Blue Letter Bible
A Bible-study app with reference tools, annotations and original-language resources.
For Readers and teachers looking closely at biblical passages.
App StoreOfficial websiteAudience source
- Platform
- iOS
- Category
- Reference
- First release
- 17 May 2010
- Store ratings
- 360,710 (US)
- Research captures
- 19
Design review
Observed choices, what they mean, and what still needs checking.
Access & cost
The sources reviewed do not establish the free and paid capability boundary.
Publisher information · flow checks pendingAttention & control
Reminder defaults, pause and missed-day recovery have not been verified.
Controls not yet verifiedTrust & care
Source boundaries, privacy and safeguards need further review. No app-wide assurance is implied.
Evidence incompleteOffers 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.
No practice has been placed on the scale yet.
8 areas not reviewed yet
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.
Screens
19 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.
Notes and highlights
Reviewed frames show highlight styles/range, note and bookmark marks.
Highlights and notesOther apps with notes and highlights (1)19 supporting screens
Highlights and notes
Blue Letter Bible uses separate note and bookmark icons beside highlighted verses. Blue Letter Bible groups study tools, annotation actions and highlight styles in the verse menu. Blue Letter Bible asks for start and end verses before applying a highlight. Blue Letter Bible lists Mark 4:35 and Mark 4:36 as separate entries under Highlight 2. Blue Letter Bible shows seven named highlight categories and separate single- and double-underline options; Highlight 2 has a count of two. Blue Letter Bible exposes an editable highlight label, color presets, RGB sliders and a hexadecimal color field. Blue Letter Bible groups study resources, annotations, audio and highlight styles for a verse. Blue Letter Bible applies a yellow background to Mark 4:35. Blue Letter Bible shows green backgrounds on Mark 4:35–36. Blue Letter Bible expands Add Note into chapter, verse-range and general scopes. Blue Letter Bible asks for a destination notebook before saving a note. Blue Letter Bible shows double underlining on one verse and a green background on the next. Blue Letter Bible retains note and bookmark icons after backgrounds and underlining are removed. Blue Letter Bible offers sorting and notebook actions for an empty notebook. Blue Letter Bible shows a plain empty state for General Bookmarks. Blue Letter Bible shows Mark 4 without note, bookmark or highlight marks.
Highlights and notesOther apps with highlights and notes (22)16 supporting screens
Numbers, headings and notes
Blue Letter Bible places a heading and linked cross-references above the numbered KJV text. Blue Letter Bible presents numbered KJV verses without annotations.
Numbers, headings and notesOther apps with numbers, headings and notes (43)2 supporting screens
Study helps
Blue Letter Bible places a heading and linked cross-references above the numbered KJV text. Blue Letter Bible groups study resources, annotations, audio and highlight styles for a verse. Blue Letter Bible combines Hebrew text, a translation and lexical rows.
Study helpsOther apps with study helps (33)3 supporting screens
Captured sequences
- Marking a passage
Selected captures show verse actions, the range picker and a later annotated reader. Several intermediate actions are not pictured.
- Download
- Free download · US store
- Access
- Access requirements unverified
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 status unverified
- Store in-app products
- None declared on the retrieved listing; other payment routes remain unverified
- Donations
- Not verified
- Advertising
- Not verified
What access does payment cover?
The retrieved sources do not establish which capabilities require payment. This is unknown, rather than a claim that the app is free or paid throughout.
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.
Publisher funding and business model
Blue Letter Bible says it is supported by user donations.
ministry / Android app support · Undated current webpage · 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 2.84.2). 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.
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.
Illustrative reading
Study resources are valued; selected recent examples report freezing or failure to open after an update.
Based on 2 selected review excerpts, which may be historical; not a full thematic analysis. Review source
Review samples, reading and sources
- Google PlayEnglish / US requested
50 written reviews within the 180 days ending 25 October 2026.
4–5 stars: 383 stars: 31–2 stars: 9
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: 26 November 2017 – 30 July 2026.
View Apple reviews
Collected 25 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 5 publisher imagesHide publisher gallery
Scroll to browse all 5 images. Select an image to open it at its sourced size.
Not reviewed yet: Money and access, Attention and agency, Truth and spiritual authority, Privacy and dignity, Formation and relationships, Care and inclusion, Craft and repair, Stewardship and accountability.
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.