Help with Ribbon

Ribbon uses J.N. Darby’s New Translation (1890), which is in the public domain.

Both testaments are complete: all 66 books, Genesis to Revelation. Darby leaves out Matthew 23:14, Acts 8:37 and Acts 15:34, so Ribbon shows those verse numbers with no text. Darby’s footnotes aren’t included. The chronological order and its short notes are an editorial arrangement, not part of Darby’s text.

Ribbon also has Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897) and word meanings from Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), both in the public domain. Select a verse and tap Look up to use them.

Yes. The Bible text, search, Easton’s Bible Dictionary and the word meanings are built into Ribbon, so you can read, search, look words up, follow your plan, get reminders and use the home-screen widgets with no internet connection.

Ribbon doesn’t send anything about you or your reading over the internet, and there’s no account to create. If Backup is on in your phone’s settings, Android copies Ribbon’s data to your own Google account.

Read aloud uses your phone’s own text-to-speech. Ribbon leaves out voices your phone lists as network voices, but if you leave it on Automatic, whether your phone’s usual voice uses the internet depends on your phone’s settings.

On the Plan tab, scroll to the top, tap ⋯ and choose “Reschedule”. Pick “+2 weeks”, “+1 month” or “+3 months”, which count on from your current finish date, check the minutes a day it shows, then tap “Reschedule”. Ribbon shares the chapters you haven’t read yet across your reading days up to the new date. Days you’ve already read don’t change, and you can reschedule again to push the date further.

To finish earlier, you need to be ahead. Once you’ve read at least a whole day ahead, “Finish sooner”, under “Read ahead?” on the same page, brings your finish date forward.

There’s no calendar for choosing any date. If those choices don’t suit you, start a new plan from the chapter you’re up to: tap ⋯, choose “Start a new plan”, then “I’ve already read some”, and choose a length or “Pick a finish date”, which moves a week at a time. Ribbon keeps one plan at a time, so this replaces your current plan, and if it isn’t finished Ribbon asks first. What you’ve read stays in your reading history.

You can simply keep going: Today always shows your next unread day. When more than one day’s reading is due, counting today’s, Today shows how many days behind you are, with “Spread the rest”. Tapping it shares what’s left across your reading days up to your finish date straight away, so each day gets a little longer and your finish date stays the same.

If you’d rather have shorter days, push your finish date back instead: on the Plan tab, scroll to the top, tap ⋯, choose “Reschedule”, pick “+2 weeks”, “+1 month” or “+3 months” and tap “Reschedule”. Either way, the days you’ve already read don’t change.

Yes. While you have a plan, open the chapter from the Bible tab or from search, and at the end tap “Mark Ephesians 1 read” (or whichever chapter it is). Or, in the Bible tab, open the book, tap “Mark chapters”, tap the chapters you’ve read, then tap “Done”. It counts towards how much of the Bible you’ve read straight away.

If the chapter is in a day still to come, Ribbon asks what to do with the time you’ve saved:

• Finish sooner keeps your days the same length and moves your finish date earlier, once you’ve saved at least a day’s reading.
• Keep my finish date makes the days left a little shorter.
• Not now leaves the plan as it is, so only that chapter’s day gets shorter.

Tick “Remember my choice” before choosing Finish sooner or Keep my finish date, and Ribbon won’t ask again. To change this, go to Settings, tap Your plan, and under “When you read ahead” choose Ask, Finish sooner or Keep date.

Tap a verse while you’re reading to select it, and tap more verses in the same chapter to make the selection longer or shorter. A bar appears at the bottom of the screen:

• Bookmark adds a small gilt ribbon beside the first verse. Tap Bookmarked to remove it.
• Highlight marks the verses in yellow, green, blue or pink.
• Note opens a note for those verses. A small note icon after the last verse opens it again.
• Look up shows the words in those verses that have an entry in Easton’s Bible Dictionary or a meaning in Webster’s dictionary.
• Copy copies the words and the reference. Share sends them as text or as a picture card.
• Speed read opens the speed reader at that verse.

A bookmark, highlight or note belongs to the exact verses you selected, so to change or remove one, select the same verses again.

Everything you save is listed under Saved, at the top of the Bible tab or in Settings. Choose Bookmarks, Highlights or Notes, and tap one to go back to those verses. To search your notes, type a search on the Search tab with Words chosen, then tap “In my notes”.

Ribbon keeps everything on your phone. There are two ways to keep a copy:

• Your Google account. If Backup is turned on in your phone’s settings, Android copies your plans, progress, settings, bookmarks, highlights, notes and recent searches to your own Google account, about once a day when the phone is charging and on Wi-Fi. When you reinstall Ribbon, or set up a new phone with the same Google account, Android puts them back.
• A backup file. In Settings, under Saved and backups, tap Backup and restore. “Save a backup file” keeps a .ribbon file in a folder you choose, on your phone or in Google Drive, and “Send a backup file” sends it by email, Quick Share or another app. Backup files from earlier versions, ending in .darby, still restore.

To restore, tap “Restore from a file” and pick the file. Ribbon shows what’s in it and asks before replacing what’s on your phone. Nothing is merged, so anything you’ve done since that backup is replaced.

Moving phones? Just before you switch, save or send a backup file somewhere your new phone can reach, so your latest reading comes with you.

No. Ribbon keeps your plans, progress, bookmarks, highlights, notes, searches and settings on your phone and doesn’t send them to us or anyone else. There are no accounts, adverts, analytics or tracking. If Backup is on, Android copies them to your own Google account, which we can’t see.

The Ribbon privacy policy has the details.

Use the form below, or email ribbon@burystack.com. We reply within two working days.