We are wrapping up 2022 and wanted to give everyone a recap of the work done on the app this year. Much of the app has been rewritten behind the scenes to prepare for the next round of updates coming in 2023. We are very excited about this next year as we prepare to release the Bible Study Together App 4.0 which will feature a “non-reading plan” Bible, more reading plans, and the ability to have more than one group. We plan to roll out these through 2023.

Holy Land Videos Coming to the App

On another exciting note, we have partnered with Appian Media to bring HOLY LAND VIDEOS to the app in January of 2023! We have the first round of 74 videos ready to go into the app for the first of the year. The videos are short explanations that take you on-site through the life of Jesus and cover lots of great archaeological discoveries. Many more extremely high-quality videos will be coming from them too as we are very excited about this partnership. Check out their website and consider supporting their work! https://www.appianmedia.org/

Help Others Read the Bible in 2023

Please encourage your church to get on board reading the Bible together with our app and resources. 2023 is bringing many fresh experiences to our app helping us to accomplish the goal of making community Bible reading “normal” in the church. Please help join us on this mission by encouraging people to start reading the Bible in 2023 by sharing this link on social media: https://biblestudytogether.com/where-to-start-reading-the-bible/

New Features in 2022:

– Screen stays on while audio bible text tracking is active
– Audio player speed now displays the adjusted duration
– UI improvements on Home Screen
– ESV Bible text automatically scrolls in sync with its audio Bible
– Group Sizes of up to 500 users
– In-app notification of new group activity
– New/Updated posts highlighted on the fellowship page
– Added tutorial video for using prayer features
– Edit prayer while praying
– Internet connection detection on required pages
– Major framework maintenance update
– Audio Bible variable speed playback
– App remembers the last used Bible translation
– Pause timed prayer sessions
– Added prompt for feedback and bug reporting
– New vibration option for timed prayer transitions

Bug fixes in 2022:

– Fixed issue where using Pray Now without active prayers
– Resolved audio loading sequence (potentially causing audio to get stuck in a loop)
– Some group members could have been locked out after their admin updated the group description
– Group members couldn’t reset their accounts if they were locked out
– The textbox for adding comments to Posts was not rendering properly
– Fixed video player navigation and buttons not working properly
– Fixed mobile pop keyboard issues
– Fixed date picker partially off the screen on the date scheduler
– Prayer Update Description Editing
– Long fellowship comments not visible
– Paused Prayer was un-paused on swipe
– long back swipe on pray now caused random behaviors
– Bible text rendering for Days 561 and 579
– improve stability
– fix the white screen app crash when new group members join
– improved layout for groups on tablets
– Fixed issue where ESV audio Bible not playing properly
– Fixed UI issue with header verse reference while scrolling

Please help us get more people to read the Bible by sharing our 2023 invitation here:
https://biblestudytogether.com/where-to-start-reading-the-bible/
If you would like another Bible reading plan check out our list or learn more about our chronological cross-reference Bible reading plan.