TTW 3.0 Tips for New Users

Hello TTW Friends!
As more of you make the transition to TTW 3.0 and as we start moving Android users to the new platform, I decided to post some tips and FAQ for the new app. If you are getting started, here's a few things you should know...

Tip #1: Use the Intro Plan!

The new app has a transformed layout and great design. We know you're gonna like it, but you will need a little help getting used to it. That's what the Intro Plan is for. It's a simple three-day plan designed to walk new users through all the features and help you find everything. Don't skip it!

Tip #2: Login with the Same Email from 2.0

To make sure you transfer your progress, login with the same email you used for TTW 2.0. If you forgot your password, there is an option to get a new one via email.

Tip #3: Your Journals are Moving - Check Your Email for Vital Info

With the new TTW 3.0, we are moving the journals (aka the Think step) to a separate platform called Evernote. It's an important step forward for the TTW app because it fixes some significant issues that many users had on 2.0, but it will take some getting used to if you use the journal regularly. So when you update to TTW 3.0, look for an email from help@throughtheword.org with full instructions and details.

Tip #4: You Can Still Access TTW 2.0 on the Website

The original app with all your data is still available at app.throughtheword.org. However, once you've logged in to 3.0, any progress that you make on 2.0 will not follow you to 3.0. That migration happens all at once. The web app will look just like the old app, only in a web browser (on your mobile device or computer). Log in to your account and all of your journals, your prayer list, and progress will still be there. We will keep it available to you as long as it keeps working, but we are not able to invest in upgrading or fixing bugs on the 2.0 app while also maintaining the new one.

Contact Us! Email questions to help@throughtheword.org. 

Patience is appreciated. You are important and most questions are answered same day, but we also have 27,000 daily listeners and a small team to respond - so thanks for your patience!

Thanks again for all your support and thanks for making TTW a part of your faith journey. For more questions and issues, read below.

Always in Christ, 

Pastor Kris

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TTW 3.0 FAQ & ISSUES

Issue: My app update is taking a long time (just keeps syncing)

Solution: The issue is likely a poor internet connection combined with a lot of TTW progress to import. Try again in a location with good wifi. If that doesn't work, email us at help@throughtheword.org, and we can run the update for you. Use subject: Update taking too long. 

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Question: Why did we move the Journal & Prayer List off the app?

Answer: It may seem counterintuitive for an app update to remove features, but it was actually a very important step forward for TTW. Long story short, the Journal and Prayer List features were creating the majority of our bugs and issues, but they were used by less than 10% of you. Those steps are still important! But maintaining them was simply costing us too much in both resources and lost users (due to bugs and crowded interface). And with so many new users starting TTW, we had to streamline in order to keep the app and all of our content free for everyone. For all of those reasons, we made the difficult decision to move both of those steps off of our app and onto Evernote - a free app that already does journaling very well. We do have plans to bring back a version of the journal that will allow you to open an Evernote journal from within the TTW app - which will give you the best of both worlds. Until then, we're asking you to create your journals separately on the Evernote app. Also remember that you can still access your prior journals on the TTW 2.0 web-app (see above). For more details on the journal, scroll down. 

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Question: How do I mark a chapter/day complete?

Answer: Each chapter will automatically be marked complete after the Audio Guide and Audio Bible play. You can skip that by either fast-forwarding to the end of the Audio Bible, or you can tap on the heart icon (left of play) twice (this is the sneaky way). Note: We will soon be adding a more intuitive way to mark complete by dragging the chapter right, but that is not ready just yet.

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Issue: TTW 3.0 does not have my plans and progress.

Solution: Not to worry, we saved your progress in 2.0, and it's an easy fix. There are couple possible issues. You may have logged in with a different email. If that's the case, try the sign in with a different email that you may have used for 2.0. If that doesn't work, email us at help@throughtheword.org and say "My 3.0 app doesn't have my progress." We'll help you from there.

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Question: Can I access my prayer list from TTW 2.0?

Answer: Yes - it is also available to you on the 2.0 web app at app.throughtheword.org (see answer above). We removed the prayer list from the 3.0 for the time being so that we could focus our upgrades on our core elements. We certainly want you to keep praying! 

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Issue: Text size is too small.

Solution: TTW font size can now be increased by in your iPhone or iPad Settings menu. Exit the TTW app, and go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Larger Text, then slide the toggle to on, and adjust the size as needed. We are also planning to increase the default size of the Bible text soon. (It's a bit small - sorry about that!).

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Question: Can I access my Journals on Evernote from a mobile device?

Solution: The email that we sent with directions to get your journals onto Evernote does require the use of a computer rather than a mobile device. However, you only need to use the computer once - only for the initial transfer of journals. Once those are transferred, you will be able to use the Evernote mobile app (free) to access all your journals and create new ones. Just get the Evernote mobile app and use the same login. Click here to get Evernote in the iOS App Store, or click here to get Evernote for Android.

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Issue: No landscape mode.

Solution: Landscape mode is now available on iPad, but not on phones and other tablets. It is on our future feature list, but for now, the new app is only available in portrait mode. 

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Issue: Where are the CSB, ESV, KJV, etc?

Solution: More translations are coming back! In order to get the new app update completed, we had to simplify a few things, including some confusion with Bible translation APIs. For the moment, we just have the NIV. The good news is that we will be bringing the other Bible translations back on the app soon!

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Any other troubles? Contact us at help@throughtheword.org!

And for those of you looking or more info on the Journals:

Can I still access my journals and prayer list on the TTW 2.0 like before?

Yes - you can access the full TTW 2.0 app our web app at app.throughtheword.org - using mobile or computer. Login to find your journals and prayer list and progress - just as before. However, any progress and new journals will not be updated to TTW 3.0 after you migrate. Moving forward, we encourage you to try out Evernote or another journaling option, along with the TTW 3.0 app. 

Will you bring back the journal and prayer list to TTW in the future?

Maybe - but different from before. We moved the journal feature because it was buggy and too expensive for us to maintain (see below). However, we are looking into the possibility of creating a way inside the TTW app for you to create an Evernote journal entry that will give you all of their journaling functionality without our team programming or maintaining it. For us, that would be the best of both worlds. There are challenges to make that work, but that is our hope. 

Can I access my journals on a phone, iPad, etc?

Yes you can - but you’ll need a computer to move them there. Here’s how it works. Evernote on Computer: You will need a computer just one time (laptop or desktop) in order to complete the process of moving the journals from TTW 2.0 into Evernote. The process only works on the Evernote desktop app. Simply follow the directions on the email using a computer.*

Evernote on Mobile: Once the journals have been moved, you can access all of your journals in the Evernote mobile app - no computer necessary. Just be sure to use the same login on mobile.  Click here to get Evernote in the iOS App Store, or click here to get Evernote for Android.

Why did we remove the journal and prayer from the TTW 3.0 app?

This is a big question, but if you’re interested, I’ll explain. As we made plans for 3.0, there were many ideas and needs to consider. The move of the journals was of particular concern to me as we moved forward with the changes, and we all realized that this would be the most challenging part of the transition. The journal feature was my idea from the beginning, and I still believe that Bible journaling is of great benefit to anyone who takes the time to invest in it. However, in terms of programming costs and maintenance, the journal feature on our app has been our greatest cost and headache for several years now. It seems like a simple enough idea, but coding a feature is always more complex than the idea itself, and this one just wouldn't behave. And you would think that one fix is enough - but as operating systems update on phones, new bugs appear - and costs keep adding up. Although it didn't create bugs for every device, it did for many, and it cost more to maintain than we had counted on. We also looked at our user data and realized that less than ten percent of our users utilize the journal, while the bugs could affect everyone (and a buggy app often translates into lost opportunity with new users who don’t come back). So it came down to a decision about how we invest our limited resources to help the most people. Of course, all of you who journal are very important to us! We simply don’t have the resources with a free app to be all things to all people. I did not want to let go of the journal feature entirely, so we made the decision to export journals to a free app resource that already does journaling very well. This way, journals are well taken care of, users have more features to work with their journals (search, export, share, etc.), and we free up our limited resources at TTW to do what we do best: more audio guides. Of course, it was of great importance to care for the journals and deliver them to you safely. So we carefully developed the export system and email which you have likely already read. That method is working very well for most users, and we are also maintaining a backup copy of your journals should you need to retrieve them from us again or have any trouble in the future. Of course, change is never easy, and I appreciate your patience as we move through this one!

What if I have trouble getting my journals into Evernote?

We did our best to create a smooth process for your to move your journals, but of course there are always challenges on different devices and different situations. So goes technology. The process does require a computer (we tried finding a solution that works directly on mobile but could not), though after you upload your journals you will be able to access all of them from the Evernote mobile app (just log in with the same user id). Also, we realized that the how-to video is on a Mac, so it may look different on a PC. We will look into creating a version on PC, but we also encourage you to give it a try yourself. You can always contact us at help@throughtheword.org, but I do ask for you patience as our small staff is helping a lot of people with the move (I think the Bible says something about letting your words be with grace!).