Ever since I switched to this new Android phone, I’ve been trying to look for some good Catholic apps that resemble what my Apple-loving friends have on their devices. I must say the Android App Market is rather disappointing when compared to the iTunes App Store. But thanks to the recent upgrade on the AppBrain app/site, I discovered quite a handful of cool Catholic apps that can be downloaded and installed directly from my web browser. Let me review a couple of them here.
One of the most popular Catholic apps on iTunes App Store has finally arrived on the Android App Market. The iBreviary is developed by an Italian priest, Father Paolo Padrini. The app has sections for the Breviary, Reading of the Day and Prayers, and is wonderful for Catholics to be able to keep up with their daily devotions while on the go.
This app is developed by the folks behind evangelizo.org, and reflects the corresponding Gospel and Readings sections on dailygospel.org. There’s also a Saints section and an additional Prayers section hidden in the menu. You can also choose between the Ordinary Roman, Extaordinary Roman, Maronite, Melkite and Armenian Liturgical Calendars.
Lectio Divina stands for Divine Reading in Latin. The Lectio Divina app for Android consults the Catholic liturgical texts (readings, psalms, gospel) taken from universalis.org, and the lives of saints for each day or a date chosen.
The Sincere Prayer app contains 4 major sections: Prayers and Verses, Prayer Journal, Daily Readings, Mobile Rosary. Worth mentioning is the Daily Readings section which contains links to various websites and podcasts where you can get your daily readings.
This app offers a collection of Catholic prayers for you to take on the go. There’s also a Catechism section, which is great for folks who want the Catechism at their finger tips. The user interface on this app is rather simple when compared to the others mentioned here, but still, it gets the job done. There are also separate apps available for Mobile Litanies and Mobile Rosary.
I had an earlier version of this app installed on my phone, where there were only daily mass readings and a prayer section. The latest update now has Liturgy of the Hours (Lauds and Vespers) as well as a Rosary section. Sadly I had problems updating to the new version, after I uninstalled the older version. So now I’m between a rock and a hard place. I tried contacting the developer directly via email, but he wasn’t very helpful, and has since stopped responding to my email. I’ve yet to see the latest version for myself, but the print screens and description from the developer’s blog look promising. At least for the short time that I had the earlier version on my phone, I had quite enjoyed it. I do hope to be able to install this on my phone once again.
All the apps mentioned are available free on AppBrain. Some of these apps are location specific, so you may not see it on the Android App Market. There are also some paid apps such as the iMissal that I’m not able to review here since I do not have access to paid apps here in Singapore. If you know of some good Catholic apps for Android, please let me know!
Tags: android, Catholic, devotions, prayers, Resources, Reviews, technology
Recent Comments