Digital Ramadan: How to Protect Your Privacy

As a result of the Corona measures in most countries, Ramadan will mainly take place online, just like last year. To facilitate this people will use many apps and programs to meet digitally or be reminded of prayer times. An example of such an app is Muslim Pro. How do you protect your privacy when you’re using apps like this and what should you be paying attention to?

We analyzed the privacy policies of 50 different Ramadan and prayer apps to see what they do to protect your privacy. For example, how do they store your personal data? Do they share your data with others? And how transparent are they about their data collection? Finally, we’ll take a closer look at three apps that take relatively good care of your privacy.

Privacy Policies: A Closer Look

Looking at all the privacy documents, something immediately stands out: 7 of the 50 examined apps don’t even have a privacy policy. In addition, many of the documents are based on a very standard template or example privacy policy. Some of the policies are very limited and only consist of a couple of sentences.

On average, a privacy policy for a Ramadan app contains 1166 words, which is about two pages of text. We previously investigated the length of the privacy statements for other types of apps, such as social media, dating, and gaming apps. In this research, the privacy policies of the apps on average consisted of 5,695 words. Ramadan apps thus describe their privacy conditions with 79,5% fewer words than the apps in the other research.

The table below provides an overview of the apps studied and the word count of their privacy policies. In addition, it also shows you whether the app has any ads. These ads are often managed by a third party and in some cases you will be asked to give permission to gain access to your browsing data in order to offer personalized ads.

Later in this article, we’ll dive into some specific aspects of these privacy policies. For instance, the type of permissions the apps need to function.

Most Popular Apps in 2020 Linked to Location Scandal

At the end of 2020, it was revealed that the US military purchased location data from a network of apps and related companies. Muslim Pro and Muslim Mingle were among the apps in this network. As a result of this incident, the security of these apps was suddenly called into question by the Muslim community and some called on people to remove the app.

Our recent analysis also shows that many Ramadan apps share data with third parties, for example for advertising purposes. With the Cambridge Analytica scandal, we saw what can happen when data is exchanged with third parties. The 2020 turmoil surrounding Muslim Pro shows how important it is for an app to consider user privacy, especially when it is related to your religious background.

Lots of Ramadan Apps Are Created in Asia

Many of the Ramadan apps we studied were created by Asian developers. In total, 26 of the 50 apps we examined were created in Asian countries. Especially in India (10 apps) and Pakistan (8 apps), there seem to be a lot of developers working on these types of apps.

Nine of the apps were created by European developers. Of these, four are Turkish, two French, one from the United Kingdom, one from Russia, and one from Ukraine. For 10 apps we could not identify the country of origin of the developers.

The wide variety of locations means that different laws and regulations apply. Not every country is as strict when it comes to handling personal data.

Encryption Security for Five Apps

Only a few of the privacy policies actually provided clear information about the security, legislation, and data processing of the app. For example, for 19 of the apps, it is completely unknown how they handle data security. Another 20 apps state in their privacy policies that they cannot guarantee the security of the app, with phrases such as ‘remember that no method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure and reliable, and we cannot guarantee its absolute security.’

Only 5 apps emphasized the use of encryption to secure the data. These were:

• Qibla Compass – Ramadan 2021, Prayer Times, Quran
• Prayer Times: Azan, Quran, Qibla Compass
• Ramadan Times
• Quran Majeed
• Prayer times: Pro Athan. Qibla

Only 1 in 10 Apps Explicitly Adheres to GDPR

It is often unclear what legislation applies to the apps. Only 5 out of 50 developers state in their privacy policy that their app adheres to the GDPR, the European privacy laws.

• Muslim Pro
• Qibla Compass – Ramadan 2020, Prayer Times, Quran
• 1Muslim – Prayer times, Azan, Qibla
• Prayer Times: Azan, Quran, Qibla Compass
• Islam Pro: Quran, Muslim Prayer times, Qibla, Dua

When using the “Athan Pro” app, UK law applies. Muslim Assistant: Azan Time, Qibla, Prayer, Quran” states in their privacy policy that their content comes from Turkish ministries.

‘Most of the content sources and information in the app is referenced from the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey, the Presidency of Religious Affairs. Where, Presidency of the Republic of Turkey, Presidency of Religious Affairs doesn’t have any liability, responsibility or connection with the Muslim Assistant App.’

How is Data Processed

With most of these Ramadan apps, it remains a mystery how your data is processed. No fewer than 37 of the 50 apps do not provide information about the retention period of your data.

3 apps state that they keep your data as long as needed. These apps are ‘Muslim App – Adan Prayer times, Qibla, Holy Quran’, ‘Islam Pro: Quran, Muslim Prayer times, Qibla, Dua’ and ‘1Muslim – Prayer times, Azan, Qibla’. MBC Ramadan saves your data for 10 years and a few other apps save it for 1 or 2 years.

5 apps state they do not retain any of your data:

• Athan Pro
• iPray
• Muslim Daily: Athan, Namaz, Qibla, Hijiri, Dhikr
• Ramadan Calendar 2021 with Prayer Times and Duas
• Muslim Prayer Times: Qibla Finder, Quran, Compass

App Permissions for Ramadan Apps

Most of the Ramadan apps we looked at require access to your files and other smartphone applications in order to function optimally. Below you’ll find an overview of the requested (and sometimes even required) permissions, including location data, data about your internet connection, access to your camera, access to your microphone, and access to your files. In addition, some apps even ask for permission to view your browsing data for advertising purposes.

When interpreting the data below, keep in mind that a red cross, in this case, is actually a good thing for your privacy. The fact that a Ramadan app does not require access to this data is better for the level of privacy provided.

Do the Apps Share Data with Third Parties

Some of the apps studied include information in their privacy policy about sharing data with third parties and whether or not this is done for advertising purposes. Below you can find an overview of this information. The explanation is a concise interpretation of what the privacy policy says about sharing data with third parties.

As you can see in the table above, almost 40 of the 50 apps share data with third parties. This is mainly done for advertising purposes. Moreover, some of the apps seem to use the exact same privacy policy. This makes you question whether or not these documents are up-to-date and correct. For nine of the apps it remains unknown whether they share data with third parties or not because they do not have a privacy policy. Only one app, Quran Majeed, explicitly states that is does not share data with third parties.

Sharing data with third parties doesn’t mean the same thing for all these apps. Some apps explicitly state that they only share data with third parties to ensure the operation of the app (iPray). Other apps indicate that they do share data with third parties, but that these parties must handle the data with confidentiality. Still other apps indicate that they share data with third parties and that you should check their partner’s privacy policy to find out how they will handle your data. However, they do not indicate who their partners are or where you can find their privacy policy.

Some notable privacy policies are those of “Muslim Pro” and “Muslim Assistant: Azan Time, Qibla, Prayer, Quran”. Muslim Pro states that they may use your information for their own interests and that partners may also use your information as they please. Muslim Assistant: Azan Time, Qibla, Prayer, Quran even indicates that they become the owner of the data posted by you and that they can use it without owing you anything.

Final Verdict

As you can see, there are major differences between the Ramadan apps in how they handle your data. For that reason, it is important to investigate when you want to start using one of these apps. While the apps can be useful to be reminded of prayer times, poorly protected personal data can have unpleasant consequences. Always choose a safe app and be careful with the data that you share.

Based on the results of our research, the following apps take relatively good care of your privacy:

• Quran Majeed: uses encryption and doesn’t share data with third parties. Does contain ads. The app is free.
• iPray: Does not contain ads and does not save any information but does ask for access to your location. The app is not free.
• 1Muslim: Follows GDPR privacy rules and does not show ads, does ask for access to your location and files, and might share data with third parties. This app is free.

Attend Digital Prayer with Video Calling Apps

If you want to attend digital prayer but still protect your privacy you can check out our article on the privacy of different video calling apps. We tested these video calling apps to see what they do to protect your privacy during video calls.

Research method

To assess how the apps score on privacy, the privacy policies of 50 different Ramadan and prayer apps were analyzed. In addition, we retrieved information about the apps (number of downloads, permissions and in-app purchases) from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.