JEDDAH: The Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has launched the upgraded version of its Manasikana (our rituals) application which offers a package of electronic services on smartphones for pilgrims during their stay at the holy sites.

The new easy-to-use version of the app is made available in seven languages, namely Arabic, English, French, Urdu, Malay, Turkish, and Bengali.

The app also offers several features, including maps of Makkah, Holy sites, Madinah and Jeddah.

These maps, which are labelled and easy to use, contain a wide range of places of interest to the pilgrims.

As soon as the Offline Maps application is downloaded, the users can access easily to different areas, including the boundaries of the Haram and Holy places, without the need for being connected to the Internet.

The updated app feature will allow users identify their current location in relation to the legitimate boundaries of the Haram, the Prophet's Mosque and the holy sites (Arafah, Muzdalifah, Mina), as well as the direction and distance between the current location of the user and each of the said sites.

The app lets family members and friends track the locations of one another in real time on the mapping system.

The users can make use of this service during their stay in the holy sites to perform the Hajj rituals.

The app contains the important telephone numbers the pilgrims may need while visiting the Holy sites.

The pilgrims will also be able to use these numbers to communicate with the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah through the suggestion and observation forms.

These forms are supported by the feature of adding pictures and the service of receiving messages of awareness and guidance, sent by the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah in the language used by the pilgrim in his/her mobile apps.

The app offers other services, notably prayer times, direction of Qibla, locating nearby mosques, weather conditions, currency conversion, follow-up of the Ministry's news, among others.