VerseWise Bible RSV-CE for iPad now available

VerseWise Bible RSV-CE for iPad is now in the App Store! Download it, tell your friends and let me know what you think! I hope you like it.

RSV, KJV, DR and RV will follow in the upcoming weeks.

I did find some bugs since submitting it:

• Deleting a bookmark does not always dismiss the popover
• Bookmarks in Plans sometimes cause a delayed redraw of the screen

For both of these problems an extra tap fixes things, but they're annoying nonetheless and I'll get a fix out soon. In the meantime, if you find anything else, please let me know in the comments or in email.

I also plan to add formatting now that we have all of that iPad real estate. This will bring the text layout more in line with the published page. My top priority is the RSV and RSV-CE.

And, yes, we have an iPhone/iPod update waiting in the wings. As soon as all the iPad editions are out the door I'll work on this.

VerseWise Bible RSV-CE S submitted

The first iPad version of VerseWise Bible has been submitted to the App Store! Apple's Christmas break is only a week away, but that might be enough time to get it approved before they're off. They've been speedy in past holiday seasons.

Since this is a 1.0, I'm only releasing the RSV-CE version for now. Once I feel comfortable that there aren't any big issues (nothing like having to fix a bug and then re-submit 5 or 6 apps at the same time), I'll roll out other versions.

In the development of the iPad version, I've also been updating the iPhone/iPod code base. Nothing real fancy as far as features go, but a lot of under-the-covers stuff like a crash reporter that will allow you to send crash reports with a single tap. I hope to use this to improve the quality of VerseWise, so please tap "Send" when asked! (Ideally you'll never even see a crash, of course.)

That said, I don't want to send an iPhone/iPod update with nothing "new", so I'll see what I can do.

Thank you for your support and I hope you all have a blessed Christmas season.

iPad sharing & bookmarks

Time for another iPad update!

Got Facebook Sharing working on the iPad the other day.

That, and Bookmarks, were the final bits of functionality I needed to implement. (I'm saving new features for after I get initial iPad app out.)

Now comes a bit of "tuning" to make everything work better and more intuitively. Oh, and better tab bar buttons.

Crashes while running on iPad

A couple users have noticed crashes when running VerseWise (which is currently an iPhone/iPod app) on an iPad. I unfortunately introduced this problem while adding code for the upcoming iPad release.

The problem occurs when VerseWise tries to rotate. One quick fix is to go into Settings and turn Autorotate "off". Or you can just try to be careful and not rotate your iPad while running the app. :)

Of course I will release a fix for this in the next update. I hope to also include some new reading plans.

iPad search & history

With the usual apologies for the time this is taking. :)

(See screenshots below.)

I did recently get a question about whether the iPad version of VerseWise will be bundled with the iPhone/iPod version as a "Universal app" (as opposed to being listed in the App Store separately). Here is my response.

As an update, it would be real nice if I could just release the iPad version for iOS 5, which is due to be released in September (which is good timing for me at the rate I'm going). The "popovers" you see in the screenshots below just don't always behave right in iOS 4. I can work around these misbehaviors for the most part, but they still don't act exactly right.

That could mean two things:

• Release of iPad app in September?
• Won't be bundled as a Universal app, but will need to be purchased separately.

iPad settings

Still plugging away! Here's Settings.

iPad bookmarks

Another preview of the upcoming iPad app.

iPad actions

Had a little spare time to work on the iPad this week. Since the last update:

• I've added the "Additional" tab on the left (below Bible and Reading Plans) for things like a Preface or other additional materials.
• I've added the Action button.

Most of the actions are working as-is, but there are a couple that need to be tweaked for iPad.

So ... it's coming along! I apologize for those who were hoping for a speedy iPad release (I certainly was!) but it is what it is. I very much want to get this in the store and will keep you updated.

4.1.1 update

I have submitted an update to the store. Issues addressed:

• Updated share-to-Facebook logic so that scriptures are displayed correctly when viewing from official Facebook app; single-sign-on also now supported
• Fixed infrequent crash that could occur when rotating device after displaying footnotes
• Fixed minor search bug that excluded words with footnotes 

Will let you know when it's available in the store!

UPDATE 6-JUN:

Now available for download from the store!

Viewing shared scriptures in Facebook app

Thank you to Mike B. for pointing out that if you view scriptures you shared from VerseWise in the Facebook app, the text of the scriptures are not displayed.

This was certainly working before! Perhaps Facebook is getting back at me for not keeping up-to-date with the FBConnect libraries. Updating to the latest should solve the problem.

3 Maccabees in KJV

A King James Version of 3 Maccabees is available, so why doesn't VerseWise KJV include it?

The source I used for KJV did not include it, so I did not know it was available!

Update:

Turns out my original conclusion was correct. The 3 Maccabees source I thought I found turned out to be 1 Esdras. And viewing this list of books in the King James, 3 Maccabees is not there. Case closed.

3 Maccabees is in the Revised Standard Version, so if you are interested in it take a look at VerseWise Bible RSV.

iPad reading plan

Still plugging away on the iPad. The "tab" interface is now fully implemented so you can easily bounce between Bible and Reading Plans.

Having the extra real estate does make the interface more complicated. The hooks that I have in the iPhone app for saving your place when a screen was exited do not apply here because that portion may very well stay visible on the screen while you do other things.

Search bug

Thank you to Jon S. for pointing out that if a word has an "*" attached to it (denoting a footnote), it will not turn up in search results. Will fix this for the next release!

4.1 update

The 4.1 update has been submitted to the App Store. Hope to have it available in about a week.

Included in this update:

• Added backup & restore of Bookmarks and Highlights for iOS 4 devices (see product page for details) 
• Fixed lingering Reading Plan bugs; improved Reading Plan performance 
• Fixed two start-up crashes experienced by some older devices 
• Tuned how & when books search bar is hidden; fixed infrequent crash

Hidden in this update are under-the-hood changes made in anticipation of the iPad release. Hopefully these did not introduce additional issues!

UPDATE 14-Apr:

This update is now available in the App Store.

Backup & Restore preview

You can read about the new Backup & Restore functionality coming in the 4.1 update.

This new functionality is ready, and I've been able to fix yet more Reading Plan and Footnotes bugs since 4.0.2, but there are a couple of crash bugs that I want to make sure are gone. I was in a big hurry to fix things in the 4.0.1 and 4.0.2 updates and want to be more deliberate this time around.

Thank you for your patience!

Crashes on older devices

Two issues to report.

• On devices using iOS 3, trying to Share verses causes a crash.
• On older devices using iOS4 (like the iPhone 3G), a crash can occur on start-up. For those affected, it happens repeatedly.

Working on both of these, will include them with the 4.1 update.

Highlights/Bookmarks backup & restore

I've received a couple emails asking questions about protecting one's Highlights and Bookmarks in the case of having to delete and re-install VerseWise Bible.

User data is included when your device is backed up during a sync with iTunes. So one could do a device restore to get Highlights and Bookmarks back. But this can be complicated and sometimes one doesn't want to restore an old device backup, losing what one has done in other apps since that backup. This can be particularly so if you don't do regular backups.

So I am working on a way for a user to save Highlights and Bookmarks files from VerseWise Bible, view and edit these files on your computer if desired, and re-import them. I am planning on a 4.1 update that will include this and a couple bug fixes.

iPad update

If you've been wondering what's been happening on the iPad front, unfortunately I've been occupied with other things! This won't last forever, however, so I hope to work soon.

Crash reports

I've gotten some emails about VerseWise Bible crashing in some circumstances. I'm collecting crash report files, which are very helpful in tracking the problems down. If you're experiencing crashes, please contact me!

Another Reading Plans issue

Thank you to Judy D. for reporting another issue with Reading Plans.

Readings such as "Genesis 1-3" start at 1:3 rather than 1:1. 

I am working on a fix and am also working on writing tests to verify this area of the app as it's obviously fraught with peril!

UPDATE

This update is now in the store.

4.0.1 submitted to store

Has two bug fixes:

• Not all Reading Plan footnotes displayed
• Some Reading Plan entries were empty except for a colon ":"

Reading Plan entries bug

Thank you to Karen H. for pointing out that some Read Plan entries are not displaying correctly, showing only a single colon. Will try to have a fix for this (and other pending bugs) submitted to the store within a couple days.

Footnotes bug in Reading Plans

Just found a bug where not all Footnotes display for some Readings. Will be fixed in next release!

iPad Day 4

Tab bar like functionality on the far left. You'll be able to select between Bible, Plans, Search, Bookmarks and History. This will affect the left column.

When you drill down and make a selection in the left column (be it a chapter, reading, search result, bookmark or history entry), it will appear on the right. Otherwise the right will remain unchanged until you make another selection on the left or swipe left/right to go to previous/next.

Book introductions and footnotes now appear as a popover instead of a modal that flips and takes over the entire screen.

iPad Day 2

OK, split screen, making some progress. If you're familiar with iPad mail, you have some idea how this will work. In landscape orientation, you'll have the left column. In portrait, the text will fill the screen and you'll access the left column via a popover. Except mail only has one thing that can occupy the left column: the mailbox/folder/message hierarchy. VerseWise will have books/chapters, search/results, bookmarks or reading plans. Fun fun!

iPad Day 1

Just a big version of the iPhone app right now. But it's a start!

4.0 submitted to store

Changes in this new version:

• Reading Plans
• Improved swiping between chapters on iOS 4 
• Type part of book name to filter list 
• Minor bug fixes

Thank you to all who submitted bug reports. Thank you to Jason P. for help with the Jewish reading plans and beta testing.

And thank you to everyone inquiring about the iPad version of VerseWise. Work starts today!

UPDATE 2/17/11

Now available in the store!

Changing History

You may have noticed in my previous post that the History button has moved from middle-right to the far left.

My thinking is that with the Reading Plan functionality, the History button has become a lot more important. It is now the quick way to bounce between a plan and the main scripture area. 

It's always acted as something of a "back" button, but I think it'll be used a lot more as such when people start using the Reading Plans. So having it had the far left made more sense to me. I'm tempted to make it look more like a back button (something like ◄), but am not sure that's a good idea.

You'll also notice a new "Home" button at the top left of the History screen. What do you think that does?

Every once in a while I've had a request for some way to quickly go to the "top" of the screen navigation. Normally if you've tapped "Holy Bible / Book / Chapter X", it takes three "back taps" to get back to the first screen.

A good way to shortcut this has never occurred to me, nor did it seem like a big deal, since one was usually browsing among chapters and books and rarely needed to return to the Home screen. 

This changed with Reading Plans. I may be reading in Holy Bible and want to go to a Reading Plan. If I'm lucky, I've already been in that plan and can just use History to quickly go there. But if I haven't, it could take three taps to get to Home, then possibly three more to navigate into a plan. That seemed a bit much. And it occurred to me that the top left space of the History screen isn't being used for anything. So there you are.

Comments are welcome! It'll probably be another week or so before I send the update to the store, so if you have something to say, say it now!

Typing book name

Minor enhancement coming next update, the ability to start typing in a bookname to quickly find that book.

Side scrolling between chapters in iOS 4

If you've noticed that scrolling between chapters became more difficult after upgrading to iOS 4, you're not alone! Sometimes it could take two or three tries to get it to work.

As I've been working on the same kind of functionality in Reading Plans (in this case, side scrolling to go between different days in the plan), I got the chance to re-visit code I wrote in the early days for iOS 2, which also worked in iOS 3 but seemed to deteriorate a little in iOS 4.

I'm happy to report that I've been able to make adjustments for much easier side scrolling. This will be included in the Reading Plans update that I hope to deliver to the store within a couple weeks.

Thank you to Matthew S. for putting the bee in my bonnet at exactly the right time!