Your questions about Sandouq, answered directly.

Yes. You can download and use Sandouq on Android at no cost. Transaction tracking, accounts, basic budgets, indicative Zakat, Hijri calendar, Sadaqah, offline mode — all of this is included from the moment you install. An optional one-time purchase of $4.99 / 49 MAD unlocks the extended capabilities such as unlimited budgets, advanced savings goals, full export, and multi-currency. No recurring charges, no renewals, no hidden fees.

The base version lets you track your daily finances: transactions, up to 3 accounts, up to 5 budgets, indicative Zakat calculation, Hijri conversion. Sandouq unlocked extends the app: unlimited accounts and budgets, multi-currency with automatic conversion, advanced savings goals, full CSV/JSON export, additional themes, and early access to new features. It's the same app, simply with the brakes released — not a separate edition. You can see the full list on the Extend Sandouq page.

No. Sandouq runs on a one-time purchase model: you pay $4.99 / 49 MAD once, and it's yours for keeps, across every Android device tied to your Google Play account. No recurrence, no auto-renewal. This is a deliberate choice — a Muslim family budget doesn't need yet another monthly charge that slips by unnoticed.

Your purchase is tied to your Google Play account, not to a device. On your new phone, sign in to the same Google account, install Sandouq, and the app will automatically recognise your purchase — no account to recreate with us. For your financial data (which stays on the old device), export it as CSV or JSON from Settings → Backup, then import it on the new phone.

Because the purchase is processed by Google Play, you can request a refund directly from the Play Store within 48 hours of purchase, no justification needed. Beyond that window, write to [email protected] explaining your situation: we handle every request with common sense. Google Play's official policy is available at support.google.com/googleplay.

Sandouq calculates Zakat following the classical method: 2.5% on net wealth exceeding the Nisab, using the thresholds reported from the Prophet ﷺ (87.48 g of pure gold or 612.36 g of pure silver). The app fetches spot prices to convert into your currency, tracks your hawl (lunar year), and applies the threshold you've chosen. It's accurate within that classical framework — but it remains an indicative tool, not a fatwa.

Three main sources of variation can introduce a gap relative to the exact amount due: (1) the reference price (Sandouq uses a weighted-average spot price; the buy or sell price on a local market may differ by 1 to 4%), (2) the definition of deductible debt (future instalments, long-term debt, consumer credit — schools differ), and (3) the nature of certain assets (family-business shares, partially-rented property, precious metals in personal use). For these grey areas, consult a qualified scholar within your madhab. You can try the Sandouq Zakat Calculator directly on the site with your own numbers.

Sandouq gives you two structural choices: the Nisab threshold (gold or silver — silver being the majority contemporary position) and the hawl calculation mode (pure lunar or Gregorian approximation). For known areas of divergence (worn jewellery, future debts, business shares), Sandouq shows you the default option with a note explaining other rulings. The app does not replace your jurisprudential reference — it executes the choice you give it.

Sandouq is designed for use that aligns with Muslim financial ethics: no connection to a conventional bank, no advertising, no built-in interest (riba) system, no speculative crypto module, no monetisation through data resale. The business model is a transparent one-time purchase. The religious calculations (Zakat, Sadaqah, Hijri) are indicative tools based on classical methods. That said, the label « halal » is a religious judgement that belongs to your reference scholar — we provide a clean, transparent, and respectful tool.

Yes. Sandouq distinguishes three types of religious outflows: Zakat (obligatory, annual, triggered by the hawl), Sadaqah (voluntary, tracked as a monthly or yearly running total), and general donations. You can create dedicated budgets, see your totals by recipient, and export a summary for your own records. The built-in Hijri calendar lets you align your donations with Ramadan, Dhu al-Hijjah, or the meritorious nights.

No. This is a foundational product decision. Sandouq does not and will not offer automatic bank linking (open banking, aggregation, scraping). You enter your transactions manually, or import a CSV from your banking app. This friction is intentional: it gives you back control, avoids intermediary fees, and ensures your data doesn't pass through any third party.

Your data is stored in a local SQLite database, in your Android phone's internal memory, in the app's private space encrypted by the system. No server, no cloud, no S3 bucket, no third-party partner receives this data. Concretely, on Android, Sandouq writes to the /data/data/app.sandouq/databases/ folder — a space that only the operating system and the app itself can read, unless you've rooted your device. No other application can access this folder. If you uninstall the app without having exported your data, it is permanently deleted along with the app. For complete technical details, see our page on privacy and local storage.

No, not in version 1.x. No cloud, no synchronisation, no server account. To move your data from one device to another, you manually export a JSON file (encryptable) from Settings → Backup, then import it on the other device. End-to-end encrypted (E2E) cloud sync is being studied for a future version — but only if it can be implemented without compromising the offline promise, and always as an option.

No. Sandouq requests no access to contacts, GPS location, camera, microphone, SMS, or phone calls. The only permissions requested are: storage (to export your backup files), notifications (for reminders you enable), and internet only to verify your Google Play purchase and send an anonymous crash report if you accept. You can review these permissions in Android Settings → Apps → Sandouq.

Two options. Simple option: uninstall the app from the Play Store or Android settings — all associated data is deleted along with the app. In-app option: open Sandouq, go to Settings → Reset all data, confirm twice. Deletion is irreversible and immediate. Since nothing lives on a server, there's no one else to contact and no erasure delay to wait through.

Yes, fully. All of Sandouq's main functions work without a connection: entering transactions, calculating Zakat with the latest cached prices, budgets, goals, Hijri conversion, exports. The internet is used only to refresh gold and silver prices daily (if you allow it), verify your Play Store purchase, and send the crash reports you've explicitly enabled. If you stay in airplane mode for a week, the app keeps working with the last known prices.

Yes. The unlocked version supports multi-currency accounts with automatic conversion: MAD, EUR, USD, SAR, AED, EGP, TND, DZD, GBP, TRY, JOD, KWD, QAR, and most major currencies. Rates are refreshed when the app has internet access, but the calculation remains functional offline with the last cached rates (typically less than 24 h old). The primary currency, in which your net worth and Zakat are calculated, is chosen in Settings and can be changed at any time — the transaction history keeps the original currency for each operation, only aggregations are reconverted. This is useful for the diaspora: a savings account in Morocco in MAD, a current account in the UK in GBP, and a consolidated view in either one.

Sandouq is available in English, French, and Arabic (with full RTL interface and IBM Plex Sans Arabic font). You can switch languages on the fly from Settings, without restarting the app. Numbers respect your language's format (correct decimal separators in French, Indo-Arabic digits in Arabic if you prefer). Support for Tamazight and Turkish is being studied for a later release.

For now, Sandouq is designed as a personal application: one phone, one database. If you'd like a spouse to track their own finances, each person installs the app on their phone. To share an unlocked purchase, use Google Play family sharing (up to 6 members): the purchase is recognised on the phones of your Google family members without re-buying. You can also periodically export a JSON file from one spouse's phone and send it to the other for consolidation — a manual share, but one that respects the offline promise. Real-time data sharing between accounts is not planned: that would require a central server and betray the founding commitment. A « household » multi-account view on a single phone is being studied for a future version.

Sandouq is currently available only on Android, with an Android-first launch decided to better serve Muslim families across the MENA region, where Android represents the majority of the installed base. A version for iOS is being studied for late 2026, after Android stabilisation and integration of user feedback. Sign up for the waitlist via [email protected] to be notified as soon as it's available.

Write to [email protected] with your suggestion, your use case, and a screenshot if possible. Every email is read personally by the developer — no bot, no numbered ticket that gets lost. For bugs, include your phone model, your Android version, and the steps to reproduce the issue. The features most requested by the community are publicly prioritised in the roadmap.