Word Unlocked docs

Getting started

What you need

• An iPhone with iOS 17 or later.
• No account. Word Unlocked has no sign-in of any kind.
• An internet connection only if you choose the English Standard Version or the Recovery Version. The other five translations never need one.

Getting the app

Word Unlocked is not on the App Store yet, and we announce dates only when they are certain. To hear the moment it is available, request early access.

First-run setup

The first time you open Word Unlocked, six short pages walk you through setup. You can change every choice later.

1. Word Unlocked — the welcome page. Tap Next.
2. Your Translation — tap one of the five translations stored on your phone: KJV, WEB, BSB, ASV, or LSV. Tap Next.
3. Choose How Verses Rotate — tap one of the six modes, then Next. Each mode starts with its defaults: Topic starts with Love, Chapter starts at John 3, and Weekly Plan starts with the Hope theme. Memorization and Favorites show the daily verse until you start a plan or save a verse.
4. Choose a Theme — tap one of ten themes, then Next.
5. Add the Widget — a reminder of how to add the widget from your Lock Screen once setup is done. Tap Next.
6. You're all set! — tap Get Started.

The English Standard Version and the Recovery Version aren't offered during setup. Choose them afterward on the Translations tab.

Finding your way around

The tab bar has Today, Modes, Translations, and Search. Favorites and Settings are under More.

Today shows the current verse with its mode, translation, and theme, and a heart to save it. Below the verse are a Widget Preview and four shortcuts: Add Lock Screen Widget, Set as Wallpaper, Change Mode, and Change Theme.

Widgets and wallpaper

Word Unlocked has one widget in five sizes: three for the Lock Screen and two for the Home Screen. Every size shows the same verse as the app.

Add the Lock Screen widget

On Today, tap Add Lock Screen Widget to see these steps in the app.

1. Lock your iPhone, then touch and hold the Lock Screen.
2. Tap Customize, then choose Lock Screen.
3. Tap the widget area just below the clock.
4. Search for Word Unlocked.
5. Choose the Rectangular widget, then tap it to add. Inline and Circular are also available.
6. Tap Done to save your Lock Screen.

The inline style sits in the line above the clock: to add it, tap the date above the clock instead of the area below it. Lock Screen widgets don't use your Word Unlocked theme — iOS draws them to match your Lock Screen.

Add a Home Screen widget

1. Touch and hold an empty area of your Home Screen until the apps jiggle.
2. Tap the add button, or Edit and then Add Widget, depending on your version of iOS.
3. Search for Word Unlocked, swipe to the small or medium size, and tap Add Widget.

How the widget stays current

The widget follows your mode: a new verse at midnight, or at set times through the day when a mode changes every 12, 8, or 6 hours. Changes you make in the app are passed to the widget right away, but iOS decides the exact moment widgets redraw to save battery, so an update can take a little while to appear.

Set a verse as your wallpaper

iOS doesn't let apps set your wallpaper directly, so Word Unlocked makes an image you can set yourself. The verse sits in the lower part of the picture, clear of the Lock Screen clock.

1. On Today, tap Set as Wallpaper.
2. Under Background, choose Dusk, Night, Dawn, Forest, Slate, or Ink. The preview shows a faint clock for reference only; it isn't part of the image.
3. Tap Save to Photos. The first time, allow Word Unlocked to add to your photos. Once the image is saved, the button reads Saved to Photos.
4. Open the Settings app, tap Wallpaper, then Add New Wallpaper.
5. Choose Photos and pick the image you just saved.
6. Position it, tap Add, then tap Set as Wallpaper Pair.

The wallpaper uses your theme's typeface and fits up to about 240 characters of the verse, ending at a word break if the verse is longer. While the Recovery Version is selected, the wallpaper uses the King James Version.

Verse modes

A mode decides which verse you see and when it changes. One mode is active at a time, and the app and the widget both follow it.

Choose a mode

1. Tap the Modes tab, or Change Mode on Today. The active mode has a checkmark.
2. Tap another mode to open its options.
3. Set the options, then tap Set as Active Mode — Weekly Plan uses Start This Week, and Memorization uses Start New Plan. Your options are saved when you tap it.
4. Tap Done.

You can also switch modes in Settings under Active Mode. Each mode keeps the options you saved for it.

Daily Verse

A verse chosen for each day. Its options:

• Translation — any of the five stored translations. This sets the translation for the whole app.
• Verse Scope — Include Old Testament and Include New Testament are both on by default. Psalms and Proverbs Only limits verses to those two books.
• Update Interval — Daily (the default) or Every 8 Hours, which changes the verse at midnight, 8 AM, and 4 PM.

Weekly Plan

Seven verses a week, one for each day. Under Verses From, choose a source:

• Theme — one of 26 themes, such as Hope, Peace, or Wisdom. Weekly Plan and Topic share this choice, so changing one changes the other.
• Chapter — a book and chapter, read in order. Psalm 23 is the default.
• Book — a whole book, read in order.
• My Verses — your own list. Tap Add Verses, then search by reference or words, or pick from your favorites. Tap a verse to add it, and tap it again to remove it. The plan shows one verse a day in the order listed; swipe left on a verse to take it off the list.

This Week previews the seven verses, from Day 1 to Day 7; Day 1 is the first day of the week for your region. Leave Repeat every week on to see the same seven verses every week, or turn it off to move on to the next seven each week and start over at the end. Then tap Start This Week.

Topic

Verses on one subject. Tap a topic in the list, then choose a Rotation Speed of Daily, 12h, or 6h. 12h and 6h change the verse through the day, starting at midnight. Each topic has 12 to 15 verses.

The 26 topics are Anxiety, Courage, Discipline, Endurance, Faith, Family, Fear, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Grief, Hope, Humility, Joy, Leadership, Love, Marriage, Obedience, Patience, Peace, Prayer, Purpose, Rest, Strength, Temptation, Wisdom, and Work.

Chapter

Read one chapter a verse at a time. Choose a Book and use the Chapter buttons to pick a chapter (John 3 is the default). Then, under Rotation:

• Speed — Daily, Every 12 Hours, or Every 6 Hours.
• End Behavior — after the last verse, Repeat starts the chapter again, Next Chapter keeps reading into the following chapters (after Revelation it starts again at Genesis), and Stop stays on the last verse.
• Show Progress — on by default. When Long Verse Handling is set to Segmented, it numbers the parts of a long verse on the rectangular Lock Screen widget, such as 2/3.

Reading starts at verse 1 whenever you set a new passage, and whenever Chapter becomes the active mode again. Today shows your place, such as John 3 · verse 5.

Memorization

Keep one verse in front of you while you learn it by heart.

1. Under Verse Search, type a reference or words, and tap the verse you want. If you don't search, the plan uses the verse shown under Selected Verse.
2. Under Plan, choose a Duration of 3, 5, 7, or 14 days and a Difficulty of Easy, Medium, or Hard.
3. Tap Start New Plan.

Today and the widget show the whole verse for as long as Memorization is your mode. Over the plan's duration it moves through five phases — Full Verse, Partial Blank, First Letters, Reference Only, and Review — and Current Plan in Memorization's options shows the phase it has reached. You can also start a 7-day plan from any verse in Search by tapping Use for Memorization.

Favorites

Rotate the verses you have saved. Save at least one verse first; until you do, Set as Active Mode is unavailable. Under Rotation:

• Speed — Daily, Every 12 Hours, or Every 6 Hours.
• Shuffle — on by default. Each pass through your favorites comes in a new order, and every favorite appears once per pass. With Shuffle off, they play in the order you saved them.
• Exclude Long Verses — off by default. Leaves out favorites longer than 130 characters, unless every favorite is that long.

Translations

Word Unlocked has seven translations. Five are complete Bibles stored in the app, so they work with no connection. Two come online from their publishers when you choose them.

Change translation

1. Tap the Translations tab.
2. Tap KJV, WEB, BSB, ASV, or LSV, or tap Select next to RV or ESV. A checkmark marks the translation in use.

You can also choose any of the five stored translations in Settings under Default Translation.

English Standard Version

When you choose ESV, Word Unlocked downloads the verses your mode will show next and keeps up to 500 of them on your phone, so the widget shows ESV even without a connection. Crossway's terms allow no more than that, and never more than half of any book; ESV verses you save as favorites count toward the limit, and a favorite saved past it keeps the King James text. The ESV row shows how many verses are on your phone.

Each download brings up to 300 verses, and a new download can start at most once every 48 hours. Downloads happen only while Word Unlocked is open — the widget never goes online — and being offline doesn't start the 48-hour wait. If a verse hasn't downloaded yet, Today shows it in the King James Version, labeled KJV, with a note saying when the next download can happen.

Recovery Version

When you choose the Recovery Version, each verse loads from Living Stream Ministry while you read, with its copyright notice beside it. Living Stream Ministry's terms don't allow storing the text on your phone, so while RV is selected the Lock Screen widget and wallpapers show the King James Version, and favorites you save keep the King James text. Without a connection, Today shows the King James Version until the verse loads.

Licenses

Tap Bible Translation Licenses at the bottom of Translations, or View Licenses in Settings, to read each translation's license and attribution. KJV, WEB, BSB, and ASV are public domain (KJV in the United States). LSV is © 2020 Covenant Press, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike. ESV text is © Crossway, and Recovery Version text is © Living Stream Ministry.

Search and favorites

Search

1. Tap the Search tab and type at least two characters.
2. Enter a reference, such as John 3 or John 3:16, or a word or phrase from the verse, such as fear.
3. Tap the heart beside a result to save it, or tap the result to open it. From there you can save it or tap Use for Memorization.

Search looks in the translation you are reading; with ESV or the Recovery Version selected, it searches the King James Version. It lists up to 50 matches, so a longer phrase gives a shorter, more exact list.

References use short book names. In Bible order: Gen, Exod, Lev, Num, Deut, Josh, Judg, Ruth, 1Sam, 2Sam, 1Kgs, 2Kgs, 1Chr, 2Chr, Ezra, Neh, Esth, Job, Ps, Prov, Eccl, Song, Isa, Jer, Lam, Ezek, Dan, Hos, Joel, Amos, Obad, Jonah, Mic, Nah, Hab, Zeph, Hag, Zech, Mal, Matt, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Rom, 1Cor, 2Cor, Gal, Eph, Phil, Col, 1Thess, 2Thess, 1Tim, 2Tim, Titus, Phlm, Heb, Jas, 1Pet, 2Pet, 1John, 2John, 3John, Jude, and Rev. To find Psalm 23, for example, search for Ps 23.

Favorites

• Save a verse by tapping the heart on Today or in Search. Tap the heart again to remove it.
• To see your favorites, tap More, then Favorites. Tap one to read it in full, with the date you saved it.
• To remove a favorite from the list, swipe left on it and tap Delete.
• Each favorite keeps the text of the translation you saved it in, and shows that translation beside it.
• To put your favorites on the Lock Screen, use Favorites mode.

Settings and themes

Tap More, then Settings. On Today, Change Theme opens the same screen.

Themes

There are ten themes: Minimal Light, Minimal Dark, Parchment, Soft Sunrise, Midnight, Cathedral, Monochrome, Classic Serif, Modern Sans, and Discipline. Swipe through the swatches under Widget Theme and tap one; a checkmark marks your choice.

Long verse handling

Apart from Exclude Long, these strategies change only what the widgets show. Today always shows the full verse.

Also in Settings

• Privacy & Data — a summary of what Word Unlocked doesn't do: no account, ads, tracking, analytics, notifications, cloud sync, or AI processing.
• Bible Translation Licenses — tap View Licenses for each translation's license.
• Legal — tap Privacy Policy to read the full policy.
• About — the version of Word Unlocked you have.

Privacy and data

Word Unlocked collects no data. There are no accounts, no analytics, no advertising, no crash reporting, and no third-party code.

What stays on your phone

• The five complete Bibles, inside the app.
• Your settings, favorites, memorization plan, and downloaded ESV verses. They are shared only between Word Unlocked and its widget on the same iPhone, and Word Unlocked never uploads them. There is no cloud sync.

What leaves your phone

Only verse references, and only for the two online translations: with ESV selected, requests go to Crossway's ESV service; with the Recovery Version selected, they go to Living Stream Ministry's. Nothing about you is sent, and nothing goes to any server run by Word Unlocked. Reading KJV, WEB, BSB, ASV, or LSV makes no network requests at all.

Photos

Word Unlocked asks for Photos access only when you save a wallpaper, and only to add images. It can't see the photos in your library.

The full privacy policy is in the app: tap More, then Settings, then Privacy Policy.

Troubleshooting and help

The widget shows John 3:16 and never changes

Open Word Unlocked once. The widget reads the Bible that the app sets up the first time it opens, and shows John 3:16 until then.

My verse isn't updating

iOS decides exactly when widgets redraw, to save battery, so a change can take a little while to appear. Check the mode and translation shown on Today; each mode changes at its own times. Chapter set to Stop stays on the last verse, and Memorization keeps one verse until you change mode.

The widget shows KJV, but I chose ESV or the Recovery Version

With the Recovery Version, this is expected: its text can't be stored, so the widget and wallpapers use the King James Version. With ESV, the verse hasn't downloaded yet. Downloads happen only while Word Unlocked is open, at most once every 48 hours, and Today shows when the next one can happen.

I can't open the options for the mode I'm using

The active mode's options don't open from the Modes list. In Settings, choose any other mode under Active Mode, then go back to Modes and tap the mode you want to change. Making Chapter or Weekly Plan active again starts it over from the beginning.

Search finds nothing

Search matches references written with short book names — Ps 23, not Psalm 23 — or a word or phrase exactly as it appears in the verse. See Search and favorites for the list of short names.

Where are Favorites and Settings?

Tap More in the tab bar.

Messages you may see

Notes about the online translations appear under the verse on Today. Errors appear under the translation's row on the Translations tab.

Get help

Didn't find what you need? Email us and we'll help.