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On the Go: YouVersion’s Top 3 Travel Tips

Many of us schedule trips for fun and relaxation during this time of year. When you’re traveling, it’s easy to fall out of your regular routine of spending time daily in God’s Word. But with just a little forethought and planning, the Bible App™ can always be right there for you, helping you stay connected. Here are three tips we’ve put together to help you when you’re traveling:

  1. Download offline versions. Thanks to YouVersion’s generous Bible publishing partners, offline versions let you read your favorite translation, even when you can’t get a mobile signal or Internet access. On planes or on subways—or far away from anywhere—an offline version saved on your device keeps the Bible at your fingertips. But remember: You need to download them before you need them, preferably when you have good WiFi access. Just list the versions on your device, and tap the download icon next to each version you want to save to your device.
  1. Listen to audio Bibles. Audio Bibles are a great solution for loud or crowded places where you need a few moments for yourself, or even if you prefer listening to reading. Whether you’re waiting for a flight, out for a hike, or even riding in the car, audio Bibles can help you refocus on the things God’s trying to say to you. In the Bible App reader, just look for the audio icon and controls. (If you don’t see audio controls, try switching to another Bible version.) And remember to pack your headphones!
  1. Try a short plan. A trip is a great opportunity to mix things up a little. YouVersion offers reading plans that last as little as two days. Look for one that you can start and finish during your travels. How many days will you be gone—three, four, five, seven? Check online or in the Bible App to find one you like. Or consider one of these short plans:
      • Experiencing God’s Renewal includes a daily short passage and devotional about how God is constantly renewing our hearts, minds, and purpose. 5 days
      • The Gospel of Mark takes you through the entire book of Mark, reading a little each day. 8 days
      • Courage brings you daily reminders from the Bible about boldness, confidence, and God’s promises for your life. 7 days

Whether you’re covering great distances or just taking a quick staycation at home, keep connected to God’s Word when you take time away. If you have suggestions of your own, please share them with us in the comments below, and on Facebook and Twitter.

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How to Make the Most of Your YouVersion Reading Plan

The Bible App™ on iPadWhen you start a YouVersion Reading Plan, you have the best intentions. You’re going to read every day and never miss, once and for all establishing that daily Bible reading habit that you’ve been promising yourself. And then your life happens—you get busy, you get tired, you get interrupted. Hearing what God has to say to us each day is important. So we’ve put together a few tips to help you find consistent success when you read God’s Word.

Find your version. YouVersion offers more than 200 Bible versions. If you have a favorite Bible verse, select “Bible” from the Bible App™ dashboard and look it up. Try reading it in several different versions, and see if one feels more natural to you than others. (To change versions, tap the “short code” next to the chapter name, then select another.) If you don’t have a favorite verse, try reading a well-known one like John 3:16 in different versions. You might even do a little research online to find a version that fits your reading style.

Pick your size. Set realistic goals. If you’ve never tried a Reading Plan before, a one-year reading plan probably isn’t the best place for you to start. We offer plans that can take you through a book of the Bible in as little as 2 days. Take some time to browse. You’ll find plans for 5 days, 7 days, 14 days, 90 days—and more. And if you’re using the Bible App for iOS (iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch), you can even go to Browse Plans, Advanced, and list plans by length.

Pick your power time of the day. Are you a morning person or a night person? Maybe you take a break in the middle of the day or in the early afternoon to think. Whatever your time, plan to check your Reading Plan then—during the time when you know you’ll probably get the most out of it. Most newer versions of the Bible App even let you set reminders. Try setting yours for your best time.

Find your spot. Do you have a favorite place to think? Maybe you have a quiet spot where you’re less likely to be interrupted. It could be inside or outside. Do you prefer to sit, stand, even walk around? Many people have told us they love listening to audio Bibles while they’re exercising, working, or during their commute. Find your best place to concentrate, and plan to spend your time in God’s Word there.

Talk to God. Right before you read, take just a moment to pray. It doesn’t have to be anything formal or elaborate. Ask God to give you ears to hear what He wants to say to you. Ask Him give you direction and insight through His Word. Ask Him to help you understand. James 1:5 says God generously gives us wisdom—if we’ll just ask. Get your heart and mind into a posture of listening for His still, small voice.

Read, or listen. If you’ve done everything else, this part should be easy. Adjust your Bible reader’s background color, font, and size until you find just the right comfortable mix. Or, if reading is difficult for you, don’t forget: we offer audio Bibles in several versions and languages. Try putting in headphones and just listening. You can even listen while you walk, run, or ride.

Reflect on what you just read. For most people, when they read God’s Word, specific things will jump out at them. Take notes. (Keeping track of your thoughts is easy with the Bible App’s Notes and Bookmarks.) Again, keep it simple for now. Replay those things over and over in your mind. (In the Bible, David calls this “meditating on the law of the Lord.”) In Jeremiah 29:13, God promises His people that they’ll find Him when they seek Him with all their hearts.

The Bible is more than just a book, more than the sum of its parts. In fact, the apostle Paul, who was mentoring Timothy, once wrote to him in a letter: “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16–17)

Make the effort to delight yourself in His Word, and to think about what it says. When you spend purposeful, meaningful time reading what God has to say to you, you’ll discover insights that will transform your relationship with Him and shape your perspective on your daily life.

To learn more about the “how to” of Reading Plans:

  1. Visit our Support website.
  2. Bottom: Select your preferred language.
  3. Left: Choose your device type.
  4. Look under “Plans.”

 

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More Powerful Search Comes to Bible App for iPhone and iPod touch

Find exactly what you’re looking for! The newest update of the Bible App™ for iPhone and iPod touch was just released. Version 3.5—available now in the iTunes App Store—offers inline translation notes, improved signup with Facebook, easier Help, faster performance, and enhanced Search features. Today we’ll share some quick tips to help you take full advantage of the most robust, flexible Search tools the Bible App has ever offered.

Note: For now, these enhanced search features are available only on iPhone and iPod touch.

Quick Search in the Bible App™ for iOS Version 3.5Quick Search. As always, search is available directly from the Dashboard Launcher, right at the top. Simply click in the “Reference or Keyword” text field, key what you’re looking for, then tap the [Search] button. You can search on individual words, whole phrases, and even jump to specific passages with book names, and/or chapter numbers, and/or verse numbers.
 
Advanced Search in the Bible App™ for iOS Version 3.5More Search Options. As soon as you tap Search, the Bible App presents you with several additional options:

  1. Sort Order. Choose Traditional (in book order) or Relevance.
  2. Advanced. Once you’re in Search mode, switch Advanced to ON to see more options for refining your search results:
  3. Version. Select the Bible translation you want to search.
  4. Section. Choose Old Testament, New Testament, or both.
  5. Book. Select the specific book(s) of the Bible where you want to search.
  6. Instant Results. Based on the options you’ve selected, your search results display—in context—at the bottom of the screen. Simply tap one to jump to it in the Bible Reader. Try a new search from the “Reference or Keyword” text field at the top, and your results update instantly.
  7. Search History. Tap the clock face button (top right) to display your previous searches. (More details below.)
 
Search History in the Bible App™ for iOS Version 3.5Search History. When you have a free YouVersion account, the Bible App saves all of your previous searches in this list.

  • Cancel. Tap the [Cancel] button to return to the Advanced Search screen.
  • Previous Search. Tap a previous search to once again see its results on the Advanced Search screen. (You can even refine those results with the Advanced features.)
  • Clear. Tap the [Clear] button to empty your Search History.
 

We hope these enhanced features will make it faster and easier than ever for you to find whatever you’re looking for in the Bible. Our passion is to help as many people as possible freely connect with the Bible, no matter where they live or what language they prefer. And great new tools like enhanced search can be a great conversation starter to help you share the Bible App with your friends.

Thank you so much for the part you play in the global YouVersion community!

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Updated Bible App for iPhone and iPod touch: All-New Highlights, Expanded Bookmarks

If you haven’t heard, the Bible App™ for iPhone and iPod touch recently got a comprehensive update. Version 3.3 is available immediately in the iTunes App Store. Over the last few days, we’ve been sharing tips with you on how you can take full advantage of many of the Bible App’s new features, including the updated Bible Reader and Sign in, Sign up and Support. Today we’ll introduce highlights for the first time, and we’ll show you your expanded bookmarking options.

All-New Highlights in the Bible App™ 

  • Highlights. Now, if you like, you can bring some of your favorite features from paper Bibles to your personal Bible App account. (Instructions for how to highlight are in the next section below.)
    • New Bible readers. Highlights are a great way you can mark verses you enjoy, or that speak to you in special ways, so you can easily spot them later.
    • Experienced Bible readers. If you’ve been highlighting in your Bible for years, you’ll realize quickly that Bible App highlights work pretty much just as you’d expect.
  • Sync Your Highlights. When you add a highlight in the Bible App on any device, you’ll see your highlight on any YouVersion platform that supports that feature.
Highlighting in the Bible App™To add a highlight: 

  • Tap a verse (or more than one) to select it.
  • Bottom right: Tap the sharing icon that appears.
  • Tap the color you want your highlight to be.
    OR
    Tap the rainbow to select a custom color: 

    • Drag the color picker icon to select your color.
    • Lighter/Darker: Slide the shading bar.
    • Bottom: A sample of your color displays.
    • Tap Choose.

To remove a highlight:

  • Tap the highlighted verse(s) whose highlights you want to remove.
  • Bottom right: Tap the sharing icon that appears.
  • Tap the bright red ‘X’ selection.
Advanced Bookmark Options in the Bible App™
Bookmarks. For the first time in the Bible App, now you can bookmark multiple verses at a time. Here’s how it works: 

  • Tap the verse(s) you want to bookmark.
  • Bottom right: Tap the sharing icon that appears.
  • Tap Bookmark.
  • Optional: If you selected more verses than you intended to bookmark, tap the list and remove the ones you want to.
  • Optional: Select a highlight color.
  • Optional: Name your bookmark with a title.
  • Optional: Add a label(s) to your bookmark to categorize it for faster future reference (like Counseling, Encouragement, Fundamentals, etc.).

Use bookmarks to label verses you want to share with friends, to enhance your own personal studies, or however you want. The possibilities are truly only limited by your imagination and creativity.

At YouVersion, our simple mission is always the same: to make it as easy as possible for people to freely engage with the Bible, no matter where they live. It is this vision that drives the features and functions we add to the Bible App. If you’re not already, we hope you’ll consider using the Bible App to connect to the Bible every day. And if you do: Thanks! Please also share with your friends how fulfilling it can be to engage with God’s Word–anytime, anyplace.

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Updated Bible App for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad: Sign in, Sign up, and Support

After the announcement of the Bible App™ version 3.3 release for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, we promised we’d give you specific tips on how you could get the most out of it. First, we covered Bible Reader updates. Today, we’ll tell you about enhancements to Sign in, Sign up, and integrated Technical Support.

Sign up for the Bible App™ Using Facebook

  • Sign in is cleaner and offers more options, such as signing in with either your email address or username.
  • Sign up now lets you sign up for a free YouVersion account using your Facebook login, saving you time:
    • You won’t have to verify your email address, and
    • Your YouVersion account connects automatically to your Facebook account, making it easy to share the Bible App, verses, or Bible plans with your friends.
 
Access Technical Support from Directly Inside the Bible App™

  • Now you can access Technical Support from directly inside the Bible App. When you email Support from within the Bible App, your request automatically includes information that helps our team quickly troubleshoot your issue.
 
View Tech Support Knowledgebase from Inside the Bible App™Also from directly inside the Bible App, you can:

  • View solutions to Frequently Asked Questions from the YouVersion knowledgebase.
  • Watch video tutorials, and
  • See recent tweets on known issues from @YouVersionHelp, YouVersion’s official support account on Twitter.
 
 

 
Still don’t have your Apple device updated to the latest release of the Bible App? What are you waiting for? You can get it right now in the iTunes App Store. And be sure to come back tomorrow to learn all about the brand-new highlighting features and exciting updates to bookmarks! These much-requested, new and updated features promise to make your experience connecting with the Bible through the Bible App richer than ever before.

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