MuslimPro

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Muslim Pro is a mobile application (app) designed for purpose of assisting Muslims with their religious activities such as prayer and fasting. It is the most popular Islamic religious application available on both Android and iOS, providing services to over 100 million users[1]. Muslim Pro was created in 2010 by the founder and former CEO of Bitsmedia, Erwan Mace[2], a French national and former employee of Southeast Asia Google.

Muslim Pro icon on iOS device. [3]


Background

Photo of Erwan Mace. [4]

Muslim Pro was founded in Singapore by Erwan Mace in 2010. It is developed and supported by a Singapore based company known as Bitsmedia. The initial release consisted of prayer time reminders and assistance with reading the Holy Quran. The app has since evolved to provide more features to the users. In 2019, Erwan Mace stepped down as Bitsmedia CEO and was replaced by Louis-Bernard Carcouet. [5] As of 2019, the application has accumulated over 100 million unique users around the world


Muslim pro was the subject of a privacy controversy due to allegations of sending information about their users to data brokers associated with the United States military.[5]

Functionality

Muslim Pro is only available on devices running the iOS or Android operating systems. The app is designed to help Muslims observe their religious practices and accommodate users based on their location. The app provides reminders to users about prayer times, a compass to help orient your position in prayers towards the Ka’ba, and a digital version of the Holy Quran available in 40 different languages.[6] The app also utilizes location services to help Muslims find local halal food in their area. It also helps users find the nearest mosques in their local vicinity. Muslim Pro also provides assistance within the holy month of Ramadan helping users keep track of their fasting based on their location. The app can help Muslims plan out their pilgrimage (or Hajj) and allows for connecting with other Muslims on the app by sharing posts related to Islam on the application timeline. [7]

Screenshot of Muslim Pro asking for user Location [8]

Muslim Pro utilizes ads to help pay for their expenses and also provides the option of a subscription model which allows users to avoid ads by paying a monthly fee. Subscribers receive benefits such as additional voices for Qur’an and Adhan readings, as well as access to new color schemes. [7]

Muslim Pro relies on knowing the user’s geolocation data for most functions to work correctly. When a user opens the application, the service will ask for permission to access the devices GPS. According to the privacy policy of Muslim Pro, the application processes, stores, and analyzes data sent from the users using the application including personal details, location, and device specific information. [9]

Religious Apps

Muslim Pro falls into a category along with similar apps for many other religions which help users uphold their religious commitments[10], reports a study performed by Hughes. The research found the majority of users of any faith-related mobile application use the software as a way to stay connected to their faith even without a direct community to be a part of. Users also described how they do not have time to attend religious services and instead remain involved on their own time whenever possible. Hughes describes how the usage of religious apps are transforming religion from an institutionalized practice to an everyday activity is keeping a younger generation engaged in practicing faith. The research concludes with a statement describing how apps disrupt the traditional importance of communal faith, while offering many benefits for any generation of faith.

Ethical Concerns

Data Selling Controversy

Logo of Vice Media [11]

In 2020, an expose by Vice Motherboard identified Muslim Pro as one of the many applications that have had their location data accessed by the United States military[12]. The article provides details concerning the U.S. Governments purchasing of Muslim Pro user location data through X-mode, a data broker focused on location information, to assist counter terrorism activities. Another point of controversy lies in Muslim Pro not stating the true destination of user data in their privacy policy.[13]

The expose also mentions other companies and applications with similar target audiences that are complicit in indirectly selling data to the United States government. Dating applications such as Muslim Mingle and Iran Social have been found to sell information to data brokers such as X-mode. [12]

Due to the history of the United States military using location data to assist their controversial drone strikes and counter terrorism activities, Bitsmedia have received heavy criticism and condemnation from the Muslim community, the ACLU, and many data rights activists concerning their actions. [13]

In response to the allegations, Muslim Pro have released a statement denying any involvement in selling user data to the U.S. government or any third party data brokers such as X-mode.[14]

Islamic Apps

Muslim Pro exists among around 300 other Islam centered religious apps on the Google Play Store.[15] Hameed states that a major issue regarding these apps is the lack of accessibility for users because proper categories do not exist in which to place these religious apps into. They say that these missing identifiers make it difficult for users to properly discover and utilize these programs compared to other apps on the Google platform.

The research also describes another issue related to the lack of verification present when developing and publishing apps containing Islamic content to the Play Store. They discovered 90% of those surveyed reported they did not know how to inspect the content they were reading to be sure it was authentic as well as finding that many Islamic apps provided false information. Hameed states that this can mislead users to spread false information and will require work in the future to construct a content review framework to ensure accurate information is portrayed to those who rely on the apps for worship.

References

  1. “Muslims Reel over a Prayer App That Sold User Data: 'A Betrayal from within Our Own Community'.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 23 Nov. 2020, www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2020-11-23/muslim-pro-data-location-sales-military-contractors.
  2. Raj, Adeline Paul. “Tech: Growing the World's Most Popular Lifestyle App for Muslims.” The Edge Markets, 20 June 2018, www.theedgemarkets.com/article/tech-growing-worlds-most-popular-lifestyle-app-muslims.
  3. Ali Baker. Muslim Pro Icon. Mar 11 2020
  4. “Erwan Mace.” App Masters, 25 Mar. 2015, appmasters.com/bitsmedia-erwan-mace/bitsmedia-erwan-mace-2/.
  5. 5.0 5.1 “ACLU Files Request over Data US Collected via Muslim App Used by Millions.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 3 Dec. 2020, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/03/aclu-seeks-release-records-data-us-collected-via-muslim-app-used-millions.
  6. Pro, Muslim. Big 10 for Muslim Pro - 10 Million Global Downloads for Mobile App, 30 June 2018, www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/big-10-for-muslim-pro---10-million-global-downloads-for-mobile-app-255471731.html#:~:text=Muslim%20Pro%20is%20an%20Islamic,and%20BlackBerry%20World%20(BlackBerry).
  7. 7.0 7.1 “Muslim Pro for IPhone and Android.” Www.muslimpro.com, www.muslimpro.com/features.
  8. Ali Baker. Muslim Pro Location Screenshot. Mar 11 2020
  9. Pro, Muslim. “Privacy Policy.” Muslim Pro - Help Center, 25 Mar. 2021, support.muslimpro.com/hc/en-us/articles/203485970-Privacy-Policy.
  10. Rinker, C. H. (2016). Religious Apps for Smartphones and Tablets: Transforming Religious Authority and the Nature of Religion. Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion, 12(4)
  11. “Vice Media.” Vice, www.vice.com/en.
  12. 12.0 12.1 “How the U.S. Military Buys Location Data from Ordinary Apps.” VICE, www.vice.com/en/article/jgqm5x/us-military-location-data-xmode-locate-x.
  13. 13.0 13.1 “Muslims Reel over a Prayer App That Sold User Data: 'A Betrayal from within Our Own Community'.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 23 Nov. 2020, www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2020-11-23/muslim-pro-data-location-sales-military-contractors.
  14. Pro, Muslim. “Statement from Muslim Pro.” Muslim Pro - Help Center, 17 Dec. 2020, support.muslimpro.com/hc/en-us/articles/360052648551-Statement-from-Muslim-Pro.
  15. Hameed, A. (2019). Survey, Analysis and Issues of Islamic Android Apps. Elkawnie Journal of Islamic Science and Technology, 5(1). Retrieved from https://jurnal.ar-raniry.ac.id/index.php/elkawnie/article/view/4541/pdf