When the app works, they love it.
When it doesn't,
they're shut out.
A sentiment study of 158 App Store reviews for the Filament Bible app, surfacing where users encounter friction, what they treasure, and what's recently broken.
The average rating of 3.04 stars is misleading. Reviews are sharply bimodal — 28.5% give 5 stars and 27.2% give 1 star — meaning the rating distribution looks less like a normal product and more like two distinct user experiences happening to two different groups of people.
Rating distribution
A polarized two-peak shapeSentiment over time
2024 was the worst yearWhat users complain about & praise
Themes mined from review bodiesActive regression · v4.1.4 – 4.1.5
2026 — needs urgent triageA "Download error · There was a glitch getting your Filament goodness" message is shutting users out on the latest builds.
Multiple recent reviewers (Mar – May 2026) report the same blocker on versions 4.1.4 and 4.1.5: uninstalling and reinstalling does not fix it. The error is named verbatim across reports, suggesting a single failure mode — likely a server-side asset fetch or initialization call. iPhone 16 is mentioned multiple times. This is the single highest-leverage fix: at four review mentions in two months on the newest version, the real user count behind these reviews is almost certainly large.
Representative voices
Drawn from the full spectrumI'm able to carry a simple, small Bible that has nothing but the text of Scripture in it, and then pair it with this app to get TONS of great info tied to every page. Study notes, articles, videos, interactive maps. There's nothing else like this anywhere.
I love the concept of this app and use it daily. There are some kinks to be worked out. It doesn't always open and I have to play games to get it to open. In the See section, the infographics are difficult to use.
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gift of technology that helps bring Your Word closer to our hearts. Today, we lift up the developers and leaders of the Filament Bible app. Grant them wisdom, creativity, and perseverance as they work to resolve the technical issues…
I've been using and enjoying the filament app for over a year and have been going through the chronological Bible reading. The new redesign is terrible. Daily readings are out of order. Has me skipping all over the place. Definite step backwards.
I love the premise of the app, but if you can get it to work it does no good. I have installed, deleted, and reinstalled numerous times and keep getting the error "Oops, download error. There was a glitch getting your Filament goodness."
I am so thankful for this App and the Bible that goes with it. It has truly been a blessing and such an enriching experience. May God Bless all who were involved in making this App and the NLT Bible that I use with it.
Suggested priorities
For internal review & human judgmentDiagnose & ship a fix for the v4.1.4 – 4.1.5 "Download error" regression
This is the most urgent thread in 2026 reviews. The exact wording "Filament goodness" appears in multiple reports — a single, identifiable failure path. Reproducing on iPhone 16 / iOS 18 builds and pushing a hotfix would likely lift the 2026 average rating measurably.
Treat QR/scanning as a primary reliability surface
32 reviews (more than any other complaint, average 2.16★) cite scanning issues going back to 2019. Consider: a manual "Choose your Bible from a list" fallback flow alongside scanning, persistent Bible selection across sessions, and clearer onboarding for the title-page scan vs. interior-page scan distinction.
Address the "reconnect every open" complaint head-on
A growing 2026 thread suggests Bible selection isn't persisting on newer iOS builds. DJ JazzyS (4★) speculates this is "a push to force users to create an account." Even if it's a bug, the perception is reputational risk. A public release note acknowledging it would help.
Review the v4.1.0 reading-plan reordering
Multiple long-time users (Scott Draper, lilnuttyk, Breezy53PZ) report that the December 2025 redesign broke chronological reading-plan ordering and date tracking. These are the engaged daily users — losing them costs disproportionately.
Evaluate an in-app Bible reading mode
The "no Bible text in the app" limitation comes up repeatedly across years from otherwise enthusiastic users. Many want to read on the go without the physical book. This is a product positioning question (the app is currently a companion, not a standalone reader), and worth a deliberate decision — not a default.
Roadmap consideration: search, highlighting, custom plans
The most-requested features across the dataset: passage/word search (4 explicit mentions, average 2.75★), in-app highlighting and notes (5 mentions), and user-built reading plans (nekoxmimi, Isabella Heredia). Each request has 4★ reviewers behind it — the loyal users asking for more.