The Pillar · iPhone & iPad
Tap any word and The Pillar opens the Greek or Hebrew underneath it, the classic commentaries on the passage, five Bible dictionaries, and every cross-reference. No account. No ads. Nothing about you leaves your phone.
7 days free, then $4.99/month or $39.99/year. Cancel anytime.
How it works
Every study tool sits inside the passage. You never leave the chapter to use them.
One
The whole Bible, in the King James, New King James, NASB, New Living Translation, The Message and more. The KJV is built into the app, so the text is there whether or not you have a signal.
Two
Any word opens its Greek or Hebrew, its Strong's number, what it actually meant, and every other verse it appears in. Eighty-nine of the words that carry the most weight have a study written in plain English.
Three
Matthew Henry, Adam Clarke, John Gill, Calvin, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown and more, on the passage you're in — beside five Bible dictionaries, Nave's topical index and every cross-reference.
Four
Highlights, notes and sermon notes — with recording, so Sunday isn't gone by Tuesday. It all stays on your device and syncs through your own iCloud, not ours.
“Did not our heart burn within us … while he opened to us the scriptures?” — Luke 24:32
iPad & Apple Pencil
The margins of a paper Bible are where study actually happens. On iPad, an Apple Pencil writes anywhere on the page — and every stroke stays tied to the verse it belongs to.
Change the type size, turn the iPad, come back a year later: your notes are still beside the words you wrote them about.
Your finger still scrolls and still selects. Pick up the Pencil and write; put it down and read.
Writing over the text lives in the translation you wrote it in, the way it would in a paper Bible. Writing in the margin travels with the verse into every translation.
Maps
Tap a place name in the text and the map opens on it. Every chapter has one — and none of it needs a connection.
Matthew 2 is four places in twenty-three verses. The pins are numbered by first mention, with the surrounding land and water for context — no invented routes between them, because the sources give places, not paths.
Nearly half of the sites named in Scripture can't be located with confidence. Those are drawn as uncertain rather than quietly guessed at, and the Atlas tells apart the two Antiochs and the three Bethlehems.
The place data and the map itself ship inside the app. Nothing is fetched, so the maps work on a plane, in a basement, or with the signal off.
The Pillar has no sign-up, no tracking of any kind, and no advertising. Your notes, highlights and recordings live on your device and, if you turn on iCloud, in your own private iCloud account. We have no server that can read them.
Pricing
There's no cut-down free tier and no upgrade prompt waiting three screens in. You get the whole app from the first day of the trial.
Pillar Premium
$39.99/year
$3.33 a month · or $4.99 monthly
Cancel any time in your App Store settings.
Questions
No. That's the point. The Pillar shows you the original word, how it's pronounced, what range of meaning it carries and everywhere else it's used — in English. Eighty-nine of the most important words have a written study you can read in two minutes.
King James, New King James, NASB (2020), New Living Translation, The Message, American Standard, the Berean Standard Bible, the World English Bible, Young's Literal, the 1599 Geneva Bible and others — none of which need any setup from you.
The King James text is built into the app, along with Strong's, the lexicons, the five dictionaries and the topical index — none of those need a connection. Other translations and the commentaries are fetched as you read them, and can be downloaded ahead of time where their licence allows it.
Yes. There are no accounts, no analytics, no advertising and no tracking. Notes, highlights and recordings never reach a server we control.
Yes — one purchase covers iPhone and iPad. Handwriting is the one part that is iPad-only: it needs an Apple Pencil. Everything else is the same on both.
Because the study content costs money to license and keep accurate, and the alternative is selling your attention or your data. The trial is seven days with nothing held back, and you can cancel in two taps if it isn't for you.
They stay on your device and in your iCloud account. Nothing is deleted.
thefrenchpressedone LLC, a one-person studio in Alexandria, Virginia. Write to help@thepillarapp.com and you'll reach the person who built it.
Why I built it
As an Air Force veteran, I traveled at a time when we were only allowed to bring one Bible with us, along with limited study material — more than one Bible could be viewed as proselytization, strictly forbidden in most of the countries I traveled to. That restriction changed the way I studied the Bible. I fervently studied the Word, using commentaries, dictionaries, and books, writing notes in the margins of my Bible so that five or six months into a deployment I could look back and remember what each verse meant — the context, the Greek and Hebrew, along with my own reflections. Doctrinal understanding is paramount. But we can't stop at doctrine alone.
Our focus should always be falling more and more in love with our Creator and Savior, Jesus Christ — who first demonstrated His love toward us so that we could believe. For we are saved by grace through faith, and increasing our faith through Scripture study deepens our love for Him. The more we understand and see Him through Scripture, the better we can build our personal relationship with our Lord.
I study the Bible by taking notes and searching commentaries and word studies so that I might understand His voice more clearly. I journal and write and scribble and think, chewing on the Word and meditating on its meaning for my life. I long to understand more clearly, so that I can walk with Him daily.
The Pillar is that whole desk in one place — the Bible, the commentaries, the word studies, and the margin notes — on the device you already carry.
— David Hagedorn, founder · Alexandria, Virginia
The name
The Pillar was built around a simple conviction: truth matters, and it's worth protecting, preserving, and making visible.
Scripture describes the church as “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15) — not the source of truth, but the structure that holds it up so people can see it clearly. A pillar doesn't invent what it displays; it supports it, keeps it standing, and makes sure it's not lost or hidden. That's the principle behind this app.
In a time when information is abundant but clarity is rare, and opinions spread faster than understanding, The Pillar aims to do one thing well: put the truth of Scripture within reach, presented clearly, and preserved faithfully — without distortion, without agenda, without noise.
This app isn't meant to replace study, community, or the church itself. It's meant to support them — a small pillar doing its part to hold up something far bigger than itself, so that the truth stays visible, accessible, and undiluted for anyone who's looking for it.
That's the reason this exists.
Seven days free. Then $39.99 a year.
Coming soon to the App Store Email me at launch