Questions and answers

Is Sanathana Yatra free?

Yes. There are no ads, no in-app purchases and nothing for sale: no pujas, offerings or bookings.

Do I need an account?

No. There is no login and no account; the app works as soon as it is installed.

Is there an iPhone version?

Not now. Sanathana Yatra is for Android phones.

Who makes it?

One developer in India, not a company. Write to praveen.dev.mys@gmail.com.

Does it work without internet?

Yes. The map of all of India, the stories and histories, the calendar and your yatra are all on the phone. Only temple photos, which come from Wikimedia Commons, and the download of a state’s full map need a connection.

How much space do the state maps take?

Each state’s full map takes from under 1 MB to about 90 MB. Settings › Offline maps shows each one’s size and the space your downloads take.

How does the map show India’s borders?

As India’s official map shows them. The national and state borders come from Natural Earth’s view of India.

A temple is missing, or in the wrong place

The temples’ places come from Wikidata and OpenStreetMap, corrected by hand where they were wrong. Write to praveen.dev.mys@gmail.com to suggest a temple or a correction.

Are the stories history?

No. The legends are told as tradition holds them, not as historical fact, and they vary between regions and texts. Each story lists its sources. The History tab, from Wikipedia, is kept apart from the legend.

How exact are the festival dates?

They are worked out from the panchang for New Delhi, so they can differ by a day by region or tradition, and temples announce their own schedules. The season openings of the Himalayan shrines are estimates too. Check with the temple before you travel.

Why does it ask for my location?

Only when you tap “I’m here now” to check in, Near me, or Start from my location in the planner. It takes one reading while the app is open, never in the background, and sends it nowhere.

Where is my yatra kept?

Only on your phone, in the app’s private storage; nothing is sent to the developer. Uninstalling the app deletes it, so export a backup first (Settings › My data).

Can I move my yatra to a new phone?

Yes. Export it on the old phone and import the zip file on the new one, both in Settings › My data.