If you've ever wished you could scribble in the margins of your Bible — circle a word, draw an arrow between two verses, sketch out a thought mid-devotion — Pencil Bible was made for that exact moment. It's a beautifully minimal Bible app built for the iPad and Apple Pencil, giving you the freedom to write, highlight, draw, and journal directly alongside Scripture.^1
Unlike feature-heavy Bible apps that pack in commentaries, cross-references, and social feeds, Pencil Bible strips everything back to the essentials: the text and your pen. Choose from translations like ESV, NIV, NLT, CSB, NKJV, NASB, AMP, TPT, KJV, and more — with 14 available completely free — then annotate with the full power of Apple PencilKit, including pressure sensitivity, tilt support, and Apple Pencil Pro tools. A native Swift rebuild delivered zero-lag performance, smoother navigation, multi-device iCloud sync, and full annotation support on both iPad and iPhone. As of July 2026, Pencil Bible is now also available on Android — fulfilling the most-requested feature in the app's history.^1
Pencil Bible is an indie project born from a simple frustration. Founder Erin Walker, based in South Africa, used to wake early for Bible study only to find his pencils and notebooks commandeered by his kids for drawings of kittens and trees. He searched for a digital solution and found nothing that offered true freehand annotation on iPad. The idea became an Indiegogo campaign in 2020 (fully funded at $8,052 from 21 backers), survived four years of development, rejection by Bible publishers, a threat from Apple to remove the app for lacking an iPhone version, and a complete V2-to-V3 rewrite — and emerged as a leading Bible journaling app on the App Store. Erin documents the entire journey transparently on his Medium blog, including the difficult decision to abandon a cross-platform codebase and rebuild natively in Swift.^3^5
Why Christians Love Pencil Bible:
"I've been waiting forever for someone to create a Bible app that gives me the freedom to draw & write next to scriptures!"^1 One user wrote, "It's genuinely changed my life — I feel so much closer to God's Word."^1 Another shared, "I've never been this consistent with my Bible reading — and I love it!"^1 On Reddit, a user wrote: "I 100% love it. It has become my main Bible. I use it on my iPad and iPad mini."^6 A reviewer who struggles with focus described it this way: "For me, a squirrel-chasing ADHD adult, physical books don't hold my attention. But using this app during church services, Bible studies, or alone time with God, I actually stay focused."^2 What keeps people coming back is the one thing no other Bible app offered for years: true margin space. As one reviewer put it: "This app is still the only one I have found that allows writing with my Apple Pencil in a nice wide margin and I can't tell you how much I love that feature!"^2 The developer, Erin, personally responds to nearly every review — a small touch that reflects the heart behind the project.
Platforms: iOS (iPad + iPhone) and Android (newly launched, July 2026) Pricing: Freemium — free to download and read; premium unlocks unlimited annotations after a 14-day free trial ($1.99/w, $24.99/y, or $99 lifetime on iPad/iPhone). Android follows the same model.
