Muslim Apps and Privacy: Which Ones Actually Respect You?
The Muslim apps that respect your privacy the most are the ones that ask for the least: no mandatory account, no ads, and a location that never leaves your phone. As of July 20, 2026, Pillars and Quran.com are the two strongest names on this front. Muslim Pro is still the most feature-rich, but it carries a 2020 episode worth knowing about before you choose. The most useful thing you can have is a simple, five-question checklist to judge any app before you install it.
Full disclosure: QuranWay is our app. We will also tell you honestly when another app is a better fit for you. This guide is not an ad, it is a way to read the field.
The 2020 story that changed the rules
In November 2020, an investigation by Vice (Motherboard, by journalist Joseph Cox) put the topic on the table. The Muslim Pro app was passing location data to the data broker X-Mode. X-Mode, in turn, resold that data to clients that included contractors working with the US military. An important point: Muslim Pro did not sell data to the military. The chain ran through a third-party broker, and the app denied any direct sale.
Muslim Pro responded publicly, announcing it would end its relationships with its data partners, X-Mode included. And Muslim Pro was not the only one involved: other Muslim apps were working with that same broker too. The problem went beyond a single app.
That story raised a new question: is my prayer app tracking me? Pillars was born out of that climate, in 2021, created by two British students, Abdul-Rahman Abbas and Tariq Imaad Jamal, around one simple idea: a prayer app that does not collect data.
A quick comparison
| App | Best for | Model | French App Store rating (as of July 20, 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pillars | Prayer and qibla, maximum privacy | Freemium, no ads | 4.8/5 (262 reviews) |
| Quran.com | Reading, listening to and memorizing the Quran | 100% free, no ads, non-profit | 4.9/5 (3,039 reviews) |
| Muslim Pro | The most complete all-in-one | Freemium with ads, ad-free Premium | 4.6/5 (555,321 reviews) |
| QuranWay | Quran, prayer and qibla in one place | Freemium (free to download, optional Premium) | New app, still too few reviews |
The 5 questions to ask before you install
Before you download a religious app, ask yourself these five questions. They are almost always enough to decide.
- Is an account required? A prayer or Quran app usually has no reason to demand an email and password. If you are forced to create an account just for prayer times, ask yourself why.
- Is your location transmitted, or does it stay on the phone? Your app needs your position to work out prayer times and qibla, that is normal. What is not normal is sending it to third-party servers, because the calculation can happen on the device.
- Is there advertising? Ads are not free: they are often paid for with your data. An app with no ads has fewer reasons to track you.
- Is the privacy policy readable? Open it. Clear and short is a good sign. Missing or unreadable is a bad sign.
- Is the business model clear? An app has to live on something: a subscription, donations, a nonprofit behind it. When you cannot see how it makes money, you might be the product.
Pillars: the app built around privacy
Pillars is probably the most polished example of the genre. Its privacy policy is clear: location is processed entirely on the phone, and no data is sent to the developer. Its App Store listing even shows the line "The developer does not collect any data from this app", a declaration validated by Apple, not a slogan. No ads, no analytics tool inside the app. The model is an optional Premium subscription (themes, Apple Watch), and it does not even accept donations.
Two honest limits: Pillars does not offer Quran reading and has no plans to add it (it points you to another app for that), and it is only available in English and Turkish, with no French version.
Who is it for? For you if you want prayer times, the adhan and qibla with maximum peace of mind on the data side, and English does not bother you.
Quran.com: the Quran, no ads and no cost
Quran.com is published by the Quran Foundation, a non-profit organization, and it is an excellent app. It is 100% free, ad-free, with an optional donation and open source code. You get the Arabic text, several translations (including three in French: Hamidullah, Montada Islamic Foundation, Rachid Maash), tafsir, word-by-word, transliteration, a wide choice of reciters and reading plans. As of July 20, 2026, it is rated 4.9/5 on the French App Store (3,039 reviews).
What it does not do: no prayer times, no qibla, no adhan. That is a deliberate choice. It focuses on reading, listening to and memorizing the Quran, and it does that remarkably well. We actually gave it a full review of the Quran.com app.
Who is it for? For you if your main need is to read and study the Quran, without paying anything and without a single ad. For prayer and qibla, you will need a second app.
Muslim Pro: the most complete, with a past and some commitments
You cannot talk about this subject without Muslim Pro. It is the historic heavyweight, available since 2010, fully in French, rated 4.6/5 on the French App Store as of July 20, 2026 (555,321 reviews). It does just about everything: prayer times, adhan, Quran, qibla, video, community, prayer tracking.
Its model is freemium with ads in the free version, a Premium subscription that removes the ads, and extra paid options. This is where the 2020 episode comes in. In its defense, the app denied any direct sale to the military, announced it was cutting ties with its data partners, and was not the only one involved. The subject is old, and the app has evolved a lot since.
Who is it for? For you if you want a very rich all-in-one app, in French, and the ads in the free version do not bother you. If data restraint is your priority, look at Pillars instead.
A special mention for Mawaqit, a remarkable French community project whose strength is unique: prayer times synced with your local mosque. We cover it in our review of Mawaqit and its alternatives.
QuranWay: no account, location that stays with you
We finish with our own, playing it straight. QuranWay is a recent app (released in March 2026), freemium: free to download, a 14-day trial, then an optional Premium subscription (from €3.99 per week to €99.99 lifetime on the French listing). It brings together the Quran, prayer times and qibla, with several reciters, a full offline mode and a French interface.
On the data side, here is what we do, without dressing it up. No account is required, no email and no password. Your GPS location is never transmitted; prayer times and qibla are calculated on your device. Your favorites, your memorization and your progress stay stored locally. No ads are shown. Our privacy policy is up to date, in French, on our dedicated page.
In full transparency: the app may use an audience measurement component (TikTok Business), strictly conditional on your consent through App Tracking Transparency, the iOS prompt that asks whether you accept tracking. If you decline, nothing goes out on that side. The events that are sent are anonymous, are used only to improve the app, and are never sold. We would rather tell you this plainly than sell you on "100% private".
Who is it for? For you if you want the Quran, prayer and qibla together, in French, without creating an account and without your position leaving your phone.
FAQ
Do Muslim apps sell my data?
Some have in the past, often through third-party data brokers rather than directly. The 2020 Muslim Pro story (location passed to the broker X-Mode) was a wake-up call. Since then, apps like Pillars or Quran.com have been built on a promise to collect nothing. It all depends on the app, so read its privacy label before you install.
Which Muslim app is the most privacy-friendly?
As of July 20, 2026, Pillars is the strictest: its App Store listing states "no data collected" and its location stays on the phone. Quran.com, non-profit and ad-free, is excellent for the Quran side. No app is perfect, so the smart move is to check account, location, ads and policy rather than trust a slogan.
Does a prayer app need my location all the time?
No. Your position is used to calculate prayer times and qibla, but that calculation can happen on the device, on the spot, without sending it anywhere or accessing it in the background. A location set to "always" rather than "while using" is worth a second look.
How can I tell if a Muslim app is tracking me?
Look at the privacy label on its App Store listing, which shows what the developer declares it collects. Also check the permissions, whether there are ads, and read the policy. On iPhone, the App Tracking Transparency prompt lets you refuse cross-app tracking.
Is there a Muslim app with no ads and no tracking?
Yes. Pillars shows no ads and declares it collects no data. Quran.com is ad-free and non-profit. QuranWay shows no ads, asks for no account and does not transmit your location. What they share: a clear business model (subscription, donations or a nonprofit), not the resale of data.
In short
Choosing a religious app that respects your privacy is not about fear, it is about habit. Five questions and one privacy label to open, and you know the essentials. Pillars and Quran.com are excellent choices, each in its own area, and Muslim Pro is still the most complete.
If you want the Quran, prayer and qibla together, with no account and without your position leaving your phone: Try QuranWay. You can also try it in your browser, with no install, at https://app.quranway.xyz. And if you go Premium, redeem the code THEQURANWAY here: https://apps.apple.com/redeem?ctx=offercodes&id=6758965032&code=THEQURANWAY.
To go further, read our comparison of the best Muslim apps 2026 and our guide to the best French Quran app.