Pencil Bible: Journal & Study

• Free to download
• In-app purchases

Last verified 31 Jul 2026

4.2 1427 ratings · App Store

1. 4/5Beautiful concepts, needs some tweaks to the Pencil support

   I absolutely love this concept. I have always wanted some sort of digital bible with the ability to hand write your own notes into it, rather than type them in some hidden menu where they are hidden from view and hard to access/remember that you even took a note on that verse in the past. It always seemed clunky to me to use a digital bible and a physical notebook. Even with the addition of splitting the screen between two apps, it never felt natural to use a bible one one half of the screen and a note taking app on the other, especially because the note taking apps get squished so much they’re hard to use. The translation selection, while limited, does offer a good selection of translations and I see that there are several more on the way as well. I understand obtaining rights to use the text is hard, but what’s there already is a very good starting point. My one complaint with the app is when using the pencil, palm rejection is not great. I unfortunately noticed it right off of the bat when using the Bible in landscape mode. Resting my hand on the display to write will result in the pencil sometimes working, sometimes not, which makes taking notes in the margins more difficult. It seems to confuse some strokes with swipes and tries to scroll the screen, or it won’t write anything for a bit so I try again a couple times, it’ll flash everything I tried to write, then it disappears. Not sure if this is because I am using an older iPad and there’s more lag than the newer ones, but other apps with pencil support, like Penultimate, work just fine and I never have palm rejection issues. Hopefully this can get patched at some point, but until then I will definitely continue using this. It’s about time someone developed an app like this.

   durablecardboard · 31 Jul 2026

2. 2/5Great Concept, but Too Glitchy and Limited

   I’ve been hoping to find an app like this and was super stoked when I came across this one, there’s not any other like it. I love how you can customize font, line height, margin width, etc. so I had high hopes…but I’m actually kind of bummed now that I’ve been using it for a few days. For starters, there isn’t a very wide selection of versions, not even the ones more common in contemporary Christian churches, like NLT or NASB or NKJV. Maybe I’m just used to other Bible apps, but I expected more of a wide selection. Plus, you have to pay for different versions, so it’s not like you can easily switch to other ones to just to quickly compare translations. The note taking function in and of itself is an excellent concept, but it’s SUPER glitchy. It will draw random lines across the screen, lag for a really long time, and be unresponsive to clicks within the toolbar buttons (to change color, change tool, undo, redo, erase, etc.) For context, I am using a new iPad pro and apple pencil that is all up to date. It says the app itself was updated 2 weeks ago, so there shouldn’t be any issues in terms of outdated tech on either end. I’m glad there was a free trial option (10 chapters of notes), because the glitching and limited version selection don’t really make the $60+ subscription worth it to me. If they add more common translations and fix the bugs, that will be another story, but for now I guess I’ll just settle for typing my notes in other Bible apps and hoping that I’ll come across a better alternative in the future.

   mrsvchadwick · 31 Jul 2026

3. 5/5The Journaling Bible We’ve Waited On!

   *Updated Below* I bought my first iPad/pencil combo about 3 years ago. Every so often I would search for an app that did just this. I gave up for sometime and recently looked again and found this gem. Instantly purchased ESV for a very reasonable price. Though I would love a CSB option (I hope lifeway will play nice). I have a couple minor draw backs that may be on the radar or my own user error. I will change my rating to 5 stars if they are addressed (or I am corrected). 1. It makes marks when I rest my palm on the screen. I’m using an Apple Pencil. Most things that can be “marked up” with the traditional Apple Pencil pop up will ignore the palm. 2. I personally like the Apple Pencil mark up toolbar more than the one built into the app because it lets you adjust the gauge of your stroke. All the ones I’ve tried in the app seem a little chubby. 3. If it could save a color to the currently selected tool that would be awesome (ex: hi lighter stays yellow and pen stays black). Regardless, I plan on using this app daily! Great work! *Update* They pretty much instantly responded to my review and were already working on every concern I had. That’s incredible. 5 stars!

   jordanatnip · 31 Jul 2026

4. 4/5What I’ve been wishing for!

   I’m an avid journaler , doodler and notetaker, especially in church. I’ve been using Olive Tree Bible for years, and taking notes on a separate app. But sometime you want to make a note in your bible, and while Olive Tree allows you to open a window and make a note, or highlight and underline a passage, you cannot do what this app does with your Apple Pencil. I love drawing arrows, writing related verses in the margins, putting personal insights on the side and more. I just downloaded it today, when I wondered, if I should search Journal + Bible. I would love to see the ability to add extra pages, between the chapters, so I can write down detailed sermon outlines related to the passage. I would also like the option for lines on the side margins. The biggest thing missing is that you can go to the Book and Chapter, but you cannot pick the verse, you just have to scroll through to find it. This might be a problem, say, in Psalm 119. That would be a great feature to add. As one other reviewer mentioned, stickers and other colorful things would be cool. But the biggest need is detailed verse look up.

   ClayBearNBNC · 31 Jul 2026

5. 5/5Amazing app but needs some work

   This is my first ever review ever since I could care less about writing reviews but I just had to give props to the developer. As an aspiring full stack, everything about this app is magnificent. I love the concept and can’t wait to see how it turns out. That being said, I do want to add a couple things. I was reading some reviews and some mentioned the apple pencil features like the canvas you get and the barrel roll and pinch features and all that. I’d love to see different tools to write and annotate. My main thing is that, I didn’t notice this, when i switched over from an iPad 6th gen (9.7 in I believe) to an iPad mini (8.3 in) my annotations got all messed up. I had circled in an earlier verse and annotated on the side and on the iPad mini, it was circled in the wrong place. Luckily I annotated so I know where I circled but it was all messed up. Not sure if it’s a sizing issue because it only happened when I switched to the new iPad. Aside from that every review I’ve read, most of the features that I want are gonna be in V3 and I’m excited! Love everything you’re doing, keep at it!

   networknadgers · 31 Jul 2026

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