We’ve been notified by Apple that PocketBible has been approved for sale in the App Store. It was fun hearing that it was available in different countries as each local App Store enabled it for their users around the world.
Now that it’s approved I can tell you what the original problem was. It seems the testers at Apple chose not to register the app and download the 39 free books that are included. As a result, when they went to the “Open Book” dialog to open a new book, they saw that only the “Bibles” and “Other Books” categories were active (the former contains the KJV and the latter the help files). They assumed that meant that PocketBible was a “lite” version that did not include the ability to view commentaries, dictionaries, and devotionals, because those categories were grayed out. If true, that would be a violation of the rules of the App Store. We explained that those categories were grayed out because they hadn’t downloaded any commentaries, dictionaries, or devotionals. That must’ve been sufficient because they later approved the app.
If you can give us some positive reviews at the App Store that would be great. If you can’t think of anything nice to say, send your negative comments to me by email so I can fix the program to your satisfaction.
It’s getting hard to pick out our answers to your questions in the comments below. It might be best to send them to Tech Support. Select the Help Desk link on our site.
kudos on a well designed and implemented app for the iPhone.
1. ease of switching btwn books is what sets this apart from other iphone bible apps, i do kinda miss the split-pane display for viewing two books at the same time
2. having two diff “Go To” methods is great
3. pocketbible has more configurable options than other iphone bible apps I’ve used, the full screen options are great
4. bookmarking and highlighting very well done
5. what? HOT PINK as one of the highlight colors?? =)
Just downloaded in SINGAPORE. The reader runs very fast and spiffy…and most of all – thank you for making it FREE!
Praying for the team!
Paul: The best way in my opinion to view the maps is to turn on “Shrink to Fit” then turn the device sideways for maximum width. It takes some getting used to when you have to swipe right to left to go DOWN on the map, but it can be done.
This will be fixed in a future release. The program is usable as is but definitely needs some improvement in this area. As we’ve said before our goal was to get this out as soon as it was usable, then to issue frequent updates until everything was done.
Having switched to the iPhone from a Windows Mobile 5 device about 6 months ago, and totally missing my PocketBible and several books and translations that I had purchased, I can’t tell you how absolutely THRILLED I am to see that your team has completed a version for the iPhone. You guys rock! I’ve been checking often to see the status updates as to the Apple approval process and was ecstatic yesterday when I found it available in the app store.
And talk about seamless; downloading all of my previous books was a breeze. Thank you all for your hard work and for giving me, once again, the chance to read my Bible anywhere.
God bless you all!
Love the app!
One question…is there any way to copy text or a verse at this time? If not, what about adding a “Copy Verse” option to the verse menu? Would this be feasible?
Keep up the great work.
Amazing features; especially for a first release.
Jeff
Jeff: Copy will be in a future release.
Love the app! The splash screen that opens up when you first run the app is beautiful on the Iphone. Would love to have stained glass made of that for my front door! Question: When you have several books open in the app, is there a way to close (NOT remove the book out of the Iphone)but close the book so it’s not included in the open book list? I have not been able to find a tap or stroke gesture to be able to close a book. I would want to do this to be able to “toggle” between 2 or 3 books without having additional ones in the stack.
Thank you for the great work you all are doing!!
Downloaded the app from the app store yesterday and am getting used to it (since I already own two other Bible apps on my iPod Touch). Thanks for bringing “myBible” (I’m an old Palm OS user) to the iPhone/iPod Touch. I look forward to using PocketBible on my new platform and FERVENTLY HOPE that at some point, you’ll port Laridian’s Memorize over to the Apple platform as well. I really miss Memorize.
Thanks again,
Keith
Still not able to download from my account. Sometimes get null screen other times can get to items to download but always times out. Very frustrating! Please advise. Have latest version of ITOuch software.
Craig, I can finally sleep at night knowing the PocketBible is now installed on my iPhone. Having been a loyal palm customer for 8-10 years I can say that without a doubt Laridian is the best software company I have ever dealt with. Heck it is the finest company period, that I have dealt with. The program is great!! All my previously purchased books downloaded flawlessly and much quicker than I would have thought. The help files are excellent and I love many of the new features that take advantage of the iPhone!! You are all to be congratulated for a great program. I will be surfing over to the store to buy a couple of new bibles to say thanks for all your work. God bless you all. I hope you become famously wealthy (financially and spirtually) for your efforts.
Randy: Contact tech support. In the meantime try a different network connection. If you’re on WiFi try 3G. If that doesn’t work, try a different WiFi network.
Bob: Tap and hold to bring up the context menu. Choose “Close Book”. Then go to Menu > Help and read the Help. Lots of good information there.
Great work! Seamless and quick between Bibles and commentaries/dictionaries, etc. I like the speed and the one click access to commentaries. I’m also very glad to have access to my large collection from my Palm days.
Wish list: History list, copy/paste
Thanks a million and God bless.
Tom
Thanks Craig,
I used another WiFi network and was able to download everything. Having a blast with my new “study bible”.
Randy Shaw
Hallelujah! This is the best bible app available, and it’s even free. I’ve been waiting for this day since I received an Ipod Touch last Christmas after my Palm Lifedrive bit the dust and Palm support went the same direction. MDM NIV Study Bible w/ MyBible 3.0 was my first software purchase 3 years ago and I am so glad to be able to use it again only now easier, better, and faster with much more future potential. Thank You Laridian it was worth the wait!
What about WebOS?
I know the subject here is iPhone, but I can’t seem to find the appropriate place to post this…
Laridian has supported PalmOS for a long time, for years before the iPhone was even thought of. Now Palm has moved on to from PalmOS to WebOS. The first device running WebOS is the Palm Pre, with a new device, the Pixie due out before Christmas 2009.
When Palm came out with the Pre, they included a third-party PalmOS emulator called Classic by Motionapps (http://www.motionapps.com/classic/overview/)
It’s my understanding that Classic is meant to be a transition from PalmOS to WebOS, not a permanent platform. To that point, here is an excerpt from a post made by Classic in a PreCentral forum on July 15, 2009 (http://forums.precentral.net/official-classic/182402-palmos-apps-do-not-work-under-pre-classic-emulator-2.html)
“Classic is this bridge that we are building so users of PalmOS apps can get across from Treo and Centro to Pre. But for some apps, we need them to build a landing on the other side, an on-ramp, a few feet over the water may be to meet us and close the gap so a user can cross over.”
So my question is, what are Laridian’s plans to transition from PalmOS to WebOS? As a long-time Palm user and a long-time Laridian customer, I am very anxious to see Laridian port MyBible to WebOS.
MyBible, DailyReader, Memorize! and CountEm are all Classic Certified. So your quote from Motion Apps concerning apps that don’t work in Classic doesn’t apply to us.
We have not announced any plans one way or the other with respect to WebOS. However, I will add that there’s no such thing as “porting” a Palm OS app to WebOS. The programming language is different, the design model is different, the capabilities of the device and of apps running on the device are different. A “WebOS version” of MyBible would require us to start from a clean slate. Very little of what we have already done would be of much value on the new platform.
Thank-you very much, Craig, for your thoughtful response. I do appreciate how quickly you got those products certified on Classic. My recollection is that they were certified on day 1, or very close to it. That was great.
I also certainly do not have any illusions about porting applications from one OS to another, especially so radically different as Palm OS compared to WebOS.
The way I see Classic is that it is a transition not an end-point, meant to ease the transition for Palm OS users to move to WebOS. So, while it’s great that Palm OS applications can run on devices WebOS, using Classic, I think most users hope that’s not the way it stays. I hope that eventually, all of the functionality that I had under Palm OS will be re-invented under WebOS, so that eventually, I no longer have a need for Classic. I think most Classic users would agree with this viewpoint.
I suspect you may be delighted to find many of your loyal customers from Palm OS who have migrated to WebOS devices will be very pleased to try out and probably invest in a new Web OS bible application. If you check the homebrew applications on Precentral.net, you’ll find that “simple bible,” a simple KJV bible reader is one of the most popular downloads. I personally think there will be much demand for a full-featured bible and reference application similar to PocketBible or MyBible on the Web OS platform. The first one there is most likely to gain the most loyal following.
I for one will be watching and waiting for any future developments.
The question is whether or not a viable market exists for Pre. Sure, people are downloading whatever apps are available at this point. But consider that Palm might hit a million units total by the end of the year, where Apple sold that many iPhone 3Gs devices in the first weekend it was available.
Like I said, we haven’t said we would not develop for the Pre, nor have we said we would.
I love the new Iphone application. I miss being able to add notes to a verse, am I not seeing how to do this or do you plan to offer note in the future?
Thanks again, Craig. To respond to your comment…
“The question is whether or not a viable market exists for Pre. Sure, people are downloading whatever apps are available at this point. But consider that Palm might hit a million units total by the end of the year, where Apple sold that many iPhone 3Gs devices in the first weekend it was available.”
I say…
Fair enough, thanks! Your experience in the handheld marketplace will guide you in when it is too soon to get in, and when it is too late. I would just hate to see someone grab that one before you do.
I will say this, though, your content is superior to any I’ve seen, so even if someone comes up with a great UI for WebOS before you do, you’ll still be able to trump them there.
I do have MyBible installed on Classic on my Pre, but prefer the iTouch.
All that having been said, I really hope down the road to have everything I need for my personal devotions on the Palm Pre, so I can leave the iTouch in the bag.