Like it? Rate it! (Encourages us to work harder...)
Our first goal with the Logos iPhone app is to help you do more and better Bible study with your Logos 4 library.
Our second goal is to reach people who don't have Logos 4 libraries and help them do more and better Bible study. The iPhone app is a great way to reach these people who we might not otherwise get to with our desktop software.
But to be visible, we need good ratings and reviews in Apple's app store.
Our iPhone app has been downloaded more than 15,000 times in just the first week, and we're happy that so many reviews are positive. (Most of the negative reviews seem to be about lack of offline support, which we're working on.)
If you do like the app, we'd really appreciate your giving it a 5-star rating and writing a good review. At the very least, using iTunes to mark favorable reviews you agree with as "helpful" would be great. Staying visible in the app store, and reaching more users, is key to keeping the iPhone app at the top of our priority list for cool new features.
We released it for free in hopes of reaching more Bible students; your help in helping us reach them keeps our motivation high!
If you've got complaints or concerns, please do post them here in the forums, where we can answer questions and interact with you.
Thanks!
PS Have friends with an iPhone? Don't forget to tell them about the FREE Logos iPhone app. http://www.logos.com/iphone (And if they sign in, there are 30+ free books available; the list is at http://www.logos.com/iphone/support.)
Comments
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Bob, perhaps the chance to win an iPhone could be an incentive [:D] [;)] (or maybe an iPod at least!)
Jason
How to ask for help for Logos issues.
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Bob Pritchett said:
If you do like the app, we'd really appreciate your giving it a 5-star rating and writing a good review. At the very least, using iTunes to mark favorable reviews you agree with as "helpful" would be great. Staying visible in the app store, and reaching more users, is key to keeping the iPhone app at the top of our priority list for cool new features.
Bob,
while I appreciate the new App and have started using it, albeit sporadically. I am concerned about encouraging users to give this App 5 stars when I just don't know how it could be classed in its current incarnation as a 5-star-application.
I have a number of Apps on my relatively new iPod Touch and I have relied on the ratings of users in making determinations about which programs I have downloaded or paid for.
The purpose of ratings is to assist possible users not to elevate an applications standing in iTunes.
I do value that it is free and I see its extraordinary potential but it's not there yet.
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I gave it 4 stars for potential.
Will happily change to 5 when ...
1. Offline reading happens
2. More books show up
Dr. Kevin Purcell, Director of Missions
Brushy Mountain Baptist Association0 -
Kevin A. Purcell said:
I gave it 4 stars for potential.
Will happily change to 5 when ...
1. Offline reading happens
2. More books show up
I would actually disagree with this. Just because it can be improved doesn't mean it's not five stars. I know there are teachers that grade that way, but we never like getting them. I don't compare it with its potential, I compare it with other iPhone apps. That's what the rating is supposed to mean. I suddenly have however many books, Bibles, and capacity to do word studies etc on my phone. If you can show me another app that will do those things, I'll make that one five. But I'm comparing this basically to other free Bible apps, and it deserves highest possible rating, even though it may get better. I believe right now it's just about as good as it can legally be distributed (based on rights, offline availability etc.
Having said all that, iTunes won't let me rate it at all. I keep getting a message that says I can't rate it because it's not available in the US yet. For some reason. Has Washington state seceded?
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I'm not asking anyone to rate it beyond what they feel is fair. (Though if you think a 1 star is fair, I'm happy to have you sit out the ratings while we improve it! <smile>)
Everyone has their own standards for rating things. A quick read of the reviews shows people who write raving reviews yet give only 4 stars. (They must be hard to impress.) Other reviewers gave us 1 or 2 stars for not having their favorite translation. One reviewer panned the app "after one keystroke", because the sign in box for email uses the stock iPhone control that automatically capitalizes the first letter, which he felt inappropriate for email. (That made me cringe -- because I agree. But we were in a hurry to get it up on time, and let that slide in version 1.)
It also comes down to what you're rating on. As an application for helping Logos Bible Software users read thousands of their books over the Internet, I think it's pretty good. As a stand-alone Bible reader, with no Logos 4 context, sure, it can be faulted for not having offline Bibles. As an app for finding a taxi, it's clearly a zero-star. :-)
I do know that many users have liked it, though only ~200 of 15,000+ have rated it. I just want to keep the momentum going. If it isn't worth a 5-star rating to you, that's fine -- but then can you just get 50 other people to try it?...
(I saw your review with screenshots of problems, particularly with regard to Greek and Hebrew. We probably should not have even let those books be accessed through the first version of the app. Though they do work better than I expected; the iPhone doesn't really support Biblical Hebrew and critical apparatus markers out the box! We're already using your feedback, and others', to keep improving it.)
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I don't even have an iphone and I'd rate it 5 stars! [;)]
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I do have a pastor friend who gave me a call and told me about the iphone app before I even knew anything about it. He doesn't use Logos (yet) and was excited about the app, so it is working in reaching non-users. I've been trying to get him on board with Logos for a while now, and that iphone app may have done the trick.
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I'm going to demonstrate it for my youth tomorrow- assuming I can get my HTC Touch Pro application (Winmo isn't cool enough to just call it an "app" you know) working that will let me use my phone as a WAP. I'm hoping that will be a work-around until we can save a few select resources locally to the iPod Touch! (hint hint)
I'll post their impressions if I get any!
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Just added my review to go with my rating. I really enjoy the app for what it is right now & for what it will continue to grow into in the future.
As a big techie & user of Bible software, you made me completely overjoyed when I found out that all the books I've already purchased will be available on the mobile app. That's always been my #1 gripe with going mobile with my Bible; it always meant repurchasing stuff I'd already bought in electronic format. I'm glad you were able to work that out with the publishers because it's going to make so many users, like myself, extremely happy! Now I feel like I can finally move forward & dive into using my Bible on a mobile device.
lj.
Urban Scholar - http://urban-scholar.com
Christ-centered Hip-Hop - http://www.sphereofhiphop.com0 -
For me it was just incredible synchronicity. I found out about the iPhone app AND Logos 4's release on the same day, and just got an iPhone a couple of weeks ago. Having my resources on the phone was a motivation to buy Logos 4, and if I didn't already have an iPhone, Logos availability on it, with so many resources available, would have been a powerful incentive to go ahead and buy the iPhone. I logosed in church today and it was much better than using my past Palm programs. I did notice i didn't have NIV, but that wasn't such a big deal.
I'm really interested in the issue of publishers allowing their books to be available electronically. I'm actually surprised many of them will even go along with this without Logos putting up big bucks. All goes by whatever's in the license, but e-books are a market nobody cared about up until recently. Now, finally, with kindle and other e-readers getting hot, the e-license are becoming a big deal. Not only would I expect Nelson, Tyndale, Zondervan, IVP and the others to want extra remuneration, but a Logos program is going to compete with their own e-book plans. So when I read that Logos expects a couple of thousand resources to be available, that's surprising to me. I'm enjoying the few now available and anything beyond that is gravy.
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Bob, yes I'll rate the app in the store. Still I need time to get use to it as it is. First impression is impressive (as in "I'm impressed" ;-). But sometime one need to have more experience to see how the App the actually "fit" into habits.
One suggestion from my site. I use the App to quickly check Bible references students (preaching elders in Africa, KwaZulu-Natal) come up with. Therefore I would like to be able to open the App in the Search-window (settings). Not in the Home-window.0 -
Bob, thanks for your response..
Bob Pritchett said:I'm not asking anyone to rate it beyond what they feel is fair. (Though if you think a 1 star is fair, I'm happy to have you sit out the ratings while we improve it! <smile>)
I'd actually give it 3 to 4 stars for now. But, I'd rather wait until the next release to see where it's heading before committing to a review. And, as I have said, I can really see the potential. I don't for a moment regret having bought an iPod Touch so as to be able to use the program.
Bob Pritchett said:It also comes down to what you're rating on. As an application for helping Logos Bible Software users read thousands of their books over the Internet, I think it's pretty good. As a stand-alone Bible reader, with no Logos 4 context, sure, it can be faulted for not having offline Bibles. As an app for finding a taxi, it's clearly a zero-star. :-)
It's excellent as an internet-always-on App. But, as an iPod Touch user, that limits it's usefulness to me. I had really hoped for something on which I could keep 5 or so of my resources (and a few Bibles) so that I could read my way through my library "untethered." While, I've been able to read some stuff lying in bed and in my back garden, I can't read anything away from home.
Bob Pritchett said:but then can you just get 50 other people to try it?...
Well, I've already recommended it to one person - I don't know if I know 50 people with an iPhone and an interest in Bible software
Bob Pritchett said:(I saw your review with screenshots of problems, particularly with regard to Greek and Hebrew. We probably should not have even let those books be accessed through the first version of the app. Though they do work better than I expected; the iPhone doesn't really support Biblical Hebrew and critical apparatus markers out the box! We're already using your feedback, and others', to keep improving it.)
Yeah, the first impression was a bit of a disaster.
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Bob Pritchett said:
I'm not asking anyone to rate it beyond what they feel is fair. (Though if you think a 1 star is fair, I'm happy to have you sit out the ratings while we improve it! <smile>)
I agree with you Bob and I think iPhone Logos deserves 5 stars for the unique character of the application. You guys who look critically at it, try to find one more of that character. (But please don't name here Bible Readers where I have to repurchase all the resources and there is no sync with the Desktop Bible program of any kind, not even speaking about the library!) You rate the program not only for what it is now, but for what it is potentially (By the way, God looks at us that way :-))
Just one short info, the rating in the AppStore here in Europe is separated from the US one. I do not see any US reviews and you probably do not see ours... But that is just Apple decision, we are not able to do anything about it.
Bohuslav
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Bohuslav Wojnar said:
I agree with you Bob and I think iPhone Logos deserves 5 stars for the unique character of the application.
I agree here as well. the programmer's will never be able to keep pace with my imagination, or their own for that matter! Dreams become greater with accomplishment. The reason we have high expectations for what the Iphone App can be is because the team made it possible to get to where they currently are. That's a great feat!
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The issue of giving it a 5 because it is so unique is not valid in my opinion.
My reason for not giving it 5 stars was stated above. I would not even us it due to the offline/online issue except that it is a good program. But that one issue is so important to me having to the Edge network here where I live when away from wifi that even if the app fixed me breakfast in bead and walked my dog, as a Bible reader app I would not give it a 5 star. (well maybe if it walked my dog and did the breakfast thing).
As a book reader, I don't get to read the books would actually like to read away from my PC. I don't want to read most of what is available on my iPhone. I use bibles, but I can do that already on other apps. The passage guide is good, but the best commentary sets I own are not available. The sit down with a good book books that are available I've read most of already since they came in my original scholar's library. So I am still forced to cut the books I want to read and paste into a word document and load them on my Kindle which I guess is technically illegal and now that I think about it I've never actually done that (wink wink).
Dr. Kevin Purcell, Director of Missions
Brushy Mountain Baptist Association0 -
I checked the ratings today and it looks very curious. I think it is a superimposition coming from two group of users: (1) nice Logos users who want to give Logos some acknowledgement and encouragement, (2) non-Logos users who're not seeing much functionality with their app (nothing much coming up on word study, passage guide, no translation wheel etc).
I think Logos has to do something to appeal to the latter group of people (?more resources maybe, which can show the strengths of the software) in order to get better ratings, and tthus more non-Logos users on board?
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As an iTouch user I'm waiting to provide my rating until I'm actually able to get at least as much functionality from the Logos app as I do another competing app that allows me to have my resources off line (this is in line with my recommendation before the app was released). Unfortunately our church building doesn't have WiFi so the Logos app doesn't provide much for me currently where I need it most. As soon as I can access my apps offline and the apps are in usable shape, it's definitely a five star from my perspective. If I had to rate it now, it would get a much lower rating. However, I am recommending it to those that I know have an iPhone.
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As soon as in-book-syncing works between the iPhone app and logos 4 similar to how the Kindle/app works, I'll happily give it almost-5 stars. That's the biggest hold up for me.... I want and expect to be able to readily move between logos4 on pc/mac and the iphone app and have any book I'm reading open at the last spot...
(this is potentially over-important to me.. I'm reading through the bible for the first time end to end and really want the place saved...)
there are a variety of other little nits and bugs that i've posted that prevent 5 stars...
* no ability to change the background in read mode... my poor eyes want white text on black for some reason
* landscape mode has at least two oddities..
1 - When opening passage references (or almost anything in the up-finger-flick menu) and then closing them, the text appears in portrait mode for a split second before returning to landscape
2 - I've not tried to narrow this one down, but at least in the NLT bible if I start logos with the device in landscape mode, the text is formatted as if the device was in portrait mode width-wise.. length-wise, it is sized appropriately. I can fix this by rotating the device back and forth...
* Font/wordwrapping seems to not understand some of the formatting (that I assume exists underneath the displayed text) and inappropriately wraps partial words... specifically "Lord" (ord is in small caps) in NLT constantly gets split during line/wordwrapping into "L" and "ord".
* lack of sync support per the description on logos.com/iphone (Logos 4 even saves your last
location in each of your books, so you can leave your desk and pick up
your reading right where you left off using your iPhone or iPod Touch.)... to me this really reads as a bidirectional sync on the last-read-marker.* odd ordering in the library when "more books" is pressed a lot.. I'm pretty sure it starts duplicating entries after a while.. but it is hard to verify with many books on the tiny screen...
As it stands now:
I rate it 5 stars for being a library of my biblical books available most anywhere.
I rate it 1 star for being online only.
I rate it 3 stars with the synchronization feature as compared to Kindle and Kindle app on the iphone.
-jbl
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I'm one of those who is waiting to give my rating. Once I can access the books I have in my reading plans (NIV, BoC Tappert, Proper Distinction Walther, NVI) and gives access to at least a portion of my library offline (the books that I want to have with me) I'll give it a 5 star rating.
Until then I wait. I see holding off with my rating as an incentive for those at Logos to make the improvements in the program that will make the program useful to me. Once I see those changes, you'll have my 5 star rating (and I imagine the 5 star ratings of many more users).
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