Get Started with the Verbum Mobile App

 

Note: This video was made using an older version of the software.

Welcome to the Verbum mobile app! In this article, we’ll briefly walk through the basic features of the app. For more detailed help, visit the Verbum Support center.

Note: Some features available below may require the latest version of Verbum Bible Software.

Skip ahead to:

• Setup the App
• Get Oriented
• Navigate Resources
• Engage in Study

 

1. Setup the App

Note: If you’ve already logged in, skip ahead to get oriented.

The first time you open the Verbum mobile app, you’ll be able to either start reading one of the free Bibles associated with the app (or optionally one of the other free books) or sign in to your Verbum account or create a new one.

2. Get Oriented

When opened, the app opens to your last-viewed resource in the central tabs view. If you have multiple tabs open, swipe to switch between them.

Note: If you have a book set to display in scrolling mode, you will need to use a two-finger swipe to switch to another tab.

Did you know? You can change the default font, font size, spacing, and theme (i.e., light or dark mode) of the app from the more actions menu settings. Learn more.

A navigation bar at the bottom of the screen provides quick access to the major sections of the app. If you can’t see these options, tap the top bar of the screen to bring up the navigation bar. Tap any icon to view the respective area.

• Dashboard () gives you quick access to your reading plans, Quickstart layouts, lectionaries, prayer lists, and more. It also displays featured Verbum content and links to popular resources and media. To close the Dashboard, tap Done on the upper right of your screen. Learn more about the mobile Dashboard.
• Library () holds all your books. By default, all your books stay in the cloud, though you can tap the download icon  to place a book on your phone or tablet for offline use. Learn more about the mobile Library.
• Tab View () opens an overview of all opened tabs. Each tab represents an open book, search, guide, or any other feature. You can split tabs between two items, link tabs to scroll together, save tab layouts for use later, and more.
• Bible () opens your Top Bible. You can also access this option in the Tabs view. Learn how to set your Top Bible.
• The More Items Menu () expands a menu with access to all of the areas and features available within the Verbum app. It’s a great place to go if you can’t remember where to find a specific feature.

On tablets, you'll also find icons for:

• Factbook () opens the Factbook.
• Documents () opens a list of your recent Verbum documents.
• Tools () opens a list of tools and guides available in Verbum.
• Store () opens the Verbum store.
• Layouts () offer a set of pre-defined layout options for your current panel. Learn more about layouts in the Verbum Mobile App. This replaces Tab View on the tablet navigation bar.

Each of these features is available for your phone in the More Items Menu.

Did you know? You can set a Top Bible as the default Bible for any opened passage, guide, or tool. Learn more.

3. Navigate Resources

You can open any book you have access to from the Library . While reading any books, you have access to additional tools and menus to help you get the most out of your study.

Highlighting Tool

To highlight any phrase, press and immediately drag to apply your most recently used highlight.

Note: This requires you to have Swipe to Highlight enabled in View Settings for the resource.

To change or delete  any highlight, tap the highlight to show the Insights Panel. The top section shows your most recently-applied highlights. You can access additional highlights by tapping the more actions icon .

Insights Panel

You can open the Insights Panel by tapping the Insights Button or by selecting text. Tap any sentence to select it. For larger or smaller selections, drag one of the blue handles to set your selection. The Insights Panel is resource-dependent, so each selection card will reflect the selected content.

The panel includes three sections:

• Highlights: select or delete a highlight style.
• Guides and Tools: quick access to common guides and tools.
• Additional Information and Insights: includes a number of sub-sections containing access to more detailed information; tap one to open it and see the information it contains. Learn more.

 

Navigation bar

The top navigation bar provides helpful context-aware options and tools.

• Tap  to return to your last position in the current book.
• Tap the Change Book button to see available parallel books.
• Tap the Table of Contents icon  to visually navigate to any section of your current book.
• Use the search bar to navigate to a new location in the book (e.g., “John 1:1”).
• Tap the Audio icon to hear your book read aloud.
• The More Actions Menu () holds a variety of powerful tools and features, like view settings, where you can adjust font size, change to a dark theme, and more.

 

4. Engage in Study

The Verbum Bible mobile app flexes and adjusts to each user. As you study, you’ll find paths that work best for you. Because everything syncs between devices and platforms, you’ll always have access to your latest notes and resources. Here are a few of the most popular study methods and tools.

Skip ahead to:

• Split screens, linked tabs, and saved layouts
• Notes, clippings, and highlights
• Reading plans
• Reference Scanner
• Original language study
• Four ways to search

Note: For more detailed help, visit the Verbum Support center.

Split screens, linked tabs, and saved layouts

You can set any tab to show two resources and then link them to scroll together. Not only does this take advantage of your screen space, but it also enhances your study be making more information visible at a time.

Note: If you need some help setting up layouts, go to the mobile home screen and choose a default Quickstart layout. Learn more about split screens, linked tabs, or saved layouts.

Notes, clippings, and highlights

There are several ways to mark important details in your study. Knowing which tools are available to you can help you choose the best tool for each portion of your study.

• Notes: Notes are your personal comments on any book in your library. Tap and hold until blue handles appear and the word is selected. Drag the handles to complete your selection and then tap Note in the Insights Panel. This anchors your personal comments to your selected text and inserts a small note icon by default so you can quickly view your note. The notes tool makes it easy to sort, filter, and search to find previous notes. You can also group individual notes by notebooks for further organization. Learn more about the notes tool.
• Clippings: Clippings are personal collections of saved quotations. They help you pull together important quotes and insights on any theme, passage, or topic. To add any selection to a clippings document, tap and hold on your book until blue handles appear and the word is selected. Drag the handles to complete your selection and then tap Clip in the Insights Panel. Learn more about the clippings tool.
• Highlights: You can quickly highlight any word or phrase by tapping and immediately dragging. This applies your most recent highlight. Learn more about the highlighting tool.

Reading plans

You can set aside books to read, create reading plans for nearly any book in your library, and receive daily reminders to engage in your reading plans.

The Reading tab in the Library holds your saved books for reading later and any reading plan—those shared with a group, personal plans, and plans you’ve already completed.

• Save books to Read Later: Verbum mobile lets you mark books you’d like to read later. Find any non-reference book in your Library or open a non-reference book in a new tab. Then, tap the more actions icon . Finally, tap Add to Read Later to save a book to your Read Later area. You can find all these books under the new Reading tab in the Library.
• Create a reading plan: Tap the more actions icon  for any book in your Library and choose Start a reading plan. Verbum breaks your book into manageable reading sessions, so you can focus on reading. Tap Start to begin! If available, you can even listen to the audio Bible.
• Set up notifications: In the Settings menu under Reading Reminder, you can set up a reading reminder to be notified to read each day. Tapping the notification opens the app.

Note: Learn more about reading plans in the Verbum mobile app.

Print Library ISBN Scanner

From the More Items Menu , tap Print Library ISBN Scanner . Verbum will now let you upload books from your Print library and show that you have access to that particular resource. This will help further join your digital and print libraries.
Learn more about Print Library ISBN Scanner.

Reference Scanner

Snap a photo of a Bible reference in a book, bulletin, and more, and the Verbum mobile app will open your Bible to that reference. You can use an existing photo on your device or scan a document live.

1. Open the More Items Menu  and under Tools tap Reference Scanner.
2. Tap Scan to take a picture of your references. Verbum will identify any references in the photo.

The reference scanner returns a list of biblical references from your Top Bible. Tap a reference to expand it and view the entire verse. You can even save the list of references as a passage list.

Note:  Learn more about the Reference Scanner.

Original language study

The mobile app includes several ways to study original languages.

1. Insights Panel
   The easiest way to study original languages is with the Insights Panel. Tap and hold a word to open the panel. Then, tap Word Info to view an Info Card offering quick access to original language study tools. Tap the more actions icon on the card relating to the word and select the Word Study option .

   

   Note: The Louw Nida number used to appear in the Word Info card but was removed because it didn't provide a mechanism to copy / paste the information to use elsewhere. It was removed to make that space available for more helpful word information.

2. Exegetical Guide 
   Double tap a verse and select the Exegetical Guide from the Insights Panel.

   

   This guide provides a detailed analysis of the underlying Greek or Hebrew text in any Bible passage to help you understand and interpret it accurately. It includes entries from your apparatuses, grammars, and includes a word-by-word lexical analysis of individual words in your passage. Learn more about the Exegetical Guide.
   

   Note: You can also access the Exegetical Guide from the More Items Menu .

Three ways to search

With the Verbum Bible mobile app you can run basic and intermediate searches to scan through your open books or search within your entire library for words or phrases.

There are three main ways of invoking the search function- and more details are available in the Mobile Search article:

1. Using the Search tool from the More Items Menu
2. Using the Insights Panel 
3. Using the Search Button  at the top of a book

While you can configure any of the methods to fit any search need, their defaults help you run the distinct search types listed above. Here are a few customizations you can add to any search:

• Find a phrase containing all of the words: add multiple words with spaces between each (e.g., faith hope love)
• Find a phrase containing any of the words: add multiple words with the word OR between each (e.g., faith OR hope OR love)
• Find exact wording: surround any phrase with quotation marks to return only results with your precise phrase (e.g., “faith and hope”)
• Exclude a term from search: add a hyphen before any word to exclude it from your search (e.g., faith hope glory -charity)
• Find references to a verse: enter the verse reference after the bible keyword (e.g. bible:"John 1:1")
• Find word combinations: use operators like AND, OR, and AFTER (e.g., joy AND peace) to locate specific word combinations
• Access Verbum datasets: use search parameters such as person:"Judah (patriarch)" or lemma:g:λόγος.

Note: Learn more about searching in the Verbum mobile app. For more information on using search operators, check out the Advanced Searching section of the Verbum help file.