Forward Day by Day vs Magdalene Prayers
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Forward Day by Day
This app provides daily spiritual practices for busy individuals, including meditations, prayers, and scripture readings. It offers integrated podcasts for listening and customizable display preferences for a personalized experience.
- Daily meditation
- Daily prayers
- Daily scripture readings
- Integrated podcasts
- Customizable display preferences
- Bilingual (English/Spanish)
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Forward Day by Day offers prayer on the go—daily spiritual practices for busy people. In English and Spanish. The app includes the daily meditation from Forward Day by Day, as well as all daily prayers from The Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church, and the daily scripture readings from the lectionary. Integrated podcasts allow users to listen within the app as they read. Display preferences provide various fonts and text sizing options. Forward Day by Day is an offering of Forward Movement, a ministry of the Episcopal Church.
Magdalene Prayers
This app offers a digital tool for prayer meditation using a structure inspired by Anglican prayer beads. It features a sequence of prayers and a unique red egg image for each day, honoring the story of Mary Magdalene. Designed for on-the-go use, it provides a quiet space for reflection without background music.
- Anglican prayer bead structure
- Daily red egg imagery
- Tap-to-pray functionality
- No background music
- Focus on Mary Magdalene
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The inspiration for this app comes from an adult education program we had at Holy Cross on prayer. My dear friend and colleague at Holy Cross, The Rev. Martha Kuhlmann, brought her Mary Magdalene Anglican prayer beads to share with our group. I was so taken by the thought of a prayer bead meditation tool around one of my patron saints, Mary Magdalene, I immediately set out to create this app, as I was not inclined to haul around prayer beads with me wherever I go, and my phone is always with me! A perfect match! The genesis of Anglican Prayer Beads is a gift to the world from the Episcopal Diocese of Texas in the later 20th century. Unlike its Roman Catholic cousin, the Anglican version has 33 beads, divided into four groups of seven beads called weeks. The image I chose for each day of the weeks is a red egg. This egg image is to pay homage to the wonderful story of Mary of Magdala sharing the gospel with Caesar. The Roman Ruler declared that Jesus could no more rise from the dead than the egg Mary held could turn to red. And before their eyes, it turned bright red. The prayers I chose for this app are the prayers that are regularly on my heart. The app is designed to provide space to tap and pray! I specifically decided not to add any background music, so there is no concern of disturbing other passengers on a daily commute. I hope you can find space in your day to say your prayers.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Magdalene Prayers at 100% against Forward Day by Day's 46%. Magdalene Prayers also leads on rating (4.6 vs 4.3). Forward Day by Day's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 4 months) and ratings volume (88 vs 5). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Magdalene Prayers holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Forward Day by Day has 88 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 46% of Forward Day by Day's written reviews are positive against 100% of Magdalene Prayers's.
Forward Day by Day ships an update every 2 weeks, Magdalene Prayers every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Forward Day by Day | Magdalene Prayers |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (88 ratings) | 4.6 (5 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 46.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 88 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 26.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 78 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Forward Movement | Mark Spaulding |
Customer experience
Forward Day by Day
Magdalene Prayers
Bugs and requests
Forward Day by Day
Reported bugs
44 issues- Blank screen when opening app
- App not opening
- Stopped working on iPhone XR
- Not connected to Internet or won’t open
- Revolving circle and not opening
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- Message: Not connected to the internet
- No internet connection error
- Cannot Launch App
- App quit working
- App is Broken
- Crashville
- App Falls Short
- Very buggy
- Not working!
- Where's the text?
- Technical issues
- App not working
- Spacing errors
- Text does not have proper spacing between words
- Lord's Prayer reads "sinsas" instead of "sins as"
- The Saint isn't always the saint according to the calendar
- Daily Saint does not show up at all
- Meditations missing?
- Daily meditation does not fit the iPhone screen
- Text won't shift to landscape mode
- App not working on iPad
- Content doesn't fit the screen
- Daily prayer now sticks on the time of day
- Link to Daily prayers anytime is broken
- Won't swivel as iPad is turned
- Typo fixes needed
- Lord's Prayer spacing is off
- Meditation "bleeds" off the viewing area
- Cannot swipe back to today's meditation
- Slow to load
- Daily Meditation page is blank
- Bug: it will only load the current day once I change the settings from Rite I to Rite II and vice versa
- Meditation bleeds off the screen
- Problem with the devotionals section bleeding off the screen
- The fonts are really small with no way to enlarge them
- Cannot pinch to enlarge
- No landscape mode for larger font
- Daily meditation does not fit the iPhone screen
- Text won't shift to landscape
Requested features
16 requests- Ability to swipe from left edge to go back
- 3-reading setting for Daily Office
- Information about saints linked to Daily Office
- Ability to stretch text on iPod
- Option to enlarge font size
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- Reminders at certain times of the day
- Update the app
- Cache a few days or a month of data for offline use
- Include author biographies
- Add a search function
- Consider making this a universal app for iPad functionality
- More interactive features
- Make it accessible to people not familiar with the Episcopal Church
- Customize the office more (e.g., General Thanksgiving at Morning Prayer)
- More of the daily offices included
- Option to customize the office more
Magdalene Prayers
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Forward Day by Day
No in-app purchases
Magdalene Prayers
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Forward Day by Day free?
Is Magdalene Prayers free?
Which has better reviews, Forward Day by Day or Magdalene Prayers?
Do Forward Day by Day or Magdalene Prayers have ads?
Which is updated more often, Forward Day by Day or Magdalene Prayers?
Other comparisons
