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Why I'm Building Sahifa

·2 min read·
devsahifa

There are plenty of Islamic apps on the Play Store. So why build another one?

The problem

Most Islamic apps fall into one of two camps. Either they're utility apps — bare-bones prayer time calculators with garish ads and no personality — or they're content platforms trying to be everything at once, burying simple features under layers of subscription prompts and social feeds.

I wanted something in between. A daily companion that does a few things beautifully and gets out of your way.

What Sahifa is

Sahifa is a personal project. It started as a way to learn Flutter, but it turned into something I genuinely want to use every day.

The core idea is simple: six pillars of daily practice, all in one app.

  • Prayer — track salah, sunnah, and qada
  • Quran — read with translation and listen to recitation
  • Du'a — morning and evening adhkar
  • Dhikr — tasbih counter with haptic feedback
  • 99 Names — learn the names of Allah
  • Qibla — compass with sun and moon positions

No ads. No tracking. No subscription. Your data stays on your device and syncs only when you choose.

The design philosophy

I wanted Sahifa to feel peaceful. Nature-themed backgrounds that rotate daily. Frosted glass overlays that make the UI feel light. A dark mode that's actually dark, not just grey.

The goal is that opening the app feels like stepping into a quiet room, not a busy marketplace.

What's next

I'm building in public. This blog will document the journey — technical decisions, design choices, and lessons learned along the way.

More soon, inshaAllah.