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YouVersion Bible App to Reach 300 Million Downloads by End of 2017OKLAHOMA CITY, Dec. 7, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As 2017 comes to a close, the YouVersion Bible App is closing in on a milestone: 300 million downloads. The Bible App was one of the first 200 free apps in the debut of Apple's App Store nine years ago. Since then, it has been downloaded in every country of the world. The Bible verse shared, bookmarked, and highlighted most often by the global YouVersion community this year was Joshua 1:9: "This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." "We believe the Bible is an enduring source of courage and strength," said Bobby Gruenewald, Life.Church Innovation Pastor and YouVersion Bible App founder. "We are encouraged to see from this year's data that people all over the world are finding hope in God's Word." The YouVersion community read and listened to 19.7 billion chapters of the Bible this year and created 1.4 billion highlights, bookmarks, and notes. On average, people created 42.3 highlights, listened to 96.1 audio chapters, and read 532 chapters every second of every day in 2017. This year, YouVersion saw even more people turn to the Bible App to explore God's Word, many in some unexpected places. Downloads in India increased by 228 percent this year, while downloads in Iraq grew by 155 percent. Mozambique saw downloads increase by 243 percent, and downloads in Argentina jumped by 131 percent. YouVersion works with partners to continously add languages to the Bible App, currently offering Bible text in 1,627 versions representing 1,169 languages. While we're closer than ever to having the Bible translated for everyone in the world, more than a billion people still don't have the Bible in their language. Alongside visionary partners, YouVersion is part of a movement to get the New Testament translated for 99.9% of the world's population by the year 2033. "We are at a pivotal point in history. In recent years, technology has made it possible to accelerate Bible translation like never before. There's incredible momentum around this effort that we know won't stop until every person has Scripture available in their heart language," said Gruenewald. Also this year, new features were added to the app to help the YouVersion community fully engage with the Bible:
"When people install the Bible App, it's usually because they want to read the Bible more, so we spend a lot of time thinking about how to help make it easier for them to do what they want to do. We're thrilled that our Bible engagement numbers are continually increasing because it tells us that we're helping people reach their goals," said Gruenewald. For a detailed look at the Bible App's 2017 stats, visit www.bible.com/2017. About YouVersion and The Bible App MEDIA CONTACTS: View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/youversion-bible-app-to-reach-300-million-downloads-by-end-of-2017-300568576.html SOURCE YouVersion |