Ipad App for Kids: Salah (Prayer) Tracker Review
Being in this media-savvy world today, many children spend a lot of their time on technology and deem it as a form of entertainment and relaxation. Sara Mir capitalised on this and created an app for children to use to keep track of their Salah. Salah Tracker for Kids is a unique reward system that encourages Muslim children to pray 5 times a day.
It aims to inculcate the habit of praying five times a day from young and the rewards serve as an impetus for children to strive to perform their five obligatory prayers. Nonetheless, the essence of the prayer which is to pray to God is brought across strongly in the App as well.
MuzlimBuzz.sg was privileged to interview the creator of this app, Sara Mir, to find out more about her and the inspiration behind the app.
[divider] [box_dark]MuzlimBuzz: How did you get into programming?[/box_dark]Sara Mir: I have no background in the field, I am actually a practicing dentist and I am a mother of 3 young children. I started googling on “How to make an app?”. Six months later, the project is now complete and is being downloaded in the app store. I want Muslim women to know that even if you have kids and are busy with raising your family, you can pursue your ideas and dreams at the same time!
I had this idea when I started to encourage my 5 year old to pray her daily salah. I wanted to encourage her in the same way that we encourage good behavior so that she would be excited about making salah. I also noticed that she would be very excited about apps on the iPad much the same as her peers and so from this, the idea of Salah Tracker For Kids was born! It is similar to a system that my Mom used when my siblings and I were younger and I can honestly say that it worked!
To create the app, I literally started by googling, “How to Make an App.” I checked out books from the local library and tried to read about it as much as I could on the internet. I don’t know anyone who has ever made an app before so the whole process was completely new. I hired and worked very closely with a development team called Super Web Solutions. It was their first app so I honestly think that they were learning at the same time as I was how to make an app! I told them my design and after countless consults with my think tank (my siblings and close friends!) and numerous skype sessions with a programmer in Pakistan, 6 months later the app was done!
During the process, people were skeptical of my idea or didn’t believe that I could actually do it and get it done. For example, I wanted to put audio in my app. I hired a small music group to write a jingle but it didn’t sound good having a brother with a deep voice sing it so I switched modes and decided to go to a recording studio myself with my daughter and have her do it. Thirty minutes later, the audio was done and we were ready to move on the next step. People responded a lot better to this audio so instead of just giving up and forgetting about the audio, we just tried something different which ended up sounding better!
Since the app has been completed mashAllah it has gotten good reviews. A brother said to me the other day that when I showed him the app he was unsure as to whether it would work initially but was pleasantly surprised when his kids were excited and asking to pray Maghrib salah so that they could enter it into the app! I was so happy to hear that. I sincerely hope and pray that many muslim children will benefit from this app iA and get into the habit of performing their salah iA!
I practice dentistry part time but I am a full time Mom of 3 little kids. My husband is mashAllah such a great help and without the help of Allah (swt) and then my husband I would never have completed this. On his days off he would help me with the kids so that I could give time to this project. The same is true with my siblings and close friends. I would keep asking them to edit things or bounce ideas off of them. In the end I can’t say that I did the project myself. First and foremost it was by the mercy of Allah (swt) that this app was completed and then I definitely had a lot of help from my friends and family!
Our Review
The graphics of the salah tracker are visually stimulating and the audios in the app are really unique and certainly very suitable for kids.
I found the different log-in feature catered for parents quite interesting too as it allows parents to track their child’s progress in a separate private account of which only the parents can have access to. All in all, I can certainly see not only parents but even schools using this app to promote the habit of praying the five daily prayers.
There’s even a Youtube Tutorial on how to use the app. Watch it below:
To download the app, please visit http://salahtrackerforkids.com/
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Adibah Mazeli
A sports junkie by heart, Adibah is adventurous and always has a thirst for knowledge. Challenges in life, to her, are simply blessings from Allah.
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