The OliveTree Bible App

The iPad is a phenomenal tool to help in studying the Bible. That's right, it's not just a toy to browse the web and play games with. As each day goes by, more and more app developers are coming out with new tools that make studying the Bible more effective and easier than ever. The hard part is in finding the best apps or in knowing where to look. So I thought it would be a good idea to highlight a few of my favorite Bible apps that I use on a daily basis.

As always, I'm eager to hear from you. If you have an app suggestion, or you want to give feedback concerning one reviewed, I would love to hear them. Anything we can do to bring about a better study of God's Word is awesome.

So without further ado, here's the first app review.

BibleReader by Olive Tree Bible Software

This is one of the best Bible applications out there due to its diversity and selection. The app itself is free, but you have to pay for the individual Bibles, commentaries, and such. The only draw back is their pricing. Some of the Bibles and miscellaneous items can be quite expensive compared to some of the others out there. However, the overall usability of this program surpasses most other apps, making it worth the money.

Some key features are:

• Cross platform usability - The program works on Mac, PC, iOS, and Android devices. By making an account on the OliveTree website and using their online store, not the in-app store, for all your purchases, you can sync your notes, highlights, reading plans..., with all of your devices. So for those with iPads, a PC, and Android phones, you can take your Bible study with you wherever you go.
• Resources - Olive Tree has the largest assortment of resources for mobile devices. They have Bibles, both study and basic, commentaries, dictionaries, atlases, devotionals, reading plans, and more.
• Free Resources - They also have a good assortment of free materials to get you started studying the Bible right away. This also helps you to get acquainted with the software before making any large purchases.
• Resource Guide - While reading the Bible, you can easily navigate through the various tools by using the resource guide feature built into the app. Once activated, you simply tap it to open it and every resource that has information about the current Scripture your studying will be just a tap away.

Why I use this Bible app - This is my primary Bible application. Its interface is the best and easiest to use when dealing with actual Bible study. I don't have to switch between apps to find out more on any given subject and to me that's the biggest plus for this app. They have some of the leading commentaries out there including; John MacArthur, Warren Wiersbe, and Max Lucado. They also carry the classics like Matthew Henry, the James, Fausset, and Brown commentary, and many more.

There are only two cons that I have.

1. The pricing of the material... I understand why as it takes a lot of programming to get everything to be in sync with one another and for all the enhancements to flow so smoothly. Every Bible, commentary, dictionary, and book, interact with one another to help you gain the most out of each resource.
2. The in-app purchasing... I never have an issue with having in-app purchasing. In fact, I enjoy being able to buy everything using my iTunes account. The issue comes in when going from device to device. Unless you purchase through the OliveTree store online, the material will not sync among all the different devices, i.e. iPad to Android. So I cannot stress this enough, if you decide to use this app, purchase the materials through their online store and not through the App Store or the Google Play store. That way you sync it by using OliveTree's personal cloud system.

As you can see in the screen shots, this is a top notch application and I highly recommend it. I give this Bible study app a four out of five stars.

Repent and believe before it's too late