I want to use Logos Mobile Apps

I use e-sword for most mobile app Bible needs. I would prefer to use Logos. Below explains why I use e-Sword. This is not an advert for e-Sword. The point is my effort to participate in making Logos mobile apps faster and easier to use.

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When I use Logos for work or research, study or research, I am nearly always on my computer. I love Logos on a PC. I have found nothing equal to it.

When I am teaching before a crowd, speaking before a group, studying casually on a train or bus, or having discussion at small-group, I am usually using my iPhone or iPad. I don't use Logos. It does not meet my need. I use e-Sword. Why?

1. On mobile devices...Speed is essential. Logos is slow. Wheels spin, data downloads, indexing is incomplete, the internet often isn't consistently reliable where I am, and even if it is, searching, library-ing, indexing--is just too slow. On a mobile device, I want snappy speed. Now. E-Sword (and others) provide that. Logos could do as well or better.

Workarounds like putting my phone in airplane mode help, but even then, during a search, Logos goes hunting a while Searching "so loved" offline took 7-9 seconds; searching online 3-12 seconds as recorded after multiple tries. E-Sword finds it the instant I touch search.

I extensively travel internationally in locations where internet is often unavailable, unstable or blocked. Perhaps other Logos users find themselves in rural areas, thick-walled churches or apartments where internet also is unreliable. I wish Logos mobile apps were better adapted to accommodate offline use. For Logos to be most useful, mobile app speed is essential.

2. On mobile devices...My needs are typically simple, searches are simple, number of resources few and complexity is usually basic. I don't need desktop Logos on my mobile device. Sure, let me access everything in case I want it, but fundamentally make the mobile app a mobile app, so it meets my snappy, capture-the-moment mobile needs.

3. On mobile devices...I can find my way to what I want almost instantly. I don't have to go on a scavenger hunt for icons or my way pawing through a perpetually indexing library. When I want a dictionary, lexicon or commentary, when I want to change Bible versions or see a few version in Parallel, when I want a harmony, e-Sword has icons right in front of me, with the resources I want available almost instantly. I can chose what resources appear in lists. This is not and advert for e-Sword. Sure it is a great program, but Logos is so much better, I paid a lot for that "better-ness," but on mobile apps, fancy as they are, performance renders Logos an amazing curiosity, but not a functional mobile-app tool.

Please help us find ways to make better use of Logos mobile apps.

Thanks

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Comments

JT (alabama24)

I'm with you, but there is no end of those with different perspectives. In fact, it is quite common for people to expect the mobile app to be the full fledged equivalent of the desktop app.

GaoLu

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/847472#Comment_847472

Thanks for your thoughts. A full-fledged, screaming fast desk-top app on a mobile device might be nice (and a few of us Logos old-timers would like that), but something tells me, that is not what most people will most often do on a mobile device. That is not what will set the hook for new users who will buy resources.

I am surprised to have no other response, but perhaps that represents the degree of interest in such apps. Or perhaps I could have written a crisper, clearer post.

I think that most users are likely to get the most use from Logos mobile apps if those apps do very well what is most useful.

1. Find search results quickly compared to other apps.

2. Perform quickly and well a handful of functions that 90% of users are likely to do on a mobile device.

3. Create a clean user interface that does 90% of what most users are likely to most often do on a mobile device.

With the trend toward mobile device usage being so prevalent, I wonder how many younger users would buy into Logos resources if a mobile app actually did what they want to do quickly and well. If not, they will buy resources for the app that does.

In Short: Create an app that is better than the competition. Sell resources now. Add bells and whistles later.

In Long: Actually the Logos mobile app is already loaded with bells, whistles and gee-whiz features, so that base is well-covered in advance. I am thankful for those features and use them in rare instances. But the app does not do what I most often need (see points 1-3 above). Does anyone else find this to be true? Are there enough other people who care? I wish Logos had an app I could recommend to young mobile device users as the best out there that would meet their needs. Logos, can you create that? '

Then just watch those mobile app users start buying resources!

Graham Criddle

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/847808#Comment_847808

I am surprised to have no other response, but perhaps that represents the degree of interest in such apps. Or perhaps I could have written a crisper, clearer post.

I have no "comparative reference" as I have probably used other mobile apps fewer than six times and that was just to get an idea of what they did. Whereas I do use the Logos mobile apps frequently and for a range of different purposes.

I think that most users are likely to get the most use from Logos mobile apps if those apps do very well what is most useful.

That sounds reasonable

1. Find search results quickly compared to other apps.

Search results are fine for me - they work better when online but acceptable when offline

2. Perform quickly and well a handful of functions that 90% of users are likely to do on a mobile device.

Its probably difficult to quantify what 90% of users will use the apps for.

I use it for:

daily Bible readings and reading other resources - often with associated reading plans
ad-hoc study (I have around 200 resources downloaded to my device) - someone raised a question after our Sunday service last week and we were able to explore it effectively and well using the Bible! app
quite a lot of highlighting which works well
limited amount of note taking - I do more of than on my desktop
some basic study (Passage Guide, BWS) but very limited

For these purposes it suits me very well

3. Create a clean user interface that does 90% of what most users are likely to most often do on a mobile device.

I am familiar with the interface and it works well for me.

Yes, there are things I wish it would do better:

I would like Passage Guides to work offline
I would really like Sermon Documents to be viewable (ideally editable) within the app
I would like it to be easier to look up words in lexicons without going through BWS

But I don't know how much the usage - and "likes" - listed above match the 90% of mobile users

James McAdams

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/847809#Comment_847809

I think the app is excellent at most things, but the following are the biggest weaknesses by my book:

bible search - I'd like it to remember my last search filters - I keep having to change it from "top bibles" to LEB. I also wish it gave the number of results, loaded them all through at once (whether online or offline - my concern is less about the speed of finding the results and more about the speed at which I can read through them - waiting a few more seconds for them to load wouldn't kill me as long as I could read them in a clean and organised manner, without waiting for the next set to load through as I'm going down the list of results)
basic search results organised by resource
offline access to Strongs info for downloaded bibles
the option of having the main panel "lead" the bottom panel (I don't tend to use the second panel as I often find myself losing my place in the main panel - it's easy to recover, but it's enough to break my flow).

Other than that, even given the online restrictions for some tools, I don't think I'd ever need to use other apps as I'd be able to meet my basic needs entirely through Logos, plus have access to the ridiculously powerful "extras".

Just for the sake of balance, I'd like to say that Logos is my favourite E-reading app in terms of just reading through a resource - thanks to page numbers, beautifully formatted text, inline footnotes, the various options for scrolling, paging and the two finger scroll, etc - there's nothing else that ticks all the boxes on this front for me as well as Logos does.

I love the way that you access the tools by swiping up on a verse, I adore being able to use my own reading plans, I love the prayer-list, I love the notes...

I think the app is incredible, and recommend it regularly. But I do find myself going elsewhere for searches, and I do find myself neglecting the second panel (unlike other apps) because I can't scroll in it without messing up the main panel. Don't get me wrong, I think having the option for either/both to lead is good, but it wouldn't be my default.

Kevin Byford (Faithlife)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/847811#Comment_847811

the option of having the main panel "lead" the bottom panel (I don't tend to use the second panel as I often find myself losing my place in the main panel - it's easy to recover, but it's enough to break my flow).

Have you tried enabling the panel link option? Please see https://monosnap.com/file/CDcOtd18RTz4EiPTdeaD2AGqrsCGk7 .

James McAdams

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/847909#Comment_847909

the option of having the main panel "lead" the bottom panel (I don't tend to use the second panel as I often find myself losing my place in the main panel - it's easy to recover, but it's enough to break my flow).

Have you tried enabling the panel link option? Please see https://monosnap.com/file/CDcOtd18RTz4EiPTdeaD2AGqrsCGk7 .

Yes, but I think it lets both panels lead, so I can end up losing my place in the main panel because I've scrolled too far in the second panel. It's fine for parallel bibles but not so helpful for commentaries where I might want to go back & forth to understand a given text in the main panel.

Myke Harbuck

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/847909#Comment_847909

Have you tried enabling the panel link option? Please see https://monosnap.com/file/CDcOtd18RTz4EiPTdeaD2AGqrsCGk7 .

Kevin,

Can you speak to some of the proposed enhancements that might come to mobile in the next year? I know nothing is a sure thing, but what is the vision for Bible! in the future? Thanks.

Kevin Byford (Faithlife)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/848669#Comment_848669

Kevin,

Can you speak to some of the proposed enhancements that might come to mobile in the next year? I know nothing is a sure thing, but what is the vision for Bible! in the future? Thanks.

Hi Myke, I am not in the position to comment on proposed enhancements, possible upcoming features, etc. for the mobile apps.

The next 12 months is a long time, and many features might be proposed or discussed internally and then decided against later because of unforeseen circumstances, app direction, coding issues, etc. If we say a feature is coming but it doesn't work out as expected, we're liars, promise breakers, dishonest, etc. You've seen what often happens on these forums so it's really safer not to say anything at all.