Bible Reader · JBH Studio
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A Bible that reads to you, listens to you, and answers.

Made for one reader with Parkinson's and failing eyesight. The reader is free for everyone; study aids are optional in-app purchases.

Get the app Read the guide
  • iPad, iPhone and Mac
  • No account
  • Nothing leaves the device
One screen

Big buttons, nothing to set up

The page is the Bible. Above it, a few buttons, each larger than any you've pressed on an iPad, each labelled in words. No menus, no gestures to learn, nothing to confirm.

Why

Every Bible app assumed a steady hand and a patient eye. She had neither.

So this one assumes nothing.

The buttons were too small, the menus went three deep, and the text was fine at arm's length and gone up close. This app has large type, large buttons, and a voice that reads. Someone sets up two things once, in the iPad's own Settings: a natural voice and Apple Intelligence for Ask's written answers. Ten minutes, and the reader never sees either again.

Private

Everything stays on your iPad.

No account. No sign-in. Nothing you read or say leaves the device — not because of a privacy policy, but because there is no code that could send it. The King James text and loads of public-domain reference works are built in, each credited inside the app. See what's included.

What's in the app

The reader is free. The study aids are in-app purchases.

  1. Free

    The King James Bible

    The whole King James Version, with the words of Christ in red if you want them. Each chapter opens with a short summary of what happens in it; tap a line to go to its verse. Read aloud, and Search for any word.

  2. Study aids · in-app purchase

    References built in for the Margin and Ask

    Everything the Margin shows beside a verse and Ask answers from comes with the app, on the device, nothing to download.

    • Dictionaries Easton's · Smith's · the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
    • Topics Nave's Topical Bible · Torrey's New Topical Textbook
    • Commentary Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
    • Names what they mean (Hitchcock's) · who and where they are (STEP Bible)
    • Hebrew & Greek Strong's dictionaries · STEP Bible word data
    • Cross-references openbible.info · the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
    • Old words plain meanings of King James words, written for this app
    • Today's English the Berean Standard Bible, beside the King James

  3. Download · in Settings

    Five more commentaries

    About 157 MB, for the Margin and Ask: Matthew Henry complete · Adam Clarke · Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Barnes' Notes (New Testament) · Spurgeon's Treasury of David (Psalms).

  4. Download · in Settings

    Five more Bibles

    About 28 MB, shown beside the King James in the Margin: the World English Bible · Reina-Valera 1909 and Nueva Biblia Viva (Spanish) · Chinese Union Version and Chinese Contemporary Bible. Speak reads the Spanish and Chinese in a voice for that language.

Every work, its date and licence

Developer notes

Reading an 1871 dictionary with three OCR engines What was Rebekah's earring worth? Why Speak said "twenty-four thousand twenty-two"

All notes

Requires an iPad or iPhone running iPadOS or iOS 26 or later, or a Mac with Apple silicon running macOS 26. Written answers require Apple Intelligence.