New Bible app gets users hooked – on reading Scripture

A new, free Bible app is ranking in the top five for book apps in the Apple App Store and hit number one for book downloads last week.

Scroll the Bible provides the addictive swiping feature familiar in social media while nourishing the soul with the complete Bible in a “scrollable” format, one verse at a time, according to the app’s creator, Gabriel Jacobson.

“This has nothing to do with me,” Jacobson told Heartland News in an interview. “Of course, I’m the face of the company. I’ve built it, but like I said, it has nothing to do with me. It’s all about glorifying Jesus.”

How it started

Jacobson didn’t exactly set out to create a Bible app – at least at first.

It started as curiosity into how ChatGPT and similar AI programs worked. Jacobson said he began livestreaming himself as he explored and tested these programs, when a viewer suggested he could make a translator app.

“I completely disregarded [his comment],” Jacobson said. “I went to church the next day, on Sunday, and my pastor would always bring up Greek and Hebrew meanings and that kind of stuff. I would say that was a moment where I felt God spoke to me. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I want to create an app of the original languages of the Bible. I’m going to create something that makes it really easy and accessible to study Greek and Hebrew.’”

He launched Bible Word Study July 2025, and the app is still available for download. A few months later, Jacobson launched Scroll the Bible, his second app that includes some similar features of the first app but dives much deeper.

“I went to Facebook Marketplace, and as I open Facebook, the first post is a post from the YouVersion Bible app. It said something with ‘scrolling’ and ‘Bible’ together,” Jacobson said. “That was my second punch in the face by God, and I was like ‘Scroll the Bible.’ I just thought, how is this not made already? Like, how has somebody not made an app where you could scroll the Bible?”

Why scrolling?

Addiction to scrolling or swiping is similar to gambling or slot machine addiction, according to the National Library of Medicine. The brain desires more dopamine and wants to continue scrolling with the expectation that what comes next will provide an exhilarating hit.

More than half of teenagers spend four hours or more a day on social media, according to a Gallup poll, illustrating the addictive qualities of these apps. Jacobson harnessed the addiction but redirected it toward something beneficial to the user.

Scroll the Bible is free to download, and users can access the scrolling feature for no cost. Jacobson designed the app with each verse on its own slide, so users read one verse at a time before swiping to the next.

“It’s funny because the idea is to just get addicted and read as much as possible so that you continue reading,” Jacobson said. “But then it’s like, in the same sense, it really does slow people down because it’s one verse at a time.”

Users can select a book of the Bible to swipe through, going verse by verse. If one is particularly striking, the app has options to “like” the verse, write notes about it or share it. The free version also includes a random verse setting where users can receive a feed of various verses to view. The app also offers nine translations of the Bible.

If users want to go a step deeper in their Scripture studies, a subscription to Scroll the Bible unlocks reading plans, advanced verse studies, resources about the original language of the text, an “explain easier” option and references to related verses. A portion of all the subscription proceeds go back to different ministries each month, Jacobson said. Subscribers can vote for which ministry they would like to support that month. Options include Athey Creek Church, Los Angeles evangelist Bryce Crawford, the Tim Tebow Foundation, and local ministries and neighbors in need.

The app as evangelization

Jacobson decided in July to begin paying for ads for Scroll the Bible on Instagram and Facebook – a decision that triggered more than 15,000 weekly downloads over the past three weeks. Jacobson says he created the app as an evangelization tool and wants to pour what he receives back into the spread of the Gospel.

“I’m willing to spend as much money as it takes to reach as many people as it takes because it’s bigger than just myself and it’s making an impact and it’s really helping people reach Jesus,” Jacobson said. “Why would I try and limit the message of Jesus being spread? Scroll the Bible is helping people get closer to Jesus, and I would say that the reviews and people’s testimonies saying that are true.”

The app has a 4.8 out of 5 stars rating on the Apple App Store, with users commenting about the innovative method of reading the Bible.

“[Doomscrolling] is something that is so easy to do unintentionally yet you feed into it for HOURS, and in the end gain nothing from it,” one user wrote in a review. “How can we do that for the glory of the Lord? We can’t! But with this app it’s a total game changer because not only are you rededicating your time and energy to the Word of God, but you are no longer wasting the time he’s given you on worthless doomscrolling.”

Image Credit: Screenshot of Scroll the Bible on the Apple App Store