Guidance: Islamic Prayer Times

Alhamdullilah, on the whole, I really like, appreciate the functionality of this app. It gives me what I need and doesn’t clutter it up with all kinds of unnecessary other stuff. What I’m not happy with is the compass, and the lack of any useful information on how to use or fix it. The little arrow always points north, NOT at the Qibla, as one would both hope and expect. You can click on it, and you get a maps screen with some buttons, but none of them has any explanation about how it works, nor corrects the underlying problem. There is no documentation available (presumably because the developer feels the app “just works”). The “app support“ link in the App Store just goes to a splash page for the app. And the developer does not respond to the one communication channel he provides. So no luck. If you aren’t paying attention or are someplace unfamiliar, and you trust that little arrow to point you in the right direction, you’ll do your prayers facing north instead of the direction of prayer. I do also wish that I could change the volume of the notification (on my lock screen) while it was playing, instead of the athan going silent if I touch anything [everything]. There are enough other quick kill options that the volume buttons could've been left for their actual intended purpose.

I can’t function while traveling without this app! No matter where you travel or where you go, it will give you the correct direction of prayer, not only that, it has up to the second (yah second, not minute) prayer times for your selected mathead/calculation. I once was traveling during juma prayer along the interstate. I pulled over at a rest-stop to pray thuhr, pulled up this app and found out a local masjid was near by. Went to that masjid’s website, and was able to pray Juma with a my brothers and sisters instead of praying thuhr by myself. InshAllah the developer will get rewarded for that great ajeer! Oh and please, don’t rate this app low because you don’t enable gps/location services! It’s how it works. It’s like asking someone qibla direction without letting them look at a compass or the sky. How would it work otherwise? Also you can click “search this area” on the map, and it will help you find masjids not near you. That’s how I found one along the highway near the rest area, or when I book a hotel when traveling. I don’t like to miss juma, even when traveling. Also this is an awesome app to have while traveling during Ramadan. Like I said, up to the second prayer times, I always start and stop my fast, at the correct time, every time. The Apple Watch feature helps countdown the time till the next prayer, so I can see when Magrib comes in while driving, without even looking at my phone. I disabled the notifications from the phone because of that feature. But push notifications is an option if you don’t have a watch. I wish I came up with this idea and all those features. The reward from all the good deeds you will get will be immense InshAllah!

I started using Guidance on my Mac laptop and enjoyed it so much. It automatically detects my location and updates prayer time accordingly. It automatically switches times with DLS start and end. When I found the iPhone version, I didn’t hesitate to buy it. I loved the iPhone version even more. It works with Apple Watch and has complications you can use right on your watch face. Scrolling over future prayer times is very convenient. Showing the quibla direction on the map is much more accurate than using compass. However, my wish is to add the compass option so that you can still find the approximate quibla when you are indoors and cannot tell where you are wrt the map.