Keep Bible translations and study material together, with plans and personal notes.
Make a short inventory of what you want to consult together: Bible translations, commentaries, reading plans and devotional writing. Use it to distinguish the collection itself from the tools used to read and organise it.
The selections illustrate different approaches to a study collection. Logos supplies an account-based starting library; AndBible combines texts and study tools on Android. Parallel Plus concentrates on a catalogue of versions, whereas Life Bible includes study Bibles and devotional material.
Bible study library apps compared
1. Logos Bible
The starting collection in Logos Bible requires an account and contains more than 40 Bibles and books. Faithlife lists commentaries and theological writing among that material. You can also personalise a reading plan and share it.
Logos also provides two search and question tools. Study Assistant draws its answers from books in your Logos library, while Smart Search accepts a verse, a topic or a question. Use is limited unless you subscribe, and paid plans expand those allowances and add books; both platforms list in-app purchases, and Google Play also declares adverts.
Advantages:
- A starter collection of books after sign-up.
- Reading plans with customisation and sharing.
- Search accepts verses, topics and questions.
2. AndBible: Bible Study
Sykerö Software’s AndBible: Bible Study works offline, with no version for iPhone. Its listed reading material includes KJV, NASB and NET translations, together with commentaries by Matthew Henry and John Gill. The project is non-profit and open source.
For a session with several resources, a split display can hold a translation and a commentary. Workspace settings let you keep separate study arrangements. Study Pads provide a place to record notes and passage references while listening to a sermon. Reading plans have goals and progress tracking. Its Play listing declares no adverts and no paid items.
Advantages:
- Commentaries by Matthew Henry and John Gill.
- Separate settings for study workspaces.
- Study Pads for sermon notes and passage references.
3. Parallel Plus Bible-study app
Parallel Plus, published by The Bible Works, is organised around a collection of Bible versions displayed in columns. The Android listing describes eight preloaded English translations and access to more than 170 versions in over 60 languages.
The App Store description lists 200-plus versions and up to eight columns. On Android, the listed column counts vary by phone or tablet and by portrait or landscape view, and offline use is supported. Neither listing reports in-app purchases.
Advantages:
- Several versions in parallel columns.
- Eight preloaded English versions on Android.
- Up to eight columns in the iOS description.
4. Life Bible
Life Bible, formerly called Tecarta Bible, streams popular translations such as the NLT, NIV, ESV and KJV and lets you download them for offline use. Its search looks through more than 40 translations at once, and Explain and Compare show notes on a verse or the same verse in other versions.
On Android, study Bibles can be tried. Other listed resources include commentaries, TouchPoints topics, an audio Bible, devotionals and reading plans. Paid extras are offered on iPhone and Android alike, and the Android version also displays advertising.
Advantages:
- Search across many translations together.
- Study Bibles to try on Android.
- Audio Bible and reading plans.
Setting up your library
Plans, notes and versions are separate requirements: choose the collection whose listed tools cover yours, and account for the purchases declared by Logos and Life Bible. To add a taught course to your reading, BIBLE COURSE presents free online learning offered by universities and other academic bodies. For another format, BIBLE APP discusses routine reading apps, GOSPEL MUSIC covers gospel apps with offline listening and BIBLE GAMES introduces trivia, story-based play and activities for remembering verses.
Graduated in Portuguese/English Literature from the State University of Ponta Grossa (UEPG), with postgraduate degrees in Art in Education (FAPI) and School Psychopedagogy (FAPI), creator and owner of the website. Successful Writer, has experience writing for blogs in general and works as a writer and editor of the content for Great app.