Inside the BadeSaba hack: How Israel allegedly turned Iran’s prayer app into psychological warfare tool

The United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran in an operation that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

• Hackers sent anti-regime messages via Iran's BadeSaba prayer app
• Millions received push notifications urging security to defect
• Iran faced a 36-hour internet shutdown after the app hack

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On February 28, 2026, an Islamic prayer‑timing app widely used in Iran reportedly pushed a series of anti‑regime messages to its users.

According to Times of India, the notifications appearing on BadeSaba Calendar urged members of Iran’s security forces to abandon their posts and join what the messages called “liberation forces”.  The app BadeSaba Calendar has over five million downloads.

Following the coordinated Israel-US strike, millions of Iranians got the message, "Help has arrived," on the Bade Saba app.

This app was earlier used as a platform to receive prayer updates. According to India Today, the notification did not come from a mosque, the government, or a news channel.

What is Bade Saba?

At first glance, Bade Saba appears to be a simple religious utility. It provides the Islamic (Hijri) calendar and sends reminders for the five daily prayers — Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha — including the Adhan (Islamic call to prayer) as a sound alert directly to the user’s lock screen. The app also highlights significant Islamic occasions such as prophets’ birthdays, martyrdom anniversaries, and religious holidays.

What did hackers say?

According to India Today, the Persian-language push notifications were sent to millions of Iranian phones on the morning of February 28. Disguised in the app’s familiar “Help Arrived” format, the messages contained strongly political content:

"The time for revenge has arrived. The regime’s oppressive forces will be held accountable for their brutal actions against Iran’s innocent people. Anyone who steps forward to defend and protect the nation will receive amnesty and forgiveness,” it said.

At 10.14 am, a follow-up message urged users to "lay down your weapons or join the forces of liberation" in support of Iranian freedom, as reported by WIRED Middle East. No party has officially claimed responsibility for the hack.

It is formatted to look like routine prayer reminders.

Internet monitoring group NetBlocks also reported that Iran experienced a near‑total nationwide internet shutdown for more than 36 hours after the strikes, causing connectivity to plunge to just a tiny fraction of normal levels and severely restricting people’s ability to verify information or contact loved ones. According to India Today, most global internet access was cut off, leaving only a few limited connections available through tools like VPNs while domestic networks struggled to stay online.

Not new

Over the past decade, Israeli intelligence and allied cyber units have become known for operations designed not just to disrupt systems, but to influence behaviour and morale. These campaigns often rely on precision, timing, and psychological effects rather than sheer destruction.

A key tactic involves hijacking mobile apps and push notifications. The BadeSaba prayer app breach fit this pattern, using a religious utility to deliver politically charged messages directly to Iranian users.