iPhone/iPad
| ReadingPlan for iPhone/iPad |
Release Notes
Frequently Asked Questions
Some New Features
Syncing and Sharing Progress
Archiving and Transferring Progress
Screen Dimmer
This application helps you track your progress as you read through the Bible. You can start any of a variety of reading plans at any time, progressing at your own rate or on the schedule specified in the plan. You can optionally link to an online bible site to see the plan's readings in the application's built-in web view, or launch a supported bible app to see them there.
If a reading has been completed, its row is displayed with a dark gray background. If a reading has been started but not completed, its row is displayed with a lighter gray background. If a reading has not been started, its row is displayed with a white background.
To view a reading item by item, to mark items complete, or to view an item online, tap the reading's row to open the Detail View.
To indicate that you have completed an item, tap the check box on the right of the row. Tapping again will uncheck the row. To make it easier to hit, the active area of the check box (the area that will respond to a tap) is about twice as wide as it is tall, extending toward the center of the row.
If you are running iOS 3.2 or later, you can check or uncheck all of a day's readings by double-tapping the center of the tool bar. If any items are unchecked, double-tapping checks them; if all items are checked, double-tapping unchecks them all.
If you have specified an online bible and wish to view the item online, tap the item name to the left of center. If an internet connection is found, the Web View will open. If no online bible has been specified, tapping the item name has no effect except to briefly highlight the row.
Similarly, if you have specified a supported native (on-device) bible app, tap the row to open the bible app to the specified reading. When finished, double-tap the 'Home' button and tap the 'ReadingPlan' icon to return to the detail view. (If using iOS 3.x, exit the bible app and relaunch ReadingPlan.)
To display the Settings View, tap the 'gear' icon on the right side of the tool bar.
To update settings, start by selecting a plan, then modify the settings for that plan as desired. Press 'Done' to return to the main view. Specific settings are discussed in more detail below.
The first row, "Bible", indicates your progress through the bible as a whole. Subsequent rows indicate your progress through each of the individual books of the (Protestant) bible.
Progress is indicated both in text and visually with a progress bar. If a book has been read more than once, the percent complete is preceded by an integer indicating how many times the book has been completed, for example: "1 + 25%". The background and progress bar will also be slightly darker, to indicate that the book is being covered again. Progress is calculated as (chapters completed / total chapters.) To be completed 'N' times, every chapter of a book (or the total bible) must have been completed at least 'N' times.
When first opened, the progress view displays progress through the bible in your current plan. You can also display saved progress from prior plans by pressing the 'Archive' segment on the tool bar, and display your total progress (archived + current) by pressing the 'Total' segment.
To archive a plan's progress, tap the 'Plan' segment, then tap the 'folder' button on the right of the tool bar and follow the prompts. To transfer progress from one plan to another, press the '+' button on the bottom left of the tool bar. When prompted, select the target plan from the list displayed. See Archiving and Transferring Progress for more information.
As of version 2.3, settings are stored separately for each plan. For example, you can set the 'Daily Title', 'Online Bible' and 'Detail Chapters' settings differently for each plan.
Reading Plan -- Select the desired reading plan by tapping its row. Tap the 'Settings' button in the upper left corner to return to the previous screen. Press the 'Edit' button in the upper right to delete or rearrange the items in the list, in the usual way. Press 'Done' when complete. You can delete a plan without pressing 'Edit' by swiping from right to left across a row, then tapping the 'Delete' button that appears. Press 'View Available Plans' to view and optionally download new reading plans from the application's web site. (Updates to the default plans will also be available, if necessary.) Press 'Restore Defaults' to restore the default plan list.
You can also edit plan titles. After pressing "Edit", tap the row you wish to edit, make any desired changes, then press "Done". (Changing a plan title automatically updates the plan's file name as well, so that re-downloading or restoring the plan won't overwrite your changes.)
If you are running iOS 3.2 or later and have iTunes 9.1 or later, you can transfer ReadingPlan files to and from the app using iTunes. More information is available here.
Start Date -- Tap the row showing the start date to bring up a standard 'Date Picker' control. Select the desired date and press the 'Settings' button on the left side of the tool bar to return to the main screen.Daily Title -- Select 'Reading' if you want to complete the plan at your own pace without worrying about the calendar; readings will be titled by number without reference to date. Select one of the date formats if you want to track your daily progress against the calendar. Readings will be titled with the scheduled date of the reading, based on the start day you specify.
If you are running iOS 4.0 or later, the date formats will automatically adjust to the "International / Region" setting of your device. It you change the region setting while ReadingPlan is running, simply open and close the Settings View to update the screen.
Detail Chapters -- Controls how consecutive chapters are displayed in the Detail View. Select 'Separately' to display each chapter on a separate line; select 'Consecutively' to display consecutive chapters on a single line.
Grouping consecutive chapters into a single line can make the plan's author's intention more clear, and can save time when reading consecutive chapters online. Showing chapters individually gives you finer control when marking your progress.
NOTE: This setting affects how progress is tracked. If it is changed mid-plan, some partially completed readings may be marked incomplete. In particular, consecutive chapters (e.g., Genesis 1, Genesis 2, Genesis 3) must all be marked complete for the consecutive reading (e.g., Genesis 1-3) to be considered complete.
Bible Link -- Select an online or local bible to view your daily readings, or 'None' if you don't want to link to a bible or bible site. Press the 'Edit' button in the upper right to delete or rearrange the items in the list, to add a new entry or to edit an existing one. Press 'Done' when complete. You can delete a site without pressing 'Edit' by swiping from right to left across a row, then tapping the 'Delete' button that appears. Press 'Restore Defaults' to restore the default site list. See Bible Links for more information.
Archive Name -- Select this row to select, add, delete, or rename archives. (An archive lets you keep a running total your progress through the bible across multiple plans.) The 'Default' archive can not be modified or deleted. Unless you're sharing your device, you can ignore this setting. See Archiving Progress for more information.
Sync/Share Progress -- Select this row to turn syncing off and on, to set up syncing on additional devices, or to post your progress so it can be viewed by others. See Syncing and Sharing Progress for more information.
Progress -- The first row in this section shows your progress through the currently selected plan. Progress is calculated based on the number of completed readings compared to the total number of readings in the plan. Progress can be tracked for multiple plans simultaneously -- you might, for example, track your progress through an Advent or Lenten reading plan, while also proceeding as normal through a yearly plan.
The second and third rows allow you to mark or clear progress in the currently selected plan. Select 'Mark All Unread' to clear any progress already entered. Select 'Mark Read To Today' to mark all readings complete up to but not including the current date. If the start date is in the future, any current progress will be cleared.
Tapping the first row brings up the Progress View showing your progress through the bible since starting the plan. See the link for more information.
Screen (Dimmer) -- Slide the dimmer control to the right to dim the screen for more comfortable reading in a dark room, or to the left to return to the previous brightness. The setting is saved across sessions.
This control does not change the system brightness, it simply darkens the screen within this app. Please see the system 'Settings' screen to make a system-level change.
Both syncing and sharing use an automatically-generated sync key to uniquely identify the reader and plan. The sync key is used in lieu of a user name and password; to sync devices, you simply copy the same sync key to each device. There are no passwords to remember, and you'll never be prompted to log in.
Things to Remember
To view or transfer data to your archive, press the 'Progress' row in 'Settings'. To see what's in your archive, press the 'Archive' segment on the tool bar. To transfer progress from a current plan to the archive, press the 'Archive' tool bar button on the bottom right. (You'll also be able to 'clear' the archive, if desired.)
You would normally transfer progress into your archive only when completing a plan. You can also transfer progress from previously completed plans. This feature is particularly useful if you're following a plan that doesn't cover the bible neatly in a year, or that covers some portions of scripture multiple times. For example, suppose you've been following the 'Horner' plan for three years, so that you're now reading 'Horner (3)'. You can download 'Horner (1)' and 'Horner (2)' and, with each, select them, set the start date to something over a year ago, select 'Mark Read To Today' (so that they're 100% complete), then transfer the progress of each to your archive. To view your total progress, select 'Horner (3)' again, go to the progress screen, and tap 'Total'.
If you are sharing your device (perhaps you have a family iPad), you should create an archive for each user of ReadingPlan, and each user should specify their own 'Archive Name' as one of the settings for their individual plan. Otherwise, everyone's progress will be archived to the same location (and you'll end up answering the question 'How many times has my family read John?', rather than 'How many times have I read John?'). See Archive Name for more information.
It is common for the target plan to have many partially completed readings after a transfer, simply because two plans seldom cover the bible in the same order. Since progress through the plan is calculated based on completed readings, the percent complete for the target plan may decrease, even though the percent complete through the bible does not.
The 'Detail Chapters' setting of the target plan is automatically set to 'Separately' by the transfer process. If you prefer to display readings 'Consecutively', you will probably want to 'catch-up' the partial readings before making the change. See the note here for more information.
Another use for this feature is to find and mark complete any chapters from a specific book of the bible. Perhaps you've read through Proverbs in a bible study, and want to mark it complete wherever it occurs in your reading plan. Here's how you would do it:
To determine the appropriate URL, visit the site in a web browser, execute a search (for, say, 'John 3'), copy and paste the browser's address line into the URL box, and replace the book+chapter portion of the URL with the placeholder '%@'. (You will see these two characters in the predefined links.) When a chapter is selected, the program replaces the placeholder with 'Book+Chapter'; for example, 'Genesis+1', or '1+John+3'.
If the 'Book+Chapter' format isn't accepted by the online site you specify, that site probably isn't compatible with ReadingPlan. However, some non-standard sites are supported via a 'translator' on the ReadingPlan site; currently, the Biblia, YouVersion, and Blue Letter sites. If you would like to suggest others, please contact tech support.
If one of the predefined sites suits you, but you prefer a different translation, carefully edit the 'version=' or 'v=' portion of the URL as appropriate. (Naturally, the site must support your desired translation, and recognize the abbreviation you specify.) For example, to use the NIV translation at the Bible Gateway site instead of the ESV, change 'version=ESV' to 'version=NIV'.
As of version 2.3.1, ReadingPlan can link to some native (on-device) bible reading apps, shown below. Support for other bible apps will be added as soon as they allow themselves to be launched by an external program.
| Bible App or Vendor | Sample Link |
| Crossway | bible://%@ |
| Just1Word | j1w://verse/%@ |
| PocketSword | sword://ESV/%@ |
| Mantis | mantis://%@ |
| Logos | libronixdls:jump|ref=bible.%@ |
Almost any plan can be formatted for use with ReadingPlan. If you would like to suggest a new plan, please feel free to contact support@pricejh.com. If the plan can be freely distributed for non-commercial purposes, I will be happy to format it and make it available for download.
It's possible that your question has already been answered in the Frequently Asked Questions list.
The beautiful application icons introduced in version 2.1 were contributed by Nathan Asire (nathanasire@gmail.com), a professional designer and user of ReadingPlan. Thanks, Nathan.