The Best Catholic Bible Apps (and Why Your Bible Needs 73 Books)

Most Bible apps in the App Store are Protestant Bibles. That matters more than it sounds. A Catholic Bible has 73 books. The King James, NIV, NKJV and most other popular translations have 66, because they leave out seven books of the Old Testament that the Church has always read as Scripture: Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach and Baruch, along with parts of Esther and Daniel.

So if you have ever gone looking for a Mass reading from Sirach or Wisdom in your Bible app and could not find it, that is why. These are the Catholic Bible apps we recommend.

Our picks

Best for reading the whole Bible: Ascension | Bible & Catechism

Home of the Bible in a Year podcast. The Bible reading plan and the podcast sit side by side, so you can listen and read along. A strong first choice if you want a Catholic Bible you will actually open every day.

Best for going deeper: Catena: Bible & Commentaries

Every verse comes with commentary from the Church Fathers. When a passage leaves you with a question, this is where you find how the early Church read it.

Best for building a habit: Cornerstone: Bible & Catechism

Pairs daily Bible reading with the Catechism, so what you read in Scripture connects to what the Church teaches.

Best New American Bible (NABRE): Catholic New American Bible RE

The NABRE is the Catholic translation used for the Mass readings in the United States, so the passages you read here match what you hear on Sunday.

Best audio Bible: Audio Catholic Bible

The Douay-Rheims read aloud. The Douay-Rheims is the classic English Catholic translation, and hearing it is a different experience from reading it.

Best offline Bible: iMissal Catholic Bible

A Catholic Bible that works without a connection and ties into the iMissal app for the day’s readings.

Best for serious study: Verbum Catholic Bible Study

Verbum is a Catholic Bible study library: commentaries, the Catechism and Church documents linked to the text. More than most people need, and exactly what students and catechists want.

Best for more than one language: Vigil Faith – Catholic Bible

Bible, Rosary and the saints in seven languages, useful for bilingual families and parishes.

In other languages

• Spanish: La Santa Biblia Católica
• French (Crampon translation): La Bible Catholique Audio Catholic Bible in French
• Vietnamese: Catholic Vietnamese Holy Bible
• Chinese and English: Catholic Chinese English Bible

Which translation should I use?

Any complete Catholic translation is a good choice. The New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE) is used for the Mass readings in the United States. The Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition (RSV-CE and RSV-2CE) is a favourite for study and prayer. The Douay-Rheims is the traditional English Catholic Bible. The Jerusalem Bible and New Jerusalem Bible are Catholic translations known for their readable English.

How to check a Bible app yourself

• Look for the words “Catholic” and the name of a Catholic translation in the description.
• Open the list of books and look for Tobit, Judith, Wisdom and Sirach. If they are missing, it is not a Catholic Bible.
• Be careful with apps that only name the King James, NIV, NKJV, ESV or NLT. Those are Protestant translations.

Looking for something more playful for the kids? Our Kids & family section includes Bible games and colouring apps. Most of those are Christian rather than specifically Catholic, and we label them that way.