Ever finish a Bible study session with scattered notes you'll never find again? Harvous is a purpose-built Bible notes app that gives your study a home — threads to organize related thoughts, automatic scripture text when you type a reference, and search that finds everything when you need it.^1
Created by Derek Castelli, a Christian designer who got saved in 2016 and felt a calling from God centered around Proverbs 25:2 to build a tool with his creativity. Harvous isn't a Bible reader — it's designed to sit alongside your favorite Bible app or physical Bible, giving you a dedicated space to capture, connect, and revisit what you're learning.^1
The app supports eleven English translations (BSB, ESV, KJV, NKJV, NIV, NLT, NET, NASB 1995, CSB, AMP, and MSG). Notes auto-organize into folders with tags, and you can manually connect notes into threads — flexible groupings that let one note live in multiple places. Everything is encrypted and private by default, with sharing via unique links when you want to collaborate. A built-in Bible dictionary (Easton's) surfaces definitions and cross-references when you select a name or term, a Daily Passage curates a new passage each day, and a Recall feature automatically resurfaces notes, highlights, and passages worth revisiting.^1
Harvous is fully open source under the harvouscom GitHub organization, with over 4,500 commits and active daily development.^3 A major mid-2026 update introduced a native-like web shell with a glass sidebar, study docks, and folders-first organization, alongside full offline sync for notes, highlights, and threads. Derek runs the project under Testament Made LLC and is also the creator of Here's My Church (an interactive map of U.S. churches) and two macOS utilities — Binky (file sorter) and Dinky (media compressor).^2
Paid add-ons on the roadmap include Shared Spaces for group study, Review for spaced practice, Challenges for themed study seasons, and a Connector that will let users reference their Harvous study in tools like Claude and ChatGPT. The core app — unlimited notes, scripture, highlights, and offline sync — remains free.^5
Why Christians Love Harvous:
"As someone who has 'freshly' found Jesus, getting into the Word has become such a large part of my life. Harvous makes it so easy for me to be able to get all my thoughts into one space, in a way that helps me to better understand scripture." — Teaella^1
"This is one of the most beautiful pieces of software I've used recently. The friendly, quirky design makes it fun to use and the big buttons make everything very easy to navigate on mobile." — Joschua^1
Platforms: Web (any modern browser, add-to-homescreen for mobile). Mac, iPad, and iPhone apps in development. Pricing: Free with optional paid add-ons
