Comparison

The Pastors Study Bible vs Cross+Reference

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

The Pastors Study Bible

Access the full text of the Bible with thousands of cross-references and study notes. Personalize your reading experience with bookmarking, highlighting, and note-taking features. Create custom Bible verse wallpapers and enjoy a comfortable reading experience with night mode and adjustable font sizes.

Highlights
  • Full text Bible with references and notes
  • Bookmark, highlight, and add notes
  • Verse of the Day and daily reminders
  • Bible verse wallpaper creator
  • Night mode for comfortable reading
  • Adjustable font size and easy interface
Features
Read full description

Features: ► Full Text Bible (OT+NT) attached with thousands of references and Study notes ► Bookmark and highlight your favorite verses, add notes and search for words in your Bible. ► Verse of the Day & Daily Reminder - You can turn this function on or off and adjust the notification time in the app settings. You can create a Bible verse wallpaper by clicking on the notification. ► Bible Verse Wallpaper Creator - You can create beautiful wallpapers with your favorite Bible verses on attractive photo backgrounds and other options, then share them with others. ► Swipe to navigate chapters. ► Night Mode for reading when dark (good for your eyes.) ► Click and share Bible verses with your friends via Whatsapp, Facebook, E-mail, SMS etc. ► Designed to run on all iOS devices. ► No additional font installation required ► New user interface with Navigation drawer menu. ► Adjustable font size and easy to use interface.

About

Cross+Reference

Read full description

Cross+Reference is a new way to Study the Bible. Read+Research+WriteItDown The App focuses on having a selected verse. This Sync verse gives context to what you are reading. The Sync Verse updates the content in other panels allowing them to be updated in the context of the Verse. Are you a Diligent Seeker? Cross+Reference is designed to help both the novice and experience Bible Scholars in research and improving their understanding of scriptures. You may display content to fill from one to ten Panels. Each Panel contains any of several content types from Bible verses to Notes and Videos. The full list of Panels is listed below by category. The Panel layouts are highly customizable and may be saved and recalled for quick access. Automatically Sync your Study (collection of notes, videos, etc.) between iPhone and iPad. Key Concepts: - Reading - Using the sync verse (see above) gives the Cross+Reference user the ability to quickly lookup a person or location without going to another App or the Web to get the details. The cities and kings of Israel are very important to understanding the deep details of how and why certain things happened the way they did through out the Bible. Using a research tool like the built in Easton Dictionary allows you to get context for the people and places of the selected verse. Cross+Reference quickly looks up each word in the selected verse and displays the found entries in a list. Selecting an entries displays the details. Additionally, Naves and Thompson concordances give similar ability with their content. - When taking notes simply typing a Book:Chapter:Verse reference (1Sam:16:15 for example) highlights as a link that when tapped immediately updates the Primary Bible sync verse to that verse. These links can even be copied into other Applications such as Apple Notes and can be tapped on there and opened in Cross+Reference - The Study - A Cross+Reference Study is a user document that contains Notes, web pages, documents, Videos links and a variety of other content that relates to a specific Bible topic. Whether it is for a personal study, Bible Study notes or the outline for an upcoming sermon, Cross+Reference provides many of the tools to aid in reading and research. Loads of features with lots to explore With 14 different Panel Types (see panel help for details) Reading Panels Primary Bible Panel - the Bible version that updates the Sync verse. It has 3 variations - Primary Bible - Select the Header to select the Version, Book Chapter and verse - Alternate Bible - Same as Primary but displays two Bible version side by side - Verse Selection - Same as Primary but the Version, Book Chapter and verse overlay remains available while scrolling the Bible Standalone Bible - same as Primary Bible except it does not update the Sync Verse Reader Version - Chapter based instead of verse base. allows reading in a more traditional way Multiple Bible Version - Allows displaying a the current Sync verse for Bible Version available Favorite - Create and maintain favorite verses for easily recalling the verse text. Research Panels Chapter Overview - provides a short write up for quick access to the major events and topics in a chapter. Based on the Westminster Reference Bible summaries. Search - Detailed search for finding specific word searches topics within the Bible. Also provides a convenient Web Search tab for searching the Web for a topic. Verses Reference - See all the text related to the sync verse Easton Dictionary Thompson Topics Naves Topical Concordance WriteItDown Panels Tag Bookmarks - Tag verses and research tools search terms for a Study Notes - with Bible verse link detection Notations - Notes Notation - Note taking - Bible Link Notation - A verse - Image with Note Notation - Web Notation - Web page - Document Notations - PDF, Office, iWork Docs, and other doc types - Video Notations - YouTube Video Links, Web Video URLs, video files from Photos and Files

Screenshots

The Pastors Study Bible4 screens
Cross+Reference4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: The Pastors Study Bible at every 2 months against Cross+Reference's every 5 months. The Pastors Study Bible also leads on iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.6). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

The Pastors Study Bible ships an update every 2 months, Cross+Reference every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on August 19, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
The Pastors Study Bible versus Cross+Reference: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThe Pastors Study BibleCross+Reference
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (20 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings20 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size168 MB153 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperJeevan NairOdeon Software Inc.

In-app purchases

None

The Pastors Study Bible

No in-app purchases

None

Cross+Reference

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is The Pastors Study Bible free?
The Pastors Study Bible is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Cross+Reference free?
Cross+Reference is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do The Pastors Study Bible or Cross+Reference have ads?
Neither The Pastors Study Bible nor Cross+Reference shows ads.
Which is updated more often, The Pastors Study Bible or Cross+Reference?
The Pastors Study Bible ships an update every 2 months, and Cross+Reference every 5 months. Most recently, The Pastors Study Bible was updated on August 19, 2026 and Cross+Reference on September 10, 2026.

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