L9 mobile app updates are underwhelming

While the search and Facebook features have taken big leap forward, I am underwhelmed overall with the L9 update from L8.

I just can't understand why widgets are still an afterthought for the mobile app. Apps that capitalize on that feature have become front and center on users phones. Instead we're stuck with an ill-fitted stock image of a widget. Its features like widgets that will make the app more appealing to Christians who are not pastors/professors/students. And it can only help the local minister when many members of his congregation use the same app.

Shortcuts integration is also baffling. Why can't we send a note or web article to Logos via share sheet? Logos has gone all-in on sermon managing and building, so why not allow this extra feature for collecting research?

Still basically no Apple Pencil support to speak of. Essentially a really expensive extension of your finger nail.

L9 is a big miss.

Thanks for the extra keyboard shortcuts on iPad I guess...

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Comments

Kenneth Neighoff

The mobile app does support Scribble. I have used it alot.

Myke Harbuck

I just can't understand why widgets are still an afterthought for the mobile app. Apps that capitalize on that feature have become front and center on users phones. Instead we're stuck with an ill-fitted stock image of a widget. Its features like widgets that will make the app more appealing

Please vote on this feature suggestion here: https://feedback.faithlife.com/boards/logos-mobile-app/posts/791

Still basically no Apple Pencil support to speak of. Essentially a really expensive extension of your finger nail.

Did you know that Scribble is now supported?

While the search and Facebook features have taken big leap forward, I am underwhelmed overall with the L9 update from L8.

L9 is a big miss.

Have you looked at the improvements to the reference scanner. You can now save the results as a passage list (which, BTW, is also now in L9).

And the addition of Factbook alone makes this release successful, IMO. It will bring much more simplified and streamlined Bible study to the mobile app, which is something users have been begging for. It opens up a while new way of accessing your Logos data! And I suspect that the mobile Factbook will only get better with time.

Josh Moore

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1128834#Comment_1128834

All of this should be understood with the prerequisite that I'm referring to iPhones, not iPads generally. They are two very different tools and software with different use cases and potential.

Please vote on this feature suggestion here: https://feedback.faithlife.com/boards/logos-mobile-app/posts/791

I have voted for it, I just find it odd that arguably the most talked-about update in iOS14 was completely ignored. If it's not obvious that the highlight features of an operating system are an opportunity for your product to shine...I just don't understand. UserVoice is great for "creative" ideas or suggestions from power users, but this kind of stuff should be obvious.

Did you know that Scribble is now supported?

Scribble is implemented in every app, it's not something to brag about. It was available in L8 on iPads as well. Will some use it? Sure. Does it in any way feel natural or native to the Logos app's functionality? No.

It will bring a much more simplified and streamlined Bible study to the mobile app, which is something users have been begging for.

I'm glad it's streamlined. It'll be helpful when I'm "in the field" and I need to do quick research for something I'm completely unprepared for (BTW the Counseling guide would have been KILLER on the phone). But how many of us do regular, legitimate Bible study on our phones? Maybe a quick look-up, but not deep study. I just think that there is a disconnect between how people think they'll use their phone vs how they actually use it. The iPhone always has and always will be limited in what it can do, both in hardware but also the nature of the app. Computers (and tablets more recently) are used for research and work while phones are used to connect and consume. We don't dig deep into anything on our phones..except our Twitter and Facebook feeds. However, there is something we all do every day. We pick up our phone first thing in the morning and see our notifications and home screen (widgets), we see a tweet that we want to remember for a future sermon or in reference to a specific verse (Shortcuts/Sharesheet), we scan through our favorite Social Media news feed and lose sight of time (custom notifications, prayer lists or daily devo), we have a five-minute window waiting for our drink order at Starbucks so we pull out our phone (recently opened guide/resource on desktop or mobile). There is a way we use our phones and a way that we think we use our phones. The design and functionality are driven by the latter.

Have you looked at the improvements to the reference scanner.

I have to admit the reference scanner could be pretty cool, but it is another example of a tool that comes up short. If you could send text or an image to Logos via Shortcuts or the sharesheet extension, you could open up the world of resource collection (illustrations, statistics, thoughts, etc.). How cool would it be to export a blog article about x-topic in the OT to the reference scanner and have a passage guide from that? How often do people read a printed document with multiple scripture references that you want to create a passage list from? That is a very specific use case that is not going to apply to the large majority of users. Maybe the sermon handout? But again, that's not the larger customer base, they've already written the sermon and handed those notes out.

Andrew Batishko

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1128969#Comment_1128969

BTW the Counseling guide would have been KILLER on the phone

FYI, the content from the Counseling Topic and Passages sections from the Counseling Guide are available in Factbook for Counseling Topic references. Adding the Related Counseling Topics and Monographs sections to Factbook are currently one of our higher Factbook priorities.

Josh Moore

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1128992#Comment_1128992

FYI, the content from the Counseling Topic and Passages sections from the Counseling Guide are available in Factbook for Counseling Topic references. Adding the Related Counseling Topics and Monographs sections to Factbook are currently one of our higher Factbook priorities.

The Factbook (Mobile and desktop) really is the crown jewel and the entire Faithlife team did a fantastic job on that tool. You all deserve a pat on the back for it.

And if I seem ungrateful, I apologize. Forums can seem very binary in our responses.

Andrew Batishko

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1129021#Comment_1129021

The Factbook (Mobile and desktop) really is the crown jewel and the entire Faithlife team did a fantastic job on that tool. You all deserve a pat on the back for it.

And if I seem ungrateful, I apologize. Forums can seem very binary in our responses.

Thank you! I'll pass that along.

No problem on the other. We really do appreciate the feedback.

Simon

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1129031#Comment_1129031

I'm disappointed that the Passage Guide is not updated in the new mobile app. In the Desktop app you can easily recognize the commentaries by the series abbreviation and author. In the mobile app you only see a list of commentary names, without any clue to recognize which commentary is which. When I see a list of commentaries which all have the name "1 Corinthean", how am I supposed to know which is which?

Please show the author and series-abbreviation for each commentary in the Passage Guide of the Android Logos app..

Daniel Di Bartolo

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1130246#Comment_1130246

Thanks for the feedback on Passage Lists Simon. We intend to spend some time improving our guides experience on mobile soon.

James McAdams

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1130382#Comment_1130382

Thanks for the feedback on Passage Lists Simon. We intend to spend some time improving our guides experience on mobile soon.

That’s great to hear! Honestly, the more you can close the gap with the web-app, the better.

I really hope that the atlas returns to the mobile app and that media results will be better handled - less stuff that takes us out of the app, and full-screen images that we can zoom in on etc.