(9 votes, average: 4.11 out of 5)
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In looking at the Mantis Bible Study app, it is easy to see that it was designed with the more serious Bible scholar in mind. It includes a whole list of features to help those who are focused on a more in-depth study of the Bible. Unfortunately, for those who prefer not to use the KJV of the Bible and are not willing to spend the money for a different version, all of the features will be pointless.
The reason for that is that the KJV is the only version available for free in English. Versions such as ASV and BBE are available for free with some of the other Bible apps, but will cost $4.99 to download for Mantis. For some, like myself, seeing a five-dollar charge for what is free elsewhere will make Mantis’ other benefits seem less attractive. For others, the benefits of Mantis will be worth the cost of additional Bibles, or perhaps some are content with the provided KJV.
Bookmarking verses or taking notes on verses is quick and simple with Mantis. Simply tap the number of the verse which pops up a menu for notes, bookmarks, or verse comparison (between Bible versions). You can type in notes which will then be visible next to the verse.
Navigating is simple and quick. By tapping the button with the title of the book, you can jump to an book, chapter and verse of the bible. You can also quickly navigate chapters and verses through the gray triangles on the upper left and right corners. The search function also makes it easy to find exactly the verse you need.
Unique (to my knowledge) among the Bible apps is Mantis’ ability to highlight words, phrases, sentences, or more. Once highlighting is turned on in “Settings”, you can choose from four different highlight colors.
Also available are commentaries and Bible dictionaries, all for purchase of course. Again, some of these items can be found elsewhere for free, but will cost around $5 for Mantis.
In summary, Mantis is a powerful bit of software with one major flaw; that the designers feel they must recoup their costs by charging for every additional book. This is a problem in two ways: First is the perception of greed which will sour potential customers. Second is that most people resist the feeling of being nickel-and-dimed to death. A few more free Bibles, a couple of commentaries, and a dictionary will create a solid starter package to get people using the app. Once a user is familiar with the app, he/she is more likely to sink some money into an add-on book.
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- It's a Praying Mantis... with a sword!
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- Highlighting is a feature of Mantis unique among free Bible programs.
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- Jumping to chapters and verses are easy, just put you finger in the gray triangle and drag down.
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- Tap a verse number to open a menu like this.
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- While helpful, the directions are a little bossy. I prefer to try it later.
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- Lots of methods are available when searching.
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- Additional Bibles can cost up to around 20 bucks on the Mantis website.
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on Feb 10th, 2009 at 7:14 am
The sword-wielding praying mantis is hilarious! And yeah I have to agree… the “iPhone economy” makes $5 for a different Bible seem a little pricey.
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on Feb 10th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
The $5 charge is especially troublesome for versions (the American Standard Version in particular) which at least three of the other free Bible apps offer for free. The ASV has been out of copyright for years, so charging that much for it seems excessive.
Versions like NIV or NASB will always cost around $20 or more because they are still copyrighted.
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on Mar 5th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
You are a very smart person!
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Chris J. reply on March 5th, 2009 8:27 pm:
Thank you.
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on Mar 5th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
I would gladly pay that $20 for a NASB version of an app that provides easy-to-use highlighting. That’s the one thing my paper Bible has over all the NASB iPhone apps I’ve tried. Bookmarking is nice, but I would rather be able to just read through and see verses I have highlighted previously.
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Chris J. reply on March 5th, 2009 8:35 pm:
Like I said, $20 for NASB is not unusual and actually pretty much the standard price. If you prefer to use one translation, then using Mantis isn’t going to make a big difference. I like to be able to switch between three or so translations, which can add up to a lot of money if you also want Bible helps as well.
If you really just prefer to stick with one translation or are willing to pay for the add-ons, then Mantis is definitely a great way to go. It is certainly a powerful app, regardless of my issue with prices.
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on Mar 5th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Does Mantis have NASB available as an add-on? Or do you know of any other Bible apps that have NASB and highlighting?
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Chris J. reply on March 5th, 2009 10:23 pm:
I have tried all the free Bible apps that I could find, and so far Mantis is the only one I have found that supports highlighting. I cannot say for sure if there are any other paid apps that support highlighting.
Yes, Mantis does have NASB available for $20 (also NASB with Strong’s numbering for $30). You have to buy it from their website. I haven’t done this myself so I can’t vouch for how it works.
http://mantisbible.com/
If you are willing to do without highlighting, YouVersion (which I reviewed also) provides NASB free as long as you have internet access.
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on May 3rd, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Good review. I use this app and love it. It’s definitely more “hardcore” than the other Bible apps I’ve looked at (Olive Tree being the ONLY competitor). I paid the $30 for the NASB with Strongs and love it. Every word that has a Greek (or Hebrew) word attached to it (and therefore a Strong’s number) is “touchable” which then brings up, in the text, the information about that specific word, as well as a “Find” link which when selected brings up every place in the Bible where that specific Greek word is used. It’s wonderful for doing word studies. Also if you buy other tools they attach to it seemlessly. Buy the Thayer’s Greek dictionary and each Greek word has not only the Strong’s info, but Thayer’s as well. (their website has a video of this process!) Very cool! It’s like having a “mobile” e-sword.
A word about the cost because that was one of my initial reservations on this product. It does SEEM miserly, but if you imagine the tools that are built around each translation you might understand it better. I’m a software developer by trade and the integration issues are not “free” even if the specific translations are. Putting together a more plentiful “free” package would only be useful as a way to advertise because the cost wouldn’t be free. Mantis is only going to make money from people who will buy the study tools. The average joe isn’t going to do this, but some of us have spent a lot more on such. The support and updates are ongoing and have continued to make this product better and better.
To get a sense of how well thought out this app is, one need only look at Mantis’s bookmarking. The Bible apps I’ve seen have a simple “bookmarks” page. Mantis allows you to categorize bookmarks. Essentially using folders. This is powerful when you are doing multiple studies. So minor, but soooo useful.
Tons of other stuff (don’t get me started on the integration of the commentaries with the Bible … awesome), but this product just exudes design and love of Bible study. There are apps out there that have dozens of free Bibles that will meet the needs of the average user and that’s great, but if you want to go beyond that then this is the best I’ve seen.
As for buying stuff … you pay for it on the website and when you start your app it indicates that you have stuff available to download. Select it and it downloads it. Pretty simple.
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Chris J. reply on May 3rd, 2009 7:06 pm:
A very informative and well-thought comment.
I agree, Mantis is definitely the most study oriented Bible app. It is always helpful to others to hear different viewpoints regarding the same app.
Unfortunately since I was only reviewing the free version, I wasn’t able to see what was available with paid versions.
One last comment about adding a few more free options: I have a Bible app on my computer that offered a lot of free add-ons. After using it I got to enjoy the application and bought the NASB version for it. I will probably be adding NIV as well. Because I was able to use successfully as a free program, I knew I would be OK with buying additional Bibles.
Thanks again for the comments.
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