A Spiritual Toolkit for Your Mobile Device

Sure, mobile devices are being used during services to communicate with people instead of the divine, but those very same devices can be used to make a “spiritual connection.” From mobile Bible applications to mobile prayer text messages, we’ve handpicked some of the most interesting mobile religious applications for cell phones.

Don’t have the room to carry a hardcover Bible or Koran? Put one on your Windows Mobile or Palm smart phone. Pocketdirectory.com, courtesy of Mobifusion, sells numerous religious texts, including the Bible, the Koran, the Book of Mormon, various Eastern religious literature, and the Encyclopedia Britannica World Religions series.
 

Free services include Olive Tree (olivetree.com), which provides Java-based applications of Christian Bibles and other religious texts, and Islamic Apps (islamicapps.com), which offers an English translation of the Koran for Nokia phones.

 

 

The PrayerADay application, available for Windows Mobile platforms from clickapps.com ($19.99), is a prayer organizer, journal, and creation tool that will always have you prepared with a prayer for family and friends. PrayerADay provides a means to organize your prayers and track when they were answered, allowing you to keep notes of why, when, and to whom you prayed.

 

Need to find a minyan? iDaven.com provides Jewish texts and services, such as the minyan finder and kosher restaurant finder, and can be accessed online or on any Internet-ready phone. It offers religious texts in both Hebrew and English, including the complete Torah, prayer books, and more.

 

MyAdhan (http://www.myadhan.com/) provides free and for-a-fee mobile apps and services for Muslims. Users can download an MP3 version of the Koran, access a hadith (affirmations) database, and subscribe to a SMS text service for prayer and fasting times. The services are available only in the U.K. for now, but the company has plans to expand its services.

 

 

If religious reading on the go isn’t enough, keep some spiritual ringtones in your pocket. Ringtone providers such as Jamster (jamster.com) provide an assortment of religious and pop spirituals, from “Amazing Grace” to Harry Belafonte’s version of “Hava Nagila”; the site also has a world music section with many Middle Eastern pop artists. Thumbplay (thumbplay.com) provides gospel ringtones and hymns, as well as both Christmas and Hanukkah songs.

 

 

Go beyond making your phone a religious device and use it to send off your prayer. Jews who want to have their prayers answered can use SMS2Wall (SMS2Wall.com) to send a prayer to the holiest Jewish site. Text SMS2Wall your prayer, and your prayer will be printed out and placed into the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

 

If you’re a Catholic looking for a saint to keep in your pocket to protect you, you don’t have to carry a holy card with the saint’s picture. You can get the image sent to your cell phone and display it as your wallpaper. Santiprotettori.com will send you one of 17 images ($1.99) of saints to your phone.

 

Religious leaders weigh in on the increased usage of cellphones in and out of their religious services.

 

 

 

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