While I personally love reading my Bible, I know many people prefer listening to the Word. Most people consumed the original books of the Bible audibly instead of visually in a book or scroll. If you’re looking for the best audio Bible app for your iPhone (or even Android!), this list is for you. We’ll dive into the top 5 options, each with its unique features to enhance your Bible listening experience.
Dwell: Audio Bible – Best Audio Bible Apps for Dedicated Bible Listeners Willing to Pay for a Subscription
The Dwell: Audio Bible app runs on iPhone and iPad. Users can install it on a Mac thanks to Apple’s M processors. Finally, it also works on Android.
When you open the app, you see a screen with four tabs across the bottom and the Settings icon in the upper right. This screen appears after you go through the first setup screen the first time you run the app.
Home shows you various listening options. There’s an Explore tab to find something to listen to. The Bible tab lets you listen based on predefined listening plans or by book of the Bible split into two screens for the Old and New Testament. Finally, you can search the Bible, which will help you listen to a specific passage. You see the Me tab with Favorite verses, Downloads, Playlists, Plans, and your Listening Queue.
Try out Dwell app for free, but you’ll need to buy a subscription to use the full feature set. It costs $39.99 a year or $7.99 a month. That’s steep, but if you really love listening to the Bible, try it out and subscribe for a month. The $40/year will seem worth it if you find it useful. Otherwise, try one of the options below.
Bible from YouVersion – Best Free Audio Bible Apps
Most Bible listeners will enjoy free over $40 or $8. The most popular Bible app on mobile is YouVersion. The app does more than play audio of your favorite Bible. You can get it on iPhone, iPad, Android devices, and your computer through the browser.
The app includes audio Bibles, videos related to Scripture, and almost every translation you might want to read and download. You will also see many reading plans to choose from.
The Bible app includes social media components that let you follow the activities of other Bible readers and share yours.
Listen to a Bible by downloading one that includes audio. For example, I downloaded the NKJV, and it shows an audio icon next to the name in the translation chooser drop-down list. Open it, and the screen shows the text and a Play button. Go to your desired passage and click or tap the play icon.
You can’t beat free; the other features make it a great option. The voices sound pretty good, but Dwell sounds better. The Store tab lets you buy books Bibles and books with audio.
Logos Bible Study – Best Audio Bible Apps for Cross Platform that Lets You Grow
Many people already own a Logos library, so don’t overlook their listening features. We don’t have time to explore everything the Logos Bible Study app can do, but the Audio features will help you enjoy an audio Bible inside your favorite Bible study app.
Some of the audio uses the built-in iOS voices, which sound pretty robotic. However, if you go to the Menu button in the lower right corner and choose Audio, you can find plenty of Audio Books, including some Bibles.
To listen to basic audio, open a Bible and tap on the Audio button in the Bible’s toolbar (second from right). It opens the audio control screen at the bottom of the app.
If you want to listen to a better-quality Audio Bible, open one. Search the Library search box for “Audio,” and you’ll see many audiobooks. Everyone will own the Lexham English Bible Audio New Testament, but your library might include others.
The Logos Bible Study app doesn’t cost anything. The most essential features and library also cost nothing. However, you’ll want to buy a library to make the most out of it. As of this day, Logos has a great sale on Logos 10, which they call their Farewell Tour because Logos 11 will ship soon. Buy a library or upgrade package (affiliate link) now and save a lot of money. You can get the CSB Audio Bible if you buy one of the smaller packages. Everyone receives the LEB and ESV Audio Bibles.
Bible.IS for Free Apps Focused on Audio
Few people know about the excellent Bible.IS app. It’s free and focuses on audio and text Bibles. There’s an online version, the Android and iOS apps. You can listen to a few English translations like NKJV, NLT, ESV, and CEV. The app also offers 3 video versions (ESV, KJV, and NIV).
When we rounded up the 4 best Android Audio Bible Apps, Bible.IS won the award for our Winner: Best Audio Bible Apps for Android. After a few years, I think Dwell and YouVersion would win that award—Dwell for audio quality and YouVersion for the overall quality of the app’s features and usefulness for more than audio.
Olive Tree Bible Study for High-Quality Audio Bibles
Olive Tree produced the best mobile Bible Study app for many years. Recently, others overcame their feature deficit and the quality of the user interface design. However, it’s still a good tool for more than Audio Bibles.
The Audio Bible feature built into Olive Tree Bible Study works well. We included it in our roundup of Android apps a few years ago. You can read, study, and research your passage. However, to listen, open an Audiobook from the app’s library, which appears on the main screen’s toolbar next to the menu button on the left. There’s a tab for Cloud and Device, which shows the books in your library that you downloaded (Device) or haven’t yet downloaded (Cloud). The books with audio include a headphone icon on the bottom of the book cover in your library. Tap to open the book.
Many will have the KJV Complete Audio Bible Dramatized in their library. Click to open it and tap on the play button at the bottom of the screen. Navigate to your chosen passage by clicking the dark green button at the top of the window. A Book Chapter Verse chooser will pop up.
To get more books, tap on the Recommended tab in your library. It shows the Olive Tree Store where you can find more books, which may or may not include audio. It’s easier to find them on their website.
I’ve been wanting to try YouVersion Bible again, but I’ve seen news reports about “privacy issues” with it. Have you ever done any research into it, and do you have anything to share on that front? It would be great to get at the bottom of the truth to it instead of hearing what some tech sites are saying about it. Another decent audio Bible is e-Sword. A bit limited, but not bad.
This is the first I’ve ever heard of any privacy issues with The Bible App.