Improve Your Study with Gospel Library 4.0 and Teach Others
Improvements in version 4.0 of the Gospel Library app provide a more enriching study experience and better options to record personal revelation.
Article Highlights
- Gospel Library 4.0 provides improved features to enrich members’ gospel study.
- Experienced members are encouraged to share their skills using the app with others.
iOS Enhancements
Enabled split-screen support for iPads
Reverted to text-selection buttons
Added a “clear” highlight style
Added black and sepia color themes
Android Enhancements
Redesigned audio playback experiences
Redesigned bookmarks and screens
Provided calling-based content delivery
Added blue color theme
The Gospel Library app, used by members worldwide to study the scriptures, conference talks, and other materials, recently released a major update for both iOS, Android, and Windows 10*. Version 4 of the app includes the following improvements:
-
All content is now annotatable.
-
Study tools are more intuitive.
-
Features and functionality are more unified.
-
New video tutorials are available.
All content is now annotatable
You can highlight, add comments to, link, tag, and organize into notebooks all content, including scripture chapter headings and study helps, lists in various lesson manuals, hymns and children’s songs, videos, and more. Not being able to annotate this kind of content was the most common feedback topic from Gospel Library users.
Study tools are more intuitive
Newly refined study tools help you turn study sessions into revelatory learning experiences. The 4.0 update adds rich text formatting to your notes, including bold, italics, and lists, so you can improve the clarity—and value—of your notes. Saving passages into custom notebooks is also much easier. Now you can see your highlights of content saved within your notebooks, as well as move your notes into other notebooks and easily share your notes with others.
Another refinement is when you create a link between two passages, the app now creates bidirectional links that go in both directions between passages. The accessing of footnotes has also been streamlined by directly displaying the related scripture references in the redesigned sidebar.
Study tools are more intuitive in version 4.0 of the Gospel Library app.
“The Gospel Library team has been working hard this year to make all the content annotatable and make the study tools more intuitive,” said Elder Larry R. Lawrence of the Seventy. “These enhancements provide members the opportunity of a more enriching study experience and better options to record personal revelation.”
Features and functionality are more unified
Many individuals and families have devices using iOS, Android, and Windows 10 platforms on their phone and tablet screens. Other individuals switch between platforms when getting new phones. Now, regardless of platform or screen size, your experience using Gospel Library 4.0 will be more similar.
For example, footnotes on phones are now located on the side like tablets, the text selection buttons on iOS and Android have the same icons in the same order, and the redesigned “Notes” section has a common look and feel on iOS and Android.
The new version of the free app is available for download from the Apple app store and Google Play.
For Windows users who have upgraded their desktop or mobile device to Windows 10, since June 2017, a new 4.0 release of the Windows version of Gospel Library with the same functionality as the Android and iOS is available for download from the Windows store.
Since July 2017, an instance of Gospel Library has also been provided on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org language pages. By the end of 2017, to further unify the multiscreen experience, changes will be made to the study tools on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
New video tutorials are available
With each future update, the significant enhancements will be highlighted via a What's New feature to inform members of the ongoing improvements. New short videos under the Tips collection, located at the bottom of the home library screen, can help you learn to use the app in powerful new ways and discover features you might have missed. More video tips will be added to the initial batch.
Help others learn to use the app
Members experienced with using Gospel Library are encouraged to share what they've learned with others. A simple pointer or demonstration given to a friend may open ways to significantly improve their gospel study. Use #GospelLibrary to join the conversation on how you use Gospel Library.
Teaching others how they can improve their gospel study can be fun and rewarding.
“Research among members showed that many members would use the app’s study tools if they were shown how to use them by a family member or friend,” concluded Elder Lawrence. “Showing others how you use Gospel Library for personal study and teaching is a great way to strengthen them.”
New content
Recently added content includes three items found in the new Church History collection that support the study of the Doctrine and Covenants, the 2017 gospel doctrine course of study: Gospel Topic Essays, Revelations in Context, and Joseph Smith’s Accounts of the First Vision. (Learn more about the new study materials for 2017.)
*Some content in this article was updated July 14, 2017.
