Nusuk

Nusuk is a Saudi digital platform and mobile app run by the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah. It gathers in one place what visitors to Mecca and Medina need: Umrah permits, bookings to visit al-Rawda al-Sharifa in the Prophet's Mosque, Hajj registration and packages, Umrah visas, lodging, transport and tours. ^{1 2}

The ministry launched the platform on 26 September 2022 as a unified electronic gateway for the guests of Mecca and Medina, replacing the Eatmarna app, which had issued permits for Umrah and for prayer in the Rawda. ¹ The Arabic article adds that it came within the Pilgrim Experience Program, one of the programmes of Saudi Vision 2030, in partnership with the Saudi Tourism Authority, and that the "Maqam" platform went on designing Umrah programmes until its services moved to Nusuk. ²

The app works in twenty-five languages. Its services include Umrah permits, Rawda bookings, crowd-density checks, and tickets for the Haramain high-speed railway, hotels and flights. ¹ The ministry said in 2025 that it held more than a hundred digital services, with maps, guided tours, the mushaf, supplications, prayer times and the qibla; in August 2025 it began to work offline through the telecom operators, and in October 2025 it let citizens and residents order bottles of Zamzam water to their homes. ¹

Nusuk Hajj is the channel for Hajj registration and package booking under the Direct Hajj Program, for pilgrims from countries without official Hajj missions, Muslim-minority countries among them. For Hajj 2023 applicants from Europe, the Americas and Australia used it after the lottery system was dropped, and it covered 57 countries. ¹ Nusuk Umrah, since August 2025, lets pilgrims outside the kingdom apply for a visa and book services directly, without an intermediary, in seven languages. ¹ The Nusuk Card was launched in 2024 to ease pilgrims' movement between the holy sites and their access to services through the Nusuk and Tawakkalna apps; in April 2026 the ministry called it a prerequisite for Hajj and a tool for regulating entry to Mecca and the Grand Mosque. ¹ In the Hajj season of 1447 AH the ministry switched on "Nusuk Masar", which automates contracting and visas before pilgrims arrive, together with smart readers for the Nusuk Card to manage the movement of groups and follow the crowds in real time. ²

The ministry said in September 2025 that the app had passed 30 million downloads, up from 12 million in 2024, from more than 190 countries, and that users outside the kingdom made up more than 90 per cent of beneficiaries. In March 2026 the Minister of Hajj and Umrah, Tawfiq al-Rabiah, said Nusuk had more than 51 million users worldwide. ¹ On 6 November 2026 its Google Play page showed 10M+ Android downloads and a rating of 4.1 from about 261,000 reviews. ³ These are figures announced by the ministry and shown by the store, not an independent count of users.

The ministry tied the platform to the fight against Hajj booking fraud: from June 2024 Hajj packages for pilgrims from Europe, the United States and Australia could be booked only through Nusuk, which checks documents and payments. ¹ During the 2024 Hajj some unregistered pilgrims told Agence France-Presse that they could not reach services because they held no permit through Nusuk. In March 2026 London police warned of fake websites posing as the official booking platform and advised pilgrims to use the Nusuk site and the agents it lists, noting that the platform had reduced some risks of unregulated agents even as fraudsters adapted. ¹ In South Africa, Nusuk Hajj moved the South African Hajj and Umrah Council from arranging travel to guidance and administrative support. ¹

Nusuk won the World Summit Award in 2024 in the Culture & Heritage category for Saudi Arabia, as the award's winners page shows; the page names as its producers Abdulaziz AlMathami, Ameenah Naytah, Abdulrahman Shams and Ahmed AlMaiman. ⁴

The platform is active at nusuk.sa and in the Apple and Google stores. It has Wikipedia articles in Arabic, English, Urdu and Indonesian, spread over two Wikidata items. ⁵

• English Wikipedia, "Nusuk", revision 1379052266. ¹
• Arabic Wikipedia, «منصة نسك», revision 74490193. ²
• Wikidata Q139822647 and Q114516279. ⁵
• Google Play listing, read 6 November 2026. ³
• World Summit Award, winner page 'Nusuk', read on 7 November 2026. ⁴