Side project · Case study
Bible study with answers that cite Scripture.
A free app that answers questions about the Bible and cites the verses behind every answer, so the reader can open each passage and check it. Reading works with no signal at all.
People carry questions about the Bible that feel too basic, or too difficult, to ask out loud. General AI tools will answer them, but the answer arrives with nothing to check it against, which is the wrong shape for Scripture.
So I built one in my own time. I wanted an app where the answer is the start of the reading and not a replacement for it: every claim points at a verse, and the verse is one tap away.
Questions are typed the way you would say them. Answers come back in three parts: a brief overview, the spiritual context, and a note on biblical accuracy.
References are woven into the sentence they support. Tapping one opens the chapter scrolled to that verse with it highlighted, and a bar at the top takes the passage back into the conversation.
The King James Version ships inside the app, so reading works the moment it is installed. Six more translations in English, Tamil and Chinese are one-time downloads that stay on the device.
A note holds the title, speaker, church, date and the passages being preached. Attached verses become chips that open the reader, so a note stays connected to its text.
Trust
Generated text can be wrong, so the app never asks to be believed. Each part of an answer carries the verse behind it, and the reference resolves to the right book, chapter and verse in whichever translation is open.
Reliability
Answers generated in Tamil and Chinese were noticeably less reliable: wrong books cited, and in places book names that do not exist. I shipped the version I could stand behind and kept reading fully multilingual.
Offline-first
The KJV is bundled, other translations (roughly 17 to 43 MB each) live on the device, and notes are written locally before they sync. Only asking a question needs the network, and the app says so plainly when offline.
Privacy
Questions go to my own server, which forwards only the question, the translation in use and the last eight messages. Name, email and account ID are never sent. No ads, and analytics are switched off entirely on Android.
Sustainability
A cap of 500 questions a month and 30 messages per conversation keeps costs predictable. When a limit is reached the app explains it clearly, offers to carry the last question into a new conversation, and keeps reading, search and notes working.
Accessibility
The app follows the system text size, including the accessibility sizes, and reflows instead of clipping. It has a full dark theme and a separate font-size control for Scripture in the reader.
Written in Flutter, with SQLite on the device and Firebase behind it. I release it myself through App Store Connect and Google Play Console, under my own developer accounts.
Explore the Word is free, with no ads. The King James Version is already inside, so there is nothing to download before you start.