A few years ago I was sitting in sacrament meeting with my little family. We were a bit late getting there, so we missed out on getting a nice, comfy bench. Instead, we were at the back on folding chairs. As the next hymn started up, I realized that there weren’t any hymn books around us. No worries! My husband and I had recently purchased iPhones. (They were a hot, new commodity then…Touch screen? And “apps”?! ) We launched the LDS Hyms app and began singing along. When I glanced up in between verses, I looked up and saw some older ward members totally giving us the stink eye! And they weren’t being shy about it. Furrowed brows, scowl, and the slight “I don’t approve” head-nod. Ouch. I wanted to run over there & show them we were being good- really! There are more to phones than just texting & surfing the web.
Thankfully, smart phones are now mainstream. So, without further ado, here are my must-have church apps:
1) The Mormon Channel app
Mormon Messages, Church Magazines (audio only), General Conferences, the new, very cool Bible Videos (great if you need a quick FHE), podcasts (everything from Poems of the Restoration to For the Youth), scriptures (audio only…I listen to them while I clean), and the Mormon Music Channel
2) LDS Tools
Requires you to login to your lds.org account. Pulls up your entire stake directory. You can break it down by wards, callings, etc. Lists each household, their email, phone numbers & address. AND if you click on the address it pulls it up in Google Maps & spits out directions. Awesome!
3) Book of Mormon Golf
It gives you a verse & you have to guess the book, chapter & verse number in as few turns as possible. Up to 4 players. Perfect for scripture mastery or the occassional dry sunday school class!
4) Gospel Library
Nearly eveerything ever published by the Church at your fingertips…scriptures, manuals, music*, sharing time outlines, videos…
5) *LDS Music
The Gospel Library app only gives you text with the music- no notes. This app gives you sheet music.
6) Ensign & The Friend
For $1 you can get the Ensign on your Newstand app. Fully-scanned pages of the magazine we all have lying around the house. Has issues all the way back to the ’80’s! The Friend is free.
Others I haven’t tried, but are worth a look:
LDS Coloring Book- for the littles.
LDS Apostle Match- fun memory game & gives basic facts on each Apostle.
LDS Temples quiz- think you can name each one??
What other Church apps can you not live without? Which ones help you in your calling or occupy the kids during sacrament? Any favorites for FHE? Do tell!!
We also like Articles of Faith Memory, LDS Scripture Mastery, Deseret Book, LDS Dots, LDS Youth, LDS Tools, LDS Daily Verse (though I don’t really like that you have to pay each year), and LDS Apostles Match. Thanks for the tip on the coloring app, installing it now. Also decided to install LDS Scripture Citiation, it will be interesting to see how I like it. My kids often use the Gospel Library to read the magazine when Sacrament meeting runs long. They love Dots and BOM Golf, too. BOM Golf is a great quick FHE game, just take turns being the “caller” and divide into teams! I love our apps!