Keyboard
A full system keyboard with a verse search row above the keys. Around six hundred verses are built into the keyboard itself, so it works offline and without Full Access. It never reads what you type in other apps.
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.
Selah Verse puts the right words in your keyboard, your messages, and your home screen.
A Bible companion for iPhone, built on one idea: scripture should show up where you already are, instead of asking you to come to it.
Read a Deep DiveComing to iPhone
The idea
Scripture, where you already are.
Selah Verse is made for people who live their faith through their phone, who send verses to the people they love, and who have no interest in being told they should be studying more.
The hard part is almost never finding the time to read. The hard part is 11pm, in a text thread, when someone you love is hurting and you do not have any words of your own.
Meaning, not keywords
Type what you would actually say.
Selah reads the meaning of the sentence rather than matching a word in it, so an ordinary sentence returns the passage a concordance would miss.
You type “my friend just lost her mom”
The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
You type “I’m scared about tomorrow”
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
You type “I’m exhausted”
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Where it lives
Four places on your phone.
Messages
Search or tap a category inside Messages and send the verse as a rendered card in the conversation, with the reference in the caption.
Camera
Take or pick a photo and Selah describes the scene with AI, then matches three verses to the moment in it. You choose one and it is typeset over the image. The camera asks for your consent before it will run, and the photo is not stored.
Widgets
Home screen and lock screen widgets that carry the day’s verse. They read it from a shared container on the device and send nothing.
Browse by life
Twenty-one ways in.
Start from the situation you are in, the person you are writing to, or the way the day feels.
By situation
- Going through something hard
- Feeling anxious or afraid
- Celebrating something
- Grieving a loss
- Starting something new
- Needing courage
- Seeking forgiveness
- Feeling grateful
By person
- For her
- For him
- For Mom
- For Dad
- For a friend going through it
- For your kids
- For yourself
By mood
- Peaceful
- Bold / Strong
- Tender
- Joyful
- Hopeful
- Reflective
Deep Dive
One passage, layer by layer.
A Deep Dive reads the King James wording of one passage: the key sentence, the meaning, the Hebrew or Greek root, the pattern across scripture, and the thread to the next verse.
The analysis is stored against the passage and shared by everyone who opens it. It is commentary about the passage, not personal guidance about you.
Translations
Seven translations.
Selah ships seven English translations for reading, all of them public domain or openly licensed, which is what lets them live inside the app, work offline in the keyboard, and be searched by meaning. Full attribution is on the translations page.
- King James Version
- Berean Standard Bible
- Free Bible Version
- World English Bible
- American Standard Version
- Darby
- Young’s Literal Translation
Free and Premium
The app is free and so is search. Premium opens the Deep Dive and camera composite, and removes the limits.
| Free | Premium | |
|---|---|---|
| Verse typeset over a photo | Premium required | Included |
| Deep Dive | Premium required | Included |
| Meaning-based search | Included | Included |
| Saved collection | Most recent 30 visible | Unlimited |
| Share Studio styles | 5 of 25 | All 25 |
| Selah mark | Appears on every card | Appears on every card |
| Price | Free | $4.99 per month or $29.99 per year |
Premium is billed by Apple. Cancel any time in your Apple ID settings.
Safety and privacy
No account, no ads, no trackers.
Selah creates an anonymous profile for you, so there is no email address, no password, and no sign-up screen, and there is no advertising or third-party tracking anywhere in the app.
When you use the camera, the photo is resized on your phone and sent to Google Gemini, which returns a description of the scene: we keep the description and not the photo, and the camera does not run at all until you have read the disclosure and agreed.
A matched verse is a suggestion rather than an interpretation, and Selah is a scripture companion rather than counselling. The full detail is in the privacy policy, and the AI request itself is described on How Selah uses AI.
Scripture, where you already are.
Selah is not on the App Store yet. Leave your email and we will write once, on the day it arrives.