The Holy Catholic Bible

The Holy Catholic Bible is a Bible app built around the Catholic canon — all seventy-three books, the deuterocanonicals included. It's a clean, free reader with reading plans, quizzes, a Bible dictionary, and the usual highlight-and-bookmark tools.

The translation is the Douay-Rheims, which is the traditional English Catholic Bible. You can adjust font size, switch to dark mode, highlight verses, and make shareable verse images for messaging or social media. The reading plans cover the year, with daily passages and short reflections. The quizzes test names, places, and events from each book.

The app is faithful to the Catholic canon and doesn't bury the deuterocanonicals in an "extras" section the way some general Bible apps do — Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, the Maccabees are all there in their proper place. That's a small thing but it matters. A Bible app for Catholics ought to start with the Catholic Bible.

Good for daily Scripture reading on the phone, for parish small groups that want a free shared text, and for catechumens working through the Old Testament for the first time. Useful as a backup when you don't have your printed Bible at hand.

It's a reader, not a study Bible. There are no maps, no concordance, no patristic commentary, no cross-references. The Douay-Rheims English is older and reads stiffly in places — beautiful, but not always the easiest first encounter. If you want a Catholic study Bible with footnotes and Magisterial commentary, look elsewhere.

Free, by Axeraan Technologies. Available on the App Store: The Holy Catholic Bible. A solid, no-frills Catholic Bible to keep on your phone.