The start of my first iPhone App

I’m excited, because today is the day that I actually started writing code for my first iPhone application! I’m going to write a Bible app for the iPhone, and it’s going to be great.

For this app, I’m planning on letting users download 1 or more versions of the Bible. I’ll have King James and Basic English to start – since those are free. If lots of people actually use my Bible app, I’ll look into licensing the NASB and NIV.

I decided on a Bible app for a few reasons. First, for the past few months I’ve taken my iPhone to church instead of my Bible – it’s smaller and I always have it – and just looked up everything on BibleGateway.com. This works fine, I guess, but during the lesson and sermon the teacher/pastor usually has a handful of verses queued up, and following along via the EDGE network just wasn’t cutting it – I needed something faster.

Second, I also figured – what are the chances that I can actually get this app done by the iPhone App Store launch date in June? Pretty good, I think. If I can actually get a Bible app written by the time the store launches, I think there’s a good chance that it’ll become the default Bible app for a lot of people – which is pretty cool.

Third, this app is a great learning opportunity. It has very low graphics requirements, so no fancy coding required. It pushes the limits of what I can do: namely – create an app in the first place! I’ll also get to do some basic loading of data over the wireless connection, which is kinda cool. After finishing this app, I should be well on my way to making much “cooler” apps and games.

Fourth, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how I can get involved in ministry. This is something that can make a positive (albeit small?) impact for God, and at the very least, be a useful tool for a number of Christians who also happen to have iPhones who happen to have found my app… As Christi and I finish our move to Portland and get involved in a church there, this’ll be a great way to stay involved and stay focused on Christ.

So wish me luck! I’ll likely be posting my various discoveries as I dive into the iPhone SDK.

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