Why this keeps happening
One hidden calculation method
Apps that never show the method give you times that quietly disagree with your local mosque all year.
Notifications killed by battery saver
Scheduled alarms are the first thing aggressive power management drops.
Stale location
An app that cached your location on a trip keeps calculating for the wrong city.
How to fix it
- 1
Match your mosque's convention
Ask which calculation method your mosque uses and select the same one.
- 2
Apply a per-prayer offset
If Fajr is consistently two minutes early, correct that prayer alone rather than all five.
- 3
Exempt the app from battery optimisation
This single Android setting fixes the majority of missed adhan notifications.
- 4
Confirm your location is live
Re-grant location permission after travelling, or set your city manually.
How our approach compares
| Capability | Salah Companion: Prayer Times | Typical alternatives |
|---|---|---|
| Shows the calculation method | Yes, and lets you change it | Usually hidden |
| Per-prayer offsets | Yes | Rare |
| Ads inside reminders | None | Common |
| Offline qibla | Yes | Often needs data |
Frequently asked
Why do prayer time apps disagree with each other?
They use different calculation conventions for the sun angle at Fajr and Isha. Neither is wrong — they follow different established standards. Match the one your local mosque uses.
Do I need an internet connection?
No. Once your location and method are set, times and the qibla compass are calculated on your device.
Why did my adhan notification not play?
Almost always battery optimisation. Exempt the app in Android settings and re-open it once so alarms are rescheduled.
How do I know which calculation method my mosque uses?
Ask at the mosque, or compare a printed timetable with your app for a week. If Fajr and Isha line up but the other three do not, the difference is usually a rounding or offset setting rather than the method. If Fajr and Isha are the ones drifting, it is almost certainly the sun-angle convention: the Muslim World League, Umm al-Qura, ISNA, Egyptian and Karachi conventions each use different angles, and switching to the one your community follows usually fixes the gap in a single change.
What is a per-prayer offset and when should I use one?
An offset shifts one prayer by a fixed number of minutes without touching the others. Use it when a single prayer is consistently early or late compared with your local timetable — commonly Fajr in high-latitude places, or Asr where the community follows a different shadow rule. Adjust in small steps of one or two minutes, and only after you have set the correct calculation method, otherwise you are patching over the wrong problem.
Why do times change when I travel?
Prayer times depend on your latitude, longitude and time zone, so they should change when you move. Problems appear when an app keeps a cached location: it quietly calculates times for the city you left. After a flight, open the app once, confirm the location it is using, and re-grant location permission if the operating system revoked it while you were away. Setting your city manually is the safest option for a long trip.
What about high latitudes where the sun barely sets?
Above roughly 48 degrees latitude the sun may not reach the required angle in summer, so Fajr and Isha cannot be calculated normally. Established approximations exist — the middle of the night rule, one-seventh of the night, and the nearest-latitude approach. Choose the one your local scholars recommend and keep it consistent through the season rather than switching between methods week to week.