Still Looking for a Decent iPhone Bible App
07/20/2008 08:34 Filed in: Technology
No, I didn’t rush out and buy an iPhone like lots of folks did on Friday, July 12. But I did upgrade my original iPhone to the 2.0 software. I actually downloaded the 2.0 update and the MobileMe update on Thursday, one day before the official launch. For whatever reason it was sitting on Apple’s servers, and a few of the Apple news sites had links to it. Everything worked fine on Thursday, but it all went to Hades in a hand basket on Friday. Not a big deal to me; I knew the issues would be worked out. but I’m nevertheless amazed at how impatient and immature some people are when there are technical problems of this kind. Nobody seemed to remember all the problems with the launch of the iPhone last year. I just always assume it will be less than perfect performance at a launch like this and am usually willing to wait for it to be sorted out. A week later and everything seems to be working great. Although the MobileMe sync [which Apple has stopped calling “push”] drains my battery a lot faster.
One of the best features of iPhone 2.0 is the App Store. But I’m still waiting on two applications that I was fairly dependent upon back when I had my Treo before the iPhone. One is Pocket Quicken which I hope will eventually be released for the iPhone. The other is a decent Bible app. Initially, I was reviewing a number of the original iPhone web-based Bible apps here on This Lamp, but I finally lost interest in it because although some were some apps better than others, none of them really satisfied my needs.
When I had my Treo, I had the Bible Reader software from OliveTree. On my Treo I had installed the Greek New Testament, the NET Bible including its 60 kazillion notes (which I had to keep on a sim card), and the NASB with Greek and Hebrew dictionaries.
Access to English language Bibles abound on the iPhone, buth for web-based apps and now in the App Store. But there’s still no original language texts, and to be honest, none of the current offerings really stands out in my opinion.
One of the Bible apps currently getting a lot of attention seems to be the free Bible app from Lifechurch.TV. It idraws its content from the YouVersion.com website. This means you can switch easily among vairous translation. And it has some good ones, but no Greek or Hebrew.
But there’s a catch. Unlike some of the fee-based Bible apps, the Bible app from LifeChurch.TV depends on an internet connection because of its ties to YouVersion. This means that if you are without a signal--Edge, 3G, or Wifi (which is a situation I occasionally find myslef in)--you cannot access your Bible at all. You must be connected to the internet to use this app. At least its free.
I made the mistake of purchasing “Bible Unleashed: NET” in hopes of having the NET Bible with notes on my iPhone. But it doesn’t contain the notes at all, AND it is totally dependent upon the internet for its content. So, I wasted $1.99 on this purchase. A better offering is simply the NET Bible (with notes) available at enetbible.com. It’s a web app, but certainly superior to this one.
Speaking of enetbible.com, I noticed that with the iPhone 2.0 software upgrade, we finally have Hebrew text on the iPhone as seen at the top of this note from Exodus 2:2 in the NET Bible:
You may remember that the original iPhone software would display Unicode Greek, but not Unicode Hebrew.
I am hopeful that OliveTree or Laridian will develop true self-contained suites of biblical texts available for the iPhone soon.
Finally, another good thing about the new iPhone software is that we can finally make decent screen captures as seen above unlike with the original software in which I had to take photographs of the screen with my camera.
One of the best features of iPhone 2.0 is the App Store. But I’m still waiting on two applications that I was fairly dependent upon back when I had my Treo before the iPhone. One is Pocket Quicken which I hope will eventually be released for the iPhone. The other is a decent Bible app. Initially, I was reviewing a number of the original iPhone web-based Bible apps here on This Lamp, but I finally lost interest in it because although some were some apps better than others, none of them really satisfied my needs.
When I had my Treo, I had the Bible Reader software from OliveTree. On my Treo I had installed the Greek New Testament, the NET Bible including its 60 kazillion notes (which I had to keep on a sim card), and the NASB with Greek and Hebrew dictionaries.
Access to English language Bibles abound on the iPhone, buth for web-based apps and now in the App Store. But there’s still no original language texts, and to be honest, none of the current offerings really stands out in my opinion.
One of the Bible apps currently getting a lot of attention seems to be the free Bible app from Lifechurch.TV. It idraws its content from the YouVersion.com website. This means you can switch easily among vairous translation. And it has some good ones, but no Greek or Hebrew.
But there’s a catch. Unlike some of the fee-based Bible apps, the Bible app from LifeChurch.TV depends on an internet connection because of its ties to YouVersion. This means that if you are without a signal--Edge, 3G, or Wifi (which is a situation I occasionally find myslef in)--you cannot access your Bible at all. You must be connected to the internet to use this app. At least its free.
I made the mistake of purchasing “Bible Unleashed: NET” in hopes of having the NET Bible with notes on my iPhone. But it doesn’t contain the notes at all, AND it is totally dependent upon the internet for its content. So, I wasted $1.99 on this purchase. A better offering is simply the NET Bible (with notes) available at enetbible.com. It’s a web app, but certainly superior to this one.
Speaking of enetbible.com, I noticed that with the iPhone 2.0 software upgrade, we finally have Hebrew text on the iPhone as seen at the top of this note from Exodus 2:2 in the NET Bible:
You may remember that the original iPhone software would display Unicode Greek, but not Unicode Hebrew.
I am hopeful that OliveTree or Laridian will develop true self-contained suites of biblical texts available for the iPhone soon.
Finally, another good thing about the new iPhone software is that we can finally make decent screen captures as seen above unlike with the original software in which I had to take photographs of the screen with my camera.