Google Discover tests showing Islamic Prayer times to some users

For all the information that Google presents through Discover on the -1 homescreen, there’s always scope to provide more useful information beyond the usual news articles, weather updates, and ads. Google is now testing a new information card in Google Discover, one that shows the next Islamic prayer timings.

A user on Reddit spotted Google displaying the prayer timing for Asr namaz in their Google Discover screen. For those unaware, these timings indicate the start of each of the five mandatory prayer slots in the day for people who follow Islam.

According to the user, tapping on the prayer timing card launches a Google Search for “prayer times”. There’s nothing more to customize or configure on this end. Curiously, the reader actually wanted to remove the timing card as it was not relevant to them, and they had done nothing to enable it in the first place. So we’d definitely appreciate an option to opt-in and to opt-out too.

A prayer time card within Google Discover on the -1 homescreen, and a customizable notification to complement it, would be something that a lot of Muslims around the world would find useful. Although, this can be tricky to implement properly because of the deviations in regional timings and cultural practices for these prayers. However, this can be rolled out for some of the major sects first, and then be expanded to include timing offsets to account for the regional differences.

In my Google Nest Audio review, I commented how useful a Smart Speaker really was, outside of the US and other English-speaking regions. A function related to prayer timings and Adhan (the Islamic call-to-prayer) would have greatly elevated the experience in my household and brought along practical utility to the smart speaker beyond reading out the weather and news. Amazon has some Alexa Skills for prayer timings and Adhan, and it would be great to see Google also catching up in this space.

If you’d like to get rid of Google Discover entirely, do check out the Discover Killer Xposed module.

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