YouVersion

Over the past few months YouVersion has been growing at an explosive rate, and for that we thank you! Many of you might not realize, but in the last 30 days we have added over 1/2 million new mobile users to the iPhone, Blackberry and Android Bible application and that continues to grow. In addition to those new users, we are seeing significant growth in mobile web usage as well as traditional web usage of YouVersion.com. We are excited to see so many millions of people interacting regularly with Scripture.

However, with the great news of new users…and people being able to engage in Scripture, the reality is we have had a few rough days this month, specifically on Sundays. As we see huge amounts of people using the Bible Application our core server infrastructure has not been able to handle the peak load. What we want you as our users and partners to know is we are very sorry for this issue. We are highly committed to addressing these current problems, and building a solution that will have the capacity to handle millions and millions of new Bible users each month. We have already made some major changes and improvements this afternoon, as well as initiated a plan to triple our server infrastructure.

As challenging as these past few days have been…we are excited and encouraged about the future. The idea of reaching hundreds of millions if not billions of people with the power of God’s Word is unfolding as a reality! We thank you for partnering with us and ask for your continued prayers and support as we continue this exciting journey.

We’ve been looking forward to this announcement for some time and I’m glad to be able to finally tell you about a new addition to the growing list of offline-available Bible translations for the iPhone and iPod Touch Bible app. Thanks to Tyndale House Publishers, the New Living Translation is now available to download so you can enjoy it anytime and anywhere, whether you have a network connection or not.

We’re highlighting this addition specially because you’ll have a limited amount of time to take advantage of it. The NLT will be available for download for 90 days and will remain there forever (unless you delete the Bible app from your device, heaven forbid). Again, we want to thank Tyndale House Foundation for their generosity in making the NLT available offline for this time.

To download the NLT, or other offline translations, open the Bible app on your iPhone or iPod Touch (make sure you have a network connection) and tap the “More” option in the dock at the bottom. From there, go to Settings, then Offline Translations. Scroll down about half way and select New Living Translation from the list of options. Then tap Download Translation and the app will begin downloading the offline translation for you.

The download may take a few seconds or minutes depending on the speed of your connection, but once it’s finished the NLT will show at the top of the Offline Translations list. When you’re reading the Bible, to switch to an offline translation, just open the translation selector (near the top of the reader) and look for the translation that has the little icon to the left of it.

Thank you for using the YouVersion Bible app. More than 3.3 million people have installed YouVersion on their mobile device. Know anyone who could us a free Bible on their phone? Send them to http://youversion.com/download.

Just in time for the new year, we’ve launched more than 20 new Bible reading plans on YouVersion!

• 20+ plans are available online and on your mobile device, so you can keep up with your reading no matter where you are.
• You can customize each plan to match your schedule by making it shorter or longer.
• Easily track where you are by checking off each day’s reading. We’ll also show you how far along you are with a percentage of completion.
• Your online and mobile accounts will synchronize your information, including your plan and your progress.
• Soon, you’ll be able to build a support system by opting in for accountability emails to you and/or a friend.

Following a reading plan helps you stay on track with your Bible reading goals. Choose one (or several) and each day a special selection will be ready and waiting for you.

Pick the plan that’s the best fit for you:

http://www.youversion.com/about/reading-plans

See what God reveals to you when you spend time in Scripture each day!

The YouVersion Team

Read more at Swerve

Today we are excited to announce version 2.1 of the BlackBerry Bible app. We have been working hard on this update, and are happy to put this in your hands just in time for Christmas! So if you are a Blackberry user think of this as our special gift to you!

So, without further ado let me walk you through some of the new features and user experience.

As you might notice here, there is a slight change…what once was Daily Reading, you now see Reading Plan. We now have dozens of reading plans at your finger tips, and many are much more than just daily plans. Read more about all our reading plans here http://www.youversion.com/about/reading-plans

Here you see a view of the reading plans. In this you you will notice “My Reading Plans” as well as Available Reading Plans. So yes, you guessed it…you can now login to YouVersion via your Blackberry device. The login will keep your reading in sync with the desktop web version…and any other mobile device you might use.

This view shows today’s reading for the Life Journal Reading Plan. You will notice there are 3 readings for today and the ability to email them, Tweet them, as well as see the plan details.

Ok, check this out…here you are seeing our new custom daily reading scripture reader. At the bottom of the reader notice “Today” and specifically the 1 of 3. We tried to make it as easy as possible for you while reading your plan. In this view you simply see you are reading today’s plan and you are on Reading 1 of 3.

Above, I broke the news that you can now login to YouVersion via your Blackberry Bible App. //Applause goes here// You now have the ability to manage your YouVersion login as well as your Twitter login in your settings screen. Yep, it is that simple.

Finally, it’s time to take what you have learned here and Share it with the world. On your Share screen you can now Tweet about the YouVersion Bible App being amazing…and yes it is Free as well. So go ahead, take out your Blackberry and tell the world how much you love it!

Download now…here is how. Take out your Blackberry, and go to http://bit.ly/bb-bible. This will take you to Blackberry App World, our preferred method of installing. If App World is not available in your country, you can also download it via http://youversion.com/download from your Blackberry, Android, or iPhone mobile device.