The Bible Study App
You may have noticed a couple of slight cosmetic changes around Olive Tree, like a fresh face on OliveTree.com. Good news! These changes are just the beginning. We have big plans for Olive Tree, and we’re excited to share them with you. I won’t tease you too much, but think Reading Plan Sync, Automatic Downloads, Rich Text Notes, and more. But as those are still to come, for now let’s focus on the cosmetic changes happening now.
We recently realized that calling our app ‘BibleReader’ didn’t make much sense anymore. Yes, you can read the Bible on our app, but you can do so much more than that, too. You can take notes, compare translations, use a study Bible, and read Greek and Hebrew. With our one-of-a-kind Resource Guide all of the relevant information in your library is brought to life along side your Bible reading. The features we offer (and the ones still to come) make Olive Tree app the best app for Bible study.
The Bible Study App
With a fresh perspective and a clear trajectory, we’ve come to the conclusion that no longer are we going to be ‘BibleReader’ but instead, we are ‘The Bible Study App.’ We believe that Olive Tree is about studying the Bible, digging deep into God’s Word and getting to know Him personally. We want you to keep that in mind every time you open the Olive Tree app, so with the next update, the app on your device will be called ‘Bible Study.’
We hope that you are as excited as we are about these changes. We truly hope to inspire you to get into the Bible using The Bible Study App. Let us know what kind of features you would like to see in the future. Leave us a comment here. If you love our app, I hope you would considering leaving us a review in the iTunes or Google play stores.
-
-
#2 written by Curt 7 months ago
-
-
#4 written by Trina Morgan 7 months ago
-
Hi Trina,
we are working hard on an update that should be out very shortly for android. The main problem with performance on the android version currently is in trying to use flick scrolling (up and down) – for which android made some significant changes in the ICS update.
There should be some improvement with this next update – and even the current market app does work much better if you go to settings -> Scrolling Settings -> and change your Scrolling Style to “Left/Right (Page)”.
-
-
-
#7 written by Phil 7 months ago
-
-
Hi
If it is going to work as a true Bible study app, and work as well as pen and paper, it needs to show the Bible text and ones notes at the same time. Writing simultaneously with ones reading is what one does in traditional Bible study (e.g. in one’s Bible margins). It shouldn’t have to take more than one step/click to enable writing mode. I don’t know how this should be designed. I suppose having the Bible in one window and notes in the second would be one way, but in my opinion writing notes in between bible verses would be the best. Of course there should be an easy way to print out one’s notes too.
Good luck, and think wide!
-
-
#11 written by Mark 7 months ago
-
If you enable ‘tabletmode’ – which is the way it displays on a tablet, you can open ‘my stuff’ which includes notes in the split screen!
To do that, hit the search button and type in “tabletmode” (without the quotes) in your search window – and then restart your Olive Tree Bible app.
Tapping on the title in the split window (whatever you have open) will allow you to select: Go Back…, Library, My Stuff, Resource Guide, Search Results & Store!
To turn it back, just search for tabletmode again and you’ll go back to the phone layout.
-
-
-
-
It would be great if you guys built a tool into the app that helped with scripture memorization. I have yet to find a really great tool for iOS that does it. What you guys do DOES matter and I think helping Christians practice scripture memorization would be a big step toward that. Thanks for all the hard work. I love BR and I use it every day.
-
#14 written by Cherylyn Kettel 7 months ago
-
Also, maybe you could partner with the developer of biblepronunciations.com. His app tells you how to pronounce difficult words and names in the bible. It would be a cool feature if you could highlight a difficult or unknown word and get audio of how to say it. After all, you are the bible study app! Seriously though, I am so excited to see what you guys do in the future!
-
-
-
Glad to see your emphasis to bible study, since that is what I use the app for.
It seems to me that a popular method of study is to outline a passage. It would be really sweet (and probably very unique) if the app could re-flow the scripture text into a user defined, indented outline. See the following as an example:
(A) 1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
( 1) 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was
upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of …
(B) 3 Then God said, Let there be light…I don’t know of any other bible study tool that does this, but you would think that this would be available since this is such a basic form of bible study. I think it would be a really neat option that would set Olive Tree apart from the others in a big way.
-
#17 written by Cherylyn Kettel 7 months ago
When we are able to add rich text formatting to your notes section, it will be much easier to create your own outline in your notes, but that doesn’t quite sound like what you are suggesting. I’m not sure that we could re-flow the Bible itself, as that is a copyrighted work from the publishers, but I still think it is a great suggestion and probably some interesting things we could create along those lines. I will pass it along to our developers. Thanks!
-
-
I have been a long time Bible Reader user. I like it. Honestly, and just as an advice, the app is in a long distance to a GREAT Bible Study App. But, dont stop working. What you offer now is a nice and good offer. Hope you can soon get to the point in which we can open several windows with different Bible resources at a time and most of all, a petition: I would like to see some Bible text references for one specific biblic text, just like in a Study Bible. And a last request…put some effort offering more spanish Bible Resources.
Muchias Gracious!-
Hi Mauricio,
Thanks for the great feedback! This is very helpful. We will be working hard on improving the Bible study features in our apps. Could you clearify what you mean by ” I would like to see some Bible text references for one specific biblic text, just like in a Study Bible”? The resource guide may do some of what you are looking for (http://blog.olivetree.com/2012/06/05/resource-guide-my-personal-research-assistant/).
Thanks!!
Stephen
-
-
Sorry if this shows up twice – I’m having a little trouble getting it posted.
I’m happy to see the emphasis on bible study, as I this is what I use Olive Tree for. I believe a common method of bible study is to outline a passage. I’ve never seen this feature incorporated into a bible software before. It would be really neat if a bible student could ‘re-flow’ the scripture text into an indented, outline format, like the following example:
(A) 1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
( 1) 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was
on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering
over the face of the waters.
(B) 3 Then God said , “Let there be light ”; and there was light.I think a feature like this would make Olive Tree stand out from other study software.
-
Hi,
We would love to have sync work for multiple users, so that we can share bible studies along with highlights and notes to our users who want to study different parts of the bible along with us.
We would love to share with professionals in different fields so that they can study the bible verses related to govt, family, economics, arts, church etc. each area woul shave its own colour scheme…
Is this possible. Please could you email me a phone number as we would love to discuss the possibilities of this with you.
Thanks for an excellent app!
-
#25 written by Kevin Jones 7 months ago
-
I don’t know what “automatic downloads” means, but I hope that this is optional. I live in a country where the Bible is sensitive to download or access, so I ask that any downloading, syncing, or even connecting to the internet can be set to manual rather than automatic. I am still able to use those features, but I need to be sure I have taken safety precautions.
-
#30 written by Fairlicks 7 months ago
Is it out for Android already and is it possibleto download? I saw it was available on Google Play Store ‘ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=biblereader.olivetree ‘ but it tells me it is not compatible with any of my android devices. I am in Ghana, fyi.
-
#32 written by Bentley 7 months ago
For peace of mind, it is important for me to be able to download the XML file representing my notes and highlights. I wrote a tiny Delphi program that will extract my notes and highlights from the XML file, and put them into text files, all arranged in canonical order. I hope that the XML download feature will be retained even after Olive Tree incorporates Rich Text notes.
Thank-you for a great software.
Ben -
-
#34 written by Cherylyn Kettel 7 months ago
Sorry I wasn’t very clear. The ‘Bible Study App’ is not a new app. You will the name change take place on your device with the next update. It will remain “Bible+” in the app store. If you have the free “Bible+ App” or the .99 “BibleReader” app, both of these will get the updates to the Bible Study App.
-
-
-
#37 written by Cherylyn Kettel 7 months ago
Hi Jim,
The Bible Study App is available on the Kindle Fire, but not on the basic Kindle models. You can find the app here: http://www.amazon.com/Olive-Tree-Bible-Software-Inc/dp/B004N8W292/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351005933&sr=8-1&keywords=olive+tree+bible+app
-
-
Please consider optimizing the Bible Study App for fast loading and speed of use. Early days on my Palm T3 I could sit in a Sunday Service and quickly display the readings for the day, as the readings were announced and read.
These days after all the advertising has finally finished displaying and the app finished loading the reader is already up to, “This is the Word of the Lord”… and all I can do is respond with, “Thanks be to God”?! -
#39 written by Bentley 6 months ago
Maybe this is not the right blog for my comment, but I noticed that yesterday’s software update for iOS has faster “next chapter” and “previous chapter” actions. Great improvement for a great software!
I am wondering about about the “Purchased” window in the online store ecosystem. Some of my purchased books have checkmarks, some have the up arrow. What do these mean? I also noticed that the “Updates” window doesn’t seem to do anything apart from displaying “Checking for updates…”
-
I’m enthusiastic about all of your future plans, and I still love the app’s functionality. (I use it on iOS, Mac, and Windows.) But the name changes are dizzying. I require my students (I teach Old Testament at Pepperdine University) to use your app, but since you changed the name from “BibleReader,” it’s become difficult to tell them which app they’re supposed to use. I understand your reasoning; the app is indeed much more than a Bible reader. However, “Bible+” is almost impossible for students to distinguish from “Bible +” (the Glo Bible app), and it’s disturbingly close to “Bible” (YouVersion) and “Bible!” (Logos). The iTunes and Mac app stores haven’t caught up to your name change; they still list “Bible+” or “Bible + Maps.” The situation has gotten very confusing. Please do what you can to stabilize it.
-
#44 written by Albert 3 months ago
-
#45 written by Andrew 3 months agoAlbert, shoot Tech Support an email at support@olivetree.com and let them know about the problems. They’re great!
-
-
#47 written by susan ziglar 3 months ago
-
#48 written by Andrew 3 months ago
Susan,
Please send an email to support@olivetree.com and they can help you out. Please include your Olive Tree account username and email in the email. Thanks!
-
-
#49 written by Chris 2 months ago
-
- Comment Feed for this Post
Reading Plan Sync, … Rich Text Notes,…?
Yah!