Batoul Apps Blog

Quran Reader HD - The Quran app you've been waiting for

2010-08-04T04:46:23Z

Introducing Quran Reader HD for iPad.

Quran Reader HD brings an entirely new and interactive experience for the Quran to the iPad. When the iPad first came out we knew that we wanted to do something very special for the Quran on this device so we built an entire new app with some amazing new features that we know you will love. And Alhamdulillah we managed to get it to you just in time for Ramadan.

The first thing you will notice when you launch the app is the beautiful interface that lets you engage with the Quran. Turn the pages and drop bookmark tassles. Tap and hold on an ayah to highlight it. Quran Reader HD brings the amazing experience of the iPad to the Holy Quran.

Listen to the Quran with verse-by-verse recitation from the beautiful voice of Sheikh Abdelbasit Abdelsamad. Quran Reader HD is also great for people wanting to memorize the Quran or improve their reading or pronunciation as it highlights each ayah as the verse is recited. With the repeat buttons you can set it to repeat each verse as it goes or have it repeat the entire selection until the verses have been committed to memory.

For those interested in understanding more about the Quran you will enjoy tapping on an ayah to bring up the tafseer & translation. Quran Reader HD offers English or French translations and Tafseer in English (Tafseer Al-Jalalayn) and Arabic (Tafseer Al-Moyassar).

Integrate Quran Reader HD into your Quranic study by creating notes & bookmarks on verses you need to remember. Save your thoughts and leave visual markers for yourself as you read through the Quran.

We really hope that you enjoy the experience of Quran Reader HD for iPad and of course we look forward to your feedback and suggestions inshAllah.

Download Quran Reader HD for iPad

QamarDeen: Taste your Islam

2010-06-17T21:14:51Z

Batoul Apps is very proud to announce QamarDeen, a completely new type of Islamic iPhone app. QamarDeen is an Islamic behavior tracking app, allowing to log how you prayed, how much Quran you read, if you gave charity and if you fasted. It can then display that information in a graph to show you your progress over time. The intention is that this app will be an effective tool in helping you create and maintain better and more consistent Islamic behaviors.

QamarDeen comes with great features like integration with Quran Reader, and other third party Quran apps, so you can easily resume reading from your last recorded spot. You can also protect your information by enabling a passcode to open the app, keeping your deeds between you and Allah (swt). QamarDeen features a unique and innovative design by the very talented Bandar Raffah.

QamarDeen is available in the App Store as a free download. So we encourage everyone to go and grab a copy.

The Sweet Taste of Success

2010-06-14T04:54:04Z

Quran Reader 2.1 ~ Marvelous Mus'haf

2010-04-17T01:30:24Z

Just two weeks after the release of Quran Reader 2.0 we have a new update out, Quran Reader 2.1 - codename Marvelous Mus'haf. These include some features that got left out of Quran Reader 2.0 due to time constraints and some that simply slipped our minds. But after the release of Quran Reader 2.0 a lot of users emailed us with suggestions so we immediately went back to development to implement their requests and get them out as soon as possible. Alhamdulillah the update has been approved and is now live in the App Store.

So what got updated in 2.1? The new features include:

Rotation lock button
Jump to page option
Jump to Hizb option
Page slider in the Quran browser
French Quran translation
The screen no longer dims while the app is running

So I hope you enjoy these updates, and we love hearing any suggestions you have so definitely feel free to contact us.

Quran Reader 2

2010-04-03T01:07:27Z

It's been just over a year since we first released Quran Reader for the iPhone and alhamdulillah we are very pleased to announce Quran Reader 2, a free update to all existing Quran Reader users. Completely re-written to take advantage of capabilities in iPhone OS 3.0 we improved upon every aspect of the original Quran Reader. Just a quick rundown of what you can find in Quran Reader 2:

High resolution pages was one of the first requests we got upon releasing the original Quran Reader. This was a tricky one to do, because you want to keep the file size of the app from getting too high. Thankfully we did find a way to double the resolution of the pages and actually lower the file size of the app (png is such an awesome format).

And of course with better resolution comes landscape mode. Once the pages had better resolution landscape mode was an obvious next step. To keep things simple we removed pinch to zoom and now you simply rotate the device to enter landscape mode and zoom in on the page. Reading the Quran like this is a real treat, even if your eyesight isn't all that.

So with those requests taken care of we decided to add something really cool, full text search in English and Arabic. This feature we're really proud of, just start typing in your search term in English or Arabic and you will see a list of words to complete your search term. Tap "Search" or choose one of the options and then you will see a list of results, showing the text of the Ayah in either English or Arabic based on the language of your search term. Definitely try this out, we think you're going to love it.

We also recognize that a lot of our users are non-English speakers, so we added complete user interface localization in English, Arabic and French. We hope this makes the app even more accessible for our users. You can also enable Arabic surah names without having the entire app in Arabic. Simply tap the settings button on the home screen and then toggle Arabic surah names.

We're not done yet, alhamdulillah Quran Reader 2 is a great update, but we definitely have more planned. Plus, stay tuned for Quran Reader HD, coming soon to an iPad near you...

So if you don't have it yet, go grab Quran Reader from the App Store.

Location Awareness Isn't Just for iPhones Anymore

2010-03-03T16:19:11Z

One of the coolest features of the iPhone is how it can customize certain information and services based on where you are, for example in Guidance on the iPhone you can ask it to find your current location and display the prayer times for that location instead of having to search for the location as you currently have to on Guidance for the Mac.

When Apple introduced Snow Leopard in 2009 one of the features they included in it was the same functions you call on the iPhone to determine the user's location. And they even updated some of their applications to make use of this, such as the time zone selector in the Date and Time preference panel

Of course this is not going to be as accurate as the iPhone is, the iPhone can use a GPS or cell tower triangulation to find your location. What Snow Leopard (and the iPod Touch) use to find your location are the names of the different WiFi hotspots it can see. So while not accurate enough to give you turn by turn driving directions, it is definitely accurate enough to set your time zone and hopefully accurate enough to automatically set your prayer time location, this would be especially useful for people with laptops who travel frequently. InshAllah I plan on looking into utilizing this feature in an update for Guidance on the Mac (which does still have ongoing development). So definitely keep an eye out for a Guidance update soon inshAllah.

The Adhan You Choose

2010-02-24T14:22:15Z

Guidance for the iPhone has been updated to Version 2.2. With that comes a much requested feature - multiple adhan alerts to choose from. Now, when enabling a prayer notification, you can choose from the Default Adhan, the Makkah Adhan or the Istanbul Adhan (the same great Adhans available in Guidance for Mac). The Adhan alerts are still limited to 30 seconds but unfortunately that is an Apple regulation, so there is no way around it.

We hope you enjoy this update and please feel free to leave any suggestions for future releases in the comments section

You can grab Guidance for the iPhone from the iTunes App Store

Masjids, Masjids, Everywhere

2010-02-10T22:41:26Z

In coordination with Zabihah.com, Batoul Apps is proud to announce a new feature - the Masjid Locator. The Masjid Locator works with up-to-date information from Zabihah.com to overlay the five masaajid closest to you, or around any location you request.

To find the five closest masaajid to you, press the Qibla Direction icon. Use the "current location" icon to orient Google Maps to your location. Then, press the Masjid Locator icon in the bottom right corner. Guidance will scale Google Maps to show you the five closest masaajid.

The Masjid Locator works for any location. You can use the search bar to type in a city, or simply drag the map to a location and click the Masjid Locator icon to find the nearest masjid.

Use this feature to help plan where to stop for Salah while traveling, or to find a place to attend Jummah prayers when you are visiting another city. Zabihah.com's database lets Guidance's Masjid Locator work in many international locations, so you can have options for salah away from home. If you find a new masjid while traveling, add it to Zabihah.com so others can find the masjid too.

Once the Masjid Locator has shown you the five nearest masaajid, tap on one of them, and the name and address of the masjid will pop up. Click the address, and Guidance gives you the option to open the location in maps, so you can get directions. Or, click "More Info" to visit the Zabihah.com page for more information about this masjid.

Once you are done using the Masjid Locator feature, just touch the Masjid Locator icon again to toggle off the masaajid and return your green Qibla direction arrow.

Batoul Apps and Zabihah.com hope that Guidance's new Masjid Locator function will help you to find a musallah to pray wherever you are, even while traveling in a new place! Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to always improving our work for your use and for the sake of Allah.

Introducing Supplications: Duaas for every occasion

2010-01-31T07:32:10Z

First off, I would like to apologize for the prolonged absence of the blog, but it is a pleasure for the first entry in the re-appearance of the blog to be announcing our latest app for the iPhone: Supplications. While Supplications is not the only duaa app out in the App Store, with over 230 duaas spanning more than 115 different topics, Supplications is definitely the most extensive and with features like bookmarking and searching, finding the right duaa is a breeze. With Supplications comes the polished interface and ease of use that we put in to all our products.

Supplications is the perfect app to have in your pocket, for those situations when you just can't remember the duaa you need or when you're waiting in line and looking for a new dhikr to recite. Bookmark your favorite duaas so you can access them easily and quickly. For every duaa in Supplications you have the Arabic text, the transliteration and the translation, making it accessible to all. Supplications feels right at home on your iPhone yet has just enough custom interface elements to make it a real pleasure to use. So if you haven't already please check out Supplications now: http://batoulapps.com/supplications/ and grab it from the iTunes App Store

Guidance Goes Pro with Prayer Alerts!

2009-07-31T04:06:56Z

Alhamdulillah, we are very pleased to announce the new version of Guidance for the iPhone. This new version has so many new features and functionality that decided it was definitely worthy of being our official 2.0 release. This release includes Prayer Alerts that uses Apple's new Push Notification to play an adhan alert or a beep when its time to pray, even if the app isn't running. It also has a new prayer compass for the iPhone 3GS that will point the exact direction to pray. We also added in a new Qibla map that you can pan and zoom around in, hijri date, better time zone support and better compatibility with high latitude locations.

One thing you'll notice though is we changed the name to Guidance Pro, this is because we are inshallah planning on releasing a non-pro version of Guidance for the iPhone that is completely free. This version will be the same Guidance you know and love but without prayer alerts.

As always we look forward to your comments and suggestions.

Note: The adhan alert will play for 20 seconds (completing the second Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar) if not interrupted. Unfortunately this is a limitation of any Push Notification sent to the phone. If this ever changes we will be sure to update Guidance to include the full Adhan.

Guidance 1.3 - Adhan volume, Hijri date and more!

2009-05-31T20:56:25Z

I'm happy to announce the release of Guidance 1.3. This release was made possible by the excellent code contributions of Mahmood Ali, jazakAllahu khairun for your help. This release includes the ability to change the volume at which the adhan is played. It also now shows the Hijri date in the drop down, you can customize the Hijri offset in the advanced settings to match your local moon sightings exactly. The last feature included in this update is the Sparkle updater, this last feature you probably won't notice until the next time an update is released, but then when it is, Guidance will automatically download and install the update by itself!

iPhone OS 3.0 Supports Arabic!

2009-03-18T15:12:56Z

Arabic support in the iPhone has never been properly implemented. Currently the letters will show up but won't be connected and sometimes show up backwards, as seen in the screenshot below

Arabic text in iPhone OS 2.2.1

But I have excellent news, the new iPhone OS 3.0 fully supports Arabic. It can display Arabic properly and even has an Arabic keyboard available, check out the screenshots below

Arabic text and keyboard in iPhone OS 3.0

InshAllah with this new new Arabic support I will be able to add Arabic localization to all my apps (Guidance and Quran Reader) and I will now be able to make my next app, Supplication, a Dua' app with dua's in English and Arabic that I plan to release for free on the App Store this summer.

Quran Reader for the iPhone

2009-03-01T08:37:09Z

I'm happy to announce our latest iPhone app, Quran Reader. Unlike other Quran applications for the iPhone, Quran Reader gives you the entire Quran in the original Othmani format in Arabic.

Quran Reader lets you flip through and read the Quran the exact same way you would a physical mus'haf. Quran Reader's polished user interface is easy to use and intuitive. Scroll through the index to the Surah you want or enter in the exact page number you want to go to, or jump to one of the bookmarks that you've created. Flip through each page with a swipe of your finger, pinch with two fingers to zoom in or out, or tap on a page to bring up the controls and bookmark a page. Quran Reader will even automatically go back to the last page you were viewing when open it again.

Quran Reader for the iPhone is the pre-cursor to Quran.app for Mac OS X which will now be undergoing development inshAllah.

http://batoulapps.com/quran/

Guidance (Version iPhone) Updated!

2009-01-27T23:07:33Z

Well it has been a while, and I do admit that I got a bit distracted with releasing version 1.2 of Guidance for Mac OS X and my other iPhone app Medical Spanish, but alhamdulillah the update for Guidance for the iPhone has finally been released. Version 1.1 includes much more accurate lookup for your current location on the Qibla maps, Qibla maps can now be displayed as satellite maps, tap a prayer time and it will flip over and show you a countdown until its time for that prayer, you can also set your time zone as the system time zone so that it automatically applies daylight savings time, and the home screen shows the name of the city and the date that the prayer times are for.

Now the only features still left to implement are a calendar tab that shows you the hijri date for any date you choose, the prayer times for that date and notes special Islamic events (Eid, Ramadan, etc.) and the ability to pan the map to move it (like the Google Maps app does) instead of double tapping. I also hope to be able to implement adhan notifications, but theres no way to do that until Apple allows apps to run in the background or access some kind of notification system (neither of which have any sort of indication of when they might become available).

Inshallah, I hope you enjoy this update and please feel free to leave your feedback in the comments

Guidance 1.2

2008-12-08T06:08:33Z

Eid Mubarak to everyone! Alhamdulillah on this joyous occasion I am able to announce the release of the next update to Guidance. This release includes some features that have been requested for some time now, the ability to select a different adhan for each prayer and the inclusion of a fajr adhan (one that includes the line "Alsalatu khairun min alnawm").

With this release out inshallah I'm going to try and finish up the update for Guidance Mobile and also release Quran Reader for the iPhone (which is very close to completion). After that, once I can get a minute to work on Guidance again the next features I'm looking at adding are the ability to wake the computer up from sleep to play the adhan, an automatic updater (one that downloads and installs the update for you), and some usability improvements to the manual time adjustments. If you guys have any other features you'd like to see please include them in the comments.