YouVersion Launches Bible Loop, a Scripture App Built for Teenagers
The app, made with the youth ministry OneHope, adds a verse memory game and daily devotionals matched to how a teen is feeling. It started as a test in India and has passed about a million installs.
See where this is ›YouVersion, the ministry behind the widely used Bible App, has launched Bible Loop, a new app made for teenagers who want to study Scripture, The Christian Post reported Thursday, Nov. 5. YouVersion founder and CEO Bobby Gruenewald said the app has been installed on more than 1 million devices around the world.
Gruenewald told The Christian Post in emailed comments that Bible Loop “began last year as a test in India, where we were seeing strong engagement with the Bible App for Kids.” It then spread to other countries before coming to the United States. “We recently launched it in the United States, and it's now available worldwide in four languages,” he said.
The app was built with OneHope, a Florida-based ministry founded in 1987 that works to reach children and young people with the gospel around the world. Gruenewald said OneHope's research helped shape the app, including its finding that Gen Alpha, whose oldest members are now teenagers, spends about four hours a day online. “We partnered with OneHope because of their experience reaching young people,” he said.
Two features set Bible Loop apart from YouVersion's other apps, Gruenewald said. A verse memory game lets teens test themselves and compare scores on an anonymous leaderboard, which he called “a little friendly competition.” With Daily Check-Ins, a teen picks how he or she is feeling that day and is given a short devotional that fits.
Bible Loop's own page on the YouVersion website describes a Verse of the Day with a matching phone wallpaper, a memory game with four levels, and devotionals chosen by mood that can be saved for later. That page lists “995K+” installs on Android and iOS, more than 50 Bible versions and “10+” languages, a higher language count than the four Gruenewald gave The Christian Post.
YouVersion began in 2007 as a digital ministry of Life.Church, a church in Oklahoma, according to the ministry's mission page. The app is free to download through the link on YouVersion's Bible Loop page.
