How to Get Your App Approved on faith.tools

So you built something. Maybe it's a prayer app, a Bible study tool, or an AI-powered devotional. You want it listed on faith.tools — but you're not sure what the approval process actually looks for.

Here's the honest truth: most rejections aren't because of bad apps. They're because of avoidable oversights. This post walks through what you can do before you submit to give your app the best chance of being approved.

Step 1: Read the Selection Criteria (Really Read Them)

This sounds obvious, but it's the most important thing you can do. The selection criteria aren't a checklist to skim — they're a mirror.

Take a step back. Look at your app objectively. Humble yourself enough to ask: "From these criteria, are there changes I need to make?"

Here are the 10 criteria at a glance:

1. Is it beneficial to a Christian's walk with God and community? The goal is tools that help believers love God more and love others more.
2. Does it solve a problem many Christians experience? Not just your church — the capital-C Church.
3. Is it maintained and regularly updated? Outdated apps get passed over (unless it's a simple, single-purpose tool that doesn't need updates).
4. Is the design modern and approachable? Excellence honors God and inspires people. Laws of UX is a good place to start.
5. Is it safeguarded from illicit or harmful content? Protect the purity of your users' eyes and hearts.
6. Are costs clearly communicated? Transparency matters — especially for token-based pricing models.
7. Are the creators friendly towards Christians? Even better if they profess faith in Jesus.
8. Does it serve more than a single church? faith.tools curates for the global body of believers.
9. Does it align with biblical teaching and Christian doctrine? Your app's communication represents the Lord Jesus to its users.
10. Does it meet the AI criteria? (Only applies to AI-based apps — more on that below.)

Don't rush past this list. Sit with each point and honestly assess where your app stands.

Step 2: If Your App Uses AI, Read the Unofficial Rules

If your app includes any AI-generated content — especially user-initiated AI responses — you'll want to study the Unofficial Rules for AI Apps for Christians.

These rules came from real experience: testing dozens of AI apps, attempting to build AI tools for Christians, praying through the tension of what AI should and shouldn't do in a faith context. Here are the five rules:

1. AI output must be biblically accurate

People want truth, not fluff. The Bible offers real wisdom about sin, salvation, and the human need for Jesus. We can't sacrifice biblical accuracy to make someone feel good.

2. AI output must not fabricate or misrepresent Scripture

LLMs are good at organizing words into what they think you want to hear. But they can invent Bible verses or subtly twist existing ones to fit a narrative. The fix? Give the AI access to the actual biblical text in real time instead of relying on what it "remembers" from training data.

Practically, this means tools like a Bible API, a Bible MCP server, or a Scripture search tool. You're telling the AI: "Here's the source of truth. Use it."

3. AI output must clearly identify as AI, not human

This is critical. AI is artificial. It is not alive. It is not sentient. It cannot worship God.

Anthropomorphizing AI — giving it human characteristics, letting it pretend to be a biblical figure, making it feel like a friend — is dangerous territory. Apps like "Text with Jesus" blur a line that shouldn't be blurred.

AI can construct a prayer for you to pray. It cannot pray for you. There's an enormous difference, and your app needs to make that clear.

4. AI output must not replace human relationships or spiritual practices

"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." (James 5:16)

Have you experienced the healing power of confessing a sin to a trusted brother or sister in Christ and being prayed over by them? Nothing artificial can replace that. AI is a tool. It should point people toward community, not away from it.

5. AI output must balance grace and truth

All truth and no grace feels like law and judgment without relationship. All grace and no truth feels like permission to sin without direction.

Jesus was full of grace and truth. Your AI should reflect both. If the output avoids hard truths to protect from offending someone, it goes against the provocative nature of the gospel. If it hammers truth without grace, it misses the heart of the gospel.

Step 3: Set Up AI Guardrails

AI is a computation — a deterministic function. And because of that, we can put proper boundaries in place.

Here's what good AI guardrails look like:

• Give AI the right resources. A Bible API, a Bible study MCP server, a concordance tool — anything that lets the AI research and pull from actual Scripture rather than generating from memory.
• Define clear boundaries. What should the AI never say? What topics should it always defer to a pastor or counselor on? Build these into your system prompts.
• Make the AI's identity clear. It's a tool. A helper. Not a counselor, not a pastor, not a friend. Label it clearly in your UI and in the AI's own responses.

A helpful resource for this is the free prompt for AI Christian chatbots, freely given and open-source.

The Heart Behind It All

faith.tools is built on an open-handed posture. There's room for multiple Bible apps. There's room for multiple prayer apps. There's room for you. "Anyone who is not against us is for us." Mark 9:40 NLT

The approval process isn't about gatekeeping. It's about stewardship — making sure the tools we recommend to believers are ones that genuinely help them grow closer to Jesus and to each other.

If you read the criteria, made the adjustments, and submitted with humility and a heart to serve — that's already a great start.

Ready to submit? Start here.

Have questions? Reach out at cam@faith.tools.