Feature Requests for YouVersion

I love the YouVersion app! It's very rich and features and has many options for reading and examining God's Word.

I like the options for many reading plans and guides within the app. I like the notification system built in for those guides as well. But most importantly, I like the ability to cross reference different transitions of the Bible quickly and in one spot. You can even do parallel comparisons which is very convenient!

There are a few things I wish were available within the app.

The first is something I have found I need on a regular basis. There are times when I'm reading through certain passages on my own for my daily consumption and then will click on a link for a reference in a study guide or switch to a different place when following along with my pastor on Sundays. When I make that change, it treats that location as the last location where I want to pick back up when I resume reading. It would be nice to have a way to hold a reference without having to bookmark it.

For example, I'm reading through the Psalms, and I stopped at Psalm 61. Then I go listen to my pastor who is teaching from Romans 4. I would like for a way to be available to hold the Psalm 61 position to easily flip back and resume my progress readings which sometimes are not daily. Having a few of these resume points would be nice.

I was able to find this app which fills the gap for the above desired feature. It's not exactly what I would have in mind for a built-in feature for YouVersion, but it does help me keep track of what I have read and where I need to continue.

Another feature that they offer is the ability to take notes for a verse or a block of verses. These notes usually tied to a specific translation. What I have found is that it would be nice to have a study feature that allows me to take notes separately from verses yet tie back to those verses even across transitions. Currently, the notes are anchored within the content. What I would ask is for is a way to have a section in the app (maybe called "Studes") for notes that links to the verses. The notes would be grouped under a study with links to verses. This is especially helpful when the study is topical.

I did reach out to YouVersion asking about contributing custom studies to their application. It's not exactly what I had intended in order to accomplish some of the functionality, but it might be worth looking into for creating simple reading plans like I would choose.

Traded LIFX for Sengled

I finally replaced all the LIFX bulbs in my house with Sengled bulbs.

After going through yet another change in my networking, getting the LIFX bulbs to connect to a new network was frustrating beyond measure. Even though I can reset the bulbs to choose a new network, that process proved to not be simple. Several bulbs I reset several times without getting any connectivity to the new network. Factor in the changes to the application they made a couple of years ago reducing it to something very non-intuitive, this was the last straw.

On an interesting note, I was going back through the drafts of my blog and found an unpublished post from one year ago in December stating a list of frustrations with LIFX.

I had actually purchased the Sengled bulbs earlier last year with the intent of eventually making the sweeping swap. I already had at least one bulb in the mix when I had decided to test one when I lost my LIFX bulb.

I have been pleased with the bulbs so far with a few exceptions. The Sengled bulbs connected to the network very easily. The app is simple and straightforward, much like LIFX was when I first started using them.

One thing I have noticed is that the bulbs tend to be a little bit brighter at the lowest setting. This becomes any annoying feature when I try to sleep the lights. It changes the color to a warm setting which is very bright compared to the LIFX bulbs. Sleeping the lights should just dim the lights over a 30-minute period rather than changing the color by default. This would be something I would suggest as a feature change to Sengled's firmware/software. (I am also going to try using a Kasa bulb in my master bedroom to see how they handle this behavior.)

Overall, I've been very pleased with Sengled. They have some very unique products which I think should be setting standards on the market.

Note: I did voice my frustrations on Twitter. And I got a response from Dav Kavanagh who is LIFX Head of Experience.

https://twitter.com/12kav/status/1606198944303759360?t=yxtcfEY4HG2m7egqzJ4daA&s=19