Abide
Christian meditation and listening content, including Bible narration, bedtime stories and material for children.
For People seeking Christian guided reflection, Scripture listening or bedtime content.
By Guideposts Church Corporation
App StoreOfficial websiteAudience source
- Platform
- iOS
- Category
- Reference
- First release
- 11 March 2014
- Store ratings
- 122,049 (US)
- Research captures
- 51
Design review
Observed choices, what they mean, and what still needs checking.
Access & cost
7 days free, then $39.99/year or $9.99/month. The annual plan was selected in the inspected offer.
Captured flow · 27 October 2026Attention & control
Meditation and bedtime editors offer time and weekday choices. No reminder was saved or delivery tested.
Scoped review · 27 October 2026Trust & care
The information sheet names the author and narrator in separate roles and identifies the Scripture translation used. Other privacy and safeguarding questions remain open.
One interaction assessedOffers are dated iOS observations in USD where captured. Eligibility, country and platform can differ. Existing settings are not installation defaults.
Where the observed choices sit
Each row is one scoped observation of a specific flow, not a grade for the whole app.
1 area with good practice observed7 areas reviewed, not yet placedReview notes
Works against: a choice subverts the person’s agency. Respects: it respects people and safeguards. Restores: a practice restores at a cost freely borne by the builder. Price, Christian branding or a free tier alone do not place an area. How we review.
Respects the personTruth and spiritual authority
This meditation names its author.
What we saw
The information sheet names the author and narrator in separate roles and identifies the Scripture translation used. This makes the item’s credited sources inspectable.
What this does not show
This is a finding about visible attribution only. Recording origin, licensing, theological accuracy, boundaries in the audio itself and the rest of the catalog were not independently verified. No app-wide or redemptive award. Scope: Visible credits for the captured Stand Still… Get Moving meditation only.
Principles
Keep the Word distinct, and teach it trulyNever speak for God
Screens
51 reviewed screensCaptured app states, distinct from the publisher’s promotional images. Dates and versions belong to each screen; this is not a complete app walkthrough.
Features and patterns
What the reviewed screens show this app doing. A missing entry does not mean a feature is absent.
Monthly and annual trials
The inspected plans offer seven days free, then USD39.99/year or USD9.99/month.
Meditation and bedtime reminders
Meditation and bedtime editors expose time and weekday choices. The editors were closed without saving; scheduled delivery, refusal handling and repeat prompting remain untested.
Notifications and remindersOther apps with meditation and bedtime reminders (1)2 supporting screens
Bible audio
Bible tab combines daily chapters, long reading plans and a chapter listening entry.
Bible audioOther apps with bible audio (20)2 supporting screens
Devotional audio
Home presents daily meditation, topic chips and prayer cards with access locks. Home shows narrator portraits with follow buttons and associated meditations. Sleep tab organizes narrated story cards with category filters and premium locks. Scrolled Sleep catalog presents religious and wellbeing-themed titles with narrator credits. Meditation grid pairs titles with scripture references and premium locks. Scrolled collection presents meditation titles and Bible references. Photographic audio player includes a scripture quote and duration/speed controls. Audio-length sheet leaves the short option available and locks longer choices. Speed sheet offers ten rates with 1.0x selected. More sheet identifies the public author and narrator alongside listening utilities. Background picker combines sound cards, a volume slider and playback-context toggles. A paused mini player remains above the tab bar while home displays daily and themed collections. Abide lists daily Scripture meditation and childlike-faith audio cards. Abide plays a Scripture meditation and highlights its audio-length control. Abide credits a meditation author and narrator beside playback options. Abide displays the Scripture meditation player at 1:14 elapsed. The Sleep tab opens on 'Sleep Stories': illustrated tiles such as 'Strength to the Weary', 'Joy in the Lord' and 'Sleep Scriptures: Ruth's Story', each labeled with the narrator's name. Filters above offer Latest, Relaxing Music and Study. The player for 'Strength to the Weary' shows Isaiah 40:29 on a night-sky photograph ('He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.'), with no translation named. The track runs 87:13; controls include 15-second skips, repeat, favorite, a '90 min' timer, volume and speed. The Meditation tab lists photo tiles each paired with a title and a Bible reference, for example 'All Things in Him' (Philippians 4:13), 'United By Love' (Philippians 2:2) and 'Judgment: The Whole Story' (John 7:24). Filters include Latest, Let's Pray, Guides and By Narrator. With the 'Anxiety' filter selected, the grid shows 'Take Courage' (Exodus 3:11-12), 'Cast For He Cares' (1 Peter 5:7), 'From Worry to Peace' (Philippians 4:6-7) and 'Calm Amongst the Crazy' (Mark 6:31-32). Neighbouring filters are Grow Spiritually, Healing and Peace. Opening 'Take Courage' shows Exodus 3:11-12 over a photograph, with no translation named, and a dialog asking 'Would you like to start over?' with 'Start Over' and 'Resume'. The track is 14:33 long. The Sleep tab's 'Latest' filter shows new stories such as 'His Grace Unveiled', 'Dear Momma, You're Not Alone', 'Supply of Joy' and 'The Bond of Peace: A Northern Ireland Memoir', each with the narrator's name on the tile. The 'Relaxing Music' filter lists instrumental tracks such as 'Eternal Serenity' (Sleep, Rain), 'Agape Ocean' (Ocean, Piano), 'God's Wonderful Ways' (Guitar, Worship) and 'God Of The Miracle' (Piano, Relaxing), each tagged with two descriptors. The 'Study' filter in the Sleep tab offers background music without religious titles: 'Cozy Lofi', 'Rainy Day Jazz', 'Guitar Jazz Lounge', 'Cleansing Jazz', 'Memory Focus' and 'Lofi Study Session'. The 'By Narrator' filter lists the app's narrators with studio portraits and a Follow button each: Tyler Boss, James Seawood, Bonnie Curry, Alveda King (labeled as guest narrator on her image), Ben Little and Chloë Elmore. A narrator page for Tyler Boss shows a large portrait, a Follow button, tabs for Sleep Stories and Meditations, and a 'Top 5' list: 'Strength to the Weary' (Isaiah 40:29), 'King of All Kings' (1 Timothy 6:10-16), 'Sleep Recovery: Generalized Anxiety' (Psalm 23) and 'Remembering God's Faithfulness' (Psalm 71:17-18). The daily 'Mornings with Jesus' track 'What Makes a Strong Marriage' plays over a flower photograph with Ecclesiastes 4:12 on screen ('a threefold cord is not quickly broken'), no translation named. The track is 3:11 long and playing at 0:15. The journey 'Look Up When Life Weighs You Down' opens with: 'We all know life can sometimes feel overwhelming. Anxiety can creep in if we don't let go of the heavy things we carry.' Days are laid out on a winding path: 'Don't Let Worry Steal Your Joy', 'Sufficient in Christ', 'Strength in Weakness'. Abide player "Stand Still… Get Moving" (Exodus 14:14) at 0:37 of 5:16 with repeat, ±15 s, favorite, share, 2-min, volume and speed. The same player at 0:40. The daily item "Peace in Jesus" (John 16:33, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace…") starts playing on open, a 3:12 track over a flower photo. Controls: repeat, back and forward 15 seconds, favorite, share, sound, 1.0x speed and a queue button. At the end of the 3:12 track playback stops and a completion sheet says "You've completed 3 tracks", with share targets (Facebook Story, Instagram Story, Message, More), "Write a journal entry" and "View All Mornings With Jesus". Nothing plays next.
Devotional audioOther apps with devotional audio (25)33 supporting screens
Ending the conversation
After the sleep story ends, the app shows 'You've completed 1 track' above the cover art, share targets (Facebook Story, Instagram Story, Message, More) and buttons to 'Play Again' or 'Play Another'. After the morning track, the app shows 'You've completed 2 tracks', share targets (Facebook Story, Instagram Story, Message, More) and two buttons: 'Write a journal entry' and 'View All Mornings With Jesus'. At the end of the 3:12 track playback stops and a completion sheet says "You've completed 3 tracks", with share targets (Facebook Story, Instagram Story, Message, More), "Write a journal entry" and "View All Mornings With Jesus". Nothing plays next.
Ending the conversationOther apps with ending the conversation (12)3 supporting screens
Finding a passage
The Meditation tab lists photo tiles each paired with a title and a Bible reference, for example 'All Things in Him' (Philippians 4:13), 'United By Love' (Philippians 2:2) and 'Judgment: The Whole Story' (John 7:24). Filters include Latest, Let's Pray, Guides and By Narrator. With the 'Anxiety' filter selected, the grid shows 'Take Courage' (Exodus 3:11-12), 'Cast For He Cares' (1 Peter 5:7), 'From Worry to Peace' (Philippians 4:6-7) and 'Calm Amongst the Crazy' (Mark 6:31-32). Neighbouring filters are Grow Spiritually, Healing and Peace.
Finding a passageOther apps with finding a passage (26)2 supporting screens
Also observed
- Download
- Free download · US store
- Access
- Some free use available
Cost, access & publisher model Sources and details
Practical facts, separate from the design assessment. Checked 25 October 2026. A free download does not establish free access to all content.
- App download
- Free download · US · Store source
- Subscriptions
- Subscription declared · Source
- Store in-app products
- In-app products listed
- Donations
- Not verified
- Advertising
- Not verified
What access does payment cover?
The free tier includes the shortest two-minute daily guided meditation and selected sleep stories. More meditations and premium features use a subscription. The FAQ publishes monthly and annual prices;
Scope: Short daily meditation and selected sleep stories · publisher statement · Source · 25 October 2026
Free samples, a free tier and the complete library are different scopes. Store and publisher evidence is separate from the dated captured-flow review in Design review. Coverage varies by offer and platform.
Store-listed products and prices (8)
US App Store · checked 25 October 2026. Names and prices describe listed products, not a personal checkout quote. Other platforms, web offers and eligibility can differ.
- Abide Premium$44.99
- Abide Premium$39.99
- Abide Member$4.99
- Abide Premium$9.99
- Abide Premium$29.99
- Abide Member$29.99
- Abide Premium$7.99
- Abide Premium$12.99
Publisher website price information
Publisher funding and business model
Abide offers monthly and annual Premium subscriptions after a trial alongside free daily content. This does not describe the whole Guideposts organization budget.
Abide app · Current webpage checked 25 October 2026 · Publisher source · checked 25 October 2026
The organization’s complete current funding mix and revenue are not established here. App payments, donations and capital raised describe different things; they do not determine an ethical assessment.
Organization profile and funding sourcesStore facts checked 25 October 2026 (version 3.97.0). Ratings are not downloads or active users. App-specific revenue and active users have not been verified; see the organization profile for separately scoped figures.
What others say
What people use it for
- Quiet routines. Morning reflection, bedtime listening and encouragement are valued uses. Reports of calm and sleep benefit are personal experiences, not evidence of clinical effectiveness.
- Access and affordability. Reviewers describe cost concerns, confusing paid-access/sign-in states, restoration problems and difficulty managing renewal. These are investigation targets, not verified billing misconduct.
- Reliability and interruption. Reported crashes, navigation delays, overnight playback and loud alarm/prompt problems can undermine a calming session. Platform, version and settings need reproduction before judging prevalence or mechanism.
- Content and preference. Children’s sleep-content requests, narrator preferences and responses to meditation wording vary. A subjective claim that a voice is generated does not establish its production method.
Thematic reading: 50 Google Play reviews, 2026-04-17–2026-10-20; EN/US requested. Review source. Self-selected reports; not a measure of prevalence or impact.
App Store: selected historical excerpts
Selected excerpts value Scripture routines, sleep listening and family use. Others object to paid boundaries or describe prompts disrupting reflection; older requests for gentler ending and playlist controls are test questions, not confirmed current omissions. Sensitive personal testimony is not reproduced or treated as medical evidence. Inspect the captured free/locked length choices.
10 selected excerpts, 2017-10-25–2025-03-17. Public-page default order; selected historical excerpts, not a recent or representative sample. Separate from the Android sample. App Store source.
News & publisher context
- Guideposts acquisition
The report describes Guideposts’ acquisition of Abide and says transaction terms were undisclosed. Its historical audience numbers span distribution channels; they should not be presented as current app users or revenue.
MediaPost · industry reporting · 25 October 2021
- Free access and financial assistance
Publisher help describes the short daily meditation and selected sleep stories as free, with premium subscriptions and request-based discounts or one-year assistance. The offer’s existence does not establish approval rates or fulfillment for individual applicants.
Abide Help Center · publisher guidance · 24 April 2026
- Donor-supported access program
The undated program page invites support for subscriptions for military members, students, chaplains, pastors and underserved people. This documents the advertised mechanism; distribution, donor costs and outcomes have not been independently verified.
Guideposts · program page · Checked 26 October 2026
Thematic reading includes all 50 returned Android reviews; the statistics below use a 180-day window and may count fewer. Ten historical Apple excerpts and three dated/checked context sources are kept separate. No medical outcome, overall sentiment score or app-wide moral judgment is inferred.
Store reviews
Store reviews offer useful questions to investigate. These retrieved samples are self-selected, vary by platform and do not establish the experience of every user.
Review samples, reading and sources
- Google PlayEnglish / US requested
48 written reviews within the 180 days ending 25 October 2026.
4–5 stars: 233 stars: 41–2 stars: 21
View Google Play listing- Google PlayGerman / DE requested
No written reviews in this retrieved sample fall within the recent window.
View Google Play listing- Apple App StorePublic review page · default order
10 selected excerpts returned; these may be older and are not a recent or random sample.
Returned dates: 25 October 2017 – 17 March 2025.
View Apple reviews
Collected 28 October 2026. Up to 50 newest Play reviews per requested language/storefront before the date filter. Requested locale does not establish residence; streams may overlap and must not be added together. Star counts describe ratings, not text sentiment or ethical quality. Methods and limitations.
App Store screenshots
View the store listingPublisher-supplied images from the US App Store, checked 25 October 2026. Promotional artwork may include captions or composites; it shows how the publisher presents the app.
Show all 10 publisher imagesHide publisher gallery
Scroll to browse all 10 images. Select an image to open it at its sourced size.
Review notes
Reviewed, not yet placed
Evidence was gathered for these areas, but it does not yet support placing a choice on the frame.
Money and access
Seven days free followed by USD39.99/year or USD9.99/month; annual was selected. Reminder editors offer time and weekday controls. Apple confirmation was dismissed; reminder delivery and scholarship fulfillment were not tested.
Still to check:Test any still-unexecuted restore, entitlement and cancellation paths separately. Check other platform/storefront and offer eligibility before generalising these dated prices.
Attention and agency
Meditation and bedtime editors expose time and weekday choices. The editors were closed without saving; scheduled delivery, refusal handling and repeat prompting remain untested.
Still to check:Distinguish existing account settings from first-install defaults. Observe delivered notifications over time; verify pause, refusal and recovery behavior without manufacturing personal activity.
Privacy and dignity
Retained states show a custom tracking pre-prompt and the iOS tracking-permission dialog. The custom privacy/personalization claims are publisher assertions; screenshots do not establish backend data handling or what happens after refusal.
Still to check:Inspect refusal, subsequent access and any repeat prompts. Compare app-specific controls and policy statements without treating them as a backend audit.
Formation and relationships
Reviewers describe daily reflection, bedtime routines and encouragement. The captions and player do not establish durable spiritual formation, dependence, community outcomes or a restorative cost borne by the builder.
Still to check:Inspect streak/progress wording and return after missed days. Distinguish app activity from spiritual worth and preserve existing user progress.
Care and inclusion
The short meditation provides one observed access point, while affordability and children’s-content requests appear in reports. Publisher financial-assistance offers are not proof of fulfillment for every applicant. Clinical benefit and child safeguards were not evaluated.
Still to check:Inspect accessible controls and available content without entering sensitive health/child data. Keep reported calm/sleep experiences separate from medical efficacy or treatment claims.
Craft and repair
The review sample includes paid-access/sign-in mismatch, crashes, scrolling and background-playback problems. A retained elapsed-player state is not a reproduction of those reported failures.
Still to check:Reproduce restore/sign-in and playback issues on the relevant platform/version. Inspect support and bug-report routes without sending messages.
Stewardship and accountability
Guideposts ownership is documented through historical reporting and publisher material. Donor-supported access is described publicly; actual allocation, current finances and organization-wide practices remain outside this product review.
Still to check:Keep acquisition timing and historical reach figures separate from current app metrics. Investigate the assistance mechanism without contacting vendors or inferring moral status from nonprofit ownership.
The ten principle questions For your own design review
These questions guide discernment; they are not ten scores for this app.
- Keep the Word distinct, and teach it truly
- Can a reader always tell Scripture from our words, and our words from a machine’s?
- Never speak for God
- Would we put our own name under this sentence, or are we borrowing God’s?
- Design for the most vulnerable first
- Who is the most vulnerable person likely to use this today, and what will they see?
- Welcome before you ask, and guard what is told in confidence
- If a friend read everything we keep about this person, would the person be glad?
- Feed the flock, not on it
- Does this serve growth in faith, or only the usage numbers?
- Make room for rest, and say when it is enough
- Where does our product stop, and does it ever tell someone they have done enough?
- Send people to God and to one another
- When someone closes what we built, are they closer to God and to other people?
- Plant and water; leave the growth to God
- What would we stop measuring if we believed growth is God’s?
- Make it well, as an offering
- Would we offer this to God as it is, and could the person with the least sight, time or reading ease use it?
- Hold it with joy and trembling, before God and others
- Who outside the team holds us to account, and who prays for the people who use this?
Use this in your own work
Start with the observed choice, then ask how your own implementation serves people. The evidence is a design example, rather than an app-wide recommendation.