Speed is everything. Well, not always. In fact I don’t really think that how fast a Bible app opens on the iPhone or iPod Touch is that big a factor in judging the quality of a Bible app so long as it opens in a decent amount of time (less than 6-10 seconds) and does actually open. However, with the recent upgrade of OliveTree, the speed at which the app opens has become a bragging point. OliveTree says they cut the time it takes to open the app in half. So I got curious and tested my four favorites (Laridian PocketBible, Logos, MantisBible and OliveTree) plus YouVersion since it is so popular. Just a note, the only reason I don’t count YouVersion as one of my favorites is that it really is only a Bible reading app. There are no commentaries or other recourses in it. Just so you can try it out, what I did was open each app cold – which is to say that I had not opened it previously. Apps will open faster if they were open before since the iPhone OS leaves some programs in memory. So to ensure this, I actually rebooted my iPhone by pressing and holding the power button on the top and the home botton just below the screen. It gives you a red slider and you slide it into position and the phone shuts down. Press and hold the power button on the top of the device to start it back up after about a minute. Then I made sure that it was fully started and began by first opening the each Bible app first cold (never opened before) and then I closed it by pressing the home button and reopened it. I timed just counting 1-1,000, 2-1,000. I know it is not that scientific but its good enough for this kind of test.
Here are my results.
PocketBible opened up to HCSB cold in 7 seconds. It reopened in less than 3 seconds.
OliveTree opened up to ESV cold in 4 seconds. It reopened in less than 2 seconds.
Logos opened to the Home screen (cannot open directly to a Bible) in less than 5 seconds. There was no difference when reopening. This is probably due to the fact that it must contact the Logos server. I was testing using Wi-Fi.
MantisBible opened to the ESV cold in just under 5seconds. It reopened in just over 3 seconds.
YouVersion opened to NET cold in 4 seconds. It reopened in 5 seconds. I downloaded the translation so that I’d be opening an offline version.
My conclusion is that while OliveTree is one of the fastest, it is not so much faster that it should be a factor in app quality. In fact, unless I notice a program taking a very long time to open, I would never even mention this in future reviews of Bible apps for the iPhone. Finally, since Logos has to contact the Logos server except when you have your phone in airplane mode, it will take longer if you have a slower connection. Most of the time Wi-Fi will be the fastests with 3G next followed by Edge. Sometimes when I am on Edge, Logos’ app is very slow to open. The iPhone OS gives an app 30 seconds to open. If it fails to open in that amount of time, then it will kill the app making it look like it is crashing. Sadly, on Edge this as caused problems when opening Logos’ app. It MantisBible used to have this problem, but they fixed it. I’ve never had this problem with OliveTree or PocketBible. And YouVersion will always need an Internet connection to be used effectively.
