Ever sit through a Sunday sermon, look down at your phone to find a passage, and realize you missed the point your pastor just made? Velora was built for exactly that moment — a smart Bible app that listens along with you during church, pulling up Scripture passages in real time as your pastor references them, then helping you carry the sermon into your week.^1
Open the app, tap to start a Relay, and Velora uses your phone's microphone to follow the sermon. When your pastor says "turn to Second Peter chapter one, verse three," the passage appears. Direct quotes, thematic allusions, even suggested complementary passages — all captured live, hands-free, so you can stay focused on the Word being preached. After church, Velora transcribes the sermon, generates structured outlines for personal or small group study, and provides periodic debriefs and reflection prompts throughout the week.^2^3
In June 2026, Velora introduced Ask Velora — a context-aware AI companion built specifically for reflecting on the sermons you've captured. Unlike a generic chatbot, Ask Velora is scoped to your own sermon library: it can turn a captured message into a devotional, discussion guide, or quiz, answer questions about what your pastor has taught over time, and quote Scripture directly from your preferred translation. Notably, the team built it as a deliberate counterweight to the trend of AI replacing pastoral guidance — Ask Velora is designed to help you go deeper into what your own pastor already preached, not to generate new spiritual insight on its own.^4
Brothers Jonathan and Colin Hooper co-founded Velora through their company Everywai, based in Cleveland, Ohio. Jonathan, a UX designer and PCA Presbyterian, leads design; Colin, a software engineer who previously co-founded Viewcastle (acquired by BoxCast), leads development. They've spent over a decade building apps for major Christian media organizations before turning their full attention to Velora, which began as an idea in late 2024, entered private beta in March 2026, and launched publicly on the App Store and Google Play in July 2026.^5^6
Why Christians Are Excited"I had a stroke, and that pretty much put an end to [taking sermon notes]. In real time, Velora Bible tracks the book, chapter, and verse, even when my pastor doesn't explicitly state them. This transforms paper note-taking from an impossibility into a possibility." — Tim Ishikawa, Google Play review ^8
"Instead of trying to take notes during the sermon, I let Velora do its amazing thing — it records the sermon, includes the Scripture references, and then an amazing summary. In 'Ask Velora' you can dig deeper into the sermon! This beautiful app is a true blessing to the Church!" — Gina Glennon, Google Play review ^8
Notable- Proprietary real-time Relay engine follows your pastor's sermon live, transcribing and highlighting Scripture passages as they're referenced^2
- Ask Velora AI chat turns captured sermons into devotionals, quizzes, and discussion guides — explicitly scoped to your own church's teaching rather than generating new theology^4
- Crafted with care by Christians, inspired by traditional heirloom Bible design^1
- Presented at the Missional AI 2026 Global Summit in Silicon Valley as part of the Missional Labs Faith and AI cohort^2
- Strong early reception: 5.0 stars on the App Store (18 ratings) and 4.2 on Google Play (17 reviews) within its first month public^8^9
- Active blog, public changelog, public roadmap, and community Slack^3^7
Platforms: iOS and Android Pricing: Free to download, with an optional Velora Premium subscription (weekly or yearly)
