I’m sure I’m not alone when I say life is busy. There are just so many demands on our time these days. Personally, I’m in season where each and every spare moment feels like a savory little morsel (like that last little sprinkle of chip crumbles out of a bag of Doritos). As I write this, I’m a father of 5, a husband, a newly ordained pastor of a church plant in a building that’s requiring a lot of love, I run two businesses, and work a full-time job.

So, to say that organization is key to keeping the plates spinning would be a bit of an understatement.

But, “busy” should never be something that gets in the way of our time in the Word. Just as you wouldn’t let “busy” keep you from breathing, we have to view God’s word as equally life-giving. Because it is!

Start with the right why

Now, before we begin this list, I want to clarify - time in the Word is not a checkbox. There isn’t a magical amount of Bible reading that makes you a better Christian. Heaven isn’t Pizza Hut and reading Scripture enough doesn’t get us the Book It! certificate. So start with the right “why” in mind. Make a habit of Scripture reading because you cherish your relationship with God and you desire to grow deeper with Him.

With that said, admittedly, especially if you haven’t been in the Word regularly, making it a habit can at first feel like you’re just checking a box. Those first few days can be tough! But that can be said of any habit! It takes time to force your brain into those patterns and rhythms, and that’s okay! You’re not odd because you struggle with this! We all do! But starting this journey because you desire that relationship with God is not only the correct motivation, it’s also the one that will put you on the long-track to success.

Now without further ado, I present you with a list of my three favorite apps for tracking scripture reading, updated in February of 2024:

Youversion Bible App

App Store | Google Play Store | Web App

YouVersion’s Bible App comes to us from the team at Life.Church, and I think what I love absolutely most about the Bible app is how accessible it has made scripture worldwide. It’s estimated that something like 85% of people worldwide use a smartphone. To add some additional, staggering perspective, it’s estimated that about 74% of the worlds population has consistent and secure access to clean drinking water. Smartphones are so ubiquitous that they are 11% more common that one of the most crucial elements to human survival.

And YouVersion saw this whitespace and said “lets do it!” and do it they have! The YouVersion app boasts 650 million unique installs, with 3000 different Bible translations available in 2,000 different languages, all for free and without any ads whatsoever.

I actually had a really unique opportunity a few years back to see the office where the YouVersion development team works, and it was amazing! One of the coolest things I saw was a huge TV screen with a map of the world, and everytime someone in the world opened the YouVersion app, a little blip would show up on the map, so you could see, in real time, how far reaching the Word of God was through this app, out of it’s humble little roots here in Oklahoma City! I would wager that perhaps the only bigger revolution in accessiblity of Scripture came at the hands of Johannes Gutenberg in 1440. (thats the printing press for those of you who aren’t history nerds)

To speak for a moment about the actual content of the app, all I can really say is, it’s just top notch! Very well designed, very useful interface, and lots of really helpful tools such as highlighting, bookmarks, notes, prayer lists, social elements, and more!

To help you develop your scripture reading habits, the Bible App has a ton of different reading plans not only for things like Bible in a year, chronological Bible, topical readings, but also lots of devotional reading plans with contributions from other authors as well!

Here’s what I like:

• Free

• Tons of different plans

• Simple, clean UI

• Push notifications

• Lots of additional features

Wishlist:

• Ability to create your own personal reading plans

• Tools for additional, deeper study

Blue Letter Bible

App Store | Google Play Store | Web App

The Blue Letter Bible has been around for nearly 30 years, and started simply as a project by a group of believers in California to make scripture accessible on the public internet which was still in it’s infancy in those days. Very much in the same spirit as the YouVersion Bible App. Both have made great strides over the decades to make scripture more accessible to people all around the world, and really, what more could you ask for?

Since it’s humble beginnings as a site with just a copy of the KJV and a couple of resources, the Blue Letter Bible now includes over 30 translations, several devotionals, interlinear Greek, commentaries, dictionaries, cross-references, reading plans, and more!

The Blue Letter Bible definitely leans more academic, in my opinion than the Bible App does, but I don’t think they sacrifice usability in doing so by any means!

To keep you on track, Blue Letter Bible gives you a handful of different reading plans and has a simple checklist style tracker to see your progress.

Here’s what I like:

• Free

• In-app reading

• Translations are more limited to the more common ones

• Lots of resources for deeper study of the text

• Variety of reading plans

Wishlist:

• A slightly more polished interface

• Notifications

• Ability to create your own reading plan

Logos

Google Play Store | App Store | Web App | Desktop App

In my humble opinion, I have definitely saved the best for last. Logos is just unrivaled when it comes to Bible study tools.

Logos had an early start like Blue Letter Bible, actually releasing their first version of the Logos software in 1992. Logos began life as a desktop app for reading the Bible and has grown tremendously over the last three decades to include an unbelievable number of resources.

Personally, I use Logos for basically everything. It’s got word study tools, notes, highlights, reading plans, extensive library, and tons of feature and library add-ons! What I really love is the sermon manager. I use it to write sermons and other studies. It allows me to keep track of all of the elements of the message like topic(s), source text(s), series management, audience, etc. This obviously isn’t a feature thats going to grab everyone, but it just goes to show how extensive the capabilities are!

When it comes to helping you stay on track, the reading plans in Logos are unique from the others on this list in that they allow you to actually create reading plans for anything in your library. You can set your own reading schedule and even create a shared reading plan with a group of friends for some additional accountability! When it comes to scripture reading plans, you’ve got over 60 to choose from from time-based objectives to topical studies and more.

Here’s what I like:

• Free

• Simple checklist style reading tracking

• Simple, clean interface

• Group reading

• Extensive capabilities far beyond just reading

Wishlist:

• Reminders

Whether you're a seasoned Bible pro, or you're just starting out and trying to get a hang of this Bible reading thing, if you're a checklist kind of person, there's no doubt that an app like one of the above can help you stay consistent with your scripture reading plans. And if there's something that is universally true about good habits, it's that consistency is key.

What do you do to stay consistent in the Word? Let us know!

*Disclaimer - Apps can be developed by people of any religious background. We at A Frank Voice are Christian, and affirm only those views of the Christian church. We do not know the background or beliefs of the develops of all of these apps, but as of this writing, no views contradictory to the Christian Church appear in any of these apps either explicitly or implicitly.