It started with a small, uncomfortable question: what if the apps that pull you away from prayer simply waited their turn?
Most of us don’t miss prayers because we’ve decided not to pray. We miss them because the moment slips. A notification, a scroll, “just one more video” — and the adhān fades into the background until the window has quietly closed. The problem was never sincerity. It was the friction between intention and action, and a phone designed to win that fight.
The Shield
So we built the thing we wished existed. When a prayer is due, Awwab lets you pause the apps that distract you most — and they stay paused until you’ve prayed. On iPhone this uses Apple’s Screen Time framework; on Android, a private on-device overlay. No willpower contest, no guilt trip. Just a gentle gate that opens the moment you turn back.
The principle: make the good thing the easy thing. Lower the friction to prayer, and raise it — just slightly — on the habits that crowd prayer out.
Mercy, not a scold
The first version was too strict, and it felt wrong. Islam doesn’t shame you back to God; it invites you. So we rebuilt the moment you open a paused app into what we call the Mindful Intercept: a verse on a quiet watercolour, and two honest choices — “Take me to prayer,” or “I have a real reason.” You’re never trapped. You’re reminded.
The name Awwab — “the one who always returns” — is the whole idea in a word. The door is always open.
More than a blocker
Once prayer was at the centre, the rest grew around it: accurate offline prayer times, a live Qibla, tasbīḥ and the 99 Names, duʿāʾ for every moment, a 13-day onboarding Journey modelled on the Hijra, the Heal path for habits that weigh on the heart, and a Knowledge & Trivia game to make learning your deen something you actually look forward to. Each one earns its place by serving the same goal: keeping remembrance close.
Where we are
Awwab is now on iPhone and Apple Watch, with Android coming soon. While we finish, you can already play the Knowledge game right here in your browser — and if you’d like a nudge the day it launches, join the list. We’re building this slowly and carefully, the way it deserves.