NIV Audio Bible: David Suchet

I’ve had this app for years, it’s been one of my favourites! With the recent update we have seen a new feature allowing us to visibly highlight verses, thank you! So helpful! The update also has created some short comings, please can you change them for a better experience for phone users: - Scrolling between chapters, was a nice slide, you could see where you were going, now it just jumps and is hard to control! - I suffer from Dyslexia and the mono-font style text that was used before made reading so much more easier, helped me read my Bible with ease, this is the only app that has catered for Dyslexic people! - The verses followed along highlighted as David read aloud, it was very easy to follow along and pause so I could reflect. So very helpful due to having dyslexia my eyes would easily skip lines, having it highlighted makes following the words so much more easier and enjoyable! - When you press the play button, it plays where you were last at rather than the chapter you’ve selected, you have to manually click on the verse and tell it to play, causing a hinderance. My thoughts are if you make the app as easy to use, not only people will want to use it, but will encourage others to read the Bible more as it’s easier to access!

I agree with all the challenges reported. The reading and emphasis is great but text does not follow reading for long and loses altogether when phone goes into battery save mode. The highlighting when I’d does follow is hard to see. Moving forward or back is clumsy. At end of book, it stops and now does not automatically move to next book. I use it when driving so the lack of following or of changing books is a real issue esp on a long journey and across the shorter books. I have raised the issues repeatedly by email, and to no avail. Come on guys, to a programmer this is not rocket science. You need to do better….

David Suchet's reading is fantastic, just enough emphasis and expression to engage and bring the text to life, but avoiding the distracting over dramatisation of some audio versions. However, it is such a shame that more care wasn't taken over developing the user interface. It is glitchy, and far from intuitive to use. The feature to highlight text as it is read simply doesn't work. It is jumping all over the place. I don't understand how Apple allow apps on their store that promise features that don't work. In the real world you could take a physical purchase back to the shop for a refund if it didn't work as intended, but I suspect it is not that easy in the virtual world once they have your money. There is another feature in the audio section that displays 3 starting points for readings. They seem to act like bookmarks, but there is no obvious way to set them. If you touch or hold them them just play from that point. Swiping the pages from left or right is also glitchy. It's like the interface is fighting with you. It only works if you get right onto one edge of the screen and swipe fully across to the other edge. Overall, I'm very disappointed that such great content has been packaged in such a poorly thought out way. I hope they take the time and money to start from scratch and completely rethink the UI.