Gospel Art Kit–There’s an App for that!

UPDATE 7/31/16: It looks like the gospel art kit app has gone the way of banned apps. When I recently purchased a new iPhone that is one of the apps that didn't somehow make it back on my phone when I restored from my old iPhone's backup. So I looked in my "Purchased Apps" and couldn't find it, and now it appears that it is no longer in the app store either. I don't know if it has to do with copyright violations or what, but it makes me really sad! I can probably find a way to get the app back on my devices from my computer, but if you didn't have the app before you won't be able to download it.

(link to download at the bottom of the post)

This past Sunday I was sitting in sacrament meeting and I reached in my Church bag to pull out my gospel art book and realized that I had left it at home! It has become one of my most powerful tools for helping my kids be reverent during the sacrament. I will usually turn it to the pages with the Savior in Gethsemane and the Savior on the Cross, and often we end up in the “Gospel in Action” section to look at pictures of the sacrament being blessed, and little children being reverent while they take the sacrament.

So, you can imagine my horror when I realized it wasn’t in the bag. What would I do now!?

Thankfully, I had my handy-dandy iPhone, and I thought “Oh, maybe the Gospel Art Book is available in the Gospel Library app!” Willing to stomach any possible data charges, I headed to the app, but no luck. Desperate, I resorted to Safari and lds.org and quickly found the gospel art book online. I loaded a few pictures and saved them to my phone (for easy access next time I forgot the book).

Today I was just sitting around thinking “I wonder if someone has made an app for that.” I did a quick search in the app store, and sure enough! There it was, for $1.99 (updated 4/28/13 - it's now $2.99, but still worth it, in my opinion). I immediately downloaded it (that’s cheaper than the paper book from the distribution center), and upon browsing through the app, I realized that this app is not just the gospel art book, but the entire Gospel Art Kit! Remember, that big box of something like 600 pictures, all 8 1/2 x 11 size? I grew up with those as a Family Home Evening staple, so I was really disappointed when they discontinued the kit in favor of the gospel art book. I still wish I had all those pictures.

Well, now I do, sort of! I am really excited to have all those pictures (it has the picture of the Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s burying their weapons, which is one of my personal favorites). Especially now in an easy app on my phone. You can sort the pictures by number (which is somewhat choronological) or by name, and there is also a search function.

So when Sunday rolls around and my kids are fighting over the gospel art book during the sacrament (yes… it happens) I can just whip out my phone and let one of them look at the pictures on there! Although, I am also considering giving the kids their very own gospel art books for their Church bags, since they are only $3.50. Then no fighting over the iPhone either.

And when we’re waiting in line, or sitting somewhere with nothing to do, I can pull out my gospel art kit app and we can choose a picture and talk about the scriptures! Yay!

Download the app here: Gospel Art Book App by Standard Works LLC

Have you found any useful gospel-related smartphone apps? Which are your favorite? Would you like me to share more reviews of my favorites?