Recently my dreams for the possibilities of reading the Bible on my favorite new toy became a reality.
From the moment Steve Jobs introduced the magical device, I had hoped the iPad would replace many of my most used possessions. Despite some incredible apps on the app store, it wasn’t until recently that I finally made the leap in using the iPad as my main source of Bible reading.
Recently I downloaded an ESV study bible as an ePub file. Once I got the study bible onto the iPad and iPhone, I was blown away about how it would change the way that I read and study the Bible.
The universal nature of the iBooks is a great benefit to the reading experience on the iPhone and the iPad. Obviously the iPad is a much better reading device when comparing to the small screen on the phone, but having an iPhone with me at all times allows for much greater mobility.
iBooks lets me always have access to the same notes, bookmarks, and current page no matter what device I’m using. So there won’t be any situations where a brilliant note that I made while on the toilet is on one device while I’m stuck trying to remember what it was that I wrote down while working on my message the next day in the office.
There are obviously great Bible applications available, some free and some paid, already on the app store. I have been a long time user of the Bible App by LifeChurch.tv but the benefits of Apple’s stunning book reading app far outweighed any Bible apps I have used so far.
Simply put iBooks offers a better user experience than other apps and has nearly matched, if not offered more than, what I could do with my hard copy of the Bible.
Adam Shields says
What else can you use ibooks on?
Personally, my iPad is my preferred bible reading device. My bible is the only thing that I think is best to read on the ipad. I prefer my kindle for books. But bible on kindle has never been all that good.
I like OliveTree on iPad. It does not sync notes with anything. But I really don’t make a lot of notes for my regular reading.
RJ Grunewald says
What do you mean “What else can you use ibooks on?”
If you mean devices, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. But I get the feeling that you’re asking something else. If not, that answers your question.
OliveTree looks like a decent app; I’m a sucker for great design though. If an app has a superior design, regardless of the amount of features I’ll prefer it.
Adam Shields says
Sorry. I re-read, and realized that ibooks now works on iphone. I did not realize that. So you can sync between your phone and the ipad. There is some value to that if you have an iphone and an ipad.
I have tried Logos, OliveTree and YouVersion on iPad. I like OliveTree best for iPad. I like YouVersion best for BlackBerry.
Jared says
dude! great thinking! I just figured out how to make ePub files in inDesign.. never thought to look to see what people have out there.
Awesome article RJ! thanks for sharing says
thanks again. Tyler has a Bible App on his IPod but now that he has a blackberry, I am going to suggest he add the free app: LifeChurch.tv. thanks RJ
Matthew Snider says
I am still waiting for the next big software, while Youversion works well, it needs the net to use it. WAVE Bible Study is coming shortly as I am testing the beta now, BUT still looking for the next big thing. NIV would be nice for the translation.
RJ Grunewald says
there’s definitely a ton of potential and a huge market in this area. NIV would be nice, but it’s ridiculously expensive for people to license and use natively on the devices (without Wifi) so I’m betting what the potential of what could be done is greatly limited.
Matthew Snider says
There are NIV apps out there for 5.99 so that isn’t bad just the software itself isn’t as polished as others. I would love to find a great blend of all. Looking into some now via ibooks as the ibooks functionality is slick.
Chris says
Chris here from Subsplash. Thanks for using the ESV study Bible App! We have been thrilled to work on this project with Crossway and are really happy with all the new features in this app and the capability to download it as an ePub file. Check out the audio reading feature in the app!
dewde says
Awesome! Thanks for stopping by Chris!
peace | dewde
Mathew says
I miss the highlighting part of it. Couldn’t find ESV on iBooks either. Could u share from where u downloaded an ESV study bible as an ePub file?
Eric Dye says
http://www.crossway.org/blog/2009/06/esv-study-bible-now-available-in-epub-format/
Mathew says
Thanks Eric.
Eric Dye says
You’re very welcome!
🙂