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February 25, 2011

Time’s Almost Up for Free NIV Offline from YouVersion

Posted in Android, BlackBerry, iPhone iPad, News, Partnerships | Comments Off

We just wanted to remind you: Our special promotion celebrating the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible with Biblica and Zondervan is almost over. If you haven’t already downloaded the New International Version (NIV) to your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Android, or BlackBerry device, don’t miss your chance!

This limited offer ends next Tuesday, March 1,
at 12:00 PM noon U.S. ET (GMT-5)

That’s when you’ll also be able to pick up the NIV in print at retailers everywhere. We’d like to thank Biblica and Zondervan once again for making the NIV available offline. You can follow the NIV on Twitter or Facebook, or learn more about it at NIV’s website.

Just to be clear, even when this promotion is over, you’ll still be able to access the NIV you downloaded, just as long as you don’t remove it from your device. If any of your friends has one of these devices, please let them know about this special offer too—but hurry!

Here are instructions for how you can download offline versions:

February 16, 2011

Available Now from YouVersion: Offline Versions on the Bible App for BlackBerry

Posted in BlackBerry, News, Releases | Comments Off

Today we’re pleased to announce the single feature requested most by our BlackBerry users: Access to Bible translations for use offline. You can immediately download this newest version of the Bible App™, v. 3.0, through your browser or by visiting BlackBerry App World.

Other features. Our previous BlackBerry release included German, French, and Traditional and Simplified Chinese; this time, we’re adding to that Russian and Portuguese. And speaking of languages, the default Bible version the Bible App displays reflects the language you set for your device. Finally, you should notice when you open it that the Bible App loads much faster now.

Important! To download an offline translation, your device must:

Be running BlackBerry 5.0 OS or newer.
Have an SD media card with at least 50 MB of free space.

What’s offline use? In the past, BlackBerry users have not had access to Bible translations unless connected to the Internet or your service provider. Now, for the first time on BlackBerry, once you’ve downloaded a Bible version to your BlackBerry’s SD card, you’ll be able to read it anytime, anywhere—whether you’re online or not.

How you can get your free offline versions:

Make sure you’re connected to the Internet or to your service provider. Then, from the Bible reader:

Select the top bar, where the current translation is presently displayed.
All versions display in alphabetical order by language. Any translation with a download icon (a box with an arrow pointing down) means it’s available as an offline version. Select that version’s download icon.
Follow the instructions and select the large Download button.

February 1, 2011

BlackBerry Update: Chinese, German, French and so much more!

Posted in BlackBerry, Releases | 2 Comments

The next version (v 2.9) of the Bible App™ for BlackBerry is available now. Get it at BlackBerry App World or download it here through your browser. One feature we’re thrilled to announce is the inclusion of Simplified and Traditional Chinese, right in the interface! If you know anyone who’d like a free, easy-to-read, easy-to-share Bible in Chinese, please let them know about the Bible App, powered by YouVersion.

All around, we’ve worked really hard to make this a terrific release, packed with improvements:

To give you a better overall reading experience, we’ve added headings, translation notes, even the words of Christ in red where the translation provides them. You can also change the font directly inside the Bible reader now.
The Arabic translation is now right-aligned, making it much easier to read.
Besides Simplified and Traditional Chinese, we’ve also added German and French interface support.
We updated and improved our Spanish interface, so it should be easier for native Spanish speakers.
And of course, what would any release be without bug fixes and performance enhancements?

Do you love reading the Bible on your BlackBerry? Have you told your friends about it yet? Please consider sharing your favorite Bible App features on Facebook and Twitter. We’d be honored if you’d show your friends how easy the Bible App is to get and how it works. (Especially friends whose native language isn’t English.)

January 31, 2011

Have You Tried the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)?

Posted in Android, BlackBerry, iPhone iPad, News | 8 Comments

You might remember that Broadman & Holman first began generously offering users of the Bible App™ by YouVersion their Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) for offline use back in November. They have now graciously decided to extend this availability to you…indefinitely. We’re thrilled to share in this opportunity to partner with Broadman & Holman and LifeWay in making God’s Word freely available to you.

What “offline use” means: For several of the versions available through the Bible App, you can only read them when you have access to the Internet or to your data provider. This means that if you’re outside of coverage, you won’t be able to read them. But when you download a version to your device, you can read it anytime, anywhere—whether you’re online or not.

To learn more about the Holman Christian Standard Bible, check out their website. They even offer a useful online tool to help you study your HCSB.

How you can get your HCSB:

iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch: From the Bible reader, tap the top bar, where the current translation is presently displayed. All versions display in alphabetical order by language. (You’ll find “Holman Christian Stand…” under EN for English.) Tap the download icon (a green box with a white arrow pointing downward) on the right and follow the instructions.

Android: From the Bible reader, tap the box at the top right that displays the version short code. All available Bible versions display. (You’ll find “Holman Christian Standard…” under English.) Tap the download icon (with an arrow pointing down) on the right.

December 29, 2010

How to: Pick Your Reading Plan

Posted in Android, BlackBerry, iPhone iPad, Tips & Tricks | 4 Comments

We’ve been telling you how Reading Plans can help you engage with God’s Word. A Reading Plan breaks your Bible reading into manageable chunks, making your time in the truth every day simple and straightforward. Whether you’re reading the whole Bible in a year (or in 90 days!), or just select parts, or even the most basic daily devotions, the Bible App™ by YouVersion has more than 50 plans to help you meet your goals.

Reading Plans

Wherever you’re going to read, first you need a free YouVersion.com account (it only takes a minute). You might also consider linking your account to your social networks. If you have an iPhone, iPad, Android, or BlackBerry, click on your device or platform below for step-by-step instructions for starting and using Reading Plans:

December 22, 2010

New BlackBerry v. 2.8: Updated Reading Plans

Posted in BlackBerry | Comments Off

The Bible App™ for YouVersion has been updated for BlackBerry, with version 2.8 now available in BlackBerry App World. Besides the usual interface improvements and performance enhancements you’d expect, the really big story here is the updated Reading Plans.

A Reading Plan may cover a specific topic, offer up daily devotionals, or take you through large sections and themes of the Bible—even the entire thing. With more than 50 reading plans to choose from right now (and with even more coming soon), it’s easy to find one that can show you the things you want to know. Subscribe to one you like, and the Bible App schedules a little for you to read each day, breaking your reading into manageable pieces. And if you happen to miss a day’s reading, just pick “Catch Me Up” to have the Bible App adjust your schedule for you. At YouVersion.com, you can even sign up to receive emails on your progress for yourself or an accountability partner.

Make 2011 the year you finally form that solid Bible-reading habit you know you’ve been promising yourself. If you’re up for a challenge, try reading the entire Bible in just 90 days. If you’d rather get started with an easier pace, choose from one of our many Bible-in-a-year plans. No matter which plan you pick, please share with your friends on Facebook and Twitter how your Bible journey is going. Also, we’d love for you to join our entire YouVersion community as together we read one billion minutes in January.

Your BlackBerry and your free Bible App from YouVersion are ready for you to start reading today. What do you say?

November 26, 2010

Notes Come to BlackBerry

Posted in BlackBerry, Releases | 1 Comment

We announced last Friday that you could take notes on YouVersion on the web. That same notes feature is now available on BlackBerry!

Download version 2.7 now from Blackberry App World.

Associate with a verse. Notes are pretty straightforward. When you select a verse and click Notes, you’ll see all of the public notes associated with that passage. To add your own, just click New Note.

Make a general note. You don’t have to associate a note with a specific verse. You can take one at any time. Simply go to the dashboard, select Notes, and go!

For any note: Give your note a title, and then select from the following options:

Draft. A note “in progress” that you’re not ready to share yet.
Private. Only you will see this note. (You can use this feature to journal what God’s showing you in His Word.)
Public. Anyone will be able to see this note.
Publish on: Schedule the date you want this note to become public.

TIP: You can change a note back and forth between private and public at any time.

Interact with notes. You can “Share” a note to post it to Twitter or Facebook, “Like” a note to put it in your Facebook newsfeed, or even “Report” a note to flag it as inappropriate content.

As we learn how you guys use notes in the Bible App going forward, we’ll continue modifying this feature to make sure it is as helpful as possible. Give it a try and go add some notes on your BlackBerry. And look for continuing development for the Bible App on BlackBerry over the coming months–cool things are ahead!

October 1, 2010

Bookmarks for BlackBerrys

Posted in BlackBerry, Releases | 2 Comments

With version 2.5 of the YouVersion Bible app for BlackBerry, we’ve added the ability to bookmark verses for quick access later. Bookmarking is a popular feature on iPhone, iPad, Android and our other mobile apps, and we’re excited to deliver this feature to more than 2 million BlackBerry users.

Bookmarking a verse is simple. Just select a verse, hit the menu button, and choose “Bookmark Verse” from the menu. Now that verse will be listed among your bookmarks, which you can reach from the app dashboard.

And, since many of our mobile app users also enjoy engaging Scripture on their computer at YouVersion.com, your bookmarks will also sync with your YouVersion account so you’ll have them anywhere you use YouVersion to read the Bible.

Coming Soon
We have lots of new features coming down the pipeline for all of our mobile apps, so keep an eye out for great updates rolling out fast and furious. You’ll see things like the ability to share Bible verses via SMS (text message) and inside BlackBerry Messenger as well as faster load times and an updated dashboard design.

Also on the horizon is a revamp of YouVersion Contributions and Journals. We have big plans for them and can’t wait roll those changes out to you. Of course, that’s all we can say right now, but we know you’ll love the changes and what you’ll be able to do within your Bible app in the coming weeks.

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