Apple wants to remove Pencil Bible from the App Store! 😡

Gooday folks,

It’s officially Spring in South Africa. 🌸🌻🌼🌷🌺

Everything is green and the weather is oh-so-perfect almost every day. Not for Pencil Bible though. 😅

We planned to release the NIV this weekend, but Apple suddenly decided that the iPhone version of PB is not up to standard (I didn’t even want an iPhone version, but more on that later).

So what happened?

Apple did a random review and noticed that PB for iPhone does not really work. When we released V2 of Pencil Bible earlier this year, we accidentally released an iPhone version of it as well. Once you have done so, the iPhone version can’t be removed! I didn’t want to put any of our precious resources on it at the time so if someone opened the iPhone app they would get a message saying the App is not available yet for the iPhone — please download on your iPad. No harm, no foul.

Now Apple is threatening to take down Pencil Bible from the App Store in less than 10 days if we don’t add a workable iPhone version. 🤦🏻

This stresses me out so much. 😭

The iPhone is small and does not have a stylus like the Apple Pencil. This brings significant new challenges. We had to put our thinking hats on.

The solution? We are planning to release a finger-touch-only version of the app next week on the iPhone if Matt manages to code one for us. If he doesn’t, PB will be taken down.

I have a prayer request: “That a workable iPhone version will be finished by next week and Apple approve it for release.”

Remember I talked about appointing a premium developer agency (Margelo) specialising in the code stack PB is built with?

Well, we had discussions and I appointed them to help with the issues the app is experiencing like:

And here’s the kicker — the creator of SKIA for React Native is the one who will help with the development. That is like having Bill Gates helping with a WINDOWS app. 😲🧑🏻‍🚀🚀

They will start in mid-October for one week every two months as that is all we can afford at the moment. As PB’s revenue grows though the development from their side would be more active. I believe they will also be extremely efficient with their time. So one week for them can be like three months for my guys.

The vision is for PB to be even better than APPLE NOTES! This guy will make it happen. I really believe he will.

PB is still growing at roughly 10% per month in some areas — and in others less.

The marketing is still in its testing phase. The data we get from the Facebook Ads show people (50% male & 50% female) over the age of 45 and up to 55 show interest in the app. I would have never guessed this, to be honest. We will continue to test ads on Facebook and Instagram, but that possibly means we should cater more for that type of market. 🤓

Please check back on Facebook and Instagram for updates next week.

Thanks for your support & prayers.

Kind Regards

Erin