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Top Questions About Bible App Friends

The latest version of the Bible App is designed specifically to help you explore God’s Word together with your most trusted friends. When you use the Bible App’s community features, you’re strengthening your relationships, putting the Bible at the center of your friendships… and drawing closer to God.

Friends settings inside the Bible App

We’ve answered the questions we’re hearing to help you decide how you want to bring Friends into your Bible experience:

1. What happens if I decline a Friend request?

When you tap Decline for a Friend request, that specific request is simply removed. The requester does not receive a notification that you declined. However, once the Bible App has removed that request, that also means that the requester can send you another Friend request in the future if they choose to.

2. Can I “Unfriend” someone?

Yes. Friendships are mutual. You always control who shares your Bible App experience with you.

  • Tap the main menu button. The main menu displays.
  • Tap Friends. Your current Friends list displays.
  • Tap the user you would like to Unfriend.
  • Tap Friend. The Bible App asks if you’re sure you wish to Unfriend this user.
  • Tap Unfriend. You no longer have a Friend connection with this user in the Bible App. (The requester does not receive a notification that you declined.)
    Note: This means that this user may request Friendship with you again—and also that you may request Friendship with them again, if you change your mind later.

3. How many Friends can I have in the Bible App?

Up to 150. Studies suggest most people only have the capacity to maintain about that many significant relationships. Limiting your Friends to people you know well makes the Bible App an environment for honest conversations and shared discoveries centered around Scripture.

4. Will my Friends be able to see all my Bible App activity?

By default, yes. But you can customize most Bible App activities as you go, choosing who can see what.

  • Likes and Comments. You can Like and Comment on Friends’ activities, as well as on your own. Your Likes and Comments show up in your Friends’ feeds, as well as underneath the activity you Liked or Commented on. To un-Like something, simply tap the heart again. To delete one of your Comments:
    • iOS: Swipe left across your Comment, then Delete.
    • Android: Long press on your Comment, then Delete.
    • Web: Click the “x” on the right side of your Comment.
  • Highlights. Your Highlights display in your Friends’ feeds as you create them. To change or remove one of your Highlights: Go to main menu > Highlights. Find the Highlight you want to change, tap the settings icon, and select what you want.
  • Bookmarks. When you Bookmark a passage, your Friends’ feeds show what you Bookmarked, but does not show the Bookmark Title or Labels. To change or remove one of your Bookmarks: Go to main menu > Bookmarks. Find the Bookmark you want to change, tap the settings icon, and select what you want.
  • Bible Plans. When you start a Plan, the Bible App asks if you want your Friends to see your Plan activity. If you say No, that Plan is tagged as Private, and none of your Plan activity will display in your Friends’ feeds. If you say Yes, then your Friends’ feeds will show that you started that Plan. They’ll also see each time you complete a day of the Plan, and when you finish the Plan. To change these settings at any time, simply go to the Plan’s settings, scroll to the Privacy section, and select Private or Friends Only.
  • Notes. When you create a Note, you can set it as Public, Friends, Private, or Save as Draft. To change or remove one of your Notes: Go to main menu > Notes. Find the Note you want to change, tap the settings icon, and select what you want.

5. What do Friends bring to my Bible App experience?

  • Trust. You and each Friend agree to be connected, so you can shape your experience around the people you’re closest to. And if you’d like to make any adjustments along the way, you can add or Unfriend at any time.
  • Encouragement. See your Friends’ Bible Plan progress and encourage each other to stick with it. Share what you learn from a day’s reading, or simply which part of that day’s reading you liked best.
  • Conversation. Like and comment on each other’s Bookmarks, Highlights, Notes, and other activity. Discuss what you’re reading, ask questions, share insights, and pray for one another.
  • Growth. People from all over the world have been telling us that connecting with their Friends through the Bible App has helped grow their understanding of the Bible. And just as many say that sharing the Bible with their friends is drawing them closer together.

Want to Know More?

This series of blog posts can help you understand everything about the Bible App:

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2014 Scripture Impact Award Goes to LifeChurch.tv Pastor

On September 27, at a special ceremony at LifeChurch.tv in Oklahoma City, Bob Creson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Wycliffe Bible Translators, presented the 2014 Scripture Impact Award to Bobby Gruenewald, pastor and innovation leader at LifeChurch.tv. The award recognizes the work Bobby and the YouVersion team have done to  contribute to Scripture engagement and to bring an end to Bible illiteracy. Here’s video from that event:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFyI5VMqPNQ&feature=youtu.be

Wycliffe created the Scripture Impact Award in 2003 to honor the late Dr. Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ International, in celebration of his love for the Lord and the Scriptures. Past recipients have included Billy Graham, Rick Warren, Luis Palau, Cynthia and Chuck Swindoll, Drs. Lois and Tony Evans, Caroline and Bunker Hunt, and  Dr. Barry Black.

To celebrate the Scripture Impact Award, LifeChurch.tv developed The Impact of Scripture Bible Plan, which Wycliffe translated for YouVersion into five additional languages: Spanish, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, and Brazilian Portuguese.

Now installed on more than 155 million unique devices, the Bible App is what it is today only because millions of people all over the world use it every day to engage with the Bible—and with each other. Translators have dedicated much of their lives to bringing God’s Word to life in different languages. Bible societies and publishers have generously offered their translations to the worldwide YouVersion community. And people just like you volunteer to translate Bible Plans and the Bible App’s interface into the language of their hearts, so that others can share in its joy.

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Now Playing in the Bible App: NASB Audio

Now, for the first time ever, the Bible App is offering an audio version of the NASB! This crisp, clear audio Bible was recorded to feel like a close friend reading God’s Word to you. Listen to the NASB anywhere you use the Bible App, all thanks to the generosity of The Lockman Foundation and AudioBibleDownloads.com.

NASB now offers an audio versionTo start listening to your NASB, from anywhere in the Bible Reader:

  • Tap the Bible version abbreviation at the top.
    Note: Speaker icons indicate versions that offer audio.
  • Tap NASB. The Reader displays again, now with NASB selected.
  • Tap the speaker icon at the bottom.
  • Tap the play button.

Tip: Since audio Bibles are streamed—and not stored directly on your device—they’re best experienced over a Wi-Fi connection. If you don’t have Wi-Fi available when you listen, be aware of your plan’s data limits and restrictions.

 

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1,000 Bible Versions: See the Bigger Picture

If you use the Bible App, then you’re an important part of a global milestone:

YouVersion now offers more than 1,000 Bible versions,
in more than 700 languages.

Imagine millions of people all over the world, gathering together in unity around God’s Word. But even that offers just a glimpse of all that this milestone could mean. So we’ve put together this special infographic for you, to help give context for this genuinely historic event:

See what 1000 Bible versions could mean (infographic)

The 1,000th version is Deftera Lfida Dzratawi (XEDNT), the first digital translation of the New Testament into Hdi (pronounced huh-DEE). Read on our blog about how its translators discovered a lost Hdi word that perfectly describes God’s love!

 

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And the 1,000th Bible Version is…

The YouVersion community has now reached a truly global milestone: The Bible App just added its 1,000th Bible version! With Bibles available in more than 700 languages, that means that millions of people are now reading God’s Word in the language of their hearts, together.

Version number 1,000 is Deftera Lfida Dzratawi (XEDNT), the first digital translation of the New Testament into Hdi (pronounced huh-DEE), a language spoken mostly in Cameroon and neighboring Nigeria. Generously provided to the YouVersion community by Wycliffe, this Bible’s translation is an incredible story of perseverance and love decades in the making…

Completed Deftera Lfida Dzratawi NT, delivered to Hdi in late 2013

The Deftera Lfida Dzratawi is Living and Active

A seed planted. In the 1970’s, John† was a Christian from the Mafa language group who felt God calling him to move his family to live among the Hdi people in the mountains of Cameroon. Together, John and his family lived out his vision to learn Hdi and to share the Gospel with its people, eventually leading a small group of 12- and 13-year-old boys to a relationship with Jesus Christ as their Savior.

The faithful continue watering. In 1987, Beth Gathman and Cindy Langermann came to live among the Hdi people, hoping to lay the groundwork for an eventual Hdi language Bible. By that time, two of the boys from John’s original small group, Philip† and Steven†, had grown into young men. These first generation Hdi Christians taught Beth and Cindy how to speak the language, then continued working with them to analyze and document its various structures.

When Beth and Cindy moved on to other careers in 1995, Lee and Tammi Bramlett moved their family to Cameroon to continue the work. And Philip and Steven were right there to welcome them, determined to help see the translation through, so that the nearly 45,000 Hdi speakers in Cameroon and Nigeria could  have a Bible that was truly their own.

In Hdi: Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (Jn 14:6)

The harvest realized. Translators completed the Hdi text in partnership with SIL International and the Cameroon Association for Bible Translation and Literacy, and in September 2012, the Deftera Lfida Dzratawi was typeset. After printing and shipping, the final XEDNT was joyfully delivered to the Hdi people in a special dedication ceremony in December 2013.

Hdi hold the NT, translated into their own language, for the 1st time

A New Kind of Love

The Hdi people deeply value humility, hospitality, and love. But the Hdi who assisted in the translation were surprised to discover a new way to apply a word that was known but rarely used. Hdi had a word for love, dvi, that means you once felt love for someone, but that love had faded over time. Hdi also had another, more common word for love, dva, that means you love someone because they do things for you. But when the Hdi reexamined a word seldom used in their language, dvu, which means to love someone unconditionally, no matter who they are or what they do, they discovered a whole new way they could apply it to their lives: recognizing it as the way that God loves them. Now the Hdi are convinced that dvu has the power to transform their entire culture.

Hdi reach toward the Deftera Lfida Dzratawi as they pray at its dedication

†Names changed to protect the privacy of these individuals.

Did you know…

  • 87% of Christians with Internet access can read or listen to the Bible in their own language on the Bible App?
  • The Bible App offers text in more languages than any other app?
  • If you stacked 1,000 Bibles on top of each other, they’d be as tall as Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer statue?

See the full infographic…

Click to see more