Gospel Library User Guide (iOS)

Gospel Library is available on the Apple App Store.

1. On your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, open the App Store.
2. Search for “Gospel Library” and look for the Gospel Library icon (blue with an image of Jesus Christ).
3. Tap the button to the right that says “Get” or that looks like a cloud with a down arrow. If the button says “Open,” then Gospel Library is already installed.
4. After you install Gospel Library it will be available on the home screen of your device.

The first time you open Gospel Library, you’ll see the Home section. You’ll also see a bottom bar with five buttons: Home (house icon), Library (books icon), Search (magnifying glass icon), Bookmarks (ribbon icon), and Screens (square icon with a number). Home and Library are the two main sections of the app and are described below.

Home

The Home section of Gospel Library provides quick links to common resources, including the Scriptures and the current Come, Follow Me lesson. It also has study tools (which are described in the “Learning More” section of the user guide) and a daily scripture verse and general conference quote.

You can customize what you want to see in the Home section by opening the overflow menu (three dots at the top right) and choosing “Edit Home.”

Library

Tap the Library button on the bottom bar to open the Library. In Library, you can browse all of the content in the app. Content is organized into categories—for example, Scriptures, General Conference, or Music.

With some exploring from the main library, you should be able to find a scripture chapter, a general conference talk, a magazine article, or the Come, Follow Me curriculum.

Going back

To go one step back, tap the back button () in the top left corner. Or, if you want to quickly go back to Home without having to tap back several times, you can tap the Home button on the bottom bar.

When you’re in a content chapter or talk, you can also tap the title bar at the top of the screen to open the drop-down navigation menu, which shows the path back to the Library.

When you leave the app and come back later, the app will remember where you were so you can pick up where you left off. Or you can use the back button, Home button, or drop-down menu to go somewhere else.

There are a few tools available to help you study when you’re in a chapter or article. We’ll use Alma 37 from the previous section as an example. First, navigate to Alma 37.

Throughout the chapter, words with footnotes appear in blue. Tapping on a footnoted word opens a related content sidebar where you can see the content of the footnote.

If you want to see the full list of footnotes for the chapter, tap the overflow menu (three dots) in the top right corner and choose Related Content. This opens the sidebar. You can close the sidebar by swiping from the left edge of the sidebar or by tapping the close button () at the top.

On bigger screens, like iPads, the sidebar is pinned open. This allows you to see the main content and related content side by side.

When you’re looking at an individual footnote in the sidebar, each reference in the footnote is listed separately with its title. Referenced verses are expanded with a snippet of quoted text, so you can get an overview without leaving the chapter you’re studying.

Tapping the title of a reference in a footnote navigates to the referenced chapter. Any time you follow a link or navigate to a different location, the back button will take you where you came from.

If you scroll down a bit in Alma 37, you’ll see page numbers in the right margin. Some of the content in Gospel Library has page numbers to help in settings where physical scriptures or manuals are being referenced.

Some users like to read in full screen mode. Doing a double-tap near the middle of the screen turns on full screen mode, hiding the top navigation bar and the bottom toolbar and expanding the reading area. To exit full screen mode, double-tap again.

When you finish reading a chapter, if you want to go on to the next, you can swipe sideways from the middle of the screen—swiping right or left goes to the previous or next chapter.

Most content has an audio recording. When you are scrolled to the top of a chapter or article that has audio, you will see a floating audio button () in the bottom right corner. Tapping the audio button opens the audio player for that chapter.

The button in the middle of the audio player is the play/pause button. To listen, press play (). To pause, press pause (). To close the audio player, press the button at the top that says “Close.”

The buttons immediately to the left and right of the play/pause button allow you to jump backward () or jump forward () 10 seconds in the audio. You can also drag the handle on the audio scrubber to go forward or backward in the audio.

If you stop listening in the middle of a chapter and come back later, the audio player will remember where you were and start playing from where you left off.

Some chapters or articles have videos. For example, most general conference talks have a video at the top. Chapters in lesson manuals sometimes have inline videos. Videos are indicated by a video thumbnail with a play button.

To play a video, tap the play button () in the bottom left corner of the video thumbnail. Then you can use the controls in the video player to pause, change the volume, or open the video player in full screen.

Sometimes you don’t know where to find something in the app. At the bottom of the screen, you can find the Search button (). Tap the search button to open the search panel.

Start typing what you’re looking for in the search bar (for example, “faith” or “gathering of Israel”). As you type, search suggestions will show below the search bar. If one of the suggestions matches what you’re looking for, you can tap it. Otherwise, tap the search button on the keyboard to start a full search.

At the top of the search results list, there are filters that can be used to narrow the results. More information about the search filters can be found in the “Advanced search” section of the user guide.

To clear the search and start over, tap the Clear button in the top right.

If you want to have multiple sections of the app open at the same time, you can use screens. Screens are similar to tabs in a web browser. Tap the screens button () in the bottom bar.

The screens panel lists all of the screens you currently have open. To open a new screen, tap the floating plus button () in the bottom right corner of the screens panel. You can have as many screens open as you want.

To close a screen, open the screens panel then tap the close button on the screen you want to close. You will always have at least one screen open (your current screen) while the app is open.

You can use bookmarks to keep track of your current reading, interesting articles, or favorite chapters you want to come back to.

When you’re on a chapter you want to bookmark, tap the bookmarks button () at the bottom of the screen to open the bookmarks panel. Then tap the floating plus button () in the bottom right corner. You can type a name for the bookmark or leave it at its default and save. The bookmark will be added next to the verse or paragraph you’re scrolled to.

To rename a bookmark, open the bookmarks panel then tap the Edit button to enter edit mode. When you tap on a bookmark in edit mode, it will let you rename it. You can also reorder the list of bookmarks in edit mode.

To move the bookmark to a different chapter, navigate to the new chapter and open the bookmarks panel. Tap the update button () to the right of the bookmark.

You can move a bookmark to a different place in the same chapter without going to the bookmarks panel by tapping the bookmark icon in the left margin then dragging the bookmark up or down.

Long-pressing text in a chapter will select the text and bring up the annotation menu. The first button on the annotation menu is Mark (), which allows you to highlight or underline the selected text.

After tapping Mark, you can choose a different color or style by pressing Style () in the annotation menu. When you’re done, tap away from the annotation menu and the mark to close it.

To change or delete a mark you’ve already created, tap lightly on the mark, and the annotation menu will appear again. The Remove button () will delete the mark (and any notes, tags, notebooks, or links attached to it).

There are several other buttons in the annotation menu:

• Note () will open the note editor so you can add a note to the selected content.
• Tag () brings up the tag panel. You can use tags to label content related to topics that are important to you. You can browse tagged content in the Notes section of the app (more information below).
• Add to () opens the add to notebook panel. You can use notebooks to store notes, gather resources related to what you’re currently studying, or prepare a lesson or talk. You can see and manage notebooks in the Notes section of the app.
• Link () opens the link panel. A link is a personal cross-reference or scripture chain that you can use to connect content throughout the library.
• Copy () copies the selected text to the clipboard so it can be pasted in a note or in a different app.
• Share () allows you to share the selected text using options provided by iOS or any third-party apps you have installed.
• Search () brings up the search panel and automatically initiates the search for the selected word or phrase.
• Define () allows you to look up the definition of a selected word using the lookup options provided by iOS. You can change the default lookup options in iOS settings.

In the Home section, under “Study Tools,” you will find four items: Annotations, Tags, Notebooks, and Study Plans.

Annotations

Annotations has all of the marks and notes you’ve created in Gospel Library, with the newest on top. You can use the Annotations section to review what you’ve been marking or studying recently or to go back and find something from a long time ago.

Tags and Notebooks

Tags has the list of any tags you’ve created. From here, you can browse content you’ve tagged or manage your list of tags.

Notebooks has a list of your notebooks. You can add, edit, and remove notebooks or add new notes using the floating plus button inside a notebook. When you’re inside a notebook, tapping the Edit button allows you to remove or reorder things you’ve added to the notebook.

You can remove an entire tag or notebook by swiping it out of the list. You can also rename it by entering edit mode then tapping the tag. Both lists also have a filter bar and sort menu that make it easier to find a specific tag or notebook if the list is long.

Study Plans

Creating a study plan allows you to set goals and track progress in reading a specific book, manual, magazine, or conference.

To create a study plan, go to Home > Study Plans. Then tap Create Plan (if it’s your first plan) or the floating plus button to bring up the study plan wizard.

The wizard will guide you through the process of choosing a book, setting a schedule, and adding reminders (the schedule and reminder steps are optional). Then it will create a plan with a checkable list of chapters or reading segments.

If you plan on using study features like bookmarks, notes, or study plans, you will want to sign in with your Church Account in Gospel Library settings.

When you’re signed in, your personal Gospel Library data is backed up and synced to your Church Account. This keeps it safe in case anything happens to your device. It also allows you to access your data from Gospel Library instances on other devices and on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

In addition to syncing your personal data, signing in allows you to access role-based content that may be available for your calling (for example, if you’re a full-time missionary, signing in will allow you to access training materials).

Screens and history do not currently sync.

To share a quote from a chapter or article, select the text you want to share, then tap the share button () on the annotation menu. This will bring up a list of sharing options provided by iOS or any third-party apps you have installed.

To share a full chapter, go to the chapter, then choose Share from the overflow menu (three dots in the top right). This will bring up a list of sharing options.

You can also share the contents of a tag or notebook.

If there are publications you access frequently and you don’t want to spend a lot of time looking for them, you can add them to a custom collection.

To create a custom collection, go to the Library. Choose Add Collection from the overflow menu. Type a name for the custom collection and press Save. The custom collection will be added to the main library screen.

To add a publication to the custom collection, find the publication in the library. Then long-press on the publication and choose “Add to” from the publication’s context menu. Finally, tap on the custom collection you want to add it to. You can add as many books as you’d like to a custom collection following the same pattern.

Gospel Library has a few tools in search to help you find content more quickly.

Recent searches show when you open the search panel before you start typing. You can repeat a previous search by tapping one of your recent searches.

Search suggestions appear as you type, providing shortcuts to scripture verses, hymns, reference materials, and publications by title. For example, if you type “ne37” you’ll see a link to 1 Nephi 3:7 in the Book of Mormon. If you type “October 2022” you’ll see a link to the October 2022 general conference.

Search filters allow you to refine or filter search results. There are five search filters:

• Collections: Limit your search to selected content in the app (content category, current location, or personal notes).
• Speakers: Filter to show talks or articles by specific Church leaders.
• Topics: Filter content based on one or more gospel topics.
• Date: Limit search results to a specific date range.
• Exact Phrase: Search for an exact phrase (using quote marks).

The Sort by menu provides a way to sort search results by relevance, recency, or book order. Sort options vary depending on the selected search filters.

The Clear button in the top right clears the search and resets the search filters.

All Gospel Library content is searchable when a user is connected to the internet. When a user is offline, search is limited to key resources, such as the scriptures and recent general conferences.

The first time you open Gospel Library, it will connect to the internet to install its starting content, which includes the scriptures. From that point on, the scriptures and any other books you download will be available offline. The app will check for content updates periodically when it connects to the internet.

If you want to install all of the books in a section at once, long-press on the section you want to download and choose Download All from the context menu.

If you want to listen to audio recordings or watch videos offline, they will need to be downloaded in advance. Tap the download button () on the video thumbnail or in the audio player to download the individual file. Or you can download audio for a full publication by navigating to the list of chapters in the book then choosing Download Audio from the overflow menu.

Downloaded audio, video, and books can be managed under the Downloaded Media section in Gospel Library settings.

Gospel Library has several settings that you can adjust to tune the app based on your preferences. To open Settings, use the overflow menu from anywhere in the app.

• Add to – Button on the annotation menu for adding selected text to a notebook.
• add to notebook panel – Panel that allows you to choose a notebook when adding selected text to a notebook.
• Annotations – Section under Home > Study Tools, where all marks, notes, and other user-created annotations are listed.
• annotation menu – Menu that appears when you select text in a chapter.
• audio player – Panel with audio controls at the bottom of the screen that appears when you’re listening to audio.
• audio scrubber – Progress bar on the audio player that shows how far along you are when listening to audio.
• back button – Button in the top left corner that allows you to go back to where you were.
• book suggestion – Search suggestion that takes you to go to a book.
• bookmark – Marker on a chapter or verse that saves your place for you to come back later.
• bookmarks button – Button on the bottom bar that opens the bookmarks panel.
• bookmarks panel – Panel that allows you to create, update, or open a bookmark.
• Bottom bar - Bar with buttons at the bottom of the screen.
• Church Account – User account that allows you to access personalized data and resources on ChurchofJesusChrist.org and in Church apps.
• clear button – Button in the search bar or filter bar that allows you to clear the text you’ve typed.
• content update – Periodic update to collections and books in the library.
• context menu – Menu that appears when you long-press on an item (such as a collection or book).
• Copy – Button on the annotation menu for copying the selected text.
• custom collection – Collection of books that a user can create to access them more easily.
• Define – Button on the annotation menu to look up a word using the lookup options provided by iOS.
• download button – Button for downloading audio or video.
• Downloaded Media – Section of the app under Settings where you can manage audio and video that you’ve downloaded.
• drop-down navigation menu – Menu for navigating hierarchically, based on where you are in the library, that appears when you tap the top navigation bar.
• Edit button – Button in the top right of certain screens that turns on edit mode.
• edit mode – Mode that allows you to edit things on the screen, such as the list of bookmarks or content in the Notes section.
• exact phrase search – Type of search that only finds exact matches for a phrase you’re searching, if you type the phrase in quote marks.
• filter bar – Bar at the top of a list that you can type text into to filter the list.
• find on page – Search suggestion for finding the word or words you’re looking for on the current page.
• floating audio button – Button in the lower right corner that opens the audio player when you’re at the top of a chapter.
• floating plus button – Button in the lower right corner on certain screens that allows you to add something, such as a note or bookmark.
• footnote – Study help that provides notes or cross-references for a word or phrase in a chapter.
• full screen mode – Mode that hides the top navigation bar and bottom toolbar while reading.
• full search – Search that allows you to find a word or words across all installed content in the library.
• go-to suggestion – Search suggestion that takes you to a chapter or scripture reference.
• Home – Section of Gospel Library with quick links and study tools.
• jump backward – Button on the audio player for jumping back 10 seconds in the audio.
• jump forward – Button on the audio player for jumping forward 10 seconds in the audio.
• keywords – Individual words you type when performing a search.
• Library – Section of Gospel Library where you can browse all content in the app.
• Link – Button on the annotation menu for creating a cross-reference link.
• link – Personal cross-reference or scripture chain to connect different content.
• link panel – Panel for creating a cross-reference link.
• Mark – Button on the annotation menu for marking selected text with a highlight or underline.
• Note – Button on the annotation menu for adding a note to selected text.
• note – Thoughts typed by a user that can be attached to selected text or added to a notebook.
• note editor – Panel for creating or editing a note.
• notebook – Folder in the Notes section for storing notes, gathering resources for study, or preparing a lesson or talk.
• Notebooks – Section under Home > Study Tools, where notebooks are listed.
• overflow menu – Button on the top right that shows options related to the current screen.
• page numbers – Numbers in the right margin that indicate a page number in the physical book.
• personal Gospel Library data – Highlights, notes, notebooks, custom collections, bookmarks, study plans, and other data that you’ve added to Gospel Library.
• play/pause button – Button on the audio player for playing or pausing the audio.
• related content sidebar – Sidebar on the right that shows footnotes or other content related to the chapter.
• Remove – Button on the annotation menu for deleting a mark.
• role-based content – Type of content that appears based on your Church calling or assignments.
• screen – Tab or window of the app that allows you to have multiple things open at the same time.
• screens button – Button on the bottom toolbar that opens the search panel.
• screens panel – Panel that allows you to open or manage screens.
• Search – Button on the annotation menu for searching for the selected text.
• search bar – Bar in the search panel where you can type the word or words you’re looking for.
• search button – Button on the bottom toolbar that opens the search panel.
• search history – List of previous searches that appears in the search panel after search results have been cleared.
• search panel – Panel that allows you to search for content in the library.
• search suggestion – Suggestion that appears in the search panel as you’re typing.
• Settings – Section of the app where you can set preferences for how you want the app to appear or behave.
• settings button – Button on the bottom toolbar for opening Settings.
• Share – Button on the annotation menu for sharing the selected text.
• sharing options – Options provided by iOS or third-party apps to share content.
• sort menu – Menu that allows you to sort a list (for example, alphabetically or by most recent).
• starting content – Content that downloads the first time you open the app. This includes the list of books in the library as well as the scriptures in the language of your device.
• study plan – Plan that allows you to track progress in reading a specific book, manual, magazine issue, or general conference.
• Study Plans – Section under Home > Study Tools, where study plans are listed.
• Style – Button on the annotation menu for choosing the marking style and color.
• Tag – Button on the annotation menu for tagging selected text.
• tag panel – Panel that allows you to choose tags to add to a selection.
• tag – User-defined label for organizing content by topic.
• Tags – Section under Home > Study Tools, where tags are listed.
• top navigation bar – Bar at the top of the screen that shows the title where you are in the app.
• update button – Button next to each bookmark in the bookmarks panel that updates the bookmark to the current chapter or verse.
• video thumbnail – Image that appears where a video can be played.

Go back
Open the audio player
Play audio or video
Pause audio or video
Jump backward 10 seconds in the audio
Jump forward 10 seconds in the audio
Download audio or video
Open the screens panel
Open the bookmarks panel
Create or add something to the list
Update bookmark
Open the search panel
Mark the selected text
Copy the selected text
Define the selected word
Share
Link
Note
Tag
Notebook
Style
Remove
Close the current panel