Posted on

The Bible App by YouVersion Now Installed on 50 Million Mobile Devices

This time last year, we were pleased to announce that the Bible App™ had been installed on 20 million unique devices. And now, less than one year later, the worldwide YouVersion community has more than doubled…

The Bible App has now been installed more than 50 million times.

We’re thrilled to see so many people joining in community centered around the Bible. We also believe this is just the beginning. Something much greater is happening: a global shift where more and more people are engaging with God’s Word, and with each other.

A truly worldwide community is now equipped to explore almost 300 different versions of the Bible, in 144 languages. With the Bible App on your mobile device, you can read or listen, capture what God’s Spirit is saying to you, highlight your favorite passages, even share your faith with friends on your social networks. Any time. Any place.

Of course, you can do a lot of other things with the Bible App too. So to help us all visualize what’s happening moment by moment across our community, we’ve developed a very special website:

YouVersion.com/now

Now, for the first time ever, you can get a live look at everything that’s happening in the YouVersion community, everywhere in the world.

YouVersion’s simple mission remains the same: To help as many people as possible easily connect with the Bible, no matter where they live or what language they speak. Your passion to spread that vision and share God’s Word with others is the spark that’s igniting a Bible engagement revolution. Every time you share the Bible App, you are literally changing the world. Thank you!

Posted on

The Bible App and YouVersion.com Add Several New Languages

YouVersion Versions and LanguagesTo help as many people as possible connect with God’s Word, YouVersion offers the Bible App™ and the YouVersion.com website in several languages. But we don’t translate anything… So how could that be possible?

You.

That’s right. YouVersion has an incredible community of passionate volunteers—people just like you—all over the world. And thanks to their vision, their devotion, and their translation work, more people than ever now have the opportunity to easily explore the Bible for themselves…in the language of their choosing! Here’s just some of what these amazing world-changers have been up to recently:

Mobile Updates

The following languages are now available on these mobile platforms:

  • Afrikaans on BlackBerry
  • Brazilian Portuguese on Windows Phone
  • British English on iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch)
  • Chinese (both Simplified and Traditional) on Windows Phone
  • European Portuguese on Android
  • Hungarian on iOS
  • Turkish on iOS and Android

YouVersion.com

Many of these languages are already available on select mobile platforms, and now they’re also available at YouVersion.com:

Finally, you can find this language now at YouVersion.com, even though we don’t offer it (yet) for the Bible App on mobile devices:

Don’t see a language that you wish we had? Could you translate from English into it? Let us know what you can do. And join a very special global team of people who are changing the world together—one language at a time.

Posted on

YouVersion Adds 5 New Plans to Help You Connect with the Bible

During the month leading up to Easter, more than three million people downloaded the Bible App™ for the first time. If you’re just getting started trying to figure out this whole Bible thing, or even if you’ve been using the Bible App for a long time, we have exciting news for you: We just added five brand new Reading Plans!

Any one of these plans can help you get into God’s Word for the first time, or get you back into the Bible if you’ve fallen behind.

Daily Devotions with Greg Laurie. Pastor Greg Laurie offers relevant, encouraging, devotional thoughts from God’s Word to help you “know God and make Him known.” 30 days

Seeds of Spring: A Woman’s 40-Day Journey. Using the metaphor of a garden, each day presents a Scripture (seed), thoughts for meditation (planting), and practical application (watering). Ideal for moms, single women, and college students. 40 days

Holy Emotions – Biblical Responses to Every Challenge. Learn what the Bible has to say about your natural emotions—and how to manage them. 30 days

A.C.T.S. Prayer Bible Reading. Each day presents 4 short readings, each one addressing one of these: A – Adoration, C – Confession, T – Thanksgiving, and S – Supplication — each one selected to help you draw closer to God through prayer. 52 days

Reading Through the Gospels with the Foursquare Church. Read through the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) 4 times, each time with a different theme: Jesus our Savior, Jesus our Healer, Jesus our Soon-Coming King and Jesus our Baptizer with the Holy Spirit. Each Monday kicks off the week with an inspiring weekly devotional. 1 year

Reading Plans are great for helping you consistently engage with your Bible. When you subscribe to a plan, the Bible App feeds you just a few selections each day, breaking your reading (or listening) into manageable chunks. And with 240 plans now available in 16 different languages, you’re sure to find a plan that will work for you. The YouVersion community has already completed more than 2 million reading plans. Join us!

Posted on

YouVersion Community Completes 2 Million Reading Plans

In November of 2007, we announced the first Reading Plan for YouVersion. Of course, Reading Plans have come a long way since then. Reading Plans are now a major part of the Bible App™ on every platform, with more than 230 Reading Plans available in 16 different languages (and more of both still to come). Then in December 2011, more than four years after the launch of that very first plan, we shared that the YouVersion community had completed more than 1 million Reading Plans.

Now, something extraordinary has happened. What took the YouVersion community four years to accomplish the first time, we’ve now done again—in less than 4 months! Together, we’ve now completed more than 2 million Reading Plans.


“…He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion…”
Philippians 1:6

What does 2 million completed plans mean? More and more people are using the Bible App to engage with God’s Word as a part of their everyday lives. To those of you who contributed to this milestone, thank you! And congratulations!

What is a Reading Plan? Reading Plans are specifically designed to help you be intentional about the time you devote to reading (or listening to) what God wants to speak into your life. You can select from Reading Plans that cover topics you want to know more about, that help you center your thought life around wisdom from the Bible, that take you through a portion of the Bible, or even through the entire thing. If you need a little help getting started with a Reading Plan, here are just a few you might consider:

A Jolt of Joy. The Bible tells us that “in His presence is fullness of joy” and “the joy of the Lord is our strength”. Joy isn’t simply another emotion; it is a fruit of the Spirit and one of the best weapons in your arsenal to fight against discouragement, depression, and defeat. Learn what the Bible has to say about joy, and strengthening yourself to become a defiantly joyful Christian.
Publisher: Carol McLead and Just Joy Ministries 31 days

Psalms and Proverbs in 31 Days. The Psalms and Proverbs are filled with songs, poetry, and writings – expressing true worship, longing, wisdom, love, desperation, and truth. Here, you will encounter God and find comfort, strength, solace, and encouragement that covers the breadth of the human experience.
Publisher: YouVersion 31 days

Discipleship Journal’s Book-at-a-Time Reading Plan. An easy-to-follow guide to reading the Bible one book at a time. From Discipleship Journal, this book-at-a-time Bible reading plan gives you what you need to read the Bible in one year.
Publisher: NavPress 365 days

And even if one of these plans doesn’t fit your life right now, we encourage you to invest just a little time exploring your many options. With more Reading Plans than ever before, YouVersion has something for everyone!

Posted on

Christians Around the World Celebrate Jesus’ Resurrection

“I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen.” Matthew 28:5–6, New Living Translation

Today Christians all over the world are celebrating the resurrection of our Savior. We’d love for you to join with us, too. Let’s think not just about what Jesus’ sacrifice meant to His disciples and to the people of His time, but what it means to us today and every day: that He freely offers us gifts of forgiveness, renewal, and peace. Whatever challenges you’re facing in your life today, please know that Jesus offers these same gifts to you.

The best way to understand what happened at Jesus’ Resurrection is to take it straight from the source: the Bible. Consider reading The Story of Easter plan all in one sitting, or try listening to the Resurrection story from John 20 with your family. If you have a favorite Bible passage of your own, consider looking it up today and re-reading it with fresh eyes to remind yourself of what your faith means to you.

Of course, there’s no reason we have to stop celebrating what Christ did for us even after this day is over. We can continue extending His gifts of renewal and peace to others throughout the year, just as He offered them to us. He is risen indeed.