True Multitasking. The Mango version of Windows Phone now lets you leave an app open and running as you do something else with a different app. This means that now you can listen to an audio Bible and, even when you switch away from the Bible App, it will keep playing. Listen to an audio Bible with your screen locked—or even with your display turned off to save battery power!

Fast App Switching. More than just multi-tasking, Windows Phone Mango now includes fast app switching, which lets you jump rapidly between tasks. We’ve optimized the Bible App to take full advantage of this handy new feature, so you can leave it running, easily switch to something else for a minute, and then hop back just as quickly.

Custom Start Screen Tiles. With Mango, Windows Phone added a slick new feature that allows you to add non-app tasks to your start screen. Pin a Reading Plan, saved search, or other task to the start screen so you can quickly jump into it. Once you’ve saved a new tile, you can tap directly through to the tasks you use most, right from your start screen!

More Versions than Ever. By the time you read this, the Bible App for Windows Phone will offer more than 200 different versions of the Bible, in 75 languages. Now, whatever version
of the Bible you like, and whatever language you prefer,
chances are good that YouVersion has it.

The Bible App in 5 Languages. Besides English, thanks to YouVersion’s extraordinary community of passionate volunteers, you can now set the Bible App’s interface—all of the menus, buttons, and controls—to display entirely in Russian, German, Swedish, or Korean.

Bug Fixes. We take every opportunity to correct problems and improve performance, and certainly this release is no different. As always, when you find errors in the Bible App (on any platform), please report them to us at our Support website, so we can address them in upcoming releases.

Dashboard Verse of the Day. Now you can set the Bible App for Windows Phone to display a fresh Bible verse every day. At whatever time you choose, each day you’ll receive new inspiration right in your Dashboard, displayed in the last version of the Bible that you were reading.

This latest release of the Bible App for Windows Phone is available immediately. Update yours today, and please come let us know what you think on Facebook and Twitter!

2011 was another wild, wonderful year for the YouVersion community. At the beginning of January, the Bible App™ had been installed on almost 13 million unique devices. But by the end of 2011, it had well over 37 million installs. It’s clear that—together—we’re each part of a revolution in Bible engagement happening all over the world.

Even as we look forward to all that God will do through the YouVersion community during 2012, first we’d like to pause and look back on all we shared during 2011…

January: We launched 2011 with a challenge to read 1 billion minutes during January, suggesting Bible reading accountability with friends and online, and even offering practical ideas about times to read. The Mashable Awards named YouVersion as a finalist, and the Bible App was named in the all-time top apps on iTunes.

February: Although it took 46 days for us to hit one billion minutes, the YouVersion community saw a remarkable 172% reading increase during that time—and also reached more than 5 billion minutes read overall. Volunteers translated the YouVersion experience completely into Chinese, just in time for Chinese Lunar New Year, and the Bible App appeared on the prestigious The Sunday Times’ definitive The App List.

March: Three new Reading Plans launched for Lent, just one part of an initiative that saw us more than double overall Reading Plans. Volunteers played a critical role in reaching the world with God’s Word, and for our part, we added new Bible translations.

April: Just as the Bible App was installed on its 5 millionth Android device, the Bible App for iOS (iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch) got its largest overhaul since its launch. We made available twice as many versions and almost doubled the number of languages. Rick Warren’s Daily Devotional launched, and we encouraged the community to spend time in God’s Word for Easter.

May: Our global flash mob to read the KJV in 400 seconds was so successful that together we read through it… 8 times! A special live webcast celebrated 20 million installs and more than 150 Reading Plans in 10 languages. The brand-new YouVersion Technical Support website launched, and we shared how the community could help.

June: People just like you were reaching others through the Bible App, and another story from the YouVersion community encouraged even more to share. The entire YouVersion experience launched in Simplified and Traditional Chinese. YouVersion users together bookmarked more than 20 million Bible passages.

July: Russian was the next complete YouVersion language launch, and the YouVersion community shared more stories about how the Bible App continued to change lives.

August: The next complete language launch was in Korean. Rewritten from scratch, the all-new Bible App for Windows Phone released with a full feature set comparable to YouVersion’s other major platforms.

September: Brazilian Portuguese became the next language to receive the YouVersion-wide experience, and YouVersion celebrated its fourth anniversary.

October: The Bible App had been installed on more than 30 million unique devices. The Bible App for Java was completely rewritten, bringing its features more in line with YouVersion’s other platforms, and German became the next complete language launch.

November: 7 billion people on Earth represented profound opportunities. Dutch was the tenth complete YouVersion language launch. Joyce Meyer’s Daily Devotional, Promises for Your Everyday Life launched, and a special infographic helped illustrate how much happens across YouVersion during just one minute. A special live webcast covered The Other 16 and YouVersion’s need for more volunteers.

December: YouVersion’s next complete language launch was French. The Bible App appeared in iTunes’ “best-of” Rewind 2011, both for iPhone and for iPad, and the YouVersion community completed 1 million Reading Plans. Our annual Global Share the Bible Day tradition continued.

Thank you for your part in the YouVersion community’s success during 2011. If you compare this year to last year, it’s immediately apparent that the Bible App and the YouVersion community are healthier than ever. And we’re convinced that it’s still just the beginning.

It’s a joy and an honor to get to do what we love… making God’s Word freely available to as many people as possible, no matter where they live or what language they prefer.

Won’t you join us?

• Audio Bibles. For the first time ever on Windows Phone, now you can listen as the Bible App reads to you through streaming audio, no matter where you are or what you’re doing. (Be aware of the data usage plan for your provider or, for best results, use Wifi.) Listen while you drive, work, exercise—even read along! Audio versions are available in several languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Chinese (to name just a few).

How it works: You can tell if the version you’re reading offers audio if it displays a speaker icon. Simply tap the icon to display controls for playing, pausing, and jumping forward and back within the chapter. If you don’t see the speaker icon, tap the current version’s “short code” (the abbreviation at the top). A list of available versions displays. The versions offering audio have a small speaker beside them.
 
 

• Custom Highlight Colors. When you sign in to the Bible App on your Windows Phone with a free YouVersion account, you’ll find many of the same features offered by your favorite paper Bible. One great example is highlights. You can use highlights to mark your favorite passages—and even create your own custom highlight colors.

How it works: Select the verse(s) you want to highlight. Tap the rainbow icon to select a custom color. Select your basic color, then slide the shading bar to make it lighter or darker. (A preview displays your custom color as you make adjustments.)
 
 
 
 
 

• Easy Reading. Even on the best mobile devices, sometimes surrounding lighting and screen resolution can interfere with your reading experience. This update of the Bible App for Windows Phone includes tools that help you customize your Reader display for maximum readability. You can change font faces and sizes, and alternate colors between the font and background.

How it works: In the Bible Reader, tap the settings icon (the little gear) to display the viewing controls. Tap the sun icon to make the background white and the text black, or tap the moon icon for white text on a black background. Tap the little “A” to make the font smaller, or the larger “A” to make it bigger. Tap the font name for a list of available fonts, then simply tap the one you want. Try experimenting to find the combination that works best for you. Once you get your view how you want, simply tap the settings icon again to hide the viewing controls.

The latest update for the Bible App on your Windows Phone is available immediately. If you have friends with Windows Phones, please spread the word and let them know, too. Also, we’d love to connect with you on Facebook and Twitter and hear your feedback.

For this release of the Bible App™ for Windows Phone—Version 2.0—we wanted to give you the best app experience possible. And we decided the best way to do that was to rewrite it from the ground up! So the Bible App for Windows Phone is all-new, ready for you right now at Windows Marketplace for Mobile. The Bible App’s functionality on Windows Phone now much more closely matches that of our other major platforms, including several practical improvements, like these:

• Dashboard - The brand new Dashboard Launcher gives you instant access to the features you use most.
• Search - Jump quickly to verses or passages based on keywords you enter.
• Settings - When you sign in to the Bible App with your free YouVersion account, this update now lets you personalize how you use it, and it remembers your unique settings between uses.
• Bible Reader - The Bible Reader keeps track of where you left off, returning you when you come back to the last version, book, and chapter you were reading. And it’s all-new, cleaner and faster loading, designed to make it comfortable for you to read for long periods, in any conditions.
• Bookmarks - Bookmarks are a great way you can label verses—as many as you want—whether you want to share passages with friends, or simply to jump quickly to your own favorites.
• Bible Plans - Take full advantage of the more than 150 Bible plans YouVersion has to offer, in 10 languages (so far). Bible plans make it easy for you to read the Bible on a schedule, just a little each day.

Get your update to the Bible App for Windows Phone now, and be sure to let us know on Facebook and Twitter what you think!

When you select a Reading Plan (from a list of more than 50), YouVersion gives you a simple schedule with a little to read each day. A Reading Plan is an easy, focused way to read through whatever you’re interested in in the Bible. And if you happen to miss a day here and there (everybody does sometimes), just tap the “catch up” button, and the Bible App will reset your reading schedule accordingly.

Once you have the Bible App installed on your Windows phone, just go to Reading Plans and browse for the one you want. You can sign up at YouVersion.com for progress update emails for yourself or an accountability partner. It’s never to late to get started!

Just think about it: This could be the year you really connect with the Bible. You can try a plan that takes you through the Bible in a year, or just select parts, even specific topics and daily devotionals. If you’re looking for a challenge, we even have one plan that will help you read the entire Bible in just 90 days!

Be sure to connect your account with your social networks and share your thoughts about what you’re reading with your friends on Facebook and Twitter.

Industry analysts predict Microsoft may spend up to half a billion dollars to promote Windows Phone 7, so you’ll likely start hearing a lot about it soon. To us, all that advertising and press represents a tremendous opportunity to connect even more people with the Scriptures. While the special features for our initial release of the Bible app on Windows Phone 7 will focus on social networking and connections, we’re still actively developing it, so we’ll continue rolling out more and more of the functions that YouVersion users on other platforms have come to count on. We’ll keep you posted about new Windows app features as soon as we release them—stay tuned here and on Twitter!

For those of you who choose Windows Phone 7 as your phone, we want you to know… We’ll be there.

Screen shots of the forthcoming Bible app for Windows Phone 7: