Facts about YouVersion checked against its Google Play listing (US) on 18 September 2026. Our own row is labelled, and we have not been in contact with YouVersion. Prices change; the date is part of the claim.
The short answer, before you scroll
YouVersion is free, has no ads, has no in-app purchases, and already ships a verse-of-the-day widget. If what you want is a Bible app with a widget and you do not want to pay anything, install YouVersion and stop reading. It is also better than us at three things we list further down, and it has 100M+ installs against our zero.
This page exists for the narrower question: what if the widget itself is the thing you care about?
Side by side
YouVersion Bible App
VerseDawn (ours)
Installs (Play, US)
100M+
brand new
Rating
4.9 from 9,240,000 ratings
none yet
Price
Free. No in-app purchases listed.
Free to download; the widget needs a subscription. $6.99/month · $49.99/year · $2.99/week.
Ads
None
No ads anywhere
Account required
Not to read, but an account unlocks sync, plans and community
No account at all — nothing to sign in to
Home-screen widget
Yes — verse of the day
Yes — and it is the main product: 2×2, 4×2 and 4×4 sizes, background artwork, adjustable text
Translations
Hundreds, in hundreds of languages
One: the Berean Standard Bible (public domain). A Portuguese text is planned.
Reading plans & community
Yes — this is a large part of the app
None. We do not do plans, groups or comments.
Audio Bible
Yes
No
Offline
Yes, after you download a translation
Yes, and there is nothing to download — the text ships inside the app
"None" for YouVersion ads and purchases means its Play listing shows no ad-supported tier and no in-app purchases on the date checked. That is a fact about the listing, not a promise about the future.
Three things YouVersion does better, stated plainly
Translations. Hundreds vs our one. If you read in anything other than English (for now), YouVersion is the answer and we are not.
Reading plans and community. We have none of that. If you want to read the Bible with other people, YouVersion is built for exactly that.
It is free without ads. We are not: there is no free tier, and the widget needs a subscription. A free, ad-free app beats a paid one on price, and there is no spin that changes that.
Where a widget-first app is actually different
The widget is the product, not a feature. In a 100M-install Bible app the widget is one small screen; here it is the reason the app exists. That shows up in the things you can change: three sizes, artwork styles, and text that is shortened rather than truncated.
No account, nothing to sync. Some people want that. If you want your highlights and plans on every device, you want the opposite of it.
The text cannot be withdrawn. We ship a public-domain translation, so the reading experience cannot change because a licence expired. YouVersion's translations are properly licensed too — the difference is that ours has no licensor.
Readability is treated as the hard problem. The verse sits on artwork, so every background is checked for contrast behind the text before it ships, and the shading is baked into the image rather than left to the launcher. This is the complaint most often aimed at widget apps, and it is the one we designed around.
Disclosure: we make VerseDawn. We appear in this table, we have marked our own column, and we have written the three points above that argue against us. We do not accept payment for placement, and we are not affiliated with YouVersion.
Which should you install?
If you want…
Install
A free Bible app with plans, community and many translations
A widget you can restyle, sized to the space you have, with no account
VerseDawn — this is the only thing we are built for
To pay nothing and see no ads
YouVersion — our widget needs a subscription
Common questions
How is this different from YouVersion?
YouVersion is a Bible reading app with a widget. Ours is a widget that shows a verse, with a small app behind it. If you read the Bible on your phone, YouVersion is the better product and we are not trying to replace it.
Should I use both?
That is a reasonable setup: YouVersion for reading and study, ours for the home screen and the lock screen reminder. Nothing in our app requires you to stop using anything else.