LDS Hymns iPhone Application

Now in Portuguese!

2010-09-08T01:15:00.002-04:00

The latest update to LDS Hymns (1.6.1) fixes an annoying crashing bug, but also provides the Portuguese Hymns! Special thanks to Eurico Costa for his help with the translation.

Many of you have asked to help with additional languages. I would love to add more languages, but this is limited by the availability of the hymns in native PDF format (not scanned), which is only possible with the original music notation source content (which only the Church is likely to have). The only other language with these PDF hymns available is French. I'm hopeful that in the future more languages will become available!

LDS Hymns Updates

2010-08-25T09:12:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the lack up updates here. A new version of LDS Hymns has just been released with a significant improvement. It now includes both English and Spanish versions of the hymns with easy switching between them! The app is also now compatible with the iPhone 4 Retina Display and multitasking in iOS 4.

With these changes I also took the time to make it very easy to add additional languages in the future. Someone is working on adding Portuguese right now. If anyone would like to help add additional languages, please let me know. The limiting factor is that I need to the hymns in native PDF format - not scanned. The only other language in this format (that I know of) is French. If you know otherwise, please let me know.

Thanks for your support!

LDS Music for iPad

2010-04-03T12:41:00.006-04:00

I'm sure many of you have heard of the iPad, the new "slate" or "tablet" computer from Apple. When the iPad was announced in January, I saw it as the ideal device for displaying music electronically and easily. Thus, I was happy to adapt the LDS Hymns and Children's Songbook applications for iPad.

LDS Music (App Store link) combines the hymns and children's songs into one application. Like its predecessors, it is free and I hope it will continue to improve based on your feedback. Here are some screenshots:

LDS Hymns 1.4 and 1.4.1

2010-03-09T13:17:00.001-05:00

LDS Hymns has been updated with the following changes:

NEW in 1.4: Added full text search of the hymns! You can search for all text including verses, composer, author and scripture references! The keyboard dynamically changes based on simple search (title or number - provides a regular keyboard plus a keypad for fast number search) or full text search (gives full punctuation when needed).

In 1.4.1:

FIXED: Certain case where search view was not refreshed and would lead to a crash.
FIXED: Crash when hymns were turned to landscape view after searching.

LDS Hymns 1.3 Now Available!

2010-02-25T16:09:00.000-05:00

Version 1.3 of LDS Hymns was just released in the App Store. It includes the ability to select hymns by name (A->Z listing) as well as by hymn number. This was a highly requested feature! Please let me know what feedback you have!

Children's Songbook 1.0 Now Available!

2010-02-24T14:26:00.001-05:00

One of the biggest requests I've received from users of LDS Hymns and Himnos SUD was to create a similar application for the Primary Children's Songbook. I'm now pleased to announce that this application is available! Apple has just approved Children's Songbook (App Store link) for download! This application, like LDS Hymns, is a free application and will always remain that way. It contains all of the Primary songs except those that have a copyright that prohibits redistribution. The following songs have been omitted from the app:

37. Stars Were Gleaming
97. God's Love
182. How Will They Know?
201. When Grandpa Comes
229. God Is Watching Over All
238. Springtime Is Coming
247. Autumn Day
265. Be Happy!
271. I Wiggle
273. My Hand

Otherwise this application has the same features as LDS Hymns - the ability to search all songs, mark songs as favorites, as well as to select songs by number, first line or title (this latter capability is coming soon to LDS Hymns). Please keep the feedback coming and enjoy the app! Please consider donating via the link to the right if you've found this app useful! Some screenshots:

LDS Hymns 1.2 now available!

2010-02-16T16:35:00.003-05:00

Version 1.2 is now available on the App Store (App Store link) and comes with one of the most requested features: the ability to mark hymns as favorites for easy access later. This is especially helpful to preselect hymns for a church meeting or conference. Some screenshots (click for full-size versions):

Please keep the suggestions coming and thanks for your support!

iPad!!

2010-02-03T21:00:00.000-05:00

Apple had some exciting news for fans last week with the announcement of the iPad. While the SDK is still early, I plan to fully support the iPad with a version of LDS Hymns once it arrives. I already have basic functionality working! I don't have a lot of time to work on this right now, but I hope to have something together by March/April when the iPad is scheduled to be released! Stay tuned!

LDS Hymns now available in Spanish!!!

2009-11-17T22:49:00.001-05:00

That's right! My number one request was to have a version of LDS Hymns in Spanish. It's now available as Himnos SUD in the App Store. It has an identical feature set - the same, easy-to-use application as LDS Hymns. Please donate (link on the right) you find it useful!

Himnos SUD in the App Store

Version 1.1 Released

2009-11-10T22:32:00.005-05:00

An update to the LDS Hymns application has just been released. Version 1.1 has the following changes based on your suggestions:

- added option to turn off hiding the navigation bar in landscape mode while viewing the hymns (option is in the iPhone/iPod Settings application)
- added a new Categories section
- changed visual style to grouped table view
- fixed typo on Version page

Keep the suggestions coming!

Approved!!

2009-10-20T17:34:00.000-04:00

The application was just approved by Apple and is now available in the App Store for download. Please download and give feedback! I would like to improve this application based on user feedback. I don't have a lot of free time right now, but hope to make small improvements going forward. Thanks for your interest!

LDS Hymns (App Store link)

Rejected!

2009-10-01T21:41:00.000-04:00

I just got an email from Apple stating that the application has been rejected for now. Here's what Apple said:

"LDS Hymns cannot be posted to the App Store because the small bundle icon does not match your large icon. This might be confusing to users."

What?! I've seen plenty of icons that don't perfectly match. Anyway, I've "corrected" the problem and have resubmitted the application. Another week or two, I guess. It would have been nice to have had the application out before General Conference...

A Little More Information

2009-09-24T07:50:00.000-04:00

Now that the application has been submitted, I thought I'd give you a little more information about this app. It's very basic in its current form, allowing the user to search the entire Hymnal by either title or hymn number. It also includes the hymns in groups of 50 by number if you prefer look through the Hymnal in that way.

I am open to suggestions on ways to improve the application, although at this point my time is very limited. My initial goal was to produce a functional application that fulfilled my basic needs. Some of my ideas for additional features include adding the full text of the hymns (and making the text searchable) for all hymns in case you don't want to see the music, as well as including an easier way to go from one hymn to the next without having to back out to the hymn list.

I would also like to point out that there were a few hymns or portions thereof that had to be excluded for copyright reasons. The list of those hymns includes:

Text-only included (music copyrighted): 12, 15, 54, 62, 82, 124, 143, 284

Music-only included (text copyrighted): 299, 323, 324

Hymn entirely omitted (music and text copyrighted): 86, 219, 296

With that out of the way, please enjoy a few additional screenshots!

Application Submitted to the App Store!!!

2009-09-24T07:41:00.000-04:00

So the LDS Hymns application has finally been submitted to the App Store. I've heard horror stories about rejection after rejection, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. This application is a fairly simple one and I haven't had any crashes with my latest build. I'm hopeful that it will be approved within a week or so. In the meantime I'll continue to test it here!

My First iPhone Project

2009-09-19T13:27:00.000-04:00

This summer I decided to teach myself how to program for the iPhone. I have no prior programming experience (aside from one semester of C++ 10 years ago as an undergrad at NCSU), but I love challanges. I purchased two books: Programming in Objective-C 2.0 by Stephen G. Kochan as well as the Beginning iPhone 3 Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK. From what I had read online, these two books would teach me what I needed to know, assuming I had no prior programming experience.

Over the course of two months I've been able to go from having zero iPhone programming experience to having a functional application - LDS Hymns. My goal with this application was to produce something that I would use and enjoy, and hopefully something that others would enjoy as well. LDS Hymns is a free iPhone/iPod touch application that gives you the words and music of your favorite LDS Hymns on your favorite devices. On this blog I hope to document some of the challenges in putting this application together as well as the progress of the application itself. Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions!