Comparison of Free Bible Apps for iPhone and Ipod Touch

I downloaded some free Bible Apps for my iPod Touch. Most of them share the same set of features like highlighting verses, bookmarking verses, adding your own notes, performing searches, and viewing reading history. Here is the list of apps (ordered) installed with their corresponding links to iTunes for you to see the screenshots of the programs. But among the freely available apps, I like the ESV Bible most, followed by Bible by Youversion, BibleReader by Olive Tree, and Holy Bible by Paul Avery.

1. ESV Bible


2. Bible by YouVersion.com


3. Holy Bible by Paul Avery


4. BibleReader


5. Blue Letter Bible


6. CCEL Devotional Bible


7. Mantis Study Bible


8. The Holy Bible - King James Version


9. Bible.is


10. Bible+1


11. Logos Bible Software

I'll try to do a comparison on apps that does not require Internet access. Some of them are useful when there is an Internet connection. Bible.is is an online audio Bible, although the text in English Standard Version (ESV) can be read without Internet access, audio needs to be streamed from the Internet, as well as using the reading plans and search feature. Logos and Bible+1 only allow user to download books for offline access when you have purchased one of their base programs for desktop, so search and other features are limited when used without Internet connection. Some like BibleReader and Mantis Study Bible allows you to read specific translations, and there is a fee to read other translations like the ESV translation.

Most of my favorite Bible apps support searching, bookmarking, highlighting of verses, and viewing history. I prefer to read the ESV translation, and only a few free apps offer to support offline reading of this translation for free. ESV Bible offers a clean user interface, usability, and simplicity which should be good for most people. YouVersion's Bible supports syncing of notes to it's web version and you get to choose which translation (including ESV) you want to use. There's also a reading plan included although I still prefer ESV Bible's font and text styles. Paul Avery's Bible adds another feature where the text will scroll or move down. BibleReader also has those features, and even allows creating a split view for viewing parallel translations. It has a lot of customization options, and the notes can even be synced to Evernote. For the meantime I'm using ESV Bible App for my personal reading, but I may eventually switch to YouVersion's just to gain access to the sync feature. I like its web version too.