Athan not working on Android? 6 things to check
If your prayer app's athan doesn't play at all, or plays a few minutes after the prayer time, the cause is usually a phone setting rather than the app itself. Android puts apps to sleep to save battery, asks for a separate permission before an app can fire an alarm at an exact time, and lets you mute notifications channel by channel. Going through the six checks below fixes most cases in a few minutes.
6 reasons the athan doesn't play
Here's each cause with its symptom and where to fix it. Menu names vary a little by phone maker and Android version.
| Cause | Symptom | Where to fix it |
|---|---|---|
| Exact alarms not allowed | The athan plays a few minutes late | Settings → Apps → Special app access → Alarms & reminders → Allow (Android 12+) |
| Battery optimization | The athan stops after you haven't opened the app for a few days | Settings → Apps → the app → Battery → Unrestricted; remove it from sleeping/deep sleeping apps |
| Notifications or a channel turned off | Nothing happens at prayer time | Settings → Apps → the app → Notifications → turn on the app and its athan channel (Android 13+ also asks for notification permission) |
| Silent or Do Not Disturb | The notification shows but there's no sound | Check the quick settings; add the app as a Do Not Disturb exception |
| On a phone call | No athan while you're on a call | Usually intended — most prayer apps stay quiet during calls |
| Athan needs internet | Nothing plays without Wi-Fi or data | Use an app that calculates times and stores the athan on the phone |
1. Allow "Alarms & reminders" (exact alarms)
Since Android 12, an app needs the "Alarms & reminders" permission to ring at an exact time. On Android 14 and later this permission is often off by default for newly installed apps. Without it, Android may batch the alarm with other work, so the athan can arrive a few minutes late. Because prayer times matter to the minute, this is the first thing to check.
2. Take the app out of battery optimization
Phone makers add their own battery savers — Samsung's sleeping and deep sleeping apps, for example — that can put an app to sleep and block its scheduled alarms. Set your prayer app's battery use to Unrestricted and make sure it isn't on any sleeping-apps list. If you ever tap Force stop in Settings, scheduled alarms can be cleared, so open the app once afterwards to set them again.
3. Check notification channels
Since Android 8, each app's notifications are split into channels that you can turn off or silence one by one. The app's notifications can be on while the athan channel itself is off or set to silent, and then nothing is heard. Go to Settings → Apps → the app → Notifications and make sure each channel is on and allowed to make sound.
4. Silent mode, Do Not Disturb and phone calls
When your phone is on silent or Do Not Disturb, staying quiet is the default behaviour. If you use Do Not Disturb, add your prayer app to its exceptions. If the athan doesn't play while you're on a call, that is usually by design, so it doesn't interrupt the conversation.
5. Find out whether your athan needs internet
Apps that download prayer times from a server or stream the athan audio can fail when you lose signal — on a flight, while travelling or in a building with poor reception. If that's your situation, use an app that calculates prayer times on the phone and keeps the athan audio inside the app, so nothing depends on a connection.
Check them in this order
You only need to do this once, when you first set up your prayer alerts.
- Allow "Alarms & reminders"
- Set battery use to Unrestricted and keep the app off sleeping-apps lists
- Make sure the app's notifications and its athan channel are on with sound
- Check silent and Do Not Disturb, and add an exception if you need one
- Wait for the next prayer and confirm the athan actually plays
How Salahday's athan works
Salahday calculates prayer times on your phone and has two athan voices built into the app, so the athan plays with no internet at all. It uses Android exact alarms: once you allow "Alarms & reminders" it plays on time, and if you haven't, the app shows a card asking you to, because the athan can otherwise be a few minutes late.
For each prayer you choose athan, a short notification or silent. There's an option to play the athan even when the phone is on silent (off by default), and the athan stops automatically when a call comes in. It appears as a normal notification with "Stop athan" and "I prayed" — no full-screen takeover, and the screen isn't kept on.
An athan that plays on time, even offline
Get Salahday on Google Play