iPray BCP

Although some changes are necessary in presenting the printed page in an app, (remembering, of course, that provision must be made for American users, although I don't know why they would want to use the 1662 BCP rather than their own 1928 edition) there are a number of omissions and outright errors in the text of this app. Aside from minor errors such as spelling and punctuation, there are major errors and omissions which are inexplicable in an app purporting to offer the 1662 Offices and Psalter. 1. The first instance of the Lord’s Prayer in Morning and Evening Prayer is incorrect. It is not 1662, U.S. 1928, or Canada 1962. 2. The translation of the Venite is not 1662. 12. The creator of the app, although not the 1662 BCP, gives a rubric allowing the omission of the Venite on certain days. 3. The psalms are indeed Coverdale, but are the form in the Book of Psalms in the Bible, which includes such words as ‘selah’ that are omitted in the 1662 BCP Psalter. 4. The cantillation mark (the :) in the canticles and Psalms is treated as a colon, with no space before it; this is tedious when trying to read fluently. 5. The Proper Psalms for certain feasts are not given when they are appointed. 6. The form for the announcement of the Lessons is incorrect. 7. None of the alternate Lessons from the Lectionary are given. 8. Although the Athanasian Creed is mentioned in the rubric, it is not given on the days it is to be said. 9. The correct Collect of the Day does not appear in the First Evensong for Sundays and feasts, nor do the correct Lessons for the First Evensong of the feast. 10. The texts of several of the prayers ending the Offices differ from the 1662 versions; these errors are egregious. 11. The Prayer for Parliament is not printed, although two other prayers from the Prayers and Thanksgivings have been added. 12. The names of the weekdays in Lent are mostly incorrect; Wednesday to Saturday after the First Sunday in Lent should be called the SECOND Wednesday in Lent, etc., not the first. 13. The Litany is not provided, although, as it is appointed to be said after the third Collect at Morning Prayer on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, it would be more useful than the Prayers at Mid-day taken from the 1962 Canadian BCP. 14. The Collect of the Day (permissible in the Canadian BCP) is not given. Whatever this app is purported to be, it is not the Office, Lectionary, Psalter, or Kalendar of the 1662 BCP; rather, it is the creation of someone who is not famil

This app is one of those dusty gems that really needs to be picked up again and shined. No iPhone 5 support, frustrating bugs (don't partially swipe to the next page or you go right to the top!- not to mention no way to turn off swiping.), and a few other things. Beware before you buy. You are not likely to see this app get better.

Deo gratias! This is a wonderful app for Anglicans who hold true to the BCP as the official prayer book of the Anglican Church. I love the scripture readings all lined up according to the Church Calendar, and that it is KJV. I am in communion with the Anglican Network in Canada. Thank you and God bless thee +

Great app!

I enjoy the app. Very easy to use and it flows very easily. Wish this was available for the 1928 BCP. My only suggestion is sometime they update the prayers for the king and royal family.

This app is a great concept: make the 1662 Book of Common Prayer portable and seamless to use; no more flipping back and forth from prayer to psalms and worrying that you have forgotten a special rule for the day. The implementation, however, leaves much to be desired. First, the readings follow the 1922 revised table of lessons. This is fine, but it would be good to announce this on the app download page and better to offer both the 1662 and the 1922 calendars. Second, the litany is not included. Third, the psalms are not adjusted for feast days: for example, on Christmas Day you just read part of Psalm 119, rather than the psalms proper for Christmas. I have not checked to see if there are additional deficiencies (for instance, whether the Athanasian Creed replaces the Nicene on the right days). The things I have noted already, however, make the app less useful than one would prefer and incline me to refer to a copy of the complete book constantly to avoid mistakes. It is particularly unfortunate that the app is incomplete in these regards since the complete 1662 BCP is available free in numerous places online and more recent editions have free apps. I am grateful that someone has gone to the trouble of programming the app to this point, but I hope that they will continue to improve it so that it is more robust and accurate. For now, I will stick with printouts from a pdf and the Bible text from another app.

I’m not a raving traditionalist who thinks God prefers thees and thous and hates all hymns composed after 1899. I do however occasionally need a year or two of refocussing, of being grounded in the soil of the simplicity and inestimable richness of basic Christian doctrine proclaimed through prayer. I’ve prayed the 1662 offices for years with multiple worn out books. I know how tedious it is daily to put slips of paper into a proper—with the apocrypha—Authorised King James Bible. I also use the 1922 lectionary and this app, through the blessed labours of the creator, saves me the hassle of finding the appointed lessons. I believe there is no other app or even a website with the complete untweaked, verbatim Mattins and Evensong of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. May God bless the makers of this app and may younger generations of seekers find grace in the beauty and simplicity afforded by the 1662 through this app. Pax. Update—It is not as I thought the BCP 1662 verbatim. The Venite is neither Coverdale nor King James. Hope they will fix this defect. Also, the Litany is required after Morning Prayer on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays and should be made accessible at least on those days, and the six collects after the Communion Service, and the rest of the Prayers and Thanksgivings also should be made available—and the prayers for the late Duke of Edinburgh need to be excised—all these meaning kept up to date. Sorry to nitpick, but even with a few typos and omissions, it’s still by far the best app with the Offices of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

I have relied on the iPray app for a number of years. It is a genuine blessing and I am grateful to the developers. The chief flaws are two: (1) There are a number of technical glitches on some days, e.g., today is the Feast of the Transfiguration but the Collect was for the Feast of St James; during Easter Week the Psalter disappears altogether. (2) I can find no way to inform the developers about these problems (other than these reviews in the App Store, perhaps?).

Despite my 3 stars, bottom line, this is the very best 1662 app you will find. Despite its flaws, it makes praying the daily office much more streamlined than with using physical books and bible texts. I have been using this app for about 2 years now. For what it is designed to do, it is amazing. However, occassionally the wrong readings populate. For example, over the past three months it has mistakenly used readings from previous weeks, multiple times. Also, occasionally it will not have the correct readings or collects for holy days. The only interface issue I would like to see improved is when you are scrolling down a page, occasionally you will swipe a millimeter or two to the right or left, as though you are about to sweep to the next portion of the daily office. But if you do so by mistake (which is quite easy) it will reset the page to the top, which is slightly inconvenient, as you will have to scroll down to find your place again. If just the readings and collects issue is fixed, I will change this to a five star review.

But wish one with a more modern translation was available also 😇💙