Privacy policy.
ShiaNūr — Privacy Policy
Effective date: October 2, 2026 · Contact: support@shianur.com
ShiaNūr is operated by SHIANUR DIGITAL LLC, a Wyoming limited liability company (“we”, “us”, “our”). ShiaNūr (“the app”) is a Twelver Shia Islamic worship companion providing Qurʾān reading and recitation, prayer times, Qibla direction, supplications (Duʿāʾ / Ziyāra), the call to prayer (Adhān), the Arbaʿīn walk companion, shared Khatma, Halqa and Caravan circles, the Sistani Halal/Haram Dietary Scanner, and personal worship tracking.
This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect and process, why we process it, when information may be provided to service providers, and the choices and rights available to you.
ShiaNūr is designed to collect only the information reasonably necessary to provide its features. We do not sell your personal information, use your personal information for targeted advertising, or track you across other companies’ apps or websites for advertising purposes.
1. Using the app without creating an account
You can use all core ShiaNūr features without creating a named account.
To support features such as saved settings, progress, synchronization, and other app functionality, ShiaNūr creates an anonymous account identifier through our authentication infrastructure. This does not require you to provide your name, email address, or other directly identifying information.
You provide additional personal information only if you choose to sign in using a supported sign-in method or use a shared or social feature.
2. Information we collect and why
Depending on the features you use, ShiaNūr may process the following information.
Push notification token
If you enable notifications, we store a device push-notification token so we can deliver prayer reminders, Arbaʿīn reminders, announcements, and other notifications you choose to receive.
Purpose: App functionality and delivery of requested notifications.
Email address
If you choose to sign in with Apple, Google, or email, we may receive your email address to create, authenticate, and secure your account.
Purpose: Account authentication, security, and account functionality.
Name/display name
If you provide a name or display name, it may be associated with your account. Your display name may also be visible to other participants if you choose to participate in shared Khatma, Halqa, or Caravan groups.
Purpose: Profile and shared-feature functionality.
User ID
ShiaNūr and its authentication provider assign an account identifier or anonymous identifier used to associate your settings, progress, and synchronized information with your account.
Purpose: Authentication, synchronization, security, and app functionality.
Approximate Arbaʿīn walk position
During the Arbaʿīn walk, ShiaNūr may derive a milestone, pole number, or similar approximate representation of your position.
ShiaNūr may save this derived approximate position to your private cloud record so you can resume your walk across devices.
If you join a Caravan, your approximate progress or position may be visible to other members of that group.
ShiaNūr does not save your precise GPS coordinates. Location processing and place-name services are described in Section 3.
Purpose: Arbaʿīn walk progress, synchronization, and optional Caravan functionality.
Step count/activity information
When you use the Arbaʿīn walk feature and grant any required device permission, we may save your step count to your private cloud record so your walk can resume across supported devices.
We do not use step or activity information for advertising.
Purpose: Arbaʿīn walk functionality and synchronization.
User content
You may voluntarily provide text or names when using certain features, including Ṣalāt al-Waḥsha or Khatma intentions or dedications and names used for shared circles.
Information that you intentionally submit to a shared feature may be visible to other participants in that feature.
Purpose: Providing the shared feature you requested.
Ingredient-label text
When you use the Halal/Haram Dietary Scanner to read an ingredient label, your device processes the camera image and recognizes the text.
The first time you photograph a label, the app asks for your permission before sending any label text. Only if you allow it, the recognized text needed for ingredient processing is sent to our cloud service and then to OpenAI’s API to separate and structure the ingredient information and correct obvious recognition errors. You can change this choice at any time from the scan result; without it, the scanner uses the reading made on your device.
ShiaNūr does not store submitted ingredient-label text as part of your account or scan history, and it does not send your name, email address, or ShiaNūr account identifier with the request.
OpenAI processing and retention are described in Section 4.
Purpose: Halal/Haram Dietary Scanner functionality.
Scanner usage counts
To manage availability and usage of the Halal/Haram Dietary Scanner's cloud services, ShiaNūr keeps a daily count of scanner requests per account.
We store the count under a one-way hash of the account identifier and do not retain ingredient-label text, barcodes, products, or scanner results.
We delete the counts when you delete your account.
Purpose: Service availability, usage management, and protection of scanner infrastructure.
Product reports
If you voluntarily use the Report / Add Product feature in the Halal/Haram Dietary Scanner, we may receive the information you submit, which may include:
barcode;
product name;
brand;
country;
your message;
photographs you choose to attach; and
an email address, if you choose to provide one.
We keep these reports private for review and delete them after 90 days, or earlier when you delete your account.
Purpose: Review product information, correct scanner information, and add or improve supported products.
Technical and diagnostic information
If you have allowed your device or platform to share crash or usage information with app developers, Apple or Google may provide us with limited technical diagnostics, such as crash and performance information.
Purpose: Security, troubleshooting, reliability, and performance.
We do not use diagnostic information for targeted advertising or cross-app tracking.
3. Information processed on your device
Several ShiaNūr features process information directly on your device. Where limited information must leave your device to provide a requested feature, that is described below.
Precise location
Precise location is used for features including:
Qibla direction;
local prayer-time calculation; and
live distance and progress calculations during the Arbaʿīn walk.
ShiaNūr does not save your raw precise GPS coordinates to your ShiaNūr cloud profile.
To display the name of your current city or area, your coordinates may be sent to your device's built-in place-name service — Apple on iOS or Google on Android — and, if that service does not return a result, to OpenStreetMap Nominatim.
These services receive the coordinates to return a place name. ShiaNūr does not store the coordinates as part of this lookup.
If you search for a city by name, the city-search text may be sent to the applicable place-name service.
Where Arbaʿīn synchronization or Caravan functionality requires position information, ShiaNūr stores a derived approximate milestone or similar progress value rather than your raw GPS coordinates.
Camera
Camera access is used for:
the AR Qibla view;
photographing ingredient labels
barcode recognition in the Halal/Haram Dietary Scanner.
Your device processes camera images and raw camera frames. Barcode recognition and ingredient-label text recognition occur on your device.
We do not send raw camera images or camera streams to OpenAI or our barcode lookup providers.
After local recognition:
recognized ingredient text may be transmitted as described in Sections 2 and 4; and
a recognized barcode number may be transmitted to product lookup services as described in Section 4.
Motion sensors
Motion, orientation, compass, and related device sensors may be processed to steady the Qibla compass and support step-related functionality.
Halal scan history
Your Halal Scanner product history is stored on your device only.
ShiaNūr does not synchronize your personal Halal scan history to your cloud account.
Optional permissions
Location and camera permissions are optional. The app can continue to operate without them, although features requiring those permissions may be unavailable or limited.
Where available, you can manually select or enter your city instead of granting location access.
4. Service providers and third-party processing
ShiaNūr uses third-party services where necessary to provide particular functionality.
We limit information transmitted to those services to what is reasonably necessary for the requested function.
Google Firebase
Google Firebase (Google LLC) processes information on our behalf for services including:
Firebase Authentication;
Cloud Firestore;
Cloud Functions;
Cloud Storage; and
Firebase Cloud Messaging for push notifications.
Depending on the features you use, Firebase may process account identifiers, authentication information, synchronized app data, push-notification tokens, shared-feature information, and other information necessary to provide those services.
Data is processed on Google's infrastructure subject to Google's applicable terms, security measures, and privacy practices.
Google Privacy Policy:
https://policies.google.com/privacy
Sign in with Apple / Google Sign-In
We use Sign in with Apple and Google Sign-In only if you choose those authentication methods.
If you use Sign in with Apple, Apple may allow you to use a private relay email address instead of providing your personal email address directly to ShiaNūr.
OpenAI
If you allow it when the app asks, then when you use the ingredient-label functionality of the Sistani Halal/Haram Dietary Scanner, text recognized from the label on your device is sent through our servers to the OpenAI API, using GPT-4o mini, to identify and structure the ingredient list and correct obvious camera or text-recognition errors.
The OpenAI request does not include any raw photograph, name, email address, or ShiaNūr account identifier.
The result is checked against the recognized label information and ShiaNūr's dietary database before the scanner uses it.
OpenAI does not determine the Islamic jurisprudential ruling. The AI service helps process ingredient text; ShiaNūr's audited dietary-rule database (Sayed Sistani's published rulings and, where marked, Al-Maaref's halal guide) evaluates the resulting ingredient information.
Under the OpenAI API data practices applicable to the service ShiaNūr uses, API data is not used to train OpenAI's models. OpenAI may retain API data for up to 30 days for abuse-monitoring purposes, unless a longer period is required by law or otherwise applies under the relevant service terms.
OpenAI Privacy Policy:
https://openai.com/policies/privacy-policy
Barcode lookup services
When you scan a product barcode, the barcode number may be transmitted to product-information services to retrieve available product information.
ShiaNūr currently uses:
Open Food Facts;
U.S. Department of Agriculture FoodData Central (USDA); and
BarcodeLookup.
The barcode may be sent directly to Open Food Facts and USDA FoodData Central and through our servers to BarcodeLookup.
We send only the information needed for the product lookup. ShiaNūr does not intentionally include your name, email address, ShiaNūr account identifier, or precise location in these lookup requests.
Product images published through Open Food Facts may also be downloaded to your device so you can read available ingredient-panel information.
Place-name services
Apple, Google, and OpenStreetMap Nominatim may receive coordinates or city-search text as described in Section 3 for the purpose of converting a location into a place name or locating a city.
ShiaNūr does not use these requests for advertising.
App updates
ShiaNūr uses Shorebird to deliver app fixes and updates.
When ShiaNūr checks for an available update, it may send information such as the app version, device platform, and an anonymous installation identifier to Shorebird.
According to Shorebird's service documentation applicable to this integration, this process does not require personally identifiable account information from ShiaNūr.
Qurʾān recitation audio and other content
Recitation audio and certain content may be downloaded from ShiaNūr's own servers and public Qurʾān audio libraries.
These requests are not intentionally associated with your ShiaNūr profile, although internet requests inherently expose ordinary technical connection information, such as an IP address, to the server receiving the request.
5. No advertising, sale of personal information, or cross-app tracking
ShiaNūr does not:
sell your personal information;
rent or sell user profiles;
use your personal information for targeted or behavioral advertising;
share personal information with data brokers for advertising purposes;
include third-party behavioral advertising networks; or
track your activity across unrelated third-party apps or websites for advertising.
6. Push notifications
If you enable notifications, ShiaNūr uses a device push token to deliver notifications you request or permit.
These may include prayer-time notifications, worship reminders, Arbaʿīn notifications, and important app or service announcements.
You can disable notifications at any time through your device settings. Where available, you can also control individual ShiaNūr notification categories from within the app.
7. Shared and community content
Some ShiaNūr features allow you to share limited information with other users, including Khatma, Halqa, and Caravan circles.
When you voluntarily participate in one of these features, information you choose to share may become visible to other members of the relevant group. Depending on the feature, this may include:
your display name;
an intention or dedication you submit;
the name of a shared circle or group; and
your approximate Arbaʿīn progress or position.
Do not submit information to shared areas that you would not want other participants to see.
Shared and community functionality includes moderation measures such as submitted-text filtering, reporting, blocking, removal of objectionable content, and account restrictions.
Users must accept the applicable community agreement before creating or joining shared content. ShiaNūr maintains a zero-tolerance policy for objectionable or abusive content within its community features.
We reserve the right to remove shared content and restrict, suspend, or permanently disable accounts or access to shared features where necessary to enforce our community rules, protect users, comply with applicable law, or protect the integrity and security of ShiaNūr.
8. Your rights and choices
Depending on where you live, applicable law may provide rights regarding your personal information, including the right to:
request access to personal information we hold about you;
request correction of inaccurate information;
request deletion of certain personal information;
request restriction of certain processing;
object to certain processing;
request a portable copy of certain information where applicable;
withdraw consent where processing is based on consent; and
lodge a complaint with an applicable data-protection authority.
The availability and scope of these rights depend on your jurisdiction and the circumstances of the processing.
To exercise a privacy right or submit a privacy request, contact:
We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling certain requests.
We will not discriminate against you for exercising privacy rights provided by applicable law.
Account deletion
You can request deletion of your ShiaNūr account and associated synchronized data directly in the app:
Me → Account → Delete Account
For accounts using Sign in with Apple, ShiaNūr also revokes the associated Apple authorization token on our servers as part of the deletion process.
Permission controls
You can decline or revoke optional location, camera, motion/activity, and notification permissions through your device settings.
You can allow or stop sending ingredient-label text to OpenAI at any time from the scan result.
The Halal Scanner's barcode and ingredient-label functionality is used only when you initiate a scan.
9. Data retention
We retain account-linked information while your account exists or for as long as reasonably necessary to provide the applicable ShiaNūr service.
When you delete your account, associated ShiaNūr account data is removed from our active systems, subject to limited retention where required or permitted for legal, security, fraud-prevention, technical, dispute-resolution, or backup purposes.
Specific retention practices include:
Product reports: deleted 90 days after submission, or earlier when you delete your account
Ingredient-label text: not stored by ShiaNūr as part of your account or scan history. OpenAI's processing and potential retention of API data for up to 30 days is described in Section 4.
Scanner usage counts: contain no scan content and are maintained only as daily counts under a one-way hashed account identifier and are deleted when you delete your account.
Halal scan history: stored locally on your device only.
Other on-device information: remains on your device and may be removed through applicable app controls or by uninstalling ShiaNūr, subject to your operating system and device-backup settings.
Information processed by third-party service providers may also be subject to their applicable retention requirements and service terms.
10. Children's privacy
ShiaNūr is a general-audience religious and worship application and is not directed at children under 13.
We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 in a manner prohibited by applicable law.
If you are a parent or guardian and believe that a child under the applicable minimum age has provided personal information to ShiaNūr without appropriate authorization, contact us at privacy@shianur.com. We will review the request and take appropriate action, including deletion where required.
Different age or parental-consent requirements may apply depending on the user's country or region.
11. Security
We use reasonable technical, administrative, and organizational security measures designed to protect information processed by ShiaNūr.
These measures include, where appropriate:
encrypted network transport;
authenticated access controls;
server-side security rules;
limiting collection of personal information;
limiting information transmitted to third-party services to what is required for the relevant function; and
keeping credentials and keys for third-party services on our servers rather than embedding them in the app where the applicable integration is server-based.
No electronic transmission, storage system, or online service can be guaranteed to be completely secure. While we work to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.
12. International data transfers
ShiaNūr is operated by SHIANUR DIGITAL LLC, a Wyoming limited liability company in the United States, and is available to users in multiple countries.
Our service providers may process or store information in the United States or other countries outside the country in which you live.
Where applicable law requires safeguards for international transfers of personal information, we and our service providers rely on appropriate legal mechanisms and safeguards applicable to the relevant transfer.
Privacy and data-protection laws may differ between jurisdictions.
13. Legal basis for processing, where applicable
Where applicable data-protection law requires us to identify a legal basis for processing personal information, our processing may rely on one or more of the following:
Performance of a contract
We process information where necessary to provide a feature or service you request, such as account authentication, synchronization, shared Khatma, Halqa or Caravan functionality, Arbaʿīn functionality, Halal/Haram Dietary Scanner functionality, and other requested ShiaNūr services.
Consent
We may rely on your consent where you choose to grant optional device permissions, enable notifications, allow ingredient-label text to be processed by OpenAI, provide optional information, or use a feature for which consent is the appropriate legal basis.
Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw that consent where applicable.
Legitimate interests
We may process limited information where reasonably necessary for our legitimate interests in operating, securing, troubleshooting, maintaining, and improving ShiaNūr, managing service availability, preventing abuse, and protecting our users and infrastructure, provided those interests are not overridden by applicable rights and interests.
Legal obligations
We may process or retain information where necessary to comply with applicable laws, regulations, or valid legal requirements.
14. Legal disclosures and protection of ShiaNūr
We may disclose information if reasonably necessary to comply with applicable law, regulation, legal process, or a valid governmental request.
We may also process or disclose information where permitted by law when reasonably necessary to:
investigate fraud, abuse, or security incidents;
enforce our terms or community rules;
prevent misuse of ShiaNūr services;
protect the security and integrity of ShiaNūr; or
protect the rights and safety of our users or others.
We do not provide voluntary bulk access to ShiaNūr user information for advertising or data-broker purposes.
15. Business transfers
If SHIANUR DIGITAL LLC is involved in a merger, acquisition, restructuring, financing, sale of assets, or similar business transaction, information associated with ShiaNūr may be transferred as part of that transaction where permitted by applicable law.
Any successor responsible for that information will remain subject to applicable privacy and data-protection obligations.
16. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy when ShiaNūr's features, service providers, data practices, or applicable legal requirements change.
When we update this policy, we will revise the Effective date shown at the top of the Privacy Policy.
If a change materially affects how we process personal information, we may provide additional notice through the app, our website, or another appropriate method.
Where applicable law requires consent for a new or materially different form of processing, we will request that consent rather than relying solely on continued use of the app.
17. Contact
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, ShiaNūr's privacy practices, your personal information, or wish to exercise an applicable privacy right, you may contact us at:
SHIANUR DIGITAL LLC
Operator of ShiaNūr
Wyoming, United States
General support and questions:
support@shianur.com
Privacy inquiries and privacy-rights requests:
privacy@shianur.com
Website:
shianur.com
Website analytics and cookie choices
Website notice added October 11, 2026.
Our website uses Squarespace Analytics and Google Analytics 4 to understand visits and improve the site. With your analytics-cookie consent, this includes pages viewed, general device and browser information, and interactions such as clicks to the App Store or Google Play. These clicks do not tell us whether you installed the app.
You can accept or decline non-essential cookies, or change your choice through Cookie Preferences. Analytics cookies are restricted until you accept. Squarespace’s Google consent-mode integration may send limited signals without cookies when analytics consent is declined. Our custom conversion events run only with analytics consent.
We do not include names, email addresses, contact-message contents, or in-app worship activity in our custom website analytics events. Google processes website analytics information under its Privacy Policy. See how Google uses information from sites that use its services.