Scroll
A full-screen, vertical feed of verses and short passages, matched to the topics you pick: anxiety, hope, rest, courage, grief and eleven more. Double-tap to say Amen, save the ones that land, or open the whole chapter in context.
Pray first.
Stop doomscrolling.
Altar is a Bible you scroll like a feed, a Prayer Lock that keeps the apps that pull you in closed until you’ve read, and verse wallpapers for your Lock Screen. KJV and World English Bible, fully offline.
Coming to the App Store · iPhone, iOS 17 or later
- No account
- No ads or tracking
- KJV + WEB offline
- Free core, forever
How it works
Your thumb already knows how to scroll.
Give it something better.
Pray first
Prayer Lock uses Apple’s Screen Time to keep the apps you choose closed. To open them, read a few verses, pray for a minute, or recite a verse from memory. Then they’re yours for 5, 15 or 30 minutes.
Keep the flame lit
Set a daily goal in verses or minutes. Meet it and your streak grows, along with the flame on your Me tab. Advent, Lent and 40 Days Off Doomscrolling give the habit a shape.
Inside the app
Calm, quiet, and all yours.
Prayer Lock
Pray first. Then open the app.
Choose the apps that eat your evenings. When you reach for one during a lock, iOS shows a quiet screen with today’s verse instead. Tap Open Altar, do your unlock, and the apps open for the time you picked.
Read 3 versesSay Amen to three verses, one at a time.Free
Pray for 60 secondsA timer, and a minute of quiet.Altar+
Recite a verseType a memory verse. 80% of the words is a pass.Altar+
- Unlock for 5, 15 or 30 minutes, then the lock comes back on its own.
- One lock, on all day, free. With Altar+ you can add more schedules, such as overnight from 9 pm to 7 am.
- A daily limit you set on unlocks: 5 by default, anywhere from 1 to 20.
There is always a way out
Once the day’s unlocks are used, an emergency unlock opens your apps for 5 minutes, once an hour. Prayer Lock can be switched off in Altar at any time, and Screen Time access can be removed in Settings. This is a nudge toward prayer, not a cage.
Prayer Lock uses Apple’s Screen Time. Altar never sees which apps you choose or how you use them: Apple gives it sealed tokens, not names.
Challenges
Walk through the season, one day at a time.
Every day has a reading, a short prayer prompt and a Prayer Lock goal that starts at 30 minutes and grows by 10 each week, up to an hour. Missed a day? You have 3 days to catch up.
Sun 29 Nov – Thu 24 Dec 2026
Advent
From Advent Sunday to Christmas Eve, through Isaiah’s promises and the first chapters of Luke and John.
26days
Wed 10 Feb – Sun 28 Mar 2027
Lent
Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday, ending with the empty tomb on Easter Sunday.
47days
Starts any day
40 Days Off Doomscrolling
Readings on temptation, rest and purpose, with a lock goal every day. Start it the day you decide to.
40days
The current season’s challenge is free. Past seasons are kept in the archive with Altar+.
Easter is worked out with the Gregorian calculation, so the dates are right every year.
Optional reminders for each Advent and Lent day arrive at 8 am, scheduled on your iPhone itself.
Wallpapers and widgets
Keep a verse where your eyes already go.
Verse wallpapers
Pick a verse and a theme and Altar lays it out for your Lock Screen, sized to fit and kept clear of the clock. Save it to Photos in one tap. Altar asks only to add photos, never to read your library.
- Dawn
- Linen
- Olive
- Night Watch
- Stained Glass
- Desert
Dawn and Linen are free. Every theme comes with Altar+.
Widgets
Verse of the Day in small, medium and large, with an Amen button you can tap right on your Home Screen. A Streak widget shows how many days you’ve kept the flame lit.
- Home Screen widgets are free.
- Lock Screen widgets, a verse and a streak ring, come with Altar+.
- Widgets read from your iPhone, not the internet, so they work offline.
The whole Bible, offline
Two complete translations. No signal needed.
Both are built into the app and both are in the public domain. Switch any time, search every verse, highlight and bookmark. In the feed, your iPhone’s own voice can read a verse aloud.
KJV · 31,102 verses
King James Version
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28
WEB · 31,098 verses
World English Bible
Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28
Private by design
Nothing to sign up for. Nothing sent anywhere.
Altar has no account, no server and no analytics. It doesn’t make network requests of its own. What you read, save, pray and write stays on your iPhone, and deleting the app deletes it.
| Account, email, name | None. There is no sign-up. |
|---|---|
| Analytics, ads, tracking | None |
| Your streak, saves, journal | On your iPhone only |
| Apps you lock | Sealed Apple tokens; Altar can’t read them |
| Photos | Add-only, to save wallpapers |
| Payments | Handled by Apple |
| App Store privacy label | Data Not Collected |
Pricing
Free to pray. Altar+ when you want more.
Free
$0
Forever. No card, no account.
- The full feed and Bible reader
- Every translation: KJV and WEB
- Verse of the day
- 1 Prayer Lock, with the read-3-verses unlock
- Streaks and a daily goal
- The current Advent or Lent challenge, and 40 Days Off Doomscrolling
- Home Screen widgets
Everything
$29.99 / year
3 days free, then $29.99 a year.
- Unlimited lock schedules, and the pray and recite unlock rules
- All six themes and wallpaper styles
- Memorise decks with spaced review
- Topic collections
- Your full prayer journal history
- Past challenge archives
- Lock Screen widgets
- 2 streak freezes a month
$6.99 / month$59.99 once, lifetime
Prices are in US dollars; the App Store shows the price in your country. Payment is charged to your Apple Account when you confirm the purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and your account is charged for renewal within the 24 hours before the period ends. Manage or cancel any time in Settings › your name › Subscriptions. Any unused part of the free trial ends when you buy a subscription. The lifetime purchase is a one-time payment and does not renew. Terms · Apple Standard EULA
Questions
Good questions.
Is Altar really free?
Yes. The full feed and Bible reader in every translation, the verse of the day, one Prayer Lock, streaks, the current Advent or Lent challenge, 40 Days Off Doomscrolling and Home Screen widgets are free, with no time limit and no ads. Altar+ adds more lock rules and schedules, every theme, memorise decks, topic collections, journal history, challenge archives, Lock Screen widgets and streak freezes.
How does Prayer Lock work?
You give Altar permission to use Apple's Screen Time, then choose the apps that pull you in. When one of them is locked, iOS shows a “Pray first” screen with a verse. Tap Open Altar, do your unlock (read 3 verses on the free plan), and those apps open for 5, 15 or 30 minutes, whichever you chose. Then they lock again.
What if I really need an app right now?
You are never trapped. You can switch Prayer Lock off in Altar’s Lock tab at any time. If you’ve used all of the day’s unlocks (5 by default, adjustable from 1 to 20), an emergency unlock opens your apps for 5 minutes, once an hour. You can also remove Altar’s Screen Time access in Settings, or delete the app.
Can Altar see which apps I use?
No. Apple hands Altar sealed tokens for the apps you pick, not their names or your usage. Altar can ask iOS to lock those tokens, and that’s all. Your Screen Time data stays with Apple on your iPhone.
Do I need an account or an internet connection?
Neither. There is no sign-up of any kind, and the whole Bible is built into the app, so reading, the feed, Prayer Lock, streaks and challenges all work offline. You only need a connection to buy or restore Altar+, which goes through Apple.
Which Bible translations are included?
The King James Version and the World English Bible, complete, both in the public domain. You can switch between them at any time, search every verse, and highlight and bookmark as you read.
When do the Advent and Lent challenges start?
Advent 2026 runs from Sunday 29 November to Thursday 24 December: 26 days. Lent 2027 runs from Ash Wednesday, 10 February, through Easter Sunday, 28 March: 47 days. Each day has a reading, a prayer prompt and a Prayer Lock goal. The dates are calculated in the app each year, not hard-coded. 40 Days Off Doomscrolling can start any day.
What does Altar+ cost?
$29.99 a year with a 3-day free trial, $6.99 a month, or $59.99 once for lifetime access. Those are US prices; the App Store shows the price for your country.
How do I cancel Altar+?
On your iPhone, open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions, and choose Altar+. Apple handles all billing, so we never see your card. Cancel at least 24 hours before the renewal date to avoid the next charge.
Is there an iPad or Android version?
Not yet. Altar is for iPhone, on iOS 17 or later.
More in Support.
“Be still, and know that I am God.”
Psalm 46:10, KJV. Altar is free to start: the feed, the reader, one Prayer Lock and the season’s challenge, with no account.
Coming to the App Store for iPhone.