Saddleback has recently launched their public iPhone App into the wild! It looks pretty sweet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvLNVy-u-Nc
You can check it out directly here on the App Store.
Here some more of their official blurb:
This is the Official Saddleback Church iPhone/iPod touch Application. When you download this FREE app, you’re only a tap away from Pastor Rick Warren’s weekend messages, delivered straight from the pulpit.
You’ll also have access to the live video stream from the services so you can experience Saddleback Church live each weekend. You also get access to the Media Center, where you can view or hear from the pulse of Saddleback Church.
There is also the Connections section that shares our teaching for kids, college-age, men’s and women’s ministries.
The Growth section has a plethora of offerings from past Civil Forums, to the popular Daily DriveTime Devotionals, to Bible Q&A, and more!
Looking mighty fine.
John Saddington
I am the CEO of 8BIT and a Full Time Entrepreneur/a>. I like what I do.
pretty cool, we just released ours at Prestonwood in Plano from the same company. They subsplash has mad an incredible app for churches to use as a resource. I hope a lot of churches will catch on to this!
Saw that, awesome!
Three thoughts:
1. Subsplash Consulting, the company that built this app for Saddleback (also built the Mars Hill Church app) is the real deal.
2. Take this with a grain of salt since it’s me talking here, but I think that if something can be done as a web app rather than a native iPhone app, I’d prefer a web app. And this is definitely the type of app that could have been a web app, which means it would be on every type of phone (not just iPhone) and not require the expense of hiring an Objective-C dev company and hassle of dealing with Apple for approval on every iteration henceforth.
3. Does a church need a dedicated media app that only works on one mobile platform (albeit the most popular one)?
~ Bonus: If a church DID need a dedicated mobile media app, this one ROCKS! Seriously, it’s gorgeous.
1. yes. they are the real deal. great stuff all-the-way-around.
2. agreed. iPhone is nice but it’s still one device. web-app might be the better gen.
3. no.
Further clarification: By gorgeous, I mean it works well and matches Saddleback’s brand. Visually, it’s not anything to write home about. It uses traditional iPhone UI and an even more standard layout (app store-esque).
Scott, I couldn’t agree more on all three.
A buddy of mine asked me if it’d be worth having a similar app developed for his web property. I told him that all he was really paying for was a place in the app store and that an app like this (he was looking at one of these budget type solutions…starts with “app” ends with “makr”) offered nothing a well designed web app could not. But, for $50 is it worth having a presence in the app store? Sure.
However, it does bother me that these apps add to the clutter found in the app store. I lump them in the same category as the thousands of regurgitated public domain texts wrapped in a variety of cut-and-paste e-reader apps.
so cool to see churches getting out there and making it easy for people to keep engaged with the messages.