where prayer times and mosque access are not part of everyday public life.

Is information enough?

But information alone is not always enough. A reminder can tell someone that it is time to pray. A tracker can record Qur’an reading or fasting days. A calendar can list important dates. These are useful features, but they do not automatically help someone understand, reflect, or grow.

That is where Human-Computer Interaction, or HCI, becomes important. HCI studies how people interact with technology. It asks whether technology fits into people’s lives, supports their goals, and respects what matters to them. For Islamic lifestyle apps, and for the growing area of Islamic Computing, this matters because the technology is entering a sensitive space: faith, worship, identity, learning, habit, and community.

Reminders

One issue is reminders. A prayer reminder can be helpful at the right moment. But if it becomes just another phone alert, it may fade into the background. If it is too forceful, it may feel uncomfortable. Good design means thinking carefully about timing, tone, and context.

Tracking

Another issue is tracking. Some apps let users track prayers, Qur’an reading, or fasting. This can support consistency, but it can also reduce spiritual practice to streaks, badges, or numbers. Worship is not the same as a fitness challenge. A better design might support reflection: helping users set personal goals, continue learning, or return gently after missing a routine.

Community also matters

Some apps let users share Islamic quotes or images. That can be useful, but it is not the same as learning with others or asking questions in a trusted space. Many Muslims learn religion through teachers, family, mosques, study circles, and scholars. Apps could do more to support trusted learning and connection, while also handling privacy and misinformation carefully.

Thinking more widely

The wider point is not only about Islamic apps. Computer scientists now design technology for health, education, wellbeing, accessibility, relationships, and faith. In these areas, success is not just whether the software works. The deeper question is whether it supports people well.

  • Does it respect the user’s values?
  • Does it help them understand?
  • Does it support meaningful progress?
  • Does it connect them to trustworthy help?
  • Does it fit into real life?

A prayer app can tell you the time. A better-designed Islamic lifestyle app might help you practise, learn, reflect, and connect, without getting in the way of the spiritual life it is trying to support.

Riasat Islam, Queen Mary University of London

More on

Getting Technical

  • Read Riasat’s team’s journal paper
    • Kabir, M., Kabir, M. R. and Islam, R. (2025). Islamic Lifestyle Applications: Meeting the Spiritual Needs of Modern Muslims. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction. DOI: 10.1080/10447318.2025.2595545. (Taylor & Francis Online)
  • How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020 [EXTERNAL]
    • Hackett, C., Stonawski, M., Tong, Y., Kramer, S., Shi, A. F. and Fahmy, D. (2025). How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020. Pew Research Center. DOI: 10.58094/fj71-ny11. (Pew Research Center)

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