How Daraja handles your data

On your iPhone

Your reflections, prayer logs and Quran progress are stored in an encrypted database on your iPhone. The key that unlocks it is kept in your device’s keychain and stays on that device.

Prayer times are calculated on your iPhone from the location you set and the calculation settings you choose.

If you turn on the Fajr alarm, Daraja keeps a separate, device-only scheduling copy of your calculation coordinates, time zone, alarm settings and the dates when alarms or wake-up checks are paused. It contains no pause reasons or journal writing. After this iPhone’s first unlock, iOS can use that copy while the journal is locked to maintain future alarms. Turning the alarm off or changing journals retires the scheduling copy.

Your journal and private drafts stay on this iPhone unless you turn on encrypted backup or sync.

Backups, sync and exports

You choose whether to back up or sync. Signing in alone doesn’t turn on either.

Automatic backup saves an encrypted recovery copy to your iCloud Drive. It includes your journal, photos, worship logs and portable preferences, and Daraja keeps the latest three completed copies. You can also save an encrypted backup file yourself from Settings.

Journal sync is a separate account feature. When you turn it on, your existing and future reflections, drafts and attached photos are sent as encrypted records to Daraja’s service. Worship logs and app settings are included in backups but don’t sync in this version.

Keep your recovery code somewhere safe. Signing into Daraja or iCloud alone can’t unlock your encrypted journal on a new iPhone.

Exports are readable copies of your data. Keep them somewhere private.

Weather and location

To show the weather in your landscape, Daraja asks Apple’s weather service for conditions near you. Apple receives your approximate location to answer that request. You can turn location off and the landscape still works without live weather.

Apple Maps provides maps, place lookups and nearby masjid searches. Apple receives the search and map area needed to return those results. Your saved prayer-place history is kept in Daraja’s encrypted local records and included in the encrypted backups you choose to make.

Prayer Focus

Prayer Focus uses Apple’s Screen Time features. The apps you choose to quiet are chosen through Apple’s own picker, and Daraja cannot see which apps they are.

AI processing

OpenAI doesn’t use API data to train its models by default. It may keep submitted data for up to 30 days to monitor abuse, or longer where the law or safety requires it. Images flagged for potential child sexual abuse material may be kept for review. See OpenAI’s data controls.

Fajr wake-up challenge

The wake-up challenge is optional and off until you turn it on. It asks you for a photo of your prayer mat or sink, and Daraja asks before the first one is sent.

Only the photo you take is sent, through Daraja’s server to OpenAI, to check whether a prayer mat or sink is clearly visible. Location and camera details are removed from the photo before it leaves your iPhone. The answer that comes back is only “recognized”, “not recognized” or “unsure”.

Daraja doesn’t save the photo, on your iPhone or on its server. To keep the service working and limit daily use, the server keeps short-lived check-in records without the photo, and deletes them within two days. You don’t need an account.

The check looks for an object. It doesn’t verify that you prayed, and you can always log a prayer without a photo.

Accounts and Pacts

You can use Daraja without an account. An account, through Sign in with Apple or Google, is needed for encrypted journal sync, Pacts with other people and sharing a weekly reflection. Creating or signing into an account doesn’t turn on backup or journal sync by itself.

Daraja requests sign-in without name, email or photo scopes and rejects identity tokens containing those profile details. The service keeps a provider-issued account identifier and sign-in session records. The name your Pacts see is stored on your iPhone and encrypted for Pact members when shared.

Members’ iPhones encrypt the Pact’s name, questions, everyone’s names, shared answers and progress before sending them. The service stores that encrypted content along with membership, timing, size and delivery information. Members’ devices change the group key after someone leaves. Members can keep what you share with them.

You can delete your account from Settings in the app.

Community reflections

Your weekly reflection and Quran notes stay in your private journal. Sharing uses a separate copy, and nothing is sent for community review until you agree to the posting rules and AI review of that copy. Editing the public copy requires agreement again.

The public copy is sent through Daraja’s server to OpenAI for safety review. A weekly copy includes the broad region you choose to add, if any; a verse reflection includes its Quran reference. Private notes and journal history are not included. The AI processing rules above apply to these checks.

Weekly copies also require a moderator’s approval. Uncertain verse copies wait for a moderator; a failed check does not publish the new copy. Readers see the approved text and optional region, not your name or profile. Daraja knows which account submitted it, and your writing can still identify you, so leave out identifying details.

You can report a post or hide its contributor from the community menu. You can remove your shared copy at any time. Editing a private note never changes its public copy.

Weekly copies are visible until that week ends, and their text is cleared from Daraja’s server 30 days later. An approved verse copy stays shared until you remove it, a moderator removes it or you delete your account. Unpublished verse text is cleared after 30 days; an earlier approved copy can remain shared until removed.

Service records and support

Daraja’s service keeps account, membership, device, timing, size and security records needed to run optional services. Encryption of journal and Pact content does not make those records anonymous.

Operational server backups can retain earlier records after they are removed from the live service, including account names and Pact content stored by earlier versions. These backups are encrypted with keys controlled by Daraja’s operator. They are different from your client-encrypted journal backups. Exact service-record and operational-backup retention limits are still being finalized before public app release.

If you contact support, Daraja receives the information you choose to include in your message. Avoid sending private journal entries, recovery codes or photographs unless needed for the help you request.

App analytics

The app analytics preference starts on. Collection stays off until the service is enabled for your app, its storage, retention and deletion details are explained, and the current analytics disclosure is acknowledged through the onboarding agreement footer or Settings. Continuing from that footer acknowledges the disclosure; it is not affirmative analytics consent. Where prior consent is required, collection stays off unless you agree. You can turn analytics off in Settings → Privacy & app lock → App usage analytics without losing app features.

When collection is active, Daraja sends limited information through its service to PostHog to understand onboarding, feature discovery and whether app tasks work. This includes broad onboarding steps and features opened, technical outcomes, coarse timing and app/OS versions. A random identifier links events from this installation; it is not your account ID, name, email or sign-in identity. These records are pseudonymous, not anonymous. Rounded event times do not hide when requests reach a server, and Daraja’s network services receive connection information.

Analytics excludes your writing, onboarding answers, signatures, photos, audio, prayer records and reasons, health information, reading history, location and Pact identities or shared content. There is no session replay. App analytics does not follow you across other apps or websites.

Turning analytics off stops future collection and clears events waiting on this iPhone. Delete analytics data also leaves analytics off and requests deletion for the installation identifiers this iPhone still holds. Offline or unfinished requests remain pending; acceptance is not confirmation that deletion is complete. This cannot find records from another phone or a previous installation whose deletion receipt is lost. Deleting your account requests deletion for locally known analytics identifiers, without claiming to erase analytics from every device.

App Store ratings and reviews

Daraja may ask for an App Store rating or review after you use a feature. The app chooses when to ask on your iPhone and keeps a small local record of request attempts to limit interruptions. The private action used to schedule a request is not sent to PostHog. Review scheduling works even when analytics is off.

Apple controls whether the request appears and handles any rating or review you choose to submit. Daraja cannot tell whether a request produced a rating or review. Written App Store reviews may be public, and Daraja can read public reviews.

Tracking

Daraja doesn’t track you across other companies’ apps and websites, and your worship data is not used for advertising.

This website

Cloudflare hosts usedaraja.com and receives technical connection information needed to deliver and protect the site. This website has no account sign-in or forms and does not receive your app journal.

Changes

When a new feature changes how data is handled, this page is updated before that feature reaches you.

Contact

Questions about your data or this page? support@usedaraja.com.