Sunday, July 13, 2008

v1.0 released

VerseWise Bible 1.0 has been released to the App Store. Kudos to the Apple employees working over the weekend approving apps!

The main focus of this release was the reading experience. The ability to read in portrait and landscape mode (and turn it off if you prefer), remembering where you last were when reading in a book, and easy navigation (including skipping chapter selection if you prefer and using side-swipes to go to adjacent chapters) all contribute to this.

If you have any ideas on how the reading experience could be made better, please leave a comment or send me an email.

For example, does anyone *not* like the side-swipe navigation? Would simple arrow buttons (as other apps do it ;) be preferable? I know sometimes the device sometimes misinterprets your swipe and goes horizontal when you meant vertical and vice-verse. It can take some practice getting it right every time. Let me know what you think about this. I could make it a configuration option.

By the way, be sure to check out the configuration options in the VerseWise section of Settings. There are several options you can turn on/off here along with changing the reading font size.

13 comments:

Unknown said...

Can you do simple searches?

Bruce Geerdes said...

No searches in v1.0 but that functionality will definitely be in the 1.1 update.

Unknown said...

Thanks!

Unknown said...

Hmm... I purchased and installed it but it doesn't work.. it just quits when I launch the app

Bruce Geerdes said...

Hi Marcel -

This seems to be a problem with the iPhone 2.0 OS and all third-party apps. I hear they're working on a OS 2.0.1 release, perhaps that will fix it.

Two things to try to get the app working again: reboot the device (hold down the sleep button until you get the shutdown slider, then hold it down again once it's shut down) or delete/reinstall the app.

You can delete the app by holding your finger on the app icon until it starts wiggling. Tap the "X" in the upper left to delete. Hit the "home button" on your device to stop the wiggling. You can reinstall the app either by doing a re-sync with your computer or by downloading it again from the app store. If you use the same account, the app store remembers you already bought it and won't charge you.

Hope this doesn't happen too often to you! It's only happened intermittently with me, on one game in particular, and a reboot has gotten things right.

Bruce Geerdes said...

Here's a story about the issue: http://www.macrumors.com/iphone/2008/07/11/
apps-crashing-at-launch-delete-and-resync/

allie-cat said...

This application is no good. It was a total waste of money. I have it loaded on my i-Touch and it doesn't work. Starts up and then dies. I am totally disgusted and will tell everyone I know that this is a rip off.

a.sasamoto@yahoo.com

Bruce Geerdes said...

Hi allie-cat -

Sorry you're having problems but I do not believe it is the fault of my application. This issue is happening at random to third-party apps. Read the advice that I gave to marcel and the story link in the comment right above yours.

Let me know if I can be of more assistance.

Anonymous said...

Would love an NIV version. Happy to pay more than the $3.99 AUD it is in the australian app store. would pay up to about $20 AUD for the NIV translation

Anonymous said...

It's a good app.
I'd like to see in future release.
The ability to save the all the "last read" as bookmarks, maybe with a sermon title and be able to clear the existing one for the next sermon.
Another feature would be simple notes linked to the Verse numbers.
I'd be willing to pay for an upgrade that contained these features.

Bruce Geerdes said...

Yes, labeled bookmarks and/or notes are on the to-do list, after search. Apple doesn't support paid updates (yet), so it'll probably have to be a free update. :)

Thanks for writing!

Sloan said...

For the past week the app will has not showed up on my iPod Touch. It is still in my list of apps in iTunes but I cannot get it to my Touch.

Bruce Geerdes said...

Steve, have you had problems with any other apps you've purchased?

One thing to look at is whether you have iTunes set up to synchronize your apps. I don't have it right in front of me, but when you have your iPod touch hooked up, click on it in iTunes and check your synchronize settings.

Another thing you could try is downloading VW directly from the app store to your iPod touch. Since you've already purchased it, the store will let you download it for free.

Let me know if I can be of more assistance.