Unfortunately, Apple has a time limit on how long the notification sounds can be (30 seconds or less). This is out of our hands, and we can’t make it longer (we really wish we could!).
Currently, the only way to hear the full Adhan is to tap the notification when it comes on the screen, and that will open the app and play the full Adhan for you.
We’ve seen other apps fire off several consecutive notifications, but we’re avoiding it for now for two reasons:
- We feel the extra notifications, for each prayer, would clutter up users’ Notification Center
- Since they are technically separate sound files, there is a short pause between each 30 second section of the adhan when played this way
we are seriously considering introducing this option in our next major release for those who have been asking for it, as it is by far our most requested feature.
We’re still hesitant because of the reasons mentioned above, but we are working on finding solutions to at least partially mitigate the issues in order to provide the best user experience possible insha’Allah.
If adhan only plays for a few seconds (not 30 seconds):
When the phone screen is on and unlocked, the notifications will only play the sounds for the duration that the notification banner is displayed on the screen (usually just a few seconds). Once the banner disappears, the notification sound will stop.

To change this, you can go into the Notification settings and change the banner style:
In Pray Watch, go to Settings > System > iOS Settings > Notifications > Banner Style > choose Persistent

This will change the banners to remain on your screen until you manually dismiss them, and will allow the full 30 second adhan clip to play. It will also give you more time to tap the banner and open up the app to allow it to complete the adhan in its entirety.