TV Display Mode

PrayCalc has dedicated TV apps for Apple TV, Android TV, and Fire TV. Display prayer times on your living room screen or use it as a full-screen masjid sign with iqamah times and announcements.

Overview

Two TV platforms are supported:

  • Apple TV (tvOS 17+): native SwiftUI app, pairs with iPhone or web dashboard, real-time WebSocket push
  • Android TV / Fire TV: Flutter app, built-in to the main PrayCalc Android release, D-pad navigation

Both platforms support home mode and masjid mode and are designed for landscape TV displays.

Apple TV

PrayCalcTV is a native SwiftUI app for Apple TV. It pairs with your iPhone or the praycalc.com web dashboard and displays prayer times full-screen.

Pairing

  1. Open the PrayCalc app on your iPhone or go to praycalc.com/account
  2. Navigate to Smart Home > TVs > Add Device
  3. Enter the 4-digit code shown on your Apple TV
  4. Prayer times push instantly via WebSocket — no polling, no manual refresh

Display

The Apple TV app shows:

  • Current prayer and next prayer with live countdown
  • All daily prayer times in a clear landscape layout
  • Hijri date and your location
  • Adhan notification at each prayer time

Navigation uses the Siri Remote D-pad — no touch required. The display is readable from across the room.

Requirements

  • Apple TV HD or Apple TV 4K
  • tvOS 17 or later
  • Ummat+ subscription for real-time sync and pairing

Available on the Apple TV App Store as PrayCalc for Apple TV (bundle ID: com.praycalc.app.tv).

Android TV & Fire TV

The Android TV app is a separate build target inside the main PrayCalc app. It runs in landscape on Android TV and Fire TV devices, uses D-pad navigation, keeps the screen on with WakelockPlus, and transitions to an ambient screensaver after a configurable idle period.

Two display modes:

  • Home mode: personal prayer clock for your living room
  • Masjid mode: public signage for masjids and prayer halls

Home mode

The default TV display shows:

  • Current time in large text (center of screen)
  • Next prayer countdown with a breathing animation
  • Prayer grid: 6 prayer tiles (Fajr, Sunrise, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha) in a 2x3 layout
  • Hijri and Gregorian dates in the header
  • Moon phase indicator with phase name and illumination percentage
  • Weather current temperature and conditions (when configured)

Navigate between prayers with the D-pad. The currently active prayer is highlighted with the PrayCalc green accent color.

Masjid mode

Designed for large displays in masjids and prayer halls. Forced landscape orientation with large fonts readable from 30 feet away.

Features:

  • Adhan and Iqamah table: side-by-side columns showing each prayer’s adhan and iqamah times
  • Iqamah offsets: configurable per-prayer offset (e.g., Fajr +20 min, Dhuhr +15 min)
  • Friday Jumu’ah label: automatically relabels Dhuhr as Jumu’ah on Fridays with the correct iqamah
  • Ramadan labels: Suhoor (at Fajr) and Iftar (at Maghrib) during Ramadan
  • Announcement bar: scrolling carousel for masjid announcements (auto-cycles every 8 seconds)
  • QR code overlay: optional QR code linking to the masjid’s website or donation page

Weather display

The TV home screen shows current weather conditions alongside the moon phase in the bottom bar. Weather data comes from the OpenWeatherMap API and updates every 60 minutes.

The weather display shows:

  • Weather emoji matching current conditions (sunny, cloudy, rain, snow, etc.)
  • Temperature in Celsius (based on city coordinates)
  • Condition description (e.g., “clear sky”, “light rain”)

Weather requires an OpenWeatherMap API key, injected at build time:

flutter run --target=lib/main_tv.dart \
  --dart-define=OPENWEATHERMAP_API_KEY=your_key_here

If no API key is configured, the weather section is hidden and only the moon phase is displayed. Weather data is cached in memory for 60 minutes to minimize API calls. If a network request fails, the last cached result is shown until the next successful refresh.

Ambient screensaver

After a configurable idle period (default: 10 minutes), the TV transitions to an ambient screensaver that shows:

  • Islamic geometric pattern (octagonal grid with star patterns)
  • Current time, next prayer, and moon phase as overlay text
  • Qibla compass direction

All overlay text drifts slowly across the screen (sinusoidal motion over a 30-minute cycle) to prevent OLED burn-in. Press any remote button to return to the main display.

System screensaver (DreamService)

On Android TV and Fire TV, PrayCalc also registers as a system screensaver via Android’s DreamService API. This means you can select PrayCalc in Settings > Screen saver and it will activate when the device is idle, even outside the PrayCalc app.

The system screensaver displays:

  • Current time over a deep green gradient background
  • Next prayer name and countdown
  • Moon phase emoji
  • Slow text drift for OLED burn-in prevention

The screensaver reads prayer data from SharedPreferences, so it stays current as long as the PrayCalc app has been opened at least once.

Settings

TV settings are accessible from the main screen via D-pad navigation:

SettingDescriptionDefault
Display modeHome or MasjidHome
Masjid nameDisplayed in masjid mode header—
Iqamah offsetsPer-prayer offset in minutesFajr: 20, Dhuhr: 15, Asr: 15, Maghrib: 5, Isha: 15, Jumu’ah: 30
QR codeURL shown as QR overlay in masjid modeOff
Ambient timeoutMinutes of idle before screensaver10
Ambient intervalSeconds between screensaver pattern changes60
LanguageDisplay languageSystem default

Building the TV APK

The Android TV app uses a separate entry point:

# Debug
flutter run --target=lib/main_tv.dart

# Release APK
flutter build apk --target=lib/main_tv.dart --release

# Install on connected Android TV
adb install build/app/outputs/flutter-apk/app-release.apk

The TV APK includes the Android TV leanback launcher intent filter, so it appears in the Android TV home screen alongside other apps. A 320x180dp banner is displayed in the TV launcher row.

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