Privacy Policy

Effective September 30, 2026 · Last updated September 30, 2026

As-salamu alaykum. This page says exactly what Masjid.ly collects, why, where it goes, how long we keep it, and what you can do about it. It's written from the app's actual code. If you ever find something here that doesn't match what the app does, that's a bug — tell us and we'll fix it.

The short version

No accounts. You never sign up. The app makes two random IDs on your phone: an invite code you can share, and a private install ID you never see.
No ads, nothing sold. We don't sell your data, we don't use it for advertising, and the app never asks for permission to track you.
Some things do leave your phone so the app can work: your location (only if you allow it), the masjids and speakers you follow, the events you save or RSVP to, your notification settings, and simple usage events. They're tied to those random IDs, not to an account.
Your name, email or phone reach us only if you give them. If you've added a first name in the app, it's sent with the things you share and with a merch request. In the app, an email or phone number only reaches us if you type it into a merch request.
A few companies help us run the app (hosting, push notifications, share links). They're all named below.
You're in control. Under Profile & account in the app you can get a copy of what our server holds, or delete it from our server and your phone in one go.

1. Who we are

Masjid.ly is a free app that gathers events from New Jersey masjids and Muslim organizations into one feed. It's built and run by one person, Shaheer Saud, in New Jersey (“we”, “us”). This policy covers the Masjid.ly app, the website at masjidly.app, and the invite and event pages we host at api.masjidly.app.

Questions or requests: ss4108@rutgers.edu. Every message gets read.

One more thing we want to say plainly: using an app about masjid events can say something about your faith. We treat everything below as sensitive for that reason. It isn't sold, it isn't used for ads, and it only goes to the companies we need to run the app.

2. What we collect and why

Your two app IDs

What: An invite code (like MJ-ABC123), made at random on your phone. It's meant to be shared — it's in your invite links. And a private install ID, also random, that never appears in anything you share.
Why: The invite code is how the app is known to our server: it carries your notification settings, your push token, your invites and your usage events. The private install ID keeps your RSVPs and “How was it?” ratings, so they can come back if you reinstall. Because your invite code is public, the app also sends the install ID when it saves your settings or push token. When a phone puts a new invite code on our server with its install ID — every code made by the app from its September 30, 2026 update on — the code belongs to that phone: only that phone can change the settings, location or push token stored under the code, or get a copy of that data or delete it from the app. A code first registered by an earlier version of the app was registered without an install ID, so nothing can prove which phone it belongs to: it isn't tied to a phone, and what's stored under it is deleted on request by email (see section 7) rather than from the app. Next to your invite code we keep only a scrambled (one-way hashed) form of the install ID.
Where: In your phone's secure storage (the Keychain on iPhone), and in our database next to the data they belong to.
Not collected: We don't collect Apple's advertising identifier (IDFA), and the app never shows the “Allow tracking” prompt. We don't read your contacts, photos, calendar, microphone or camera. The app never reads your clipboard on its own — only when you tap “Paste friend's code” (see Sharing and invites).

Location — only if you allow it

What: Your phone's location, at about 100-meter accuracy. If you've switched off Precise Location for Masjid.ly in iOS, we only get the approximate area iOS gives us. The app asks once, when you tap to turn it on — never on its own.
When: Once you've allowed it, the app takes a fresh reading each time you open it, so “near you” stays accurate.
Why: To sort masjids and events by distance, show the map around you, and send “events near you” notifications.
Where: On your phone, and on our server: it's sent with requests for events (so results can be sorted by distance) and saved with your notification settings. We keep only your latest location. Each new reading replaces the old one — there's no location history.
Nearby alerts: Optional, and needs “Always” location. Your phone watches the area around up to 20 masjids that have upcoming events (about 350 meters each). When you walk into one, your phone shows the alert. We're not told when you enter or leave a masjid's area.

What you follow, save and RSVP to

What: The masjids and organizations you follow, the speakers you follow, the topics you want alerts for, the audience you picked (brothers, sisters, family or everyone), your notification switches and quiet hours, the events you've saved or RSVP'd to, and your search radius.
Why: So notifications match what you care about — new events from masjids you follow, speaker alerts, and a heads-up if an event you're going to changes or is cancelled — and so your RSVP history can be restored on a new phone.
Where: On your phone, and on our server under your invite code (settings) or private install ID (RSVPs).
Who sees it: Other people only ever see totals, like “12 going” — never who. Events also show how many people saved them (the heart) and how many shared them. Saving an event sends the event ID to our server with your private install ID and a scrambled fingerprint of your network and device type, used only to stop fake counts. Un-saving it, or clearing your saved events, removes it from our server again. The app re-sends your list of saved events about once a day so the count stays right. Other people only see the totals.

Your first name — optional

What: If you add a first name during setup or in your profile.
Where: The app uses it for greetings. It's also sent automatically with every share you make (see “Sharing and invites” below), and with a merch request if you add it there — those are the only places our server keeps it, next to your invite code. We don't show your name to other people anywhere. If you turned on “Say salam to the community” during setup, that setting was only ever saved on your phone and never published your name.

Weekly email — optional

What: If you typed an email address into the “Weekly events email” option during setup.
Where: Today that email is saved only on your phone. The app doesn't send it to us, and we don't send a weekly email yet. If that changes, we'll update this policy before the first email goes out.

“How was it?” ratings

What: After an event you RSVP'd to, you can rate it from 1 to 5 and leave a short note.
Where: We store the rating, the note, the event and your private install ID. Ratings sent from the app aren't shown to other people right now; we read them to learn which programs people value. If we start showing them, we'll say so here and in the app first.

Sharing and invites

Shares: When you share an event, a masjid, the week or an invite, we record your invite code, what kind of share it was, which event or masjid, the time, and your first name if you've added one (the app sends it automatically). That's how we see what's spreading. The founder sees this in a private dashboard and a daily summary email. Your share links — for events, masjids, the week and invites — include your invite code, so anyone you share with can see it and use it.
Friends who join: When a friend enters your code in the app, we store your code, their app's invite code and the time. If the app is installed but they haven't finished setting it up, opening your invite link fills in your code for them and sends it. Otherwise, tapping Open or Download on your invite page copies your code to their clipboard (see section 4), and they paste it into the code box during setup — or, if they already use the app, under You chevron_right Enter a friend's code. In app version 2.6 and later, that box has a Paste friend's code button: the app reads the clipboard only when they tap it (iOS may first ask them to allow the paste), and uses what it reads only to find an invite code — nothing else they copied is sent to us or kept. On earlier versions they tap and hold the box and choose Paste. The app never reads the clipboard on its own. Our server first checks that the code belongs to a Masjid.ly app that has already checked in, shared or joined; a code nobody uses (a typo or a made-up link) is turned away and nothing is stored. Your friend counts toward your ten once their app has opened and checked in with our server, and then we send you a notification: “A friend joined with your code!” You see how many friends joined and when — never who they are. Because your code is public by design, anyone who has it could look up the same count. We don't store anything about your friend's network with the invite (apart from our hosts' standard request logs — see section 4). Until September 30, 2026 we also stored a scrambled (keyed-hash) fingerprint of the network address their phone used — never the address itself. Those earlier fingerprints stay with the invite record they belong to and are deleted with it, when either of you deletes your data (see section 7).
Instagram follow: Tapping “Follow on Instagram” opens Instagram. We can't see your Instagram account or check that you followed; we just add one credit to your code, once.
Invite page: Covered in section 4.

Free merch (The Drop)

What: When you claim a free piece, you pick a size and give an email or phone number (and a name, if you like). We store that with your invite code and the item you chose.
Why: Only to check your invites and get your free piece to you. Nothing is sold, and we never ask for payment details.
Where: Our database, an email to the founder's inbox (Gmail), and a notification to the founder's phone. When you reach ten verified friends, requesting your piece opens a WhatsApp chat with the founder with a message already written: your invite code, the piece, your size and a request number. Sending it shares your WhatsApp name and phone number with the founder, linked to your invite code. What you send on WhatsApp is handled by WhatsApp (Meta) under its own privacy policy. So the founder can check the ten friends are real, his email shows your verified friend count (and whether you have the Instagram-follow credit), how many times your invite link was opened, how many codes were entered with yours but never opened the app, and for each counted friend their join time, how their app was confirmed, when it was last active, how many times it was opened and a masked part of their invite code — never their names or contact details. For your own code it shows how old it is and what it was first seen doing, how many times your app has been opened, whether your app has a push token, a masked part of the code that invited you (if one did), and whether the contact you gave was already used for another free piece. It also lists flags such as test data, a brand-new code, friends who joined in a quick burst, friends who were already using the app before they joined with your code, or two codes that invited each other. It includes no network information about you or your friends.
Network: We don't store anything about the network a merch request comes from with the request (apart from our hosts' standard request logs — see section 4). Requests made before September 30, 2026 also stored a scrambled (keyed-hash) fingerprint of that network; it stays with that request and is deleted with it when you delete your data.

Notifications

What: If you allow notifications, Apple (or Google, on Android) gives the app a push token, which Expo turns into a token we can send to. We store it with your invite code and your phone's platform. We also log each notification we send — the token, the kind of notification, the event, the time, and whether it was opened.
Why: To send the notifications you've switched on, to cap how many you get, and to stop sending the kinds you keep ignoring. Some reminders are scheduled on your phone itself and never touch our server.

How the app is used

What: A short, fixed list of actions, such as opening the app, finishing setup, opening an event, RSVPing, saving, following a masjid, sharing, tapping an organizer's RSVP link, adding to a calendar, switching tabs, picking an audience filter, turning on notifications, opening a notification, opening Noor, and searching — for searches we record only how many letters you typed, not the words. Each record carries your invite code and sometimes the masjid involved. Separately, each time an event page is opened we count a view for that event with no ID attached.
Why: To see which features help people find events, to count how many people come back, and to decide when to send a “here's what's on this week” nudge to someone who hasn't opened the app in a while.
Where: Our own database. We don't use any analytics or advertising company.

Crash reports

What: If the app crashes, it sends the error message, the technical error trace, your platform and OS version, and which app update you're on. No IDs, no location. At most three per app launch.
Where: Our own database — no crash-reporting company.

Noor, the in-app guide

What: Most of Noor's answers are worked out on your phone. When a question needs a real AI answer — and those are switched on — your question (up to 500 characters) and up to five event titles and dates are sent through our server to Anthropic, whose Claude model writes the reply.
Where: We don't store your question. We keep a daily count of questions per device, using a scrambled (one-way hashed) version of your private install ID, so no one runs up the bill. Anthropic handles the question under its commercial terms, which don't allow it to train its models on it. Please don't put personal details in questions. Noor doesn't give religious rulings — for those, ask your local imam.

When you contact us

What: Whatever you choose to send: emails to ss4108@rutgers.edu (the app's “Submit an event”, “Add a masjid” and support rows open a pre-written email), WhatsApp messages from “Text it on WhatsApp”, Instagram messages, and the contact form on our website.
Why: To reply and do what you asked. We keep those messages in the founder's inbox.

Things that happen on your phone only

The full details of events you've saved or RSVP'd to (our server only gets the event IDs), the interests you picked in setup (we only get how many), your “how did you hear about us” answer, your “Say salam” setting and your theme stay on your phone.
“Add to calendar” hands the event to your calendar app, or opens Google or Outlook Calendar in your browser with the event filled in. The app never reads your calendar.
“Directions” opens Apple Maps or Google Maps with the masjid's address — not your location.
“Paste friend's code” (app version 2.6 and later) reads your clipboard only when you tap it (iOS may first ask you to allow the paste), and only to find an invite code. Nothing else you copied leaves your phone; the code itself reaches us only when you join with it.

3. Event information from masjids

Every listing comes from something a masjid or organization has already published: their public website and calendar, email newsletters we've subscribed to, public event pages, and their public Instagram posts (which we collect with a service called Apify). We save the title, date, time, place, description, speakers, links, poster, and the organizer's own caption or page text — that's what “Read the original post” shows. Posters are copied to our storage so they don't disappear.

We use AI (Anthropic's Claude) to read posters and tidy up titles and descriptions. Only public event material goes into this review — never anything about you. We never invent a time: if the organizer didn't print one, we show their own wording, like “After Isha”, and calendar exports become all-day events.

Posters and captions can include photos and names of speakers and organizers, or an organizer's contact details, because the organizer published them. If you're an organizer, or you appear in a poster, and want something corrected or removed, email ss4108@rutgers.edu. We act within 7 days.

4. Our website and share pages

masjidly.app is a plain website with no analytics and no advertising cookies. Your browser loads fonts from Google Fonts and Fontshare, animation code from cdnjs (Cloudflare), and the contact form from Typeform — those companies see your IP address and browser details, as with any website. Whatever you type into the contact form is stored by Typeform and sent to us.
Shared links. When someone opens an event or invite link on masjidly.app, the page saves the invite code in that browser's local storage so the app can open with it. It stays in the browser; it isn't sent to us.
Invite pages (api.masjidly.app/invite/…, and event and masjid pages opened from a link that carries an invite code). The page shows the inviter's code with a Copy code button. Tapping it, or Open or Download, copies that code — and nothing else — to your clipboard, so you can paste it into the app. The copy happens in your browser; nothing about it is sent to us. Opening the page sets a cookie called ml_vid — a random ID that lasts about 13 months — so that one browser's taps count once. Just viewing the page records nothing. When someone taps Open or Download, we record “Opened your link” for the inviter, under a short random ID taken from that cookie, with a scrambled (keyed-hash) fingerprint of the browser's IP address and browser type — never the IP address itself. Link taps are activity only; they don't count toward merch.
Server logs. Like every website, our hosts (Railway, Cloudflare and Vercel) keep standard request logs — IP address, time, the page or address requested, and browser or app details — for a limited time, for security and debugging. Those addresses can include the location and search words the app sent with an events request. The app sends your private install ID inside the encrypted body of a request, not in an address (versions before September 30, 2026 put it in the address of two requests — RSVP history and “How was it?” prompts).

5. Companies that help us

We don't sell or rent your information, and we don't share it for advertising. We only pass it to the services below, and only what each one needs to do its job:

SupabaseOur database and poster storage, in the United States. Holds the server-side data described above.
RailwayRuns our server. Every request the app makes to us goes through it.
CloudflareSits in front of our server for speed and security, and serves the animation code on our website.
VercelHosts masjidly.app.
Expo (650 Industries)Delivers push notifications (your push token and the message) and app updates (your IP address, app version and a random install ID Expo creates).
AppleThe App Store, push notifications, and Apple Maps for the map on iPhone. If you've chosen to share analytics with app developers in iOS Settings, Apple also sends us anonymous crash and usage statistics.
Branch (Branch Metrics)Makes share links work and connects a new install to the invite that brought it. The Branch code in the app sends Branch technical details — IP address, device model, OS version, language, and on iPhone the app's vendor ID — when you open the app or a Branch link. Because we never ask for tracking permission, Branch can't get your advertising identifier on iPhone.
GooglePush notifications and maps on Android; Gmail for the founder's inbox (support email, merch claims, the daily summary, and the newsletters masjids send us); Google Fonts on our website; masjid logos and YouTube thumbnails for speaker videos load from Google's servers.
AnthropicWrites Noor's AI answers when they're on, and reads public event posters and text for our catalog review.
Meta (Instagram, WhatsApp)Only when you choose to open Instagram or WhatsApp from the app. A few event images load straight from Instagram's servers.
ApifyCollects public Instagram posts from masjid accounts. Only organizers' posts — nothing about you.
TypeformThe contact form on our website.

We'd only disclose information beyond this if the law requires it — and we'd tell you if we're allowed to. If Masjid.ly is ever handed to another organization to keep it running, this policy goes with it, and we'll post a notice here first.

6. How long we keep things

Location: only the latest reading. Each new one replaces the last. It stays until you delete your data.
Push token: until Expo tells us it no longer works (for example, you deleted the app), then we delete it automatically — or sooner, when you delete your data.
Everything else on our server (settings and follows, RSVPs, ratings, likes, invite and share records, merch claims, usage events, crash reports): we don't delete these on a schedule yet. We keep them while Masjid.ly is running, or until you delete them. When we set up automatic deletion, we'll list the timings here.
Network fingerprints from before September 30, 2026, stored when someone joined with an invite code or sent a merch request: we no longer record these. The ones already stored stay with that invite or request, and are deleted with it when you delete your data.
Noor: no questions are stored — only daily counts per scrambled device ID.
Invite cookie: about 13 months in the browser, unless the browser clears it sooner.
Emails and messages stay in the founder's inbox until deleted. Ask, and we'll delete yours.
On your phone: deleting the app removes what it stored. iOS may keep a few secure items (like your invite code) in the Keychain, which the app finds again if you reinstall. The “Your data” section under Profile & account clears them.

7. Your choices and deleting your data

Location: turn it off any time in iOS Settings chevron_right Masjid.ly chevron_right Location. Turn off nearby alerts in the app under You chevron_right Location. Turning location off stops new readings; deleting your data (below) removes the last one we saved.
Notifications: pick what you get, pause everything, or set quiet hours under You chevron_right Notifications — or switch them off in iOS Settings.
Leave things out: name, email and phone are always optional. The app works fully without them.
Get a copy: You chevron_right Profile & account chevron_right Get a copy of your data. The app asks our server for what it holds for your phone and hands it to you to save or send. The copy leaves out your push token and the one-way scrambled values (network fingerprints, including any stored with invites or merch requests before September 30, 2026, and the hashed install ID) — there's nothing readable in those. If your invite code isn't tied to your phone (see Your two app IDs), the copy has only what's kept under your private install ID, and the app says so — we don't hand out what's stored under a public code.
Delete everything: You chevron_right Profile & account chevron_right Delete my data. This deletes what our server holds for your phone — settings and location, push token and the log of notifications sent to it, RSVPs, ratings, likes, invite and share records, merch requests (with any scrambled fingerprints stored with those likes, invites and requests), usage events and Noor counts — straight away, then clears the phone and gives the app a new invite code. If your invite code isn't tied to your phone (see Your two app IDs), the app deletes what's kept under your private install ID, clears the phone, and shows you your old code with a button to email it to us; we delete what's stored under it once we can see no phone is using it any more. If our server can't be reached, nothing is deleted: try again, or clear only the phone (the server copy then stays, except your likes, which the app removes the next time it's online). Full steps are on Delete your data.
Why it has to come from your phone: your invite code is public — it's in every link you share — so an invite code alone never proves a request is yours. We never send stored data to anyone, or delete it, on an invite code alone.
Deleted the app already? Email ss4108@rutgers.edu with the subject “Delete my data” and your invite code if you have it. We'll delete what's stored under that code once we can see no phone is using it any more. We don't send copies of data by email. We reply within a few days and finish within 30 days.
Fix something: change it in the app — your settings, follows and location on our server update to match. For anything else, email us.

Wherever you live, you get the same rights here. We don't sell personal information and we don't use it for targeted advertising, so there's nothing to opt out of.

8. Children

Masjid.ly is for the whole community, families included, and is rated 4+ on the App Store. It isn't made for children to use on their own, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. The app works fully without a name, email or phone number. If a child under 13 has sent us any of those — for example in a merch claim — a parent can email us and we'll delete it.

9. Security

Everything between the app and our server is encrypted with HTTPS. Your app IDs are kept in your phone's secure storage. Admin tools that show anything about people are password-protected, and only the founder uses them. No system is perfectly secure; if we learn of a breach that affects your information, we'll tell you here and in the app as quickly as we can.

Settings, location and push tokens stored under an invite code that a phone registered with its private install ID (every code made by the app from its September 30, 2026 update on) can only be changed, copied or deleted by that phone. Codes registered by earlier versions of the app aren't tied to a phone that way.

10. Changes and contact

When the app starts collecting something new, we update this page first and change the date at the top. For bigger changes we'll also let you know in the app. Earlier versions are available on request.

Questions, requests or takedowns: ss4108@rutgers.edu. Shaheer Saud, Masjid.ly, New Jersey, USA.