First go through the following checklist:
Once you click 'Notification' this should automatically trigger a test notification too. If this option is already selected, please select 'Silent' > close & re-open the app > select 'Notification'. If you do not receive a test notification the issue has not been fixed. Please follow the steps above carefully again or contact us via email or Twitter DMs.
Android users - some phones have a 'battery saving' feature that reduces the activity of apps in the background, resulting in missed notifications or the arrival of all notifications at once. You may be able to adjust these settings to 'allow' Pillars not to be included. Alternatively you can turn off this battery saving feature completely (this may not be an option). It's also likely that over time your phone will 'learn' that you regularly use the app and therefore begin to show you prompt notifications (however this may take some time).
There are one or more factors that could be causing this issue. Here's some steps you can go through to try fix the issue.
You can now do a test to check whether the adhan is now functioning. To do this navigate to the Prayer page > select a prayer time > click 'Adthan'. You should see a test notification & adhan being played (if it's already selected try selecting another option, close the app and then select 'Adhan' again). If you do not hear the adhan the issue has not been fixed. Please go through the above steps carefully and ensure you've done them all. Otherwise, please contact us via email or Twitter DMs.
Apple - unfortunately, Apple have a limit on the amount of time a notification can play sound (e.g. the athan). Therefore, we've had to cut the athan to only the first part. We hope that Apple will remove this limit in the future but for now this is our only option.
Android - this is rarely an issue with Android issues. You should hear the entire athan. Please contact us via email or DMs if you have this issue.
NOTE: If you are not hearing athan at all please look at our other questions & answers on this page to solve this.
If you were previously getting notifications as normal and are now suddenly not getting any notifications at all there are two possible explanations:
This usually occurs if the Pillars app is on the 'battery optimisation' list which can often stop apps from working in the background.
Simply remove the Pillars app from the list in the battery optimisation section of your settings to resolve this issue.
This usually occurs when notifications are switched off for Pillars in the main Settings app on your phone. Please ensure this is on to allow the notification toggle to be switched on in the Pillars app.
The slight difference could either be due to differences in a) the prayer calculation method, or b) location being used on the app (compared to your timetable).
The prayer times on the Pillars app are calculated using two factors: your location and the calculation method (methodology) selected in the settings page. If these are the same then the prayer timetable you are comparing our app against should be exactly the same.
Therefore, the most likely explanation of differences in prayer times are differences in location (e.g. if you live in a different part of the city to your mosque despite the same methodology you might encounter slight variations between the app and timetable), or that the methodology of your current prayer timetable is different than the one selected in the app.
To help you the Pillars app has an option to automatically default to the most common prayer calculation method depending on your location (e.g. in North America it's ISNA).
What should I do then? The safest option is to ask your local imam regarding the preferred calculation method. If the option isn't available on the Pillars app it most likely will be coming soon but you should use your local prayer time as directed by your imam in the meantime! We will also be including mosque prayer times on the app in the future inshaAllah.
We are aware that our app does not yet cover all the different calculation methods for different regions of the world. This is one of our main priorities for upcoming updates to ensure the app is accessible by all.
We will start with the following countries:
If your calculation method is not shown above and is not already on the app, let us know by sending us an email salaam@thepillarsapp.com.
NOTE: We will also be giving users the ability to set their own custom angles and fixed adjustments soon.
At the moment it is not possible to follow prayer times of individual mosques. However, we're looking to add this feature in the near future inshaAllah.
For now you can try to identify the calculation method used by your mosque for their prayer timetable and select the same calculation method in the settings part of the Pillars app.
At the moment you can only select from preset calculation method options in the Settings section of the Pillars app. InshaAllah we will soon be adding a feature that allows custom angle adjustments.
This is not yet an option. However, we are looking to add this to the Pillars app very soon inshaAllah.
There are differences in how Fajr & Isha prayer times are calculated (e.g. some use a specific angles, other use fixed periods of time after Maghrib). In this case, the most likely reason is a difference in the angles used to calculate Fajr & Isha.
The safest approach is to speak to your local mosque's imam and ask about the opinion / methodology you follow. This may match an option already available in the Pillars app. We are looking to add more calculation method options, custom angles adjustments and time adjustments to ensure more people have their preferences available on the app.
At the moment we have the following two high latitude rules available:
We will be looking to add a third option (Angle-based method) soon inshaAllah.
The app regularly updates the location and re-calculates prayer times accordingly. However, this can sometimes take a while to occur / refresh. We're working on changes to help make this more seamless.
For now, you can try the following two methods to update your phone's location:
There are two main reasons the Qibla may not be functioning correctly: a) compass is not calibrated correctly b) metal interference (e.g. metal cases)
Here are a few steps to help resolve this issue (try in order):
Yes, inshaAllah. Whilst we don't yet have a release date this has been an extremely popular request. A recent poll showed around 32% of Pillars users have an Apple watch too. As a result, we've decided to move this feature up our roadmap.
No, nor do we have plans to include a Qur'an on the Pillars app in the future.
Instead, we highly recommend you checkout Tarteel.AI. We are in regular contact with their founders and are working closely to support one another and ensure our apps can fulfil our community's needs to the best of our abilities.
Whilst we consider it a huge honour for individuals and even companies to financially support Pillars, we took a decision early on in our launch not to accept donations. There are a number of reasons for this but we will highlight three for now:
It can sometimes take a short while for your widget to update once you've changed your location (even if your app has updated). We're working on ways to increase the rate that the widget refreshes to ensure you have the most accurate prayer times for your location all the time. However, you can manually update your widget by quitting the Pillars app and relaunching it.
Simply long press on your home screen until you see a + sign in the top left corner of your screen. Press this button and scroll down until you see Pillars.
NOTE: This is different to the old method of adding widgets to the notification centre on iPhones.
If you are having any issues, please check that your phone is updated to the latest version of iOS. If you don't see this option try reinstalling the Pillars app.
Yes, you can add a Pillars widget to your android or iOS phone.
NOTE: Android widget was launched mid-August 2021.
If you are looking at your widget after Isha time you may notice that the Fajr time at the top (indicating Fajr for the next day) is different from the Fajr time at the bottom of the widget (Fajr time for current day). This is because the Fajr at the top indicates the time for the next day whereas the Fajr time at the botton indicates the time for the current day sometimes resulting in a few minutes difference.
At the moment, the app will indicate the calculated Islamic date. However, this can differ by ±1/2 days from your calendar due to a number of factors (e.g. differences in calculations and sightings of the moon). For example, the calendar will change days at midnight rather than at Maghrib. inshaAllah we will soon allow individuals to adjust their calendar by ±1/2/3 days in the settings page to ensure it aligns exactly with their current calendars.