What is the ruling on subscribing to an app which lets you set a target number of times to send blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) on Friday?
Question

My friend developed an app called Raudhatul Mahabbah.The app as he claims “aims to increase the love of the Prophet in peoples hearts.” The app itself comprises of the following:on Thursday a person sets his target of how many times he wants to do salawat on the Prophet on Friday.Then on Friday the person writes his achievement.Since this app is used by many people,a computer adds totals of all people and then gives the people their totals by percentage.My Question is,is this similar tp the hadith of Ibn Masud and the circle of dhikr,is it an innovation,or is it something praiseworthy?
Praise be to Allah.Firstly:
Sending blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) is one of the noblest acts of worship that may bring one closer to Allah. It is more emphasized at certain times, including Friday and the night before Friday, because of the report narrated by Ahmad (16162), Abu Dawud (1531), an-Nasa’i (1734) and Ibn Majah (1085) from Aws ibn Aws, who said: The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “One of the best of your days is Friday. So send a great deal of blessings upon me on that day, for your blessings will be shown to me.” They said, O Messenger of Allah, how will our blessings be shown to you when you will have disintegrated? He said, “Allah, may He be blessed and exalted, has forbidden the earth to consume the bodies of the Prophets.” Classed as sahih by al-Albani and Shu‘ayb al-Arna’ut.
Al-Bayhaqi narrated in as-Sunan in a report from Anas which was attributed to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him): “Send a great deal of blessings upon me on Friday and the night before Friday, for whoever sends blessings upon me, Allah will send blessings upon him tenfold.” Classed as hasan by al-Albani in Sahih al-Jami‘, no. 545, and in as-Sahihah (1407).
Secondly:
There is nothing wrong with making an app to remind you to send blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) on Friday, and there is nothing wrong with setting a target and hoping to meet this target number of sending blessings, on condition that you do not believe that there is any particular virtue in this number; rather the intention is to encourage yourself. So you may resolve to send blessings upon him one thousand times, for example, or two thousand times, or more or less than that.
For more information, please see the answer to question no. 88102 .
Thirdly:
There is nothing wrong with the app showing the number of people who are sending blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), and the total number of times they have done that, and giving the people their totals by percentage – meaning that it shows a comparison between participants, without displaying their names – and the like, because there are no shar‘i reservations regarding that, as it encourages people and makes them want to do better in sending blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).
One of the things to watch out for in this matter is that if people know that a particular person recited such and such a number of blessings on the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), that may lead to self-admiration or showing off, which could render his good deed invalid.
As for the example mentioned, we do not see anything wrong with it. However, the one who uses this app should only use it sometimes, and not at other times or many times, so that his motivation will not be to see the number of blessings he recited shown on the screen or to meet the target that he set on the app. That is because this could impact his good deeds, or create a condition in his mind, such that his dhikr and blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) will be connected to the app and the target it has set, even if he does not realize that and is not aware of it. This is a serious negative result of using these apps and the like.
Once he has trained himself to send blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), and he has made that a regular part of his dhikr which he does not usually forget, then he should do that by himself for himself, and stop using the app.
And Allah knows best.