Prayer Times Non-Latin Character Encoding Failure

Changing the calculation method for a city with a non-Latin name, such as Kathmandu, Beijing, Cairo, or Moscow, could cause prayer times to fail. The location lookup returned city names in their local script when no language preference was set, and those names failed on re-lookup. The issue has been resolved and a safeguard added to request Latin-script results consistently.

• Posted: Feb 11, 2026, 16:00 UTC
• Resolved: Feb 11, 2026, 22:00 UTC
• Duration: 6h

Timeline

1. resolved

   22:00 UTC

   This incident has been resolved. A language preference is now sent with every location lookup, so city names are returned consistently in Latin script. The fix was verified with Kathmandu, Beijing, Cairo, and Moscow across all nine calculation methods. The server cache was cleared to remove stale entries. No data was impacted.

2. identified

   21:30 UTC

   The cause has been identified. When no language preference is set, the location lookup returns a city's name in its local script. On re-lookup after a method change, that name is rejected by the prayer times service, which does not accept non-Latin input.

3. investigating

   16:00 UTC

   We are currently investigating reports that prayer times fail when the calculation method is changed for cities with non-Latin names. Initial logs show the location service returning city names in non-Latin scripts.

Permalink: /incident/32