The YouVersion Bible App saw 798,000 installations on Jan. 5, the largest single day of installs for the phone app in its history.
Bobby Gruenewald, founder of YouVersion and a pastor at Life.Church, told The Christian Post on Thursday that the app “saw 18.2 million people engage in the Bible and more than 798,000 installs” on Sunday.
This broke the record previously set on the first Sunday of last year, while New Year’s Day was the third-highest single-day number of installs in the history of YouVersion, Gruenewald added.
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“We tend to see a seasonal uptick in Bible engagement at the beginning of the year as people start new habits and are interested in reading the Bible for the first time,” Gruenewald told CP.
“What’s interesting to us is that this year’s increase is even higher than this same time last year, and it’s a trend we’re seeing globally.”
Although YouVersion witnessed increases in app installs and engagement worldwide, the app reported its largest increases in installs in nations in Africa and throughout Asia and the Middle East.
This included a 198% increase in activity in Ethiopia, a 94% increase in Egypt, a 74% increase in Turkey, a 65% increase in Ghana, and a 48% increase in Pakistan. Overall, Northern Africa saw a 297% increase in activity, while the Middle East saw a 166% increase.
“We’re always looking for ways to improve the app and help people do what they tell us they want to do, which is read the Bible more consistently,” Gruenewald said.
“Because we know people are interested in creating new rhythms, we put a lot of work into designing features to help them make Bible engagement a daily practice that is sustained throughout the year.”
According to Gruenewald, one of the app’s most popular features is Bible Plans, which, according to the YouVersion website, are centered on providing “daily devotional content rooted in Scripture” and help users “study, understand, meditate on, and apply biblical truths to their lives.”
“Every week, we add new plans in multiple languages to help people continue to engage in the Bible every day,” explained Gruenewald. “This year, we will be making it easier for people to find meaningful Bible Plan content that’s specific to where they are in their faith journey.”
“Additionally, the Plans with Friends feature allows people to study Scripture together because we know someone is more likely to be consistent when they have the support of their community.”
Gruenewald told CP that he and the others at YouVersion are “amazed that we get to be a part of how God chooses to do that on a daily basis.”
“Every time someone opens the Bible is an opportunity for the power of God’s Word to change their life,” he added.
Launched in July 2008 by Life.Church, the YouVersion family of apps boasts of having been installed in over 850 million devices globally, and is offered in 2,100 languages.
At the end of last year, YouVersion reported that the app had, on average, 11.2 million new device installs each month in 2024 and approximately 14 million people engaging in the Bible each day.
