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Notes: Finally, It’s iPhone’s Turn!

If you use the Bible App from YouVersion on your iPhone, then we imagine you might have watched with just the slightest twinge of envy as you’ve seen notes come to some of our other platforms. Your wait is over! As long as you’re signed in to your free YouVersion account, you’re ready to start adding notes:

  • General notes. You can add a note at any time, and it can be about anything. Simply tap the Notes tab.
  • Connected to a passage. Of course, you can link a note directly to a single verse. Just tap the verse you want to comment on, then tap Notes on the options menu that displays. To add yours, tap Create New. (You can even add additional verses—and remove verses—from their association with a note.)
  • Connect with community. “Share” any note to post it to Twitter or Facebook, “Like” a note to display it in a list of your favorite Notes on your profile on YouVersion.com, even “Report” a note to flag it as inappropriate.

Important! For any note you make: Give it a title, then mark whether you want to share it:

  • Draft. A note “in progress”—one that’s not quite ready for prime time.
  • Private. Only you will see this note. This is a great way to journal for yourself about the things that God is showing you in His Word.
  • Public. Your note will be visible by anyone. One of the greatest benefits of notes, public notes allow others to share in your journey through the Scriptures—and you in theirs.
  • Publish on: The note will be Private for now, but it will become Public on the date you specify.

TIP: You can change a note back and forth between the different sharing options at any time.

Many of you have been asking us to bring notes to the iPhone for a long time now, so of course we’re thrilled to be able to provide it for you. But this is still just the beginning. We’re really excited about all the continued advancements and improvements still to come. In the meantime, enjoy your Bible! And please share your experience with others!

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The Bible App – now on Chrome!

Google’s Chrome Web Store is an online marketplace with tools and applications designed specifically for use with the Google Chrome OS and browser. If you have a Google Chrome device, come check out YouVersion’s page for the Bible App in the store!

At YouVersion, our driving vision has always been to make the Bible easily accessible—for free—to anyone, any time, anywhere. The Bible App is already the number one application for engaging with the Bible on iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, and webOS, with more than 11 million downloads so far. Now, when you download the free Bible App to your Chrome device, you’ll get all of its best-of-breed functionality—including more than 40 translations, in more than 20 languages, a growing list of reading plans, and connectivity to your social networks.

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Partnership to Reach Spanish Speakers

Recently we told you about the Bible App passing 11 million downloads. We’ve also shared how, so far, YouVersion users have spent more than 3.5 billion minutes reading the Bible. Of course we couldn’t be happier to see numbers like these. But there are some other numbers you should also know about. Recent polls indicated most people (more than 70%) felt it was important to know more about the Bible. But even among those people who said they thought they ought to read the Bible, most also admitted that they rarely do—with many even saying they didn’t read it at all.

Clearly, we need to make it even easier for people to engage with God’s Word. We need to get it into more hands. Today we’re pleased to announce a new partnership intended to do just that. The American Bible Society (ABS) is introducing an exciting campaign, called Descubre La Biblia, to promote Bible engagement within the Spanish-speaking community. As part of that plan, ABS is joining with YouVersion to launch the Bible App in Spanish, which will feature several of the world’s best-known Spanish Bible translations including the Reina Valera 1960.

If you have any friends who speak Spanish, we’d love for you to share the Bible App with them. To access YouVersion.com in Spanish, simply visit http://es.youversion.com/, or choose “Español” from the language selection box in the lower left corner of the site. (Users who already have Spanish (Español) selected as their language of choice on their device will automatically see the Bible App in Spanish.)

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You’re on a Roll!

Thank you. In the two weeks since we shared the huge goal of reaching 1 billion minutes of Bible engagement in January 2011, YouVersion users have proven what we’ve known all along: you guys rock! You’ve gone above and beyond in responding to each of the ways you could help, and it is working as we see momentum building toward January.

11 million devices. Last week we passed another significant milestone: the Bible App has been installed on more than 11 million mobile devices! When you let others know about the Bible App, you’re introducing them to something that can help them hear from God no matter where they are.

Please keep voting for us at Mashable. We just got word about some more exciting news: your votes in the 4th Annual Mashable Awards propelled us into the final round! We are one of five finalists in our category: Best Mobile User Experience. Now the fun really starts 🙂 We’re facing some stiff competition and the next round of voting lasts just two weeks, so we have until December 15 to stack up the votes. It would be awesome to see God’s Word take home the trophy at one of the top awards events in the tech community. We’d love for you to join us in voting daily!

Christmas Reading Plan starts today. Finally, we’ve got lots of things rolling out to make your Bible reading experience better and better. One we’re particularly excited about today is the launch of a Christmas Reading Plan. It’s a 25-day plan that will help you stay focused on what’s important this season. You can read through it on your own or share it with your family or small group.

We’re so thankful to share this season with you. The YouVersion community is the tops, and we appreciate your partnership in helping more and more people become captivated by God’s Word.

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Your Stories: How can YouVersion help your youth?

Here at YouVersion, we talk all the time about how much we love the Bible. You know what else we love? Hearing your stories about how much you love the Bible, and about what it’s meant in your lives. Today we’re going to hear from a Youth Pastor who wants to help his students connect with the Bible. He even installed more Wi-Fi hotspots around his church to make sure students there can always access it!

Our favorite quote: “Having it all accessible in one place, it’s like we’ve brought the Bible to them.”
Have a YouVersion story of your own? We’d love to hear it at Facebook.com/youversion