Posted on

Pick a Great Reading Plan from YouVersion

Yesterday we shared why it’s so important that we engage with God’s Word every day. The Bible App makes it easy, with hundreds of Reading Plans, ranging in length from just a few days to a whole year. To find your next plan, browse through the convenient categories, or use Search to find something specific.

If you’re still looking for ideas for your next Reading Plan, here are a few you might try:

Brand New Plans Just Added:

NIV Once-A-Day With six new devotionals, make the Bible a daily habit as you read short devotionals that fit into the pace of life. From Zondervan. various lengths

Made to Crave: 21 Day Challenge Bridge the gap between your desire to live a healthy lifestyle and the spiritual strength you need for lasting change. From Lysa TerKeurst. 21 days

God’s Glory and Your Purpose: Devotions with John Piper In this five-day video devotional, John Piper explains what the Bible teaches about the glory of God, and how it impacts our daily lives. From Desiring God. 5 days

Lead Like Jesus: 21 Days of Leadership Bible-based leadership principles for the effective development of people whose heart’s desire to lead as Jesus did. From Ken Blanchard. 21 days

One: A Marriage Devotional by Jimmy Evans Develop a thriving relationship with your spouse through this marriage-building devotional from Jimmy Evans and Marriage Today. 52 Days

Browse even more new plans…

Tried and True “Classic” Plans:

The One Year® Bible The most popular plan on YouVersion, experience the joy of reading the entire Bible with as little as 15 minutes of reading each day. From Tyndale. 1 year

Right From the Heart 1-Minute Devotions A daily injection of truth, reminding you what matters most in life – a relationship with Jesus Christ. Basically, we cut the fluff and get right to the point. From Bryant Wright and RFTH Ministries. 1 year

The Essential 100 A favorite around the world, the E100 guides you through 50 Old Testament and 50 New Testament passages, helping you see the big picture of God’s Word. From Scripture Union. 100 days

Soul Detox Use this plan to identify what’s been chipping away at your soul, and to cleanse your spirit, as you step into the person God created you to be. From LifeChurch.tv. 35 days

Psalms and Proverbs in 31 Days Encounter God and find comfort, strength, solace, and encouragement that covers the breadth of the human experience. From YouVersion. 31 days

Browse all plans…

The new year offers us a great time to get back to basics on the things that matter most in our lives. The first step may be the hardest, but it’s also the one that has the most power to change your life!

Posted on

Hear God’s Voice in Your Everyday Life

What’s the most important voice in your life? You can probably picture a specific person’s face, even hear their voice in your head. That relationship didn’t “just happen.” You work on it. You value it.

That’s the kind of relationship God wants with you as his adopted child. And what in your life could be more important than that? He wants you to talk to him, and he wants to talk to you—through his Word. Starting a new year is the perfect time to freshen relationships and renew dreams. What might your 2013 look like — if you leave space to hear from him?

YouVersion’s Bible Plans make it easy to connect daily with God. People in the worldwide YouVersion community constantly share how much it means to make God’s Word a part of their everyday lives. The key is to just get started. Here we’ve made a short list to help you turn engaging with the Bible into a daily habit:

  1. If you haven’t already, download the Bible App to your device. (Read more…)
  2. Get your free YouVersion account.
  3. Sign up for a Reading Plan. (Read more…)
  4. Then just start reading God’s Word—or listening to it—a little each day. It really is that simple!

To help you stick with it, invite your friends! It’s easy to connect to Facebook and Twitter and let them know what you’re reading.

If you’re still having a hard time picking a plan, check back here tomorrow. We’ll share highlights from some exciting, brand-new Reading Plans, as well as some proven favorites!

Posted on

Merry Christmas from YouVersion!

Please join us today in celebrating the birth of our Savior, God’s gift to us of His only Son. To the worldwide YouVersion community: Thank you. You are why we do what we do. Because of you, we’ve been able to bring the Bible for free to more people than we could have imagined.

This season offers unique opportunities for us to share our faith, as we gather with friends and family to celebrate and reconnect. If you or someone you love gets a new device this Christmas, that’s a great time to install the Bible App. (It’s free!)

It’s also a great time of year to share your favorite things about the Bible on Facebook and Twitter. If you haven’t already, it’s easy to connect your free YouVersion account and share straight from the app. Not sure what to share? Consider verses from the Christmas story, or even just your favorite Bible verse:

These are just a few ideas. Try to focus on why the Bible is special to you. And most important, have a wonderful Christmas as you celebrate the gift of a God who is with us, Emmanuel!

Posted on

Bible App for iOS Adds More Offline Features, Thai Language Support

The new version of the Bible App™ for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch — version 4.2 — is available now in the iTunes App Store. Since many of you use the Bible App during times when you don’t have a mobile signal or Internet connection, one of the most frequent requests from the YouVersion community has been to make more of our features available offline. We think you’ll find a lot to love in this latest update:

Enhanced Offline Experience. We’ve added offline capabilities to most of your favorite features, like Reading Plans, Notes, and even your customized Today view! We’ve also improved the display of your list of downloaded Bible Versions when you’re offline. Now the Bible App for iOS stores information for all of these things locally on your device, only syncing with your online account in the background once you’re connected again. Add new Notes and keep up on your Reading Plans, anytime, anywhere — even when you can’t get a signal!

Better Bookmarking. Bookmarks still work the way you’re used to. Just tap a verse or passage you want to share, memorize, or study to Bookmark it. But we’ve added the ability to edit your Bookmarks, so you can keep them organized just how you like.

In-App Password Change. You’ve always been able to sign in and out from inside the Bible App, but if you wanted to update your password, you had to visit YouVersion.com. Not anymore! Now, for the first time ever, you can change your password directly from the Bible App on your device.

Thai Language Support. You probably know that YouVersion offers Bible versions in more than 200 languages. But did you know that, thanks to an awesome worldwide community of YouVersion translation volunteers, you can also set the Bible App’s interface on your Apple device—menus, buttons, and controls—to display in any of 31 languages? Simply go to Settings, General, and pick your favorite, or change the default language for your device. Thai is a brand new addition to YouVersion’s interface language offerings, available first on iOS in this release (and coming soon to more platforms)!

Bug Fixes and Performance Enhancements. As always, for each new release of the Bible App for iOS, we take the opportunity to make several improvements and adjustments. While our community lets us know about issues through our Support website, our own testing and development often reveal things we can do to make your overall YouVersion experience better.

Be sure to let your friends know about this latest update to the Bible App for iOS, especially if they speak Thai! And come see us on Facebook and Twitter. We love hearing from you!

For users interested in understanding our strategy in regards to iPhone 5, please read this blog post. 

Get Your Bible App Update Now:

If you already have the Bible App installed:

  1. On your Apple device, tap the App Store icon.
  2. When the App Store opens, tap the Updates icon.
  3. Tap Update for the Bible App.
    OR
    Tap Update All.

If this is your first time installing the Bible App:

  1. On your Apple device, tap the App Store icon.
  2. When the App Store opens, tap the Search icon.
  3. Search for “Bible”.
  4. Tap the Bible App from LifeChurch.tv.
  5. Tap the FREE button.
Posted on

The Bible App Named in Apple’s Best of 2012

For the third year in a row, the Bible App™ has been ranked in the top 100 Free apps for iPhone on Apple’s “Best of” list. The Bible App was in the top 100 for iPad too — which means that it has appeared in the top 100 iPad apps every year since the iPad was introduced!

Of course, the real story behind the Bible App’s success and recognition is you, the global YouVersion community.

It’s because you download the Bible App onto your devices and help your friends download it onto theirs. It’s because so many of you use the Bible App every day to engage with God’s Word. It’s because you never stop sharing how the Bible is shaping your life on Facebook, on Twitter, and face to face. And it’s because so many of you generously donate your gifts and talents as volunteers to help YouVersion constantly improve.

YOU are the “Best of 2012.” Thank you. And congratulations!