Challenges: How to Help Muslims Access Islamic Knowledge with Suitable Religious Practices?
In Indonesia, Muslims often look for reliable sources in order to confirm information related to their religion. Several Islamic organizations, such as the Council of Indonesian Ulama (Majelis Ulama Indonesia), Halal Indonesia, Nahdlatul Ulama, Muhammadiyah, and the Ministry of Religious Affairs serve as trusted sources for accurate information. As technology evolves in the digital era, there is a growing need for a dedicated platform to disseminate Islamic knowledge and support daily prayer times. Thus, a specialized application with worship support features and credible information was developed as the aim of this project.
Currently, existing Muslim applications do not combine features for supporting daily prayer and confirming trending topics from an Islamic perspective. Many platforms often lead users to news sites requiring validation, making finding trustworthy information more difficult. If the sites contain misleading information, it will have a bad impact related to religious practices, especially for Muslims.
Therefore, the main objective of this project was to develop an application for Muslims in Indonesia with the capability to simplify the validation process and provide accurate content. As a result, the application could be used personally or shared within the community. Furthermore, enhancing the worship experience was also the objective since this application has eliminated distractions, such as advertisements, ensuring a seamless and uninterrupted experience while utilizing the application.
Solutions: Creating a Fully Comprehensive Mobile Application that Combines Worship Support Features and Reliable Information
A well-planned strategy was formed to differentiate the Teman Muslim app from other Muslim applications as well as increase brand awareness. Our strategy involved conducting in-depth research with several correspondents representing users, benchmarking against similar applications, and developing an engaging landing page. In order to attract more users, the landing page was designed with a user-friendly and attractive interface, providing a clear overview of the features, advantages, benefits, and how to use the application. Additionally, we added a download button that allowed users to conveniently download the application from the App Store/Google Play Store.
As mentioned above, we initiated the project by conducting research involving several correspondents representing the target audience. From the research that was carried out, we collected valuable insights regarding the essential features of the application, identified shortcomings in existing applications, benchmarked almost identical applications, and gathered suggestions for features that needed to be implemented. This process aimed to develop features that would align with the daily prayer of Muslims. Additionally, we developed the Teman Muslim application based on comprehensive research, resulting in an application with worship features and complete sources to verify information. In developing the application, we applied cutting-edge technologies using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, ensuring that the application would be compatible with iOS and Android.
Since the development of the Teman Muslim application was categorized as our internal project, the process was undoubtedly distinctive compared to other projects. We collaborated with Islamic organizations in Indonesia to provide suitable content. This partnership ensured that the information shown on the application would be accurate and reliable. Also, we prioritized the research and benchmarking before the development so the application would definitely meet users’ needs.
Results: An Islamic-based Mobile App with Helpful Features and Trustworthy Information
The Teman Muslim application has achieved 209 downloads on Android and 150 downloads on iOS, showing an interest among users for a reliable platform related to Islamic knowledge and daily worship. However, these numbers are expected to rise significantly, as seen from the number of users. Currently, there are 212 active users on Android, while iOS has 108 users who regularly engage with and utilize the application frequently. To sum up, as a helpful and well-designed application for Muslims in Indonesia, Teman Muslim serves as a perfect digital companion for accompanying your spiritual journey.
