YouVersion (also known as Bible.com or the Bible App) is an online and mobile

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

platform published for

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

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, and many other operating platforms. In 2022, according to YouVersion, its Bible App features 2,863 Bible versions in 1,868 languages, audio Bibles, offline capabilities, as well as over 800 Bible plans and devotionals.

History

YouVersion was founded in 2008 by

Bobby Gruenewald Bobby Gruenewald (born July 31, 1976) is the Pastor and Innovation Leader at Life.Church, a multisite church based in Oklahoma. He is also the founder of the YouVersion Bible App and a former entrepreneur, making and selling two multi-million do ...

and

Life.Church Life.Church (pronounced "Life Church", formerly known as LifeChurch.tv, Life Covenant Church, and Life Church) is an American evangelical multi-site church based in Edmond, Oklahoma. Craig Groeschel is the founder and senior pastor of Life.Chur ...

. Since at least 2012, it has been sponsored by David Green, the billionaire founder and owner of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. In April 2014, YouVersion released version 5 of the Bible App, which added features for community engagement and scripture discussion. In April 2016, The Bible App became available on the Apple Watch allowing users to read the Verse of the Day, view trending verses, and access their own Verse Images, Bookmarks, and Highlights. By April 2017, YouVersion had been downloaded over 268 million times and offered 1492 versions of the Bible in 1074 languages. In March 2017, YouVersion launched a service using Google Assistant on

Google Home Google Nest, previously named Google Home, is a line of smart speakers developed by Google under the Google Nest brand. The devices enable users to speak voice commands to interact with services through Google Assistant, the company's virtual ...

devices, enabling users to request Bible verses based on their moods and emotions. In November 2021, YouVersion reached 500 million downloads.

Controversy

YouVersion has been accused of over collecting data from its users since 2013. As recently as 2019, the Android version of the app was requiring access to all the users contact information (their address book) and the users GPS location. YouVersion has updated their privacy policies as of April 2, 2022.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.youversion.com/ Christian websites Bible versions and translations Online Scripture Search Engine Internet properties established in 1993 Android (operating system) software BlackBerry software Electronic Bibles Internet properties established in 2008 IOS software Universal Windows Platform apps