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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Useful 'Christian' apps
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Chapelhead
I am
# 21
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Posted
There now seem to be about a gazillion apps in the Apple app store, and almost as many in the Android app store, but finding anything useful is a hopeless task as the 'search' function is of the 'chocolate teapot' variety. So what 'Christian' apps are there that are genuinely useful?
There seem to be any number of copies of the Bible available and the mega-churches seem pretty good at putting out their own apps (mainly sermons, contact details and appeals for money). But what is there that folk would recommend as worthwhile additions to one's mobile device?
One of the few I have on my iPhone is myCofE, which I think ought to be useful, but mainly seems to be 'local' news from places that aren't local to me, so not much to get excited about.
What gives, app-wise?
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At times like this I find myself thinking, what would the Amish do?
Posts: 9123 | From: Near where I was before. | Registered: Aug 2001
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BroJames
Shipmate
# 9636
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Posted
There's a free Daily Prayer app by James Porter for CW and BCP. It's OK, but I didn't specially like the look and feel of it, and it doesn't give access to the 'alternatives' which I often use. So I ended up just going to the relevant pages for MP, EP etc. and using the Safari "Add to home screen" feature on the iPhone.
The Bible apps are often free but you pay for your texts. Because I am already committed to Accordance on my computer it made sense to go with that. Previously I used Olive Tree's bible software on my Palm PDA. It was very good. It was a hard choice about which way to switch, but in the end Accordance's greater maturity on the main computer swung it for me. It has proved a good decision for me as many of the texts I had already invested in were simply upgradeable to the new version. I find the Accordance people very good to deal with. Bible Gateway and You Version have apps too. I think it's probably worth having at least one app that accesses online Bibles, but I need to be able to access Bibles when I'm offline too.
I have the myCofE app too. Your assessment is on the mark. It needs greater buy-in by the dioceses if it's going to be of interest to me - and maybe not even then.
I use Bible reading notes from BRF, and now have these as an app which works well for me. The price is similar to buying the books. There are occasional glitches, but it is well-supported, so they're usually sorted out fairly quickly.
On a somewhat different note, I have a free candle app, in case I want to 'light a candle' something - but it doesn't work alongside Morning Prayer for example as you have to choose whether to have the text or the candle on the screen!
Posts: 3374 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2005
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BroJames
Shipmate
# 9636
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Posted
Thurible, I can't access the link - probably due to firewall issues which I can't resolve without travelling. Any chance you might post the names?
Posts: 3374 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2005
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Angloid
Shipmate
# 159
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by BroJames:
There's a free Daily Prayer app by James Porter for CW and BCP. It's OK, but I didn't specially like the look and feel of it, and it doesn't give access to the 'alternatives' which I often use. So I ended up just going to the relevant pages for MP, EP etc. and using the Safari "Add to home screen" feature on the iPhone.
The My CofE app includes this too. Not sure if it's the same version/layout.
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Brian: You're all individuals!
Crowd: We're all individuals!
Lone voice: I'm not!
Posts: 12927 | From: The Pool of Life | Registered: May 2001
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BroJames
Shipmate
# 9636
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Posted
The myCofE Daily Prayer pages are very like what you get with Safari on the iPhone. The print is a bit smaller, I think, because of the navigation bar at the bottom and the banner at the top.
Also it is only date sensitive and not time zone sensitive, so I think its reading my date but UK time. So although where I am ATM it's mid-morning (small hours of the morning in the UK), all it's offering me is Night Prayer for 12th October, when what I want is Morning Prayer. (Actually this seems odd to me. If you get to 3 am in the UK, is Night Prayer really the appropriate service? I don't know.) This also means I can't tell ATM whether in MP, for example, it will offer the option to use one of the Thanksgivings instead of the opening Canticle.
Now I am looking at it, I see that there is a link to my Diocese's website - there wasn't last time I looked (a long time ago). Unfortunately my diocesan website doesn't have a mobile version and the app doesn't seem to support rotating the screen.
As it has links to the CMS website as well as all the English dioceses, I wonder why USPG (now renamed "Us"!) is absent, and the ABC's website.
Having said all this, I expect the developer will respond to feedback, so I'm going to pass this information on.
Posts: 3374 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2005
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
iBreviary is pretty good, including not just the LotH for the day, but the Ordinary of the Mass, the Mass propers of the day, various traditional prayers and quite a few of the rites, including everything you'd need for a sick call.
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Thurible
Shipmate
# 3206
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Posted
BroJames, it's the google cache of the electronic Aids for the office thread in oblivion. If i have chance to trawl through said quagmire over the weekend, i will.
Thurible
(Apologies for crap typing - new phone's keyboard isn't designed for the fat of thumb.)
[deleted duplicate posts]
[ 13. October 2013, 15:46: Message edited by: seasick ]
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"I've been baptised not lobotomised."
Posts: 8049 | Registered: Aug 2002
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Vulpior
Foxier than Thou
# 12744
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Posted
One recommendation, and a bit of commentary on how I use my tablet in church.
Olive Tree Bible and Maps app is on both my phone and iPad. It comes with some public domain texts, and you can buy more in-app. You can have it set to parole scroll through two texts, whether two versions or one bible and one commentary.
I use my iPad at church in preference to the mass booklet and pewsheet. This means having two apps that can display PDF files, as I haven't found it easy to switch back and forth in the same app. So I pull the pewsheet off the parish website and open it in iBooks, and have the order of service in Evernote; the parish office emails me when I ask for the new season's version.
There isn't an electronic version of our hymn book, so I take my own, pre-bookmarked for the day. I do pull up the bible during the sermon from time to time, especially to give context to OT histories or gospel passages.
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I've started blogging. I don't promise you'll find anything to interest you at uncleconrad
Posts: 946 | From: Mount Fairy, NSW | Registered: Jun 2007
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Wilfried
Shipmate
# 12277
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Chapelhead:
TEC appears to be at least trying to do something a little different, but this App doesn't seem to be available in the App store (even switching to the US store). Has it been removed, or am I doing something wrong?
It looks to me like the app is dead. They published one issue on the iPad, and then the whole thing disappeared. The content seems to have migrated here:
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/wayfarer/
So they put a lot of effort into an interesting project, but do nothing to publicize it or keep it going, and it dies on the vine. Sigh. Why is this the way of so many projects?
On a different note, while this isn't an app, this website offers American BCP79 Daily Offices with a plethora of options, and it's very mobile browser friendly. The only drawback is you can't use it offline.
http://www.haligweorc.org/breviary/
Posts: 429 | From: Lefty on the Right Coast | Registered: Jan 2007
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scribbler
Shipmate
# 12268
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Posted
There are quite a few options for the Daily Office in addition to what has already been mentioned. I have an iPhone and like to have them available for liturgy on a moment's notice!
• iPray has a nice interface and offers 1662 BCP offices, with midday and compline prayers from the Canadian BCP. I believe it's free, and is a good resource for traditional offices.
• I just downloaded the free "Common Prayer" app, which is a convenient, free little browser for the online daily prayer resources. I think I'm going to like using the Common Worship material.
• Mission St. Claire has its own free app for their version of the 1979 BCP offices.
• The PCUSA offers a Daily Prayer app at a modest price, with has a nice interface for quick offices that seem to be based on the 1979 BCP.
• The Episcopal Church as its own Electronic Common Prayer app, but I find it a little clunky and probably not worth the (high by app standards) price if you are just going to be using the offices. Perhaps on-the-go clergy would have more use for it.
• I don't believe anyone has mentioned the Universalis app, which is not cheap, but includes everything you need for the RC Liturgy of the Hours (no internet connection required after installation).
Posts: 309 | From: U.S.A. | Registered: Jan 2007
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Nick Tamen
Ship's Wayfaring Fool
# 15164
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by scribbler:
• The PCUSA offers a Daily Prayer app at a modest price, with has a nice interface for quick offices that seem to be based on the 1979 BCP.
It is based on Daily Prayer as found in the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship (1993). The BCW is, of course, influenced by the BCP and other sources.
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The first thing God says to Moses is, "Take off your shoes." We are on holy ground. Hard to believe, but the truest thing I know. — Anne Lamott
Posts: 2833 | From: On heaven-crammed earth | Registered: Sep 2009
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Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322
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Posted
If you are in England, and have an electronic diary, you can download the CW and BCP lectionaries and collects for this year, and as of the last few days, next year, here. You follow the links to the year you want and then follow the instructions.
It may well be that you can access this elsewhere, but you will have the CofE calendar, not your own.
You can also download any bits of Common Worship you want in pdf from here , and pray with the church here . I think the latter is the link most of the Apps link to.
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Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson
Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008
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american piskie
Shipmate
# 593
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Posted
But lately come to the new technology it seems to me that Dr Cranmer[1] must be rotating in his grave.
There are nice simple Apps to let one pray the (Roman) Office (as long as one has the Our Father by heart one can start at the beginning and read to the end), but as far as I can see everything offered by the C of E overwhelms one with choice and rubrical comment. And for some reason the Android apps have been suppressed.
Poor show, I reckon; definitely a missed chance.
[1] Moreover, the number and hardness of the Rules called the Pie, and the manifold changings of the Service, was the cause, that to turn the Book only was so hard and intricate a matter, that many times there was more business to find out what should be read, than to read it when it was found out.
Posts: 356 | From: Oxford, England, UK | Registered: Jun 2001
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Nick Tamen
Ship's Wayfaring Fool
# 15164
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by american piskie:
There are nice simple Apps to let one pray the (Roman) Office (as long as one has the Our Father by heart one can start at the beginning and read to the end), but as far as I can see everything offered by the C of E overwhelms one with choice and rubrical comment. And for some reason the Android apps have been suppressed.
That's one reason I like the PC(USA) Daily Prayer app mentioned above. There are no choices* or things to look up—just open the app, pick the correct time of day if necessary (it should open to the correct time of day) and start reading. All the psalms, readings and the like are there.
* One can go into settings and choose to omit any portion of the office from what is shown, or choose ELLC or "Tudor" language, but those are one-time or as-desired choices, not choices that have to be made each time one prays.
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The first thing God says to Moses is, "Take off your shoes." We are on holy ground. Hard to believe, but the truest thing I know. — Anne Lamott
Posts: 2833 | From: On heaven-crammed earth | Registered: Sep 2009
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Thurible
Shipmate
# 3206
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by scribbler:
• iPray has a nice interface and offers 1662 BCP offices, with midday and compline prayers from the Canadian BCP. I believe it's free, and is a good resource for traditional offices.
As a matter of course, I use the Daily Service Book (BCP+1922 lectionary) and downloaded iPray for Android to save taking my book on the bus. It’s not the 1662 BCP – the Venite is wrong; the second collect at Evensong is wrong; some of the Psalms are wrong. It might be the 1928 US BCP, I’m not sure but it ain’t the 1662.
It also lays out the readings in a really irritating way (verse by verse, a la the Psalms, rather than as readings) and I can’t work out a way to make the font bigger.
I’ve returned to my book.
Thurible
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"I've been baptised not lobotomised."
Posts: 8049 | Registered: Aug 2002
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Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
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Posted
Four Devon churches are trialling an audio tour app. Information here.
As a church steward, I will be interested to see how many people I observe using this app in the coming season.
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Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
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scribbler
Shipmate
# 12268
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Thurible:
I can’t work out a way to make the font bigger.
On the iPhone version at least, all you do to change text size is tap "Settings" in the lower right-hand corner and then drag the slider to the right to increase the font.
As a person who is both used to the 1928 BCP and not terribly picky about offices as long they flow well, I can't speak to the specific changes from the 1662 you mentioned. It certainly seems based on it overall, which is what the developers claim.
[ 07. November 2013, 18:24: Message edited by: scribbler ]
Posts: 309 | From: U.S.A. | Registered: Jan 2007
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Wilfried
Shipmate
# 12277
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Posted
What's the best way to get an American BCP79 onto an iPad? For now, I'd like it mostly for reference purposes, rather than Daily Office reading, though a nice Daily Office app would be nice too.
Posts: 429 | From: Lefty on the Right Coast | Registered: Jan 2007
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pererin
Shipmate
# 16956
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Wilfried:
What's the best way to get an American BCP79 onto an iPad? For now, I'd like it mostly for reference purposes, rather than Daily Office reading, though a nice Daily Office app would be nice too.
Do PDF files work on fruit?
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"They go to and fro in the evening, they grin like a dog, and run about through the city." (Psalm 59.6)
Posts: 446 | From: Llantrisant | Registered: Feb 2012
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IngoB
Sentire cum Ecclesia
# 8700
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Posted
On my iPhone I have (in no particular order):
- missio (free), for official "pope news";
- Confession (£1.49), basically an examination of conscience note-taker that stores your sin count safely;
- Olive Tree (free, but with paid downloads), a good bible reading app;
- Verbum (free, but with paid downloads), the same as Olive Tree but associated with Logos software;
- Breviarium Meum (£0.69), bilingual traditional (1962) RC breviary;
- iBreviary (free), current RC missal & Liturgy of the Hours;
- iPieta (£1.99), Douay-Rheims/Vulgate, modern/trad calendar, lots of prayers, and tons of classical literature like the Summa Theologica, City of God, etc., also audio psalms & NT + prayers;
- Laudate (free), another Liturgy of the Hours, prayers, rosary, etc;
- Evangelizo (free), daily mass readings (and some prayers) in many languages including English, I use it for the German;
- Stundenbuch (free), LotH in German;
- Katholische Kirchen und Gottesdienste in Deutschland (free), mass time finder for Germany (looking for an UK equivalent).
I do not have, but am thinking of getting:
- iChant (£2.99), pitch finder for Gregorian chant;
- Liber Pro (£10.49), all 2300 pages of the Liber Usualis scanned for chanting.
Any other recommendations are most welcome.
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They’ll have me whipp’d for speaking true; thou’lt have me whipp’d for lying; and sometimes I am whipp’d for holding my peace. - The Fool in King Lear
Posts: 12010 | From: Gone fishing | Registered: Oct 2004
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Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by IngoB:
On my iPhone I have (in no particular order):
[list]
...
[*]Confession (£1.49), basically an examination of conscience note-taker that stores your sin count safely; ...
Sounds a bit like this.
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Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson
Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008
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IngoB
Sentire cum Ecclesia
# 8700
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Enoch:
Sounds a bit like this.
No, it doesn't. It sounds a bit like this. Though frankly, I mostly bought it because it is the only app with a Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur. A sort of Catholic geek curiosity buy...
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They’ll have me whipp’d for speaking true; thou’lt have me whipp’d for lying; and sometimes I am whipp’d for holding my peace. - The Fool in King Lear
Posts: 12010 | From: Gone fishing | Registered: Oct 2004
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Panda
Shipmate
# 2951
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Posted
I recently found the whole NRSV bible with apocrypha, free, for Android. No internet connection needed once you download.
Posts: 1637 | From: North Wales | Registered: Jun 2002
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