Monday, November 28, 2011

Five Cool Catholic Apps

It is no secret to my closest friends and relatives that I am a geek.  Granted, I'm not a super smart geek or else I'd be making a lot more money than I am.  But I've always enjoyed technology.  I've always liked computers.  I am a genuine text addict and it is seldom that I don't have my Droid X in my hand.  I'm also pretty geeky when it comes to Catholicism.  So, I figured, I would combine the two and write about my favorite Catholic apps.   There aren't a lot out there but here are five good Catholic apps.  

1) Confession---It shouldn't be any surprise to anyone who knows me that a confession app would be my favorite.  This one got a lot of publicity when it came out about a year or so ago.   For all of you who think it means you don't have to tell your sins to another person then you are going to be disappointed.   It does not replace the sacrament.  It simply takes who you are, you sex, your age and your vocation and comes up with an examination of conscience for you.  You do the examination of conscience and then it walks you through the steps of confession.   Then, after confession, all of your sins are erased and it only leaves you with the date of confession for your next time.   It is very simple.  Very easy to use.  The only problem I've had with it is that it keeps logging you off so you have to log back on right before you go in if you wish to use it in the confessional. People may also look at you awkwardly for looking at your phone while in line.

2) iBreviary---You don't have to carry around your breviary with you any longer.  This simple app holds all of your daily readings so you have them with you no matter where you are.    It's very nice to have but I have to admit---there is something about having the actual book of Christian Prayer there and moving the ribbons around.

3) CatholicOne--I don't think this app had gotten the press that it deserves.  I love it!  In one little app it has daily readings, the rosary, stations of cross.  Dozens of prayers in English and Latin, a link to iCatholicMedia (an app that I havent' gotten a chance to explore yet but looks interesting) and not one--but two on-line Bibles. Yes, it has both the New American Bible and Douay-Rheims Bible.  The prayers are even divided into different types such as Eucharistic, Marian, novena etc etc.   If you are Catholic then you need this app.  It's fantastic.

4) Sirius/XM--I am including this app even though it is not necessarily "Catholic" because I use it to listen to The Catholic Channel when I'm not in my car or away from the computer.   It's great for listening to The Catholic Guy Show while I'm driving at work.

5) Ingnio---This app is available for the Android market but after talking to one of the designers at NCYC I downloaded it to my iPod Touch.   Sadly, I don't have anyone to light my flame.  :-(   The basic idea is that we need help from our fellow Christians.  Our "candle" is lit by someone and you develop a small circle of friends that help keep you on task.  Every time you pray or read scripture you push a button and your candle stays lit.  If you go awhile without praying or reading the Bible your candle dwindles and is eventually extinguished.   You are only allowed 12 friends which is perfect--because it's not about social networking.  It's about having a few great friends who will keep you on the right path.  I'm really looking forward to using this app because I need some close friends to keep me on task.

What about you?  Do you have any apps that you like?  I saw some interesting ones on iTunes that I wish were in the Android Market.

15 comments:

  1. Hey how's it going this is Steve Lawson, we met at the New Media Conference (I run a website called Why I'm Catholic). I enjoyed the post as an Android user myself. Let me know what you think of iCatholicRadio if you decide to download it, that is one of the apostolates I work on at my day job and I'd love to get your feedback. God bless!

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  2. Thanks for sharing the great app info. However, I can't seem to find the "Ignio" in the Droid market. Any advice as to what I can do to locate it? I'm only finding it for iPhone :(

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  3. Crap--- that's a typo. It's NOT available on the DROID but they are working on it.
    I can't wait for it to be. Im still looking for someone to start my flame on my iPod.

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  4. The Brevarium Meum app is phenomenal. Like iBreviary, except with the 1960 Divine Office and no connecting to the internet every day...just once ever 8 days.

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  5. Love the Catholic One App and have it on my Droid X. They podcast the daily readings for the Mass so you are actually hearing them and not reading them. You are hearing the Word. So cool.

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  6. Does anyone know when the Catholic One App will be available as an Apple App for both the iPad and iPhone?

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  7. LOVE catholic one .. But just got iPhone and can't get it or find it in the apps! Will it ever be available? Just one more reason to switch back to droid!

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    1. Don't know if you figured this out yet, but it's called Laudate. It says in the App description that it's also known as Catholic One. Great App!

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  8. Great post Jamie! I've recently embarked on creating a site: http://catholicapps.com which seeks to bring together app end users and developers to build better and better Catholic apps. I was not familiar with CatholicOne, I'm curious if you'd be willing to write a review of this app for our database. This may be as simple as copying and pasting your short paragraph and just "rating" it based on our 5 categories which can be found under any app at: http://catholicapps.com/

    I LOVE Ignio and in fact our first podcast episode featured the devs of that app. Great guys!

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  9. Thanks for the post !
    I’ve create an game for kids (from 2 to 7) to learn the vocabulary of Christmas. I’ve added some around the nativity (stable, Jesus, Mary, Joseph …).
    Ligth version : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fr.aetys.game.noel.light
    Paid version : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fr.aetys.game.noel.paid
    It's a game for little but help me a bit to explain them the nativity.

    Will be soon avaible on iPhone/iPad.

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  10. I stumbled on this post today, and have to say that the confession app helped me narrow things down, and brought to light some things that I hadn't considered before.

    I also wanted to throw it out there that a couple of my Catholic friends got together and created a Saint of the Day for Kids app. http://saintofthedayforkids.com
    I felt like my 7,6, and 3 year old needed something a bit less theological, and martyr (read killing) focused. We just wanted something that would help to introduce them to the heroic saints, without making them feel like being a saint would never happen. Just some thoughts. Thanks for a great post.

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  11. Is there a Laudate app for the computer, I have it on my kindle fire and love it and my husband would like to have it on the computer?

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  12. Thanks for the posts.
    EWTN Bible app is also helpful :)

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  13. This aps You have to need: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pl.mb.modlitewnik&hl=en
    Big database of prayer.

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