Comparison

Join The Journey vs Desiring God ft. Solid Joys

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

Head to head
About

Join The Journey

Follow a realistic Bible reading plan to grow as a disciple and deepen your faith. Engage with daily readings, spiritual practices, a weekly podcast, and Sunday teachings. Invite friends and family to join this spiritual journey.

Highlights
  • Daily Bible reading
  • Guided spiritual practices
  • Weekly podcast
  • Sunday teaching
  • Invite friends and family
Features
Read full description

Join The Journey right from your iPhone or iPad. Join The Journey is a realistic reading plan by Watermark Community Church in Dallas, TX that helps you grow as a disciple and deepen your love for God. Together, we will enjoy abiding in Jesus through daily Bible reading, guided spiritual practices, a weekly podcast, and Sunday teaching. You can jump in with us at any time, and we’d love for you to invite your friends, family, and kids to Join The Journey too.

About

Desiring God ft. Solid Joys

Access a full year of daily devotionals offline, narrated by John Piper. Start reading or listening immediately without an account or ads, and easily navigate to any day's content.

Highlights
  • Offline reading and listening
  • Audio narration by John Piper
  • No account required
  • Ad-free experience
  • Navigate to any day
  • Background playback
Currently charting
Read full description

Solid Joys puts a full year of daily devotionals in your pocket, with no account and no ads. Every reading is built right into the app, so you can open it and read or listen anywhere, even with no signal. On a plane, on a commute, in the mountains, or first thing in the morning before the day rushes in — your devotional is already there. WHAT YOU CAN DO • Read offline — all 365 daily devotionals are built in and ready with no connection needed. • Listen anywhere — every devotional is narrated by John Piper, with background playback and lock-screen controls, so you can listen with your screen off. • Start in seconds — no sign-up, no login, no account. Just open it and read. • Read any day, in any order — today's devotional, last week's, or one from months ago. • Open links instantly — tap a Solid Joys link from a friend or from Desiring God, and it opens right here in the app. • No ads, no in-app purchases. WHAT IS SOLID JOYS? Solid Joys is a daily devotional written and read by John Piper. These short, substantive readings are drawn from decades of his preaching and writing, and each one takes only a few minutes. That is all it takes to reset your whole day around the greatness of God. Every devotional points you to a passage of Scripture and helps you see and savor what God is really like. The aim isn't merely information, but joy: to feed your joy in Jesus every day of the year. WHO IT'S FOR • Anyone longing for a simple, faithful daily rhythm in God's Word. • Longtime readers of Desiring God and John Piper as well as anyone meeting him for the first time. • Readers who want their devotional to travel with them, online or off. ABOUT DESIRING GOD Desiring God exists to help people everywhere embrace a passion for the glory of God and the good of all peoples through Jesus Christ. For more than three decades, John Piper's Solid Joys has helped readers start the day grounded, focused, and glad in God. This is just the beginning — more is being built into the app. For now, we'd love for Solid Joys to become part of your every day.

Screenshots

Join The Journey4 screens
Desiring God ft. Solid Joys4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Join The Journey at none against Desiring God ft. Solid Joys's shown. Join The Journey also leads on ratings volume (123 vs 20). Desiring God ft. Solid Joys's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs monthly) and chart position (#202 vs unranked). On price, rating, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Join The Journey against 5.0 for Desiring God ft. Solid Joys. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Join The Journey has 123 ratings behind it against 20, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 90% of Join The Journey's written reviews are positive against 100% of Desiring God ft. Solid Joys's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Join The Journey ships an update monthly, Desiring God ft. Solid Joys every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Join The Journey versus Desiring God ft. Solid Joys: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterJoin The JourneyDesiring God ft. Solid Joys
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (123 ratings)5.0 (20 ratings) — better
Positive reviews90.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings123 — better20
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 4 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
Best chart rank—#202 — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size65 MB178 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperWatermark Community ChurchDesiring God

Customer experience

Join The Journey

All ratings123 ratings
Positive96.7%
Neutral1.6%
Negative1.6%
Written reviews40 reviews
Positive90.0%
Neutral5.0%
Negative5.0%

Desiring God ft. Solid Joys

All ratings17 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Join The Journey

Reported bugs

7 issues
  • Main screen doesn't load
  • Progress doesn't load
  • Bible audio playback issues
  • Devotional entries stop loading
  • Comments button error
Show 2 more
  • Chapters loading every other day
  • App crashes after opening

Requested features

5 requests
  • Night mode display option
  • Offline mode
  • Add "share" button for social media
  • Read it to you feature
  • Night mode display option

Desiring God ft. Solid Joys

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Join The Journey

No in-app purchases

None

Desiring God ft. Solid Joys

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Join The Journey free?
Join The Journey is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Desiring God ft. Solid Joys free?
Desiring God ft. Solid Joys is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Join The Journey or Desiring God ft. Solid Joys?
Desiring God ft. Solid Joys is rated higher. Join The Journey averages 4.9 out of 5 from 123 ratings, while Desiring God ft. Solid Joys averages 5.0 from 20 ratings.
Do Join The Journey or Desiring God ft. Solid Joys have ads?
Desiring God ft. Solid Joys shows ads; Join The Journey does not.
Which is updated more often, Join The Journey or Desiring God ft. Solid Joys?
Join The Journey ships an update monthly, and Desiring God ft. Solid Joys every 4 days. Most recently, Join The Journey was updated on October 29, 2026 and Desiring God ft. Solid Joys on October 31, 2026.

Other comparisons