Why Prayer Time Apps Disagree — and Which One to Trust in Makkah

The times are calculated, not measured

Every prayer timetable is the output of a formula. The formula takes a latitude, a longitude, a date and a set of conventions, and returns five times. Different conventions, different times — with no error on either side.

This is why the argument about which app is "correct" usually has no answer. What varies is the convention, and conventions are chosen, not discovered.

What actually differs

Three variables account for nearly all the disagreement you will see:

• Fajr and Isha angles. Dawn and dusk are defined by how far the sun sits below the horizon. Different authorities use different angles, which moves Fajr and Isha by minutes.
• The Isha convention used in Saudi Arabia. The Umm al-Qura calendar sets Isha at a fixed interval after Maghrib rather than by a sun angle, and lengthens that interval in Ramadan. An app using an angle instead will disagree with the mosque.
• The Asr school. The Hanafi position places Asr later than the majority position. This is a difference in jurisprudence, not in astronomy, and it is usually a setting in the app.

What to follow in Makkah and Madinah

The adhan from the mosque itself. In the Haram, the congregation follows the mosque, and the mosque follows the Umm al-Qura calendar. No app overrides what is being called a hundred metres away from you.

Use a timetable to plan your day — when to eat, when to be back, when to leave for the Haram. Use the adhan to pray.

What this site shows

The prayer times on AlHaram.live are retrieved from the AlAdhan API, cached and served for the two cities. It is a calculated timetable like any other, and we say so rather than presenting it as an official mosque schedule.

It is intended for planning. If it differs from the adhan you can hear, the adhan is right.

A note on travel

If you set an app to a fixed city and then travel, it will keep showing the old city until you let it update. Every year this catches out people who arrive in Jeddah and are working from times calculated for home.