Comment by Minor49er | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Minor49er | Hacker News Reader

I just gave this a quick try. I really like how easy the interface is to use and navigate. Parts like the bottom panel can be turned off if they get in the way.

One big thing that I noticed that would keep me from switching from my current Bible app, KJV Bible Lite, is that there's no offline mode. I can't load any chapters without a connection. I like that there are several translations available, but generally, the text isn't so big that it couldn't simply be stored locally.

Also, while I really like the idea of videos being available, there are tons of textual commentaries available for each book and chapter of the Bible. I have a few physical copies from various authors and publishers that I like to reference while studying. I'm not sure how viable it would be to include in an app like this due to various factors (eg: I'm not sure if a lot of the known commentaries in print are available online, especially for free from their publishers), but it would be an excellent addition. Especially too, I'm already reading the Bible. I think that switching to watching a video could take me out of the flow of reading once the video was over.

I'm going to keep using this and see if it can give me a better experience than KJV Bible Lite

Thanks for the great feedback! I do really like the idea of offline mode and integrating text-based commentary (there's definitely some great stuff out there). The main hurdle at this point is the licensing fees associated with both these items.

I think the way YouVersion got around it was having the public domain versions downloadable (so KJV and ASV I think). Maybe that would be enough for now?

Beware YouVersion. https://www.cnet.com/news/why-so-many-android-christian-apps...

It looks like they've fixed those issues. I just checked on my phone and I haven't given their app any permissions.

You might look at how And Bible does it - https://github.com/andbible/and-bible/wiki/FAQ#please-add-mo...

There are roughly 1,900 years of freely-usable commentaries, going by the rule of thumb that anything published in the US before 1923 is in the public domain. (The translations would have had to have been done before that year as well, I guess.) This could be an accessible way to get into e.g. St. Augustine's commentaries.

If you want modern commentaries, you often have to pay. For example, check out Logos.

But there are Bible apps that include a number of public domain commentaries.

I'm definitely not a fan of the idea of the distraction of video within a Bible app, so I think I'll pass on checking out the app, personally.

Are there any Bible apps that you would recommend? When I was last looking, I was wading through loads of apps that were little more than the scripture text, but overloaded with ads

I love this one called Literal Word: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/literal-word/id1439010388

Not sure if they have an a Android version.

Only one translation: NASB.

But fast, clean, with the ability to look up the Lexicon definitions of the original words.

If you give me more of an idea of what you’re looking for I might have other suggestions.

There is an android version as well. It's fast, easy to read, works offline, and makes it simple to leave notes or highlights. I'm not personally used to the NASB translation, but the app is quite nice.

I started writing out the features that I'd like to have in an ideal Bible app, such as multiple translations, commentaries, etc. But I remembered that I used sites like Bible Hub and Bible Gateway regularly. It didn't occur to me until now that they might have apps, and sure enough, they do! Bible Gateway offers an offline mode, but you have to create an account first in order to download specific versions of the text. Bible Hub is little more than a wrapper of the website, even advertising the app within the app.

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