PRIVACY POLICY - QIBLA COMPASS
Last updated: 23 August 2026
Qibla Compass ("the app") is developed and published by Muhammad Taha, trading
as Tahatec. This policy explains what the app does with information about you.
Questions, requests or complaints:
support@tahatec.com
THE SHORT VERSION
Your location is used on your phone and is not sent to me. There is no account
and no sign-in. I do not know who you are.
The app does contain Google and Meta components for analytics, crash reporting,
notifications and advertising, and those do collect information about your
device. The detail is below.
1. YOUR LOCATION
What it is used for: working out the direction of the Kaaba from where you are,
calculating prayer times, and looking up the local magnetic declination so the
compass can be corrected from magnetic north to true north.
Where it goes: nowhere. Your position is read from the operating system, used
on the device, and discarded. It is not transmitted to me, and it is not
transmitted to any analytics, advertising or crash-reporting service.
The app requests location only while it is in use. It does not request
background location.
There is no reverse geocoding and no online place search. The app never asks a
server "what is at these coordinates" or "where is this person". The 282 cities
you can choose from are compiled into the app itself.
If you choose a city or type coordinates by hand, that choice is stored on your
device so the app remembers it. It is deliberately excluded from Android's cloud
backup and from device-to-device transfer of app data, because for most people
that location is their home. Uninstalling the app deletes it.
2. ANALYTICS (GOOGLE FIREBASE ANALYTICS)
Used to understand which features are used and where the app is failing.
What is recorded: which screens are opened; whether a Qibla bearing was
successfully shown and whether the needle reached it; whether a location request
succeeded or failed and the reason; the compass accuracy the device reported;
which prayer calculation method and school are selected; which language and
theme are in use; whether this device has a compass at all; whether
notification and advertising permissions were granted; and how many prayer
reminders are switched on.
What is NOT recorded: no latitude, no longitude, no city name, no timezone, no
address, and no exact distance. The only geographic value collected is a
five-bucket band of how far you are from Makkah (under 100 km, 100-1000 km,
1000-3000 km, 3000-8000 km, over 8000 km). This is deliberate: an exact
distance would place you on a known circle around Makkah, which combined with
other signals could narrow you down to a town.
Firebase also collects some information automatically, without the app asking:
an app instance identifier, device model, operating system version, app
version, and an approximate country or region derived from your IP address.
3. CRASH REPORTING (GOOGLE FIREBASE CRASHLYTICS)
When the app crashes or hits an error it handles, a report is sent containing
the error, a stack trace, the app version, and the device model and OS version.
Coordinates are never included in a crash report.
4. NOTIFICATIONS (GOOGLE FIREBASE CLOUD MESSAGING)
If you allow notifications, the device registers a messaging token with Google
and subscribes to a general announcements topic, so I can send occasional
messages about the app. The token identifies the installation, not you.
Prayer reminders are separate and do not use this. They are calculated on your
device from the position of the sun and scheduled locally by Android, which is
why they work with no connection. Nothing about your prayer times is sent
anywhere.
5. ADVERTISING (GOOGLE ADMOB, WITH META AUDIENCE NETWORK)
The app is free and shows ads, supplied by Google AdMob. Meta Audience Network
is included as a mediation partner, meaning Meta may also supply an ad.
Ad requests may include your device's advertising identifier, your IP address,
and coarse information about your device. Your precise location is not sent by
the app to the ad networks.
Before any personalised ad request is made, the app shows Google's User
Messaging Platform consent form where that is required - the EEA, the UK and
certain US states. You can change your answer at any time from
Settings > Ad privacy options. Declining does not restrict any feature of the
app; you will simply see less relevant ads.
The advertising SDK also declares Android Privacy Sandbox permissions
(ACCESS_ADSERVICES_AD_ID, ACCESS_ADSERVICES_ATTRIBUTION,
ACCESS_ADSERVICES_TOPICS) and an install-referrer permission, which allow
Google's advertising and attribution systems to operate on newer Android
versions.
Google's policies:
https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads
Meta's policies:
https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy
6. THE MAP SCREEN - THE ONE EXCEPTION
Everything above happens without your location leaving the device. The map
screen is the exception, and it is worth being direct about it.
Opening the map requests map images from OpenStreetMap's tile servers. Those
requests necessarily include your IP address and which part of the world you
are looking at, which tells OpenStreetMap roughly where you are. This happens
only on that screen. The compass, the bearing, the distance, the prayer times
and the reminders never make a network request.
OpenStreetMap Foundation privacy policy:
https://osmfoundation.org/wiki/Privacy_Policy
7. PERMISSIONS, AND WHY EACH ONE EXISTS
Location (approximate and precise, while in use)
The Qibla bearing and prayer times. Approximate is enough for both; the
precise option is offered but never required.
Internet and network state
Ads, analytics, crash reports, notifications, and map tiles.
Notifications
Prayer reminders and app announcements. Only requested when you turn a
reminder on.
Vibrate
The short buzz when the needle reaches the Qibla.
Schedule exact alarm
Delivering a prayer reminder at the right minute. If you do not grant it,
reminders still work but may arrive a few minutes late, and the app says
so. The app deliberately does not use USE_EXACT_ALARM, which is reserved
for alarm clocks and calendars.
Run at startup
Re-scheduling your prayer reminders after the phone restarts.
Advertising ID, Privacy Sandbox, install referrer, wake lock,
foreground service, messaging receipt
Added by the Google advertising and Firebase components described above,
not requested by the app's own code.
8. WHAT IS NOT COLLECTED
No name, email address, phone number, contacts, photos, files, calendar,
microphone or camera data. No account. No advertising profile built by me. No
coordinates, ever.
9. HOW LONG DATA IS KEPT
Settings and your chosen location stay on your device until you clear the app's
data or uninstall it.
Analytics and crash data are retained by Google under the retention period
configured for my Firebase project. Advertising data is retained by Google and
Meta under their own policies, linked above.
10. CHILDREN
The app is not directed at children and I do not knowingly collect information
from children. It is not enrolled in Google Play's Designed for Families
programme.
11. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS
Google and Meta process data on infrastructure outside your country, including
in the United States. Their transfer safeguards are described in the policies
linked above.
12. YOUR CHOICES AND RIGHTS
- Location: revoke it in Android Settings > Apps > Qibla Compass >
Permissions. The app keeps working; choose a city by hand instead.
- Ads: change your consent from Settings > Ad privacy options, or reset or
delete your advertising ID in Android Settings > Privacy > Ads.
- Notifications: turn them off in the app or in Android settings.
- Everything on the device: uninstalling the app removes it.
Depending on where you live you may have rights to access, correct, delete or
port your data, or to object to processing. Because the app holds no account
and I cannot identify you, exercising these rights generally means contacting
Google or Meta about data held under their identifiers. Write to me at
support@tahatec.com and I will help where I can.
13. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY
If the app's data practices change, this policy is updated and the date at the
top changes with it. The current version is always the one linked from the app's
Google Play listing, and material changes are noted in the release notes there.
Continuing to use the app after an update means the revised policy applies.
14. CONTACT
Muhammad Taha, trading as Tahatec
support@tahatec.com