Make it yours
Everyone reads differently. Some of us need big letters. Some of us read at night. Some of us want to hear the words more than see them. The app has a few settings, and none of them are hidden. This page walks through them, one at a time.
The look of the page is anyone's to change. What is personal, such as your translation, your reciter or your notes, asks you to sign in first, so that it follows you from one device to the next.
The look
On any chapter page, press the small gear in the strip under the top bar. A sheet opens with the settings for reading. The same settings are on the Settings page, which you reach from the menu at the top right.
- Text size and line spacing have a minus and a plus. Press them until the words sit comfortably.
- Light or dark follows your device unless you choose one.
- Colours: plain white with ink, sepia like old paper, or high contrast for anyone who needs the most the screen can give.
- A tick box gives a plainer letter for the verses, which some readers find easier.
Every pairing of colours has been checked to the highest standard there is, so whichever you choose, the words stay clear.
The original tongues
Every verse in the Bible sits over its Hebrew or its Greek, and every sign in the Recitation sits over its Arabic.
- Press Hebrew, Greek or Arabic under any verse, and a small card opens with the words of that verse one by one. Each word stands over the Latin letters that say it and, for the Hebrew and the Greek, its plain meaning. Press the X to close it.
- Press the same word in the strip at the top of the chapter, and the card opens under every verse at once. Press it again to close them all.
- In the Recitation, the Arabic is shown above every sign. The Arabic button in the strip turns it off and on.
- Select a Hebrew or Greek word in a card to see its dictionary form and its grammar.
Listening
Every chapter can be read to you. Press Listen to chapter at the top, or Listen under any verse to start from there. The words are lit as they are spoken, and the page follows along.
A small island appears at the foot of the screen with play and pause, the verse being read, and a button to open it wider. Opened, it shows the whole verse, with the words of the Messiah in red. It never covers the verse you are reading.
For the Recitation, the island carries one more button. Press it to turn between Arabic, then English, Arabic only and English only. The chapter carries on from the same sign.
Signed in, you can also choose who recites the Arabic, whether the English is read by your device or by the recorded narration of Ibrahim Walk, which voice reads the Bible, and how fast.
Your phone keeps reading when the screen is locked, and the reading carries on into the next chapter by itself.
Your place
Press Ribbon under a verse and a ribbon is placed there, like the ribbon in a printed Bible. The app remembers your place in that chapter, in that book, in that part of the library, and in all scripture at once. The home page shows it under the opening word, or, if you have placed no ribbon, the last verse you had in front of you.
Save keeps a verse in your list on the Saved page. Note lets you write something beside a verse: a prayer, a question, a thought. Your notes are yours; nobody else can read them.
Signing in
The ribbon, saving and notes ask you to sign in, so that they follow you from your phone to your computer. Sign in with Google, or with a link sent to your email address. There is no password.
Before you sign in, two questions are asked. May we send you one short prayer and one verse each morning? May we write to you now and then about scriptures? Tick what you want and leave the rest. Every message carries a link that takes you off the list at once.
You can read everything without ever signing in.
Less movement
Some people find moving things on a screen tiring. Tick Less movement on the Settings page and everything that moves stands still: the opening of the home page, the names that pass by, the light beside the word. Nothing is lost; it is still.
If something is not right
Write to us from the Write to us page in the menu, or at peace@scriptures.faith, and say what happened. This app is made for you to read the scriptures, and if a setting is in the way of that, we would like to know.
Questions people might ask
Do I need an account to read?
No. Everything can be read without signing in. An account is only for what is yours: your place, your notes, your choices.
Where are the settings?
Press the gear in the strip at the top of any chapter, or open Settings from the menu at the top right.
Will you send me email?
Only what you tick when you sign in: the morning prayer and verse, or a note now and then. Every message has a link that takes you off the list at once.
