Privacy & technology
How to Read a Muslim App Privacy Policy
Read a Muslim app privacy policy feature by feature: list the data each one uses, compare App Store and Google Play labels, and check deletion first.
Editorial writing date:
Read a Muslim app's privacy policy one feature at a time. For each feature you plan to use, answer five questions: what data it uses, why, where it is processed, whether it is optional, and who can see it. How to remove the data later is a separate check, covered in the deletion section below. Plain answers tell you more than a broad promise such as "privacy focused."
Open the current policy and the app's store listing side by side. Check that the publisher name, app name and contact address match. Write down the policy's date, because a later version may answer the same question differently.
The examples below use Everyday Muslim, which is our own app. We use our own app's policy because we can check every line of it.
Key Takeaways
- List the features you will actually use, then find the policy section for each one.
- Treat App Store and Google Play privacy labels as developer-written summaries, not as a full audit.
- Location permission, analytics, cloud backup and sharing with other people are separate questions.
- Signing out, uninstalling or removing a Google connection is not the same as deleting your account.
Start with the features you will use
Make a short list before you read a single paragraph. A typical list might be prayer times, adhan reminders, a prayer tracker, a mosque search and a cloud backup. Some people also want a partner group or a Quran notes feature.
Each item on that list can handle data differently. A prayer-time calculation, a nearby mosque search and a shared partner group raise different questions. A policy sentence about one of them does not cover the others.
Account sign-in is a good example. The Everyday Muslim privacy policy says you can use the app without creating an account. It also says Firebase Analytics and Crashlytics run in the app "including when you are not signed in." Skipping sign-in means no account profile is created, but analytics and crash reporting still run.
Fill in a five-question worksheet
Look for named data types and named purposes. "We improve our services" tells you little. A sentence that names crash reports, device details or a search location tells you much more.
Use these five questions for each feature:
| Question | Detail to look for |
|---|---|
| What data is used? | Location, account identity, worship records, messages or diagnostic data |
| Why is it used? | A named feature, error reports, usage analytics or another stated purpose |
| Where is it processed? | On the phone, on the publisher's servers or by a named provider |
| Is it optional? | The setting that turns it on, and what still works if you decline |
| Who can see it? | Support staff, a named service provider or other users you choose |
If the policy does not answer a question, leave the cell blank and keep it as a question for support. A well-known provider name, such as Google or Firebase, does not tell you which data this app sends there.
A worked example: the nearby mosque search
Here is the worksheet filled in for one feature, using the Everyday Muslim privacy policy dated October 21, 2026. Every answer below comes from that policy or the mosques and halal places page. Check the current version before relying on it.
- What data is used? Your location, plus the search details you enter.
- Why is it used? To find nearby mosques, restaurants and shops.
- Where is it processed? The policy says nearby-place and map requests "may send location or search details to the relevant service provider." It also says the app records the search category, keyword, radius, latitude and longitude in Firebase Analytics.
- Is it optional? Partly. You decide whether to grant location permission and whether to run a search. If you run a nearby search, the analytics logging described above applies to it. The prayer times page notes that the app also lets you choose your location manually.
- Who can see it? Google/Firebase processes the analytics data, and the relevant nearby-place or map service provider receives the location or search details a request sends. The policy says the Google/Firebase services "are not a sale of your data."
The result is a clear decision point. If you are comfortable with that processing, use the search. If not, you can still use other features and look up a mosque another way. Either way, you decided from the policy's own words.
Compare the App Store and Google Play labels
Both stores show a privacy summary on the app's listing. On iPhone, it is the App Privacy section of the App Store page. On Android, it is the Data safety section of the Google Play listing.
Apple's App Privacy Details guidance says developers must describe their own practices "including the practices of third-party partners whose code you integrate," such as analytics tools and SDKs. It also allows some data types to be left off the label when they meet every one of several narrow conditions.
Google's Data safety explanation also describes a self-declared summary. It lists cases that are not reported as "shared," including data sent to a service provider that processes it on the developer's behalf. It also notes that an independent security review does not verify that the label is accurate or complete.
So read the label first, then read the policy section for each feature on your list. If the two seem to disagree, save both links, the date and the exact wording, and ask the publisher a specific question. A confusing label is a reason to ask, not proof of misconduct.
Keep permissions and data handling apart
A location permission controls whether the app can read your position on the phone. It does not tell you what happens after a feature uses that position. The policy is where you find out whether a search sends details to another service or is recorded in analytics.
The location and notification permission guide walks through the iPhone and Android settings for each choice. Remember that turning off location access later does not delete records an online feature has already stored.
Worship records need the same care. A cloud backup kept for your own restore is different from progress you share with a partner. The policy says Khair Partners profiles, groups, notes and shared activity can be stored using Google Firebase services, and that content you choose to share can be visible to other users. The worship notes backup guide explains how to keep a backup without sharing it.
Check deletion before you sign in
Find the deletion section before you create an account. Look for three things: how to start deletion, which data it covers and what the publisher keeps afterwards.
The Everyday Muslim policy answers each one:
- How to start: use Delete Account in the app's profile settings.
- What it covers: your account and its associated active profile, backup and Khair Partners data.
- What remains: the backend keeps a deletion record with your account email and the deletion date. Account deletion "does not automatically erase all service-generated analytics or diagnostic records," and the policy says it may not remove every copy of content you already shared with others.
Removing an app's Google connection is a different step. Google's linked apps guidance says that removing a Sign in with Google link stops automatic sign-in but "doesn't delete your data on the app." The Everyday Muslim policy agrees: revoking Google access, signing out or uninstalling does not by itself delete data stored for your account.
Ask support a question it can answer
Write one narrow question per concern. Name the feature, the data type and your app version. For example:
- "If I use prayer times without signing in, which data is sent to Firebase Analytics?"
- "Does account deletion remove every cloud backup copy, or can any copy remain afterwards?"
- "Is the location from a nearby search stored anywhere besides Firebase Analytics?"
Send the question to the contact address in the policy. For Everyday Muslim, that is support@umratech.com, listed in the privacy policy. You do not need to send your worship history or precise location to ask. If a screenshot helps, crop out unrelated personal details first.
Save the reply next to the policy date you read. Check the relevant section again when you turn on a cloud or social feature, change accounts or see that the policy date has changed.
