But how though?

Maybe the guys tone sounded offensive.
Edit: what I mean is maybe he was too blunt and he might have sounded like he was joking

I think any tone you ask this in would be offensive. It's still a great question though.

I was raised muslim and went trough as much muslim education my parents could force upon me. I actually asked this question back when i was a firm believer in the faith to my religious "guide" (quotations bc rough translation) and her answer was basically that; just face earth at times of prayer. Which would probably mean face different directions within a day, but the general idea is find earth and pray that way.

But I would think that would depend on triangulation from cellular towers like the other GPS features of a phone. I don’t think that would work in orbit.

Qibla is normally relative to your location with a compass. So that app does work on location like you say. For example, where I live it's north west, closer to north, ~10° towards west. Not sure how to give bearings

rule 43: if it exists, there's a Wikipedia page about it

Well, if on earth, as long as you are not facing directly West or East, you will reach your destination eventually when traveling a straight line, but it might mean a few times around the earth...