Japa, a calm prayer and mantra counter.

On your device. Japa has no account and no server of its own, and nothing you write is ever sent to us. If you turn on iCloud sync (part of Japa Lifetime, and off unless you turn it on) that same data is also kept in your own private iCloud, so your other devices carry it; it goes to Apple under your Apple Account and to nobody else. The only other thing Japa talks to is the App Store, and only if you buy Japa Lifetime.

Counting is always free and never limited, on iPhone and on Apple Watch: there is no cap on recitations and no timer. Goals, the practice text, the daily reminder, counting in rounds, the bell, the quick count, the paced breath, the built-in collection of traditional texts, the watch app and its complication, exporting your data, streaks, themes and every language are free too.

Free practice keeps up to three saved practices and shows the last seven days. Japa Lifetime is a single purchase (US$6.99 on the US store, priced for the region elsewhere) that saves as many practices as you like, opens your whole history (every month, your all-time totals and a breakdown by practice), adds custom breathing rhythms and observance programmes, and lets you turn on iCloud sync, so the same practices and the same history follow you to your other devices. Existing users keep their previous free allowance. It is not a subscription.

Yes. Tap Quick count at the top of Today. It opens at zero, counts exactly like a saved practice (the dial, the haptics, the rounds and the bell) and keeps nothing when you close it. Choose the mala it counts in (108 unless you change it, any size you type, or none at all) and it remembers that for next time. Nothing it counts reaches your history or your totals. If you would rather not see the card, turn Quick count off in Settings.

Check that Bell is on in Settings: turning it on strikes the bell once, so you can hear straight away that it works. The bell plays whether or not the Ring/Silent switch is set to silent, and it mixes with music or a podcast rather than interrupting it. If you still hear nothing, raise the volume with the side buttons while Japa is open.

Open Settings inside Japa and tap Restore Purchases, signed in with the same Apple Account you bought it with. Japa Lifetime supports Family Sharing, so people you share purchases with get it too. Your saved practices are separate: they live on each device unless you turn on iCloud sync, and they come across in an iPhone or iPad backup either way.

Yes, if you turn on iCloud sync in Settings. It is part of Japa Lifetime and stays off until you switch it on. Every device signed into the same Apple Account then shows the same practices and the same history, kept in your own private iCloud rather than on any server of ours. With sync off, each device keeps its own library. Either way your data is included in an iPhone or iPad backup, so it survives moving to a new device.

No. Resetting only clears today; every earlier day stays exactly as it was.

Choose the mala you actually count on (27, 33, 50, 54, 99 or 108, or Custom for a string of any other size) and how many rounds you want in a day. Rounds can be typed as well as nudged. The goal is what the two come to, so five rounds of 108 is a goal of 540 without you working it out. For a practice that is not counted on beads, choose No mala: that brings back the plain goal, where you can pick 9, 21, 54 or 108 or type any number up to 10,000.

In Settings, inside the app. Japa is available in thirty-three languages, chosen from a picker inside the app rather than from iOS, and can follow the system appearance or be pinned to light or dark.

Yes. The counter, the day summary and the library are all labelled for VoiceOver, and Japa supports Dynamic Type and Reduce Motion throughout.

Deleting a practice removes it and its history and, with iCloud sync on, from your other devices too. Deleting the app removes everything Japa has stored on the device; the iCloud copy, if you made one, is deleted in iOS Settings under your Apple Account’s iCloud storage, like any app’s.