Differences between the Android and iPhone versions
Updated October 19, 2026 · Android Preview 1.36 vs. iPhone 1.28 build 277 source
Preview 1.36 adds the features described below. These additions follow the iPhone 1.28 build 277 source; the platform differences in this table still apply.
Differences that come from the platform
Topic
iPhone version (iOS)
Android version
How you get the app and updates
Installed and updated through the App Store.
Installed from the APK on this page, not from Google Play. The app checks for a newer version at launch and in Settings and shows a link to this download page. Your browser downloads the APK and Android asks you to confirm the install. There is no automatic in-app installer yet.
Push notifications
Apple Push Notification service, verified on iPhones.
Firebase Cloud Messaging is built in and works in our emulator tests. Verification on a physical Android phone is still pending, so treat notifications as preview quality.
Larger screens
The iPhone app also adapts its layout to iPad.
Phone layout only. Tablets run the phone layout.
Added in Preview 1.36
Home and announcements: complete notice reader, full email drafts, direct links to the exact available order after fresh sign-in/refresh, official upcoming-event links and wrapping headings.
Notice administration: complete messages, inline images, Los Angeles publication/end schedules, own-device editing without resending audience Push, active end-time changes, immediate finish and this-device notification tests. Exact uncertain requests and drafts are retained; returning to edit requires an explicit warning.
Orders: bilingual guidance and product images, text-only translation that retains image layout, whole private drafts and exact save retries, conflict merging, and session/availability checks for image access.
Reading and study: responsive Youth HTML with retained photographs, inline Japanese/English translation, original toggle, displayed-text speech and source-link sharing; foreground translation progress; complete lexicon copy including definition; the approved public book preface and entitled PDF export.
Photos & Videos: public YouTube link import and source management, URL-only sharing for YouTube-only cards, stored-original playback/export kept separate, byte progress and cancellation, and landscape viewer fitting. Originals are streamed with 10 GiB per-file / 20 GiB batch bounds.
The comparison source is iPhone 1.28 build 277 (e75ac45f). The iPhone public release remains 1.27; build 277 is an internal-TestFlight/App-Review submission reference. Physical Android Push verification and tablet layout remain separate limitations.
Recently brought in line with the iPhone version
Preview 1.35 (September 22 release): the changes since Preview 1.33 were included in the September 22 published release.
When uploading a Verse Card you can now pick multiple Blogger labels (defaulting to whichever labels you used last on this device, or "みことばカード" if none, capped at 20 labels / 200 combined characters).
After upload, the same edit dialog lets you change the title, labels (Blogger-managed cards only), and comment (always, up to 500 characters) and delete the card; rotating is a separate button on the card detail screen. If another device saved a change first, the app reloads the latest version and keeps only the fields you actually changed (optimistic locking).
Permissions are now two-tier — "Verse card upload" (upload only) and "Verse card management" (edit/rotate/delete/upload comment) — matching the names in the Settings capability list. Settings → Account also gained a "Sign In Again" button that forces the same re-authentication without logging out first, useful after a permission change.
A card opened from Home now swipes through the same set as the gallery, with a "Show Gallery" button that jumps to the Memory Verse tab's gallery.
Home's "SNS Updates" rows now show a YouTube thumbnail derived on the device.
In Announcements, the row that points at this week's bulletin PDF now opens the in-app PDF viewer instead of an external browser.
Bulletins now display as four portrait reading pages built from the two landscape source pages, using a server-provided text payload for selectable text and read-aloud (on-device recognition is only a fallback when no payload is available); sharing still uses the original PDF.
The JBS schedule is now a native in-app screen with a JST/PDT toggle, bundled PDFs that work offline, and a share button.
Verse Card slideshow order now applies the same per-branch policy as iPhone: it opens with the newest 7 cards from other branches and the newest 3 from the Kofu branch (using Blogger labels), then rotates through posts from the last 3 months while keeping every branch represented.
Photos & Videos gained administrator tag management, a tag filter for members, iCloud Shared Album import via a share link, and a "possible duplicate" review that lets you preview a candidate before deleting it, or dismiss it without deleting.
The Bible's "Sources & licenses" screen is now a curated page — 9 entries (8 Bible texts plus the TVTMS verse-numbering table) and dedicated Commentary/Cross-reference/Gospel Parallels/Words of Jesus/Your data sections — instead of a raw data dump, and Bible back/forward now restores your search query and results, Words of Jesus, and Parallel view settings, not just the reading position.
Bible AI now supports multiple conversations: list, create, switch, and delete (with a confirmation prompt). With a verified email, conversations sync across your devices, and turning history off also deletes your server-side history. Answers can show supporting quoted excerpts.
A new Orders screen lets you open an order form from the menu, choose items, review, and submit; an open order can still be edited or cancelled, closed orders are read-only, there's an order history, and you can restore history by email even on a device that has not signed in before. Administrators with the capability get an "Order settings" entry in the Settings "Administration" card covering creating and editing order setups (with conflict merging), opening/closing them, a submissions view with CSV export, revision history, and announcement + push scheduling.
A few things still behave differently from the iPhone version right now (intentional differences):
(Intentional difference) rotating a Verse Card uses whatever revision is already loaded on the device and does not check for another device's edit first; it only reloads the latest version if the server rejects the rotate.
(Intentional difference) if only the Verse Card session expires, the main Settings → Account session stays signed in.
(Intentional difference) an account with an active session but no upload/management capability sees "This account cannot upload/manage verse cards" instead of a sign-in prompt, since signing in again would not grant the capability.
(Intentional difference) signing in again keeps your Bible AI conversations if you sign in as the same verified member. If a different verified member signs in, or someone signs in with the shared church password without a verified email, the conversations stored on that device are cleared.
(Intentional difference) a pending server-side history deletion only retries once the member who requested it is still the one currently signed in on the device. Switching accounts while offline never lets the retry delete a different person's history; this is an Android account-safety rule.
Verse Card Gallery (Preview 1.33): same layout, column stepper, inline slideshow, card swipe, pull to refresh.
Home refresh and Settings details (Preview 1.33): pull-to-refresh and resume refresh, Text Size slider, capability list, notification and contact notes, announcement sender gating.
Photos & Videos tab (Preview 1.32): the bottom bar has the same five tabs as the iPhone app; the tab opens the church photo and video album.
Home thumbnails and cached sections (Preview 1.32): list rows show the same server-generated previews and post images as the iPhone app, and a section that fails on the server keeps its last loaded content.
Settings: Offline Content, Support and Contact, My branches (Preview 1.32): the Settings screen now has the same offline storage usage and clear button, the support link, and the branch summary in the Notifications card.
Home Verse Card Gallery (Preview 1.28): the Home screen now shows the same selection of memory verse cards as the iPhone version, with the same Blogger tags and dates under each card, and follows the server's publication order once it is enabled.
Home Branch Updates (Preview 1.28): posts that already appear as verse cards are no longer repeated in Branch Updates, and each row shows its Blogger tags before the date, exactly like the iPhone version.
Unified admin login (Preview 1.27): one password grants the Administrator or Operator session for Memory Verse Card uploads and media contribution on both platforms.
Email drafts from announcements and events (Preview 1.27): tapping an email address opens your mail app with the recipient and subject filled in on both platforms.
Memory Verse Card and Blogger integration: adding, rotating, commenting on and deleting cards, and publishing to Blogger, work the same way on both platforms.
Bible AI, Bible reader, cloud import and media player: text and original-language search, chat history, Hebrew word highlighting, Hebrew and Greek texts with commentaries, Dropbox and other cloud imports, and the video player with mute and full-screen controls are equivalent. iOS uses AVPlayer and Android uses ExoPlayer.
This page is checked against the source code of both apps. If you notice a difference that is not listed here, please tell us through the support page.