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Latest Release of the Bible App for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Now Available!

The latest release of the Bible App™ for iOS (iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch)—Version 3.2—is immediately available! You can get yours now in the iTunes App Store.

For this release, you’ll find several improvements and tweaks all around. For example:

  • The way you interact with reading plans is streamlined and much more intuitive, with a progress bar, calendar, and easier sharing options. When you’re looking for a reading plan, now you can sort by language. You can even listen to audio Bibles directly from your reading plan!
  • When selecting a Bible version, you can filter versions by language, so it’s easier than ever to find just what you’re looking for.
  • YouVersion Live works more smoothly, too, with a refresh option and some other improvements under the hood.
  • There’s also an assortment of bug fixes and performance enhancements.

Even more language options. Thanks to our always-awesome community of YouVersion volunteers, the Bible App and YouVersion are literally reaching the world. With this release, the entire interface is now available in Czech. And if you need help with the Bible App or YouVersion.com, you can find what you need in Simplified or Traditional Chinese (not to mention in English, Spanish, Korean, and Russian).

Spread the word. If you have friends or loved ones who use an Apple mobile device, please let them know about this new release. And we’d love to connect with you on Facebook and Twitter.

Get Your 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.

 

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YouVersion.com and the Bible App: Now for the First Time, Completely in Chinese

Now you can experience both YouVersion.com and the Bible App™ entirely in Chinese! While we’ve offered both Simplified and Traditional Chinese as individual language options at YouVersion.com for months, what we’re announcing today is much more than that. When the YouVersion community formally launches an additional language, what that means is that every single interaction you can have with YouVersion’s tools and community is now available completely in that language. Chinese is our fourth total language launch. (English was first, followed by Norwegian and Spanish.)

Specifically, here are all the ways that the YouVersion community (that’s you!) can now engage with God’s Word in Chinese:

  • Great Chinese Bibles. YouVersion’s partners have graciously provided our community with several high quality, widely read Chinese versions of the Bible. (To see the full list, check 简体中文 and 繁體中文 near the bottom of the Versions page or, in the Bible App, click to change your current version and scroll to see the available Chinese versions.)
  • Entire User Interface. Thanks once again to our world-changing community of YouVersion volunteers, when you select Simplified or Traditional Chinese as the default language on your device—whether on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Android, or BlackBerry—the Bible App displays all of your controls and menu options in that language.
  • Communication in Chinese. Volunteers now make relevant YouVersion blog posts available in Simplified and Traditional Chinese. And when you initiate communication with YouVersion in Chinese, your email and other responses will be in Chinese as well.
  • Support in Chinese. Now, you can even get help with the Bible App and YouVersion.com in Simplified or Traditional Chinese! When you have questions, YouVersion volunteers who speak Chinese will be happy to assist you.

The Bible App™: Chinese Language Launch

YouVersion’s vision has always been simple: To help people connect freely with God’s Word, as easily as possible, no matter where they live or what language they speak. If your friends’ or loved ones’ heart language is Chinese, please share this great news about YouVersion.com and the Bible App with them. And be sure to come connect with us on Facebook and Twitter. We love hearing from you!

Keep checking back… To all our new Chinese speakers: Welcome to our YouVersion family! We’re thrilled to have you join us. Over the next couple of weeks here on our blog, we’ll be providing more details about each individual piece of the complete Chinese launch. We’re excited to share with you all that our community has to offer!

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The Bible App: YouVersion Reading Plan Brings Hope, Joy, and Inspiration

A YouVersion reading plan is a great tool to help you engage with the Bible, giving you a manageable portion of Scripture to read each day. Some reading plans cover the entire Bible, some focus on specific topics, and still others offer devotions to help you reflect on what you’re reading. When one such devotional plan, Fostering Hope, launched in May in honor of Foster Care Awareness Month, it received an immediate response, with thousands of people subscribing to read it.

As people in the YouVersion community—people just like you—use the tools in the Bible App™ to connect with God’s Word, He softens hearts and changes lives, literally all over the world. The stories you share with the rest of us—about what God is doing in your life—are an integral part of the revolution taking place in how people are connecting with the Bible. In the coming months, we’ll be sharing some of your stories right here. Today, we have an email from Nigeria, specifically about the Fostering Hope reading plan:

Dear Doctor Deb,*

I wanted to let you know what an inspiration you were to me when today I stumbled onto your Fostering Hope Bible reading plan. Something about it struck me, and before I knew it, I had read all 31 days—just this morning. I couldn’t put it down. I wept in some parts and prayed in others, but reading it changed my life. My prayer is that just as you have been a ray of hope and joy to many helpless and hurting people, God will help you too.

I just had to tell you that today.

God bless you,
Bola A.

P.S.: We’ve been considering different options for women’s ministry in our church, and more than ever I see we need to include adoption. I trust that God will show us the way.

*Doctor Deb is the author of the Fostering Hope reading plan.

Do you have a story you’d like to share with us? Here’s how:

  • Video. Upload a video of 4 minutes or less to YouVersion’s Vimeo page. (Please include your first name and last initial and tell us where you’re from.)
  • Facebook. Even if you tell us your story on video or through the form below, please consider sharing at least some of it with the whole YouVersion community, right on YouVersion’s Facebook page. We love encouraging one another to daily seek God and engage with the Bible.
  • Right Here! Tell us your story in 400 words or less:



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New in the Bible App for BlackBerry: Dashboard, Notifications, and Support

We want to make connecting with God’s Word as simple and as fast as possible for the YouVersion BlackBerry community, no matter where you are. The Bible App™ for BlackBerry offers you several exciting new features in the latest release, version 3.3, available immediately in BlackBerry App World or as a direct browser download:

  • Dashboard. The brand new Dashboard launcher gives you instant access to the features you use most, directly from the completely redesigned welcome screen!
  • Notifications. New Notifications help the Bible App communicate with you how you want, letting you know when you reach milestones like completing a reading plan, or sharing important YouVersion news with you, right inside the app.
  • Support. Now you can get assistance fast, connecting directly with YouVersion’s Support team—again, from right inside the Bible App.

Let us know what you think on Facebook and Twitter, and please be sure to spread the news to all your friends who have BlackBerry devices!

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2 New Afrikaans Translations for the Bible App and YouVersion.com: NLV and DB

YouVersion Versions and LanguagesAs part of a partnership with Christlike Uitgewersmaatskappy, YouVersion is very pleased to offer, for the first time, the Nuwe Lewende Vertaling (NLV) and Die Boodskap (DB) Afrikaans translations of the Bible, available right now through the Bible App™ and at YouVersion.com. Simply look under Afrikaans on the Versions list in the Bible App, or select Bible, Versions at YouVersion.com.

The Bible App is spreading across the entire planet, being added to literally thousands more devices every single day. And yet, of the many requests we receive at YouVersion for languages people would like to use to engage with the Bible, Afrikaans is consistently near the top of the list. We’re thrilled to be in a position to share these excellent translations. If you have friends or loved ones who would like to experience the Scriptures in Afrikaans, please be sure to share this exciting news with them.

If you’re in the YouVersion community, you’re part of a worldwide revolution of people connecting with the Bible—and with each other—anytime, anyplace, in more than 40 languages (so far). YouVersion’s driving purpose is to make God’s Word freely available to as many people as possible, wherever they are in the world. When we get to do that in their heart language, we consider it a tremendous privilege.

To our brothers and sisters joining us in the beautiful Afrikaans language, welcome to our global YouVersion family!

2 Nuwe Afrikaanse Vertalings vir die Bible App en YouVersion.com: NLV en DB

YouVersion Versions and LanguagesAs deel van n vennootskap met Christelike Uitgewersmaatskappy, is YouVersion verheug om vir die eerste keer die Nuwe Lewende Vertaling (NLV) en Die Boodskap (DB) Afrikaanse vertalings van die Bybel, beskikbaar te stel deur die Bible App™ en deur YouVersion.com. Kyk onder Afrikaans op die lys van weergawes in die Bible App of selekteer Bybel, Weergawes by YouVersion.com.

Die Bible App is besig om dwarsoor die hele planeet te versprei. Dit word by letterlik duisende toestelle bygevoeg elke dag. Van al die versoeke wat YouVersion elke dag ontvang vir vertalings, is Afrikaans konstant naby bo aan die lys. Ons is dus ongelooflik verheug om nou in n posisie te wees om hierdie fantastiese vertalings met julle te deel. As julle vriende of geliefdes het wat graag die Woord in Afrikaans sal wil beleef, deel asseblief hierdie opwindende nuus met hulle.

As jy deel is van die YouVersion gemeenskap, is jy deel van n wêreldwye revolusie van mense wat elke dag met die Bybel – en met mekaar – enige tyd of plek, in meer as 40 tale (tot dusvêr) verbind word. YouVersion se missie is om die Woord van God vrylik beskikbaar te maak vir soveel mense as moontlik, waar ook al hulle in die wêreld is. Ons beskou dit as n geweldige voorreg om dit te kan doen in hulle moedertaal.

Aan ons Afrikaanse broers en susters wat by ons aansluit, welkom by ons wêreldwye YouVersion familie!