New App: NWT Pinyin

The iPad, the iPhone, and the iPod touch have revolutionized the way many of us in the Chinese field can acquire and use publications in the field, at the meetings, etc. However, it has been a challenge to look up scriptures in the official Pīnyīn New World Translation Bible PDF file on them. As a PDF file, that file is rooted in the print world, with its set page sizes and line endings, so it does not naturally or comfortably “live” on many mobile device displays, like computer-native web and EPUB material does. As a really big PDF file, it’s time-consuming and laborious to find just the chapter and verse that you want in it. It’s been frustrating that trying to make good use of one of our most important and useful publications on one of the devices that we most likely have with us has been such a slow and cumbersome process.

Recently, a free app became available on the App Store that almost perfectly solves this common problem:

• NWT Pinyin
• (Short links: tiandi.info/bi, tiandi.info/apps)

When launched, it provides a simple button for downloading the official Pīnyīn New World Translation Bible PDF file from jw.org to the app. After that, the app provides fast and convenient iOS-native, JW Library-like controls for “teleporting” right to the chapter of the Bible book that you want. Once there, you can pinch or double-tap to zoom in as much as you want.

Why do I say that it’s just almost perfect? One thing I really wish it did better is that I wish it maintained the zoom level when moving to the next or previous page. As it is, when you do so, the zoom level resets to show one whole page on the display. That zoom level is often unusable, especially on smaller devices like the iPhone.

Basically, though, this app is an excellent tool for looking up scriptures in the official Pīnyīn New World Translation Bible PDF file as quickly and easily as we should be able to on the iPad, the iPhone, and the iPod touch, and it is the solution to this problem that I currently recommend.

[Update 2017-05-01: This app now also provides a simple button for downloading the official Pīnyīn songbook PDF file from jw.org to the app. After that, the app provides fast and convenient iOS-native, JW Library-like controls for “teleporting” right to the song that you want. Once there, you can pinch or double-tap to zoom in as much as you want.]

[Update 2018-02-20: This app now supports the official lyrics-only Pīnyīn PDF file for the “Sing Out Joyfully” book that we are now using as our songbook. Accordingly, a link for it has been added to the tiandi.info/sjj short link.]

[Update 2019-04-25: Unfortunately, it appears that this app is no longer in the App Store.]