The Bible for your iPhone or iPod Touch
I’ve been reading my Bible more lately, and in a lot more places, thanks to the Bible iPhone App, a very useful (and free) app put together by the folks at YouVersion.com. I downloaded the app right about the time the App Store launched, and have been using it ever since.
It’s gone through multiple updates, and has gotten better with time: more versions, more options, more languages, and lately, even downloadable, offline editions of the Bible. I’m grateful this app exists and is being maintained, because the need is obviously there, particularly for me. I use my iPod Touch a lot, and it’s so nice to be able to get in bed and night and read my Bible before I go to sleep.
The helpful folks at YouVersion have even put together a nifty video tutorial to demonstrate the app:
While some people voice the complaint that not enough downloadable editions of the Bible exist for this app, making it necessary to connect to the Internet when you want to read the Bible, you should keep in mind that only public domain Bible editions can be distributed freely. Licensing agreements must be respected for the more popular and modern editions, and this makes it necessary to read them directly from the YouVersion website, through the app, instead of being able to download them to your iPhone or iPod Touch.
For example, I like the NIV (New International Version) and the NJB (New Jerusalem Bible). The NIV is only available online, and the NJB isn’t even available at YouVersion. DoubleDay and the Catholic Church, the publishers for the NJB, have only licensed the NJB to one website, at least for the present time. A few years ago, I wanted to use the NJB for my podcasts — to read chapters from it so people interested in hearing the Bible could download them — but I got turned down (they were nice about it though).
This is a long way of saying you shouldn’t blame YouVersion or the app if there aren’t more offline editions of the Bible. They’re doing what they can. I read the NIV when I can get online with my iPod, and the KJV (King James Version) when I can’t. It works out just fine in the end.
Image used courtesy of YouVersion.
the video embedded fine on my test site. http://www.samwellcreative.com
click within the video and copy embed code. Let me know if that didn’t work.
Sam, you’re right, that worked great! I didn’t know I could use embed code on WP. I remember not too long ago WP didn’t allow this. Thanks!
You version is great because it is free. However, if I owned an iphone or itouch, I would quickly purchase Mantis Bible Software and a few side books as well.
THere is no better software that i have seen. Yes, you will have to fork over some money, but you will invest in a complete study system, that will rival some desktop software. Just about any study book is available for the program, and greek and hebrew tools abound.
However, if all you want is an online bible program (or on and iphone) a downloadable bible reading program, YouVersion is hard to beat.
Funny, my favourite translations are also NJB and NIV. I want to buy an iPhone and get them on it. I did see a friend last week with a HTC phone that had the NJB…