PHANEIA

Current app preparation

Help and contact

Read a passage, notice what stands out and keep a thought of your own. You can begin with Phaneia without setting up AI.

Updated October 11, 2026. Phaneia has not been publicly released. This page describes the app being prepared for Mac, iPhone and iPad on macOS 27 or iOS/iPadOS 26.

Start with a passage

  1. Choose an edition in the reader. Two Bibles are included: the English World English Bible (WEBP) and the German Menge Bible. The Menge Bible is not offered in the US App Store.
  2. Choose a book, or use Open Bible passage to go to a particular reference. Read the verses before and after the sentence that interests you.
  3. Select a word or passage and choose Highlight to mark it.
  4. Open Notes and write an observation or question in your own words. Changes save automatically; check the notebook’s status for errors or unsaved changes. Formatting works locally.
  5. Return to the passage and your note when you want to continue.

Start with a passage that interests you. Matthew 6:9–13, the Lord’s Prayer, is a good example.

Reading, highlighting and notes do not require AI or an internet connection once the Bible text is available locally. Saved study data can also be used offline.

Why is no local word explanation shown for WEBP?

WEBP contains the English Bible text without bundled local glossary entries, book introductions or reading recommendations. Selecting Explain does not make an English local explanation available. Existing German word entries can still appear in your word store; they are separate learning material, rather than commentary supplied with WEBP. Your own saved notes are kept in the language in which you wrote them.

My previously selected edition is unavailable

Choose an available edition in the reader. Your existing notes, quotations, highlights and references are retained. A replacement edition has its own wording and numbering; Phaneia does not silently substitute its verses for an unavailable source.

Optional AI

The planned price for Phaneia is around €10 per month. AI explanations and conversations need the Phaneia subscription; there is no free tier. You do not need a Phaneia account. Without a subscription, you can still read, highlight and keep notes locally.

Set up AI

  1. Open Settings and go to AI.
  2. Choose Subscribe. The purchase runs through your Apple ID.
  3. Return to the passage, choose Explain or ask a question in a conversation. New answers require internet access.

The subscription belongs to your Apple ID, and you cancel it there. On another device, choose Restore purchases under Settings → AI.

When you use an AI feature, Phaneia sends your question and the context shown in the app through the Phaneia service to Anthropic: selected text, the earlier messages of the conversation and any enabled learning profile points. Imported editions also need separate permission for text excerpts. Notebook contents and personal word notes are not sent automatically; text you paste into a question is part of that question.

The learning profile stays off until you turn it on under Learning profile. Once it is on, Phaneia can derive and save new learning points from a conversation. You can review those points in Settings and turn the profile off again at any time.

AI can make mistakes. Check its answer against the Bible text and distinguish observation, interpretation and application. An explanation is not a guaranteed interpretation or word-by-word Hebrew or Greek alignment.

If no answer appears, check your subscription, your internet connection and the error message. Billing and cancellation are in your Apple ID's subscriptions. The app privacy draft describes what can be sent.

Local data, iCloud and backups

Bible text and saved study data are available locally. New AI answers require internet access. Private iCloud sync can transfer study data and original imported EPUB files through your Apple account. Reading data is generated again on each device.

A sync status is not proof that another device has a complete copy. Check a particular change on the second device before relying on it. If a problem is shown under Data & sources, check the message, your iCloud sign-in and available storage. iCloud sync does not replace a backup you manage yourself.

Export a backup

Choose Export backup… in Settings to create a .phaneiabackup file. It contains study data and original imported EPUB files, not device access credentials. It may contain personal questions, notes and learning profile points. Store it securely and share it deliberately.

Restore a backup

Restore backup… validates the file and replaces the current study data. Export the current data first if you want to keep it. If you turned the learning profile off, it stays off after a restore; an old backup does not silently turn it back on.

A backup you have exported is a separate file. Changes or deletion inside Phaneia do not remove that file.

Import a Bible edition

Choose Import EPUB… under Data & sources to add a supported Bible edition. Not every EPUB structure is supported. New imports are limited to 49 MB; larger files imported by an older app version may remain only on that original device and can be transferred through a backup.

Being able to read a file does not give you permission to share it or send it to an AI provider. Under Data & sources, you can permit limited excerpts from each imported edition to be sent to Anthropic. Grant this permission only if you are entitled to do so. Without it, those excerpts are not sent, and an AI answer cannot check your edition’s exact wording.

Permissions and deletion

You can turn off the learning profile under Learning profile at any time. Turning it off does not delete stored profile points. The saved change applies on this device and reaches other devices when they sync; an offline device has not yet received a remote change.

There is no separate switch for AI requests. Phaneia only sends something to Anthropic when you use an AI feature. You cancel the subscription in your Apple ID's subscriptions.

You can delete conversations and word-store entries in their views, and reset the learning profile in Settings. Stop using previous context ends use of the earlier conversation context without deleting the visible conversation.

The notebook keeps earlier revisions. Changing or clearing its current text does not remove those revisions. Deleting all app data and notebook revisions is not yet a finished, tested feature in the current test version. If you need this, write to the contact address below. Robert cannot remotely open or delete your local study data or private iCloud database. Backups you exported yourself are separate files that you manage.

Contact

For help, the contact address is [email protected]. Support is planned by email; there is no telephone support or guaranteed response time.

Describe:

  • What you were trying to do.
  • What happened instead, including the exact error message.
  • Your Phaneia version, device and operating-system version.

Please do not initially send passwords or access keys, full backups, personal faith experiences or other people’s Bible texts. You can describe a problem without a screenshot. If a screenshot is useful, remove private material and protected Bible text that is unnecessary for the report.

For a data question, say whether it concerns the mailing list, a contact email or data in the app. Do not attach your private study contents.

Robert Oberdorfer · Germany

Read the legal notice draft for operator details and the website privacy draft for contact-data handling. App privacy draft describes the app’s data flows.