Did you know you can install iOS Bible Study Apps on an M1 Mac? You can, but should you? We’ll take a look at the best iOS Bible Study apps that you can install on your Apple silicon Mac with macOS Big Sur.
When Apple released the M1 MacBook Air, Pro, and Mac mini, they possibly revolutionized the computer market with their incredibly efficient Apple silicon processors. These processors speed up things like video editing and encoding on powerful programs like Final Cut Pro. It also makes the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro run fast. But not all Bible study programs built for macOS run faster than they do on Intel-based Macs. So, let’s take a look at the iOS Bible Study apps available from the app store.
How to Install iOS Bible Study Apps on an M1 MacBook
If you want to install one of these iOS apps, open the Mac App Store on macOS Big Sur as you would normally. In the upper left corner, you’ll see the search box. Note, this doesn’t work on older versions of macOS or on any computers that do not use M1 Apple Silicon processors, like the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or Mac mini.
Type in the name of an iOS Bible Study app like Logos Bible or Accordance Bible.
The next screen will show the search results for macOS apps. Click on the iPhone & iPad Apps tab as seen below.
This will show you the available apps that you can install on your M1 Mac.
Not all developers will let you install their iOS apps on a Mac. They have to turn this on, so contact them if you don’t see it. Below you’ll see the ones we like that you can find as of the date this article was published.
Why Only Some iOS Apps Will Install on M1 Macs
Since not all Bible Study Apps will install on an M1 Mac with Apple Silicon, we’ve got a list that will look different than our favorite five Bible Study apps. When you do see one taht’s available it might give you a warning that isn’t verified by the developer to run on the computer.
There’s a link under the name of most of these apps as seen above. Click it to get an explanation from Apple. It reads as follows:
Most iPhone and iPad apps are compatible with a Mac with M1, but some may not be available because they require capabilities unique to iPhone or iPad. A developer may also choose to make their app unavailable on Mac.
“Not verified for macOS”
Some apps available on Mac may not function as they normally would on iPhone or iPad. For example, features that rely on hardware unique to iPhone or IPad – such as a gyroscope or a screen that supports complex Multi-Touch gestures – may not work on Mac.
That only means the apps that you can install may not work properly and some won’t install because the developer chose to block you from installing.
To log into a couple of these apps I had to enter my computer password and/or my Apple account password.
7 Best iOS Bible Study Apps to Install on M1 Macs
Here’s our roundup of the 7 best apps to install on your M1 MacBook Air, Pro, Mac mini.
- Logos Bible Study Tools – because the desktop version of Logos runs a little slow, it’s not bad to install their iPad app. It’s a bit awkward to get it going, but once you do it works well.
- Accordance Bible Software – the best mobile app for use on a Mac comes from Accordance. It runs okay and lets users enjoy all the mobile features. It did crash. a couple of times, but once I got books installed it seemed to run great.
- Bible from Life. church – not technically a Bible study tool but still good to install on your Mac. This gives access to some of the multimedia content in the Bible app but on a computer. You can also use the NASB 2020, something you won’t find in many apps.
- Tecarta Bible – this useful study Bible style app works great. Download your tools and run the app. You can’t use Tecarta on a Mac any other way.
- Laridian PocketBible – one of the first apps to offer a Mac version for M1 computers came from Laridian. It runs just like it does on an iPad making it one of the best of this breed.
- The Bible by eBible – if you’re an eBible user on the web, you’ll possibly enjoy using it on your phone, tablet and now Mac. It installs fine, but only runs in a small window.
- Mantis Study Bible – this humble little app was once one of the best mobile apps and it runs fine on a Mac, although only in a small window.
Did I miss any? Comment below which mobile Bible apps you want to see running on the M1 MacBook Air, Pro, or Mac mini?
Should You Run iOS Bible Apps?
All of the discussion about running iOS Bible apps on your new M1 MacBook Air, Pro, or Mac mini begs the question, “Should you run iOS Bible apps or iPad Bible apps meant to run on an iPad or iPhone?”
Most of the time you shouldn’t bother. I’m I can now install these apps on my M1 MacBook Pro, but after a few weeks I haven’t run many at all. I wanted to run the Logos Bible app because they need to fix a few minor annoyances with their Mac-based software. However, the Logos iOS app doesn’t run as well as other apps either. So, I probably won’t really run many.
