The problem with scheduled syncs

If a tool only re-checks your calendar every few hours, the block is wrong from the moment the meeting lands until the next run. For a prayer with a short window, that gap can be the whole window.

Change notifications instead

On Outlook, Sutrah subscribes to Microsoft Graph change notifications. When an event is added or moved, placement re-runs for that day and the prayer block moves to another gap inside its window. The Outlook page describes this, and the Google Calendar page covers the Google side, where blocks also move when the calendar changes.

There's one honest edge case: if the whole window really fills up, Sutrah says so instead of quietly dropping the prayer. Knowing Asr has no gap left is useful at 2:40 pm, not at Maghrib.

What it needs to do this

Reading free time means reading event times, so the permissions are calendar-only:

• Microsoft Graph: Calendars.ReadWrite, offline_access, and openid email profile.
• Google: calendar.events.owned plus basic OpenID profile.
• No mail, Drive, OneDrive or contacts permission is requested.

The IT brief lists the exact scopes and redirect URIs for anyone reviewing it, and the privacy page covers what's stored.

When push isn't possible

Apple Calendar has no API for this, so Sutrah offers a pull-only subscription feed there. The times arrive, but they don't dodge meetings. The same feed is the fallback when a workplace won't approve calendar access, and you can build one without an account on the subscribe page.

Times are recalculated nightly from your location, calculation method and madhab, and the site suggests checking them against your local masjid. It's free, with no card and no paid tier.