How can we help?

The date in Niyam is different from my printed calendar

Printed calendars are usually prepared for one city (often Ujjain or Varanasi) and one tradition. Niyam computes sunrise, moonrise and tithi transitions for your city using a modern astronomical ephemeris with the Lahiri ayanamsa, so the date of a vrat can shift by a day depending on where you are. Tap "Why this date?" on any observance to see the exact times and the rule that decided the date.

Smarta, Vaishnava and ISKCON — what's the difference?

Smarta (household) is the most common calendar. Ekadashi falls on the day the tithi is running at sunrise in your city.

Vaishnava applies an additional rule: if Dashami "touches" sunrise on the Ekadashi day (it ends very close to or after sunrise), the fast is pushed to the next day to avoid viddha Ekadashi. This is followed by ISKCON, Swaminarayan, Pushtimarg, Madhva and Iyengar communities.

ISKCON (Mayapur) uses the same Vaishnava rule but reckoned from Mayapur's sunrise, regardless of where you live.

You can choose your Ekadashi practice in My Niyam → What you keep → Ekadashi settings. Niyam shows where the dates agree and explains where they differ.

My reminders are not arriving

Niyam's reminders are scheduled locally on the phone — no server sends them. Here are the most common issues:

• Check notification permissions. Go to your phone's Settings → Niyam and make sure notifications are allowed.
• Battery optimisation (Android). Some manufacturers aggressively kill background apps. Exempt Niyam from battery optimisation in Settings → Battery → Niyam. Niyam will show a notice if it detects this problem.
• Low Power Mode / Focus. On iPhone, Low Power Mode and Focus filters can delay or suppress notifications. Check Focus settings if reminders arrive late.
• Restart. If reminders stop after a software update, restarting the phone often fixes it.

You can test your reminders from My Niyam → Reminders → Send a test.

How does the Live Activity work?

On fasting days, Niyam can show a Live Activity on your iPhone Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. It displays the next anchor (sunrise, moonrise, parana) with a countdown. The Live Activity updates once a minute and does not use any network — everything is calculated on the phone.

Live Activities require iOS 16.1 or later. You can turn them on from My Niyam → Reminders.

How do I add the Home Screen or Lock Screen widget?

iPhone: Long-press the Home Screen → tap the + button → search for "Niyam". Choose the small or medium widget. For Lock Screen widgets, customise the Lock Screen and add a Niyam accessory.

Android: Long-press the Home Screen → Widgets → Niyam. The widget shows today's tithi and your next vrat.

My family is in another city — can I see their dates?

Yes. Go to My Niyam → People and places and add family members with their cities. On the Sky tab, the "Family Skies" panel compares your dates and times side by side, with a plain explanation when they differ.

Does Niyam need the internet?

No. All date and time calculations run on the phone. The only feature that uses the internet is place search: when you type a city name, the query goes to Apple Maps (iPhone) or Google (Android) to find coordinates. Everything else works offline.

How do I export or delete my data?

Go to My Niyam → Privacy and data. You can export everything as a JSON file or delete all your data from the phone. See our privacy policy for full details.