Is Accordance on an iPad more similar to Accordance on a MacBook or on an iPhone?

[Vaughn Arthur]

 

If I invest in an iPad to run Accordance, am I going to be frustrated with the decreased level of functionality compared to a MacBook Air? I have invested in a reasonable Accordance library that meets most of my needs as a layman, and would like to be able to access that in places where I can't use a laptop and/or don't have wifi, such as at church, some restaurants, etc., but I don't want to make the  investment only to find that the Accordance app on the iPad is not being supported or is very limited and does little more than the iPhone app.

 

I don't do any original language studies, but if I get the iPad, I would hope to be able to use the info pane and instant details, set up zones, use tab ties to access various translations, apply highlighting, do some searching (with commands), save and access saved workspaces (ideally also be able to sync workspaces, highlighting, etc. via Dropbox), possibly use user tools, especially user notes, and would like to be able to smoothly access various commentaries, study Bibles, atlases, etc.

 

If I'm asking too much from a mobile app, fair enough, I'll just keep waiting for that glorious day, but I understand there are several pastors that almost exclusively use an iPad to prepare and give their sermons, so that leads me to believe that the iOS app for iPad might be fairly robust.  

 

Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom that might help me avoid a costly but disappointing investment. 

[Tim Hall]

Accordance on the iPad and iPhone are pretty much the same ...

[Vaughn Arthur]

Thanks Tim! That's very helpful.

 

I haven't tried to do much with the iPhone app given the size of the screen, but obviously I'll have to take another look. 

[Tim Hall]

I don't use either too much (iPhone for occasional look up, iPad to preach from).

[ukfraser]

6 hours ago, Vaughn Arthur said:

I don't do any original language studies, but if I get the iPad, I would hope to be able to use the info pane and instant details, set up zones, use tab ties to access various translations, apply highlighting, do some searching (with commands), save and access saved workspaces (ideally also be able to sync workspaces, highlighting, etc. via Dropbox), possibly use user tools, especially user notes, and would like to be able to smoothly access various commentaries, study Bibles, atlases, etc.

I use an ipad virtually all the time for sermon prep and then for leading service as well as personal study. I scratch the surface of original languages. Yes its the same as iphone but you have a bigger screen so its more useable. Having said that i still find it preferable to only have one resource open at the time so i really miss tabs where is can easily switch between linked resources like multiple texts, commentaries and study bibles.
 

accordance state that mobile is a priority this year but i still think the focus is on 14 bugs. 

you have instant details but no info pane and only very basic analytics.

you can only open two resources and they can be linked but one has to be a text, so two translations, or translation and commentary/study bible/ translator notes. You can open an atlas but its not linked.

you can use interlinear so have tagged texts under each other. 
If you open a tool like a atlas, you cant open a second pane. 

you can search, but only the text in two pane mode.

To search whats in the other pane you need to open that on its own, or left/top in two pane mode.
But you do have the full range of commands and fully search tools. 
with mounce you can see all the hits so tools help with workarounds.
only the last work space is saved. 
yes you can access maps, atlases study bibles etc but you have to go through the library so a few more clicks (and accordance atlas and time line are not on ios).

but if you want to use accordance away from home, then i dont see these limitations too much of an issue as you can use your air at home. it is very convenient in home groups etc. and your iphone can create a hotspot so you can link to the internet. I find the phone comfortable for reading when in a pew or car park but not for serious study but i can do that on the ipad, just not as convenient as the full fat version. Plus you still have your library wherever you are.
 

yes i want more but it is still very powerful and there are workarounds. I wouldnt want to be without one, but accept its limitations. 
 

yes it takes more time but you can achieve a lot.

 

and one day you will get more functionality and you will have had the benefits of getting to your resources while you wait. 
 

patience is a virtue!

 

;o) 
 

 

Edited July 13, 2023 by ukfraser

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

Accordance for iPad is going to be similar to Accordance for iPhone at the moment, just on a larger screen. While it's off to a good start at what you can do, numerous desktop-class features (info pane, zones, workspaces, etc) are not in our iPad app yet.

 

We have expanded our programming team, and we are going to focus on bringing some desktop-class features to Mobile (and especially our iPad app). We're in the R&D stage now on leveraging some technologies that'll allow us to add more features to Mobile apps in a timely manner.

 

However, short-term, if you have a MacBook Air, use it for your "desktop-class" Accordance experience. Unless you want to do a lot of reading and lighter searching with an iPad, I wouldn't invest in an iPad just for Accordance yet. Needing full access to Accordance on-the-go is why I bought a MacBook Air this past week. It's still ultra portable, but I can run the full Accordance experience.

 

I also run Accordance on an iPad mini. I love it for reading Accordance modules and for some causal searching, but I still use Accordance Desktop for all my heavy work (I also do this with any other Bible apps I've used, it's not just Accordance. I still prefer to "work" on a traditional computer and "consume" on an iPad. I liken it to having a "work truck" and a "compact car" to zoom around town on). 

 

As we begin adding more desktop-class features to Accordance for iPad, then you might re-consider an iPad in the future. We'll post updates here.

 

If there are other reasons you want an iPad, by all means, consider it, but hopefully this helps.

[Vaughn Arthur]

Thanks also to @ukfraser and @Nathan Parker for the extremely helpful responses!

[Mark Allison]

On 7/13/2023 at 2:42 PM, Nathan Parker said:

We have expanded our programming team, and we are going to focus on bringing some desktop-class features to Mobile (and especially our iPad app). We're in the R&D stage now on leveraging some technologies that'll allow us to add more features to Mobile apps in a timely manner.

 

Can we expect to see some of these "desktop-class features" coming to mobile sometime in 2023? 

[Vaughn Arthur]

I am a PC user (because of my job) and have wanted to tear my hair out over the constant crashing and freezing on PC. Earlier this year I had to get a Mac for personal reasons, and Accordance is significantly more stable on that, so now I try to do all my Accordance work on that, but that's not ideal because I have different workstations and often want to open up Accordance to squeeze in a few minutes here and there for a short time of Bible reading/study  and I don't want to find a spot on my desk for the Mac when I'm going to have to return to my PC for work. I'm hoping Accordance will get the PC stability fixed soon. Meanwhile, I need a portable version for places that a laptop just won't go and I already have an Android tablet but when I try to get the app out of the Play Store, it tells me I can't load it because the app is made for an older version of the Android operating system!!  Even if Accordance eventually gets the Android app update rolled out, I am reluctant to try to learn yet a third completely different interface, so I was thinking that an iPad might help in that regard, and iOS presumably will get more and better support going forward.

 

I want to love Accordance, I really truly do, but right now, I spend more time trying to get the program to run than I do using it, and when I have limited time for Bible study and spend half of it just trying to load a workspace and keep it on my screen, I lose my patience. Sometimes I'm tempted to give up on software and revert to my paper study Bible. 

 

Accordance could be a God-send, but it just isn't, at least not yet.

[ukfraser]

5 hours ago, Vaughn Arthur said:

 often want to open up Accordance to squeeze in a few minutes here and there for a short time of Bible reading/study  

 

so I was thinking that an iPad might help in that regard, and iOS presumably will get more and better support going forward.

 

and when I have limited time for Bible study and spend half of it just trying to load a workspace and keep it on my screen,

 

Sometimes I'm tempted to give up on software and revert to my paper study Bible. 

 

An ipad is great when you fit in time reading but it so depends on what you want to do in bible study but an ipad has got to give you much more than dead tree study bibles and atlases and commentaries and dictionaries, just for changing between resources and searching alone. Not to mention the amount of desk space you save by not having to have them all open, plus you can do it comfortably in an arm chair! (I dont use a separate keypad or trackpad so just use the bare ipad.) It is very stable, you just have to develop a few workstreams and while you dont have the workspaces, you can still be quite productive and switching between similar resources is just done by tapping their name in the tool bar and the resources remember where they were open last.
 

I used to use a pc for work but both my wife and i were very happy to migrate to macs. 
i used to use android but also got fed up with the frequent backwards compatibility issues for not being able to update the os and load newer apps so again very happy to have migrated to ios. 
 

i just wait for the semiskinned accordance to be improved but it is still infinitely better than my original bible software i had back in the 90s and using dead tree versions. 

Edited July 15, 2023 by ukfraser

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

7 hours ago, Mark Allison said:

Can we expect to see some of these "desktop-class features" coming to mobile sometime in 2023? 

Since you're a beta tester, you'll know when I know. :-)

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

@Vaughn Arthur An iPad is still great for reading and for some general searching, but it doesn't quite check all the features you listed above. I run Accordance on an iPad mini since I do a lot of reading on an iPad mini. My iPad mini is so light, compact, and great for reading.

 

My new 13" MacBook Air is still pretty compact and fanless. I can squeeze it onto my (super-crowded) desk and do all the heavy studying in Accordance I can do with my iMac Pro, and Accordance on it feels zippier than even on my iMac Pro (the more time I spend with Apple Silicon, the more I'm loving the performance of it).

 

I have Accordance running on a Windows PC for testing purposes, but I personally still prefer Macs in general. I just work better on a Mac.

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

Here's also ChatGPT's answer on MacBook Air vs iPad. :-)

 

 

The MacBook Air and the iPad are both popular Apple devices, but they serve different purposes and have distinct features.

The MacBook Air is a lightweight laptop that offers a traditional computing experience with a physical keyboard, trackpad, and macOS operating system. It provides more powerful processing capabilities, ample storage, and a wider range of software applications. It's well-suited for tasks such as content creation, coding, photo and video editing, and multitasking.

On the other hand, the iPad is a tablet that offers a highly portable and touch-based experience. It uses the iPadOS operating system and provides a large touchscreen, making it ideal for media consumption, web browsing, gaming, and general productivity tasks. The iPad also supports Apple Pencil, making it a great choice for digital artists, note-takers, and annotators.

Choosing between the MacBook Air and the iPad depends on your specific needs and preferences. If you require a full-fledged computer experience, need powerful software applications, and prefer a physical keyboard, the MacBook Air is a better choice. However, if you prioritize portability, touch interaction, and versatility, the iPad might be the more suitable option.

[Vaughn Arthur]

Thanks again for all the comments. 

I found a way to get Accordance loaded on my existing Android Galaxy tablet (downloading from the Accordance website instead of through the Play store), and have been toying around with it while out and about today. I still think in the long run I'll prefer an iPad, but before making that investment, I think the Galaxy will give me a chance to see if the portability I'm looking for is as useful as I think it will be. Then, maybe, I'll revisit the idea of getting an iPad. Thanks again! 

 

[R. Mansfield]

I prefer using my iPad Pro over a Mac. With an M2 processor, it’s powerful enough to run just about anything. Unfortunately, software development has significantly lagged behind in most cases.

Many companies still think of mobile as an afterthought even though a growing number of users want to be free of legacy operating systems such as macOS and Windows. 

Edited July 16, 2023 by R. Mansfield

[GYDOF1729]

1 hour ago, R. Mansfield said:

I prefer using my iPad Pro over a Mac. With an M2 processor, it’s powerful enough to run just about anything. Unfortunately, software development has significantly lagged behind in most cases.

Many companies still think of mobile as an afterthought even though a growing number of users want to be free of legacy operating systems such as macOS and Windows. 

Rick, I would love to see a more robust Accordance on iOS.  I absolutely agree the M2 processor is powerful enough to accomplish what is on the Mac edition.  Please Accordance be the first to make the full version on iPad Pro etc.  

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

The M Series iPad Pro certainly has a ton of power. Now that Apple has released Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad, I hope other developers will take notice of what you can do on the iPad.

 

While we're not going to simply attempt to "port" the Mac version to iPadOS (that would be a clunky experience), we are going to focus on delivering more features to Mobile, just stay tuned.

[ukfraser]

And dont forget that a web version is also on the cards as an alternative to your desktop issues which may help.
 

 

[Vaughn Arthur]

Now y’all have got me wondering whether I should be thinking about an iPad Pro instead of an iPad Air! 

[A. Smith]

To be honest, the iPad app is identical to the iOS app and a major disappointment. The iPad is outrageously capable and utterly wasted by accordance. I hope that will change sooner rather than later. But my hopes are not high. Logos FINALLY began doing more with iPad as part of the latest version. I am positive accordance could do an even better job. But it seems their workforce is stretched quite thin. We’ll see. 

[A. Smith]

1 hour ago, Vaughn Arthur said:

Now y’all have got me wondering whether I should be thinking about an iPad Pro instead of an iPad Air! 

iPad Pro is an incredible tool. Not much for accordance. But that is a feature of the app not the tech. I use a 2018 pro and haven’t yet hit a wall. I can’t imagine how capable the newer models are. 

[ukfraser]

2 hours ago, Vaughn Arthur said:

Now y’all have got me wondering whether I should be thinking about an iPad Pro instead of an iPad Air! 

It so depends on what you want to do now and what you can afford to wait for long term. Do a pros and cons list for each. 
ask 100 people and you will get 200 opinions. 
 

;o) 

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

I had a 10.5" Pro and parted with it since I "downsized" to an iPad mini, but this was before the M-Series Pros came out. They're a whole different caliber in terms of power.

[Vaughn Arthur]

The current iPad Air has the M1 chip, the iPad Pro has the M2 chip (which is what is in my MacBook Air). I was pretty confident the upgraded M2 was worth paying for (over the M1) in the laptop, but I'm not sure whether it's worth the considerable extra cost in a tablet. 

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

The M2 chip in my MacBook Air is super powerful, so it's likely to give you that power in an iPad Pro as well. The issue is whether enough apps would take advantage of it yet. It's one reason I went with a MacBook Air instead of an iPad Pro for now.