How to Choose a Bible App: 6 Things to Check

Search for “Bible” in the App Store and you will find dozens of apps. People use them in different ways: looking up a verse, following a daily reading plan, or keeping up with the passages a pastor reads on Sunday. These six questions can help you narrow the list before you download.

1. Does it have your translation?

Check this first. If your church reads from a particular translation, it helps to have the same one on your phone during a service or small group.

Which translations an app can include depends on copyright. The King James Version, the World English Bible and the Berean Standard Bible can be used freely, so many apps carry them. Most other modern translations are under copyright, and an app needs a license to include them. That is why a translation can be in one app and missing from another. If you also read the Bible in Chinese, see our guide to the Chinese Union Version.

2. Does it work offline?

A train, a flight or a retreat with poor signal can leave you without a connection. Some apps build their translations in, some ask you to download a translation first, and some translations can only be read online.

The simplest test: after downloading, turn on airplane mode and open a few books.

3. Ads and privacy

Some free apps are supported by ads. An ad between chapters bothers some readers more than others, so read for a few days and see whether it matters to you.

For privacy, every App Store page has an App Privacy section that lists the data the developer says the app collects and whether it is used to track you. It is also worth checking whether your notes, highlights and prayers stay on your device or require an account and a cloud upload. Cloud storage makes switching phones easier. On-device storage keeps your notes away from a third party.

4. Reading plans that fit you

If you want to read a passage every day, a reading plan helps. Look at the plan lengths on offer (a year, a few months, or a few verses a day), whether you can pick up again after missing a few days, and whether the app can remind you.

Long plans are easy to abandon in the first weeks. A short one is often a better start; see these short reading and writing plans.

5. Comfortable to read

You will look at this text every day. Check whether you can change the text size, whether there is a dark mode and whether the line spacing feels cramped. If you read in two languages, see whether the app can show two translations side by side.

6. How it is priced

Bible apps are usually free, free with ads, a one-time purchase, or free to download with an optional subscription. With a subscription app, check which features stay free, which are paid and whether there is a trial. Reading the text itself should be free; for the paid part, ask whether you will really use it.

Start from what you will do most

An app does not need to score well on all six. If you mostly look up verses during church, translations and search matter most. If you want a daily habit, reading plans and reminders matter more. Put your one or two main uses first and check the list against them, and you will usually end up with two or three apps to try.

Where Penned Grace fits

Penned Grace is for people who want to write scripture by hand on iPhone, iPad or Android, one verse at a time. It is not a study app with commentaries and search tools. It includes the Chinese Union Version 1919 (Traditional and Simplified) and the Berean Standard Bible, with the World English Bible as a free download. There are no ads, and what you write stays on your device.

The app is free to download and writing is always free. An optional Premium subscription (monthly or yearly, with a 7-day free trial the first time you subscribe) adds PDF export, writing replay, gold ink and custom colors, five paper styles and four extra plans. If you already have a Bible app you like, Penned Grace can sit next to it as a place to write a few verses each day. If you are new to writing scripture, start with how to begin.