Logos Staff
Two years ago, Logos made you a promise. As product manager and longtime Logos user Mark Barnes wrote, the new Logos will get better and better every few weeks.
Previously, new features and updates had to wait for the next big version every two years. With Logos’s move to subscription, we began shipping improvements as soon as they were ready.
Two years and sixteen releases later, it’s fair to ask whether we came through on our promise. One way to answer this question is to look at how we delivered on your most important requests. Here’s how your requests became features you use today.
Table of contents
Answers to questions you couldn’t ask before
For most of Logos’s history, searching meant matching exact words or learning complicated syntax for anything more. As one user expressed, “those syntax search are too complicated for most users, I bet 90% of Logos’ users never even search like that. You guys need to simplify the searches.” You knew what you were looking for. You just couldn’t ask for it in plain words. Many users voiced their desire for a smarter, simpler search: “Would you consider developing a more intelligent search engine for Logos? I’m looking for something that does more than just do keyword searches. … I’d like to be able to stay within Logos, and ask natural language questions.”
That longing became a reality. With Smart Search in Bible, you became able to type a theme, a question, or a verse you half remember, and Logos would find relevant Bible passages. Later, Smart Search in Bible also gained a Smart Search Synopsis that summarizes your results. One Logos user commented, “Smart Bible search is insane. What a game-changing feature.”
We also released Study Assistant, which lets you ask your library a question in plain language—just like you asked: “I would love it if Logos better understood the resources I own and become better at answering questions based on the resources I own.” Instead of thumbing through countless indexes, you get an answer drawn from the most relevant resources in your library, with citations that take you to the exact spot so you can check them yourself. One user wrote,
I have been using the new Study Assistant and it HAS to be the single greatest addition to Logos in the 13 or so years I’ve used it. What a blessing that it uses my resources but makes it SO easy to find good answers.
Even so, you immediately suggested improvements—so we made them. Within days of launching Study Assistant, several of you asked for the ability to save past conversations and to use Study Assistant on your phone. Both arrived six weeks later.
Most recently, we released a preview of Study Assistant’s research mode. One user shared this reaction on social media,
Wow! Loving the “Research Mode” in Study Assistant! … I am blown away how much more I can dig into my library. Logos is just getting better and better!
🚨 An update you may have missed: Just like you requested, you can share any Study Assistant conversation using the Copy Link button. The person you send it to doesn’t need to have Logos. They can pick up the conversation right where you left off.
Study Assistant searches reliable resources to get answers to your questions. Try it now!
A library that automatically connects the dots
Steady improvement to Logos also means helping you get more out of your library, connecting the dots between your study and your books.
One way we did this was through improvements to Factbook, developing it into a one-stop shop that brings your library together. Once you enter a passage or topic, Factbook can summarize what your commentaries and dictionaries say before you choose which to read. Factbook now also suggests questions to ask, includes lenses for different emphases (e.g., theological, counseling), and reaches beyond the Bible to early Christian writings such as the Didache.
If Factbook assembles your library while you are studying a given topic, Insights brings your library to you while you are reading. Insights now accompanies you not only in your Bible but also in your commentaries and favorite study Bible. Insights points you to related passages and to the other books in your library that speak to the text in front of you. Joseph Stewart, a software developer at Logos, commented,
I’m excited for Insights to help users discover the power of their interconnected library. So I think the new Insights improvements will be a really helpful discovery tool, particularly for deep textual study.
Your library also connects better to your daily reading. With our revamped Reading Plans, on both mobile and desktop, a guided wizard turns any book in your library into a plan built around your goals. Describe what you need—say, Bible passages on anxiety for twenty days—and let Logos build it. Every plan lives in one place, with reminders to keep you on track. Change your own plans without losing your progress and catch up easily if you fall behind. One user called such updates “a great leap forward for the serious reader.”
🚨 An update you may have missed: With a passage open, open a new tab on desktop and choose the Reference view. Logos will pull together the guides, commentaries, and translations in your library that connect to the text you’re studying.
Logos’s Reading Plans help you stay consistent in your Bible reading and meditation. Try Reading Plans today!
A shorter path from study to teaching
Many users have long asked for the ability to edit their sermons on Android devices: “When will it be possible to edit a sermon that I’m working on an Android device. I know it’s already possible with Apple devices.” The first subscription release brought Sermon Builder and Sermon Manager to the Android app.
That release also brought with it Bible Study Builder. Enter a passage, gather discussion questions from your library or AI’s suggestions (or write your own), then share the study or print it for your small group.
Sermon Builder also includes Sermon Assistant. Get suggested outlines to start your sermon-writing process. Brainstorm illustrations and applications based on your own sermon content. That said, Logos won’t write your sermon for you—and that’s on purpose.
The work you’ve already done shouldn’t get buried, either. You asked to see your past sermons and studies alongside the passage. We delivered sermon and Bible study markers to desktop, iOS, and Android. For instance, open John 3 on your phone, and the sermon you preached on it five years ago is a tap away.
🚨 An update you may have missed: In Preaching Mode on your phone or tablet, tap a Scripture link to preview the passage without losing your place in your notes. Just like you asked for.
A promise we intend to keep keeping
We’ve only scratched the surface here. Be sure to check out our Release Notes to see all the major improvements.
Two years in, the promise hasn’t changed. Since its founding, Logos has worked to “use technology to equip the church to grow in the light of the Bible.” Today, that means getting better every few weeks—shaped by the people who use it.
The next release is already in the works. Tell us what you’d like to see in it.
Related content
- The Next Era of Logos Is Here! What You Should Know
- Responsible Use of AI in Bible Study | Mark Barnes
- A Theology of AI by a Bible Software Nerd
- Redeeming Technology: How Technology Fits into God’s Story
- 5 Things I’m Most Excited for in the Coming Version of Logos
