It’s been a while since I posted anything here, and I apologize for the hiatus. Anyone who read this site early on knows I had a strong desire to own an iPhone, just hadn’t made the leap yet. Well folks, I’m in “the club” now and own an iPhone and even the “magical” iPad.
One of the things I became accustomed to on previous smart phones was the ability to carry a software version of the Bible on the phone. So, since apparently there’s an app for everything, once I got my iPhone I set out to find a Bible app. Thankfully for me, the first one I downloaded has been wonderful and I’ve never had to look elsewhere. The app is simply called “Bible” and is from the same people behind the community centered online Bible at YouVersion.com.
I’d like to point out here that this is not a new app, just one which I find well written and want to point out to any new iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad owning Christians out there. Also, the bulk of this review is on the iPhone / iPod Touch version, with knowledge that the features are the same on the iPad.
The app, like many for the iEverything platform is best used when connected to the Internet. Without signing up for a YouVersion account, you will have access to any translation available on the site, which is more than I knew existed. You can tap and hold a verse which allows you tweet, email or bookmark the verse, or look up user added commentary. Also, you can download translations to your device for use when not connected to the net, though downloadable translations are limited to non copyrighted translations. This comes in particularly handy for times when you cannot get to the Internet.
When you have an account with YouVersion.com, which is free, you also gain access to daily reading plans. The site offers numerous reading plans to suit whatever your desire. The plans sync between your device and the site so no matter where you read, your progress will be tracked. It’s a nice feature to help you organize your daily reading, but if you get behind it’s a pain to get back to the last read day. It would be nice if the application would open to the last read day if you’re behind.
The application has a couple other limitations as well. Most notably, first time users may find that navigation in the app is not as intuitive as it could be. Finding books, while easy if you know what to do, is not obvious (you simply tap the book name at the top of the screen). Also, going directly to specific verses is difficult. If you’ve ever used a software Bible on any other platform, you’ve likely found that it takes three taps (or button presses depending on your phone) to get to a verse: book, chapter, and verse. The YouVersion Bible app only taps to the chapter level. Granted many chapters are short and don’t have many verses, but some chapters, such as those in Psalms, are quite lengthy, and scrolling to a specific verse can be cumbersome. You can type in a specific location, but again it’s a bit cumbersome. Also, while the feature allowing you easy access to tweet your verse, etc. is nice, if you’re not careful you will bring up that action during normal reading, which is more of a device limitation than an app issue.
The application for the iPhone is laid out nicely and in an easy to read format. Thankfully they have also released a version for the iPad with the “HD” denomination. The “HD” interface is wonderful, and a provides a much more intuitive user interface. One small annoyance is that in landscape mode the screen real estate is kind of wasted, but otherwise it’s a beautiful application. When multitasking becomes a reality on non jail broken devices, I can see using the application along with a note taking application for both note taking and following along in church. The Bible app is free, so download it and try it out today!
Filed under: Software
