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March 19, 2024
4.9.4 Release Notes
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  • Fixed bug deleting Memorize verse notes.
  • Increased the number of words in a note on the Notes screen shown on the iPad before clipping it ...
  • Fixed the bug where closing the modal editing window on a global note inserted it into the current reader screen as a verse note.
  • Expanded the size of the note editing text field for the iPad in the modal note screen.
  • Changed global note clipping in the Advanced Note Screen to put the expansion ellipsis at the end of the first line of a multi-line note instead of simply after a set number of words.
  • Fixed bug saving notes and setting verses for Memorization on iOS 3.x devices.
  • Fixed bug showing messed up Find results from certain Strongs definitions.
  • New Tools:Options setting, Legacy Device, which when turned on solves the problem navigating to some verses on iPhone 3G and older devices where it would only move part way down the verse.  Turning this option off may speed up navigation on newer devices.
  • Fixed bug expanding multiple folder levels in the advanced notes screen.
  • Bold search terms in expanded cross-references from Tap-and-Hold "Find".
  • New Tools:Options setting that removes in-verse line breaks for increasing Tap-and-Hold flexibility for volumes that contain in-verse line breaks.  (You can select whole verses, and you can select single words within a line, but you cannot select a phrase across a line break without selecting the entire verse unless you turn the line breaks off.)
  • Bookmarks added to Dictionary volumes now show up immediately.
  • Global notes that are restored from backup and have quote marks in them will no longer mess up the Advanced Notes Screen.
  • Editing a global note in a subfolder no longer shows the note text as the parent folder instead of the actual parent folder name.
  
What's NEW in 4.9.0
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New features:

  • Added [NOTES] link to BYOSB interface (at the end of the list of commentaries.)

    This allows you to view notes attached to a verse no matter what folder the note is placed inside.

  • Remote Mantis launching via mantis:// URL

    This allows developers of other apps to "link" to Mantis by simply creating a link like this:  mantis://Genesis 1:1-3, or mantis://Genesis 1:1-3 (NKJV).

    In addition, links such as this can be put into a web page.  Clicking on a link such as this in a web page on your device will launch Mantis and open up to the selected verse (in the selected translation if one is provided and that translation is installed on your device.)


  • New notes screen.

    This new notes screen can optionally be toggled off in the Tools, Options page.  The new notes screen allows you to:

    Preview the verse a note is attached to without leaving the notes screen.
    Preview verses referenced inside a global note.
    Tap to open and close folders, so you can see your entire notes folder structure on one page.
    Tap the ... ellipsis to view an entire note.

  • Preview references to passages in deuterocanonical cross reference links (inside notes.)
  • Swiping left/right to change chapters (for iOS version 3.2 or greater.)

Fixes:

  • Right-to-left Hebrew text, with left-to-right strongs definitions and other embedded text that should read left-to-right.
  • Changing bookmark folders no longer loses the current reader location.
  • Fixed the blurred "Loading..." message that appeared after rotating device.
  • Hyphens in MEMORIZE bug fixed.
  • Double tap in the reader screen no longer toggles full screen mode and then opens the strongs number link (or whatever link was under the double-tap.) 
  • Trapping for odd HTML characters in Bookmarks.
  • The phrase "To 40" is no longer getting parsed as a verse link in user notes.
  • Highlighting when there is a colon at the end of a paragraph now works correctly.
  • Changing text size after closing the highlight bar no longer causes a crash.

 


 

 

  
What's NEW in 4.8.3 / 4.8.4
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  • The search bar on the search tab now resizes correctly when rotating the device.
  • iPad - Tapping the Notes icon to insert a note while text is selected for copying in the reader screen no longer causes a crash.
  • iPad - Inline notes now go the full width of the page.
  • Fixed semi-freezing in volumes with longer chapters that contained a verse zero.
  • Fixed scroller triangles not moving correctly when an iPad was started in the PortraitUpsideDown position and rotated to landscape.
  • Now compatible with iPhone OS 4.0.
  • Local server works on iPad.
  • Trying to read (speak) MHCC Mat 1:1 crashes no longer crashes or jumps to the wrong verse.
  • Search NASS for: "angels of *" no longer displays the HTML tags in the verse results.
  • Tapping the pencil to close a note works again.
  • Opening the Info/About window from the volume table in landscape orientation no longer causes the volume table to display sideways when you close the info window.
  • Backup page now rotates.
  • Searches in Spanish volumes, such as RV60, did not display all book names correctly.
  • Fixed disappearing notes where inline note editor was closed by tapping the notes symbol.
  • Fixed bug where, if a chapter contained a note after verse 20 that contained blank lines, the chapter would not display verses beyond verse 20 when navigating with the arrow buttons.
  • iPad rare "Loading Files" loop.  Certain iPads would not install files correctly, leading to a loop where installed files were overwritten on each launch.
  • Fixed: Fast use of scrollers causes the chapter to cut off at verse 20 on older (pre-3GS devices.)
  • Fixed: Bracket text in AMP Bible is not spoken in speech mode.
  • Fixed: Bracket text in AMP Bible is not emailed.
  • Added more empty lines to the end of the chapter if we're on the iPad, so jumping to the last verse of a chapter puts that verse properly at the top of the screen.
  
What's NEW in 4.8.0 - 4.8.2
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  • Full screen iPad Support
    • Mantis 4.8.0 and above is a "universal build" meaning it works on the iPhone, iPod Touch, and the iPad.
  • Bug fixes
    • Auto-scroll problems fixed
    • Display issue in book/chapter/verse chooser screen fixed
    • Crashes when creating Memorize entires when small notes (less than 7 characters) exist
  
What's NEW in 4.7.0
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  • New Advanced Search Screen
    • Search across all installed volumes, or,
    • Select a specific set of volumes to search
    • Filter search by a group of Bible books, or,
    • Select any set of individual Bible books to include in the search
    • Results are displayed in a handy, collapsible tree grouped by:
      • Type of volume (Bibles, Commentaries, Dictionaries, Books)
      • Volume Name (KJV, NKJV, NIV, NASS, etc.)
      • Bible Book
    • Each group gives the total number of search hits found and can be opened or closed
    • Search terms in each hit are highlighted in yellow to make them easy to spot
    • View the entire verse for each search hit -- right in the search screen
    • Full reader functionality in the search results screen
      • Drill-down to Strongs definitions (for Strongs-based Bibles)
      • Tap to display translation notes and preview cross-reference verses, etc.
    • Check off up to 100 search results and tap "Save" to create a folder of bookmarks
    • Easily switch to the older "Basic Search" Screen and back again
  • New "M3 - Mantis Memorization Module"
    • Tap a verse number, then tap "Memorize" to add it to the Memorize List
    • Verses for Memorization appear in the "Memorize" folder in the Notes screen
    • Tap a verse to Memorize from the Memorize folder to review the verse
    • Tap on a word in the verse to hide it or show it again
    • Think you know the verse?  Select a test type and tap the "Test" button
      • The "Scrambled" test will scramble all the words in the verse -- you have to tap on the words in the correct order
      • For the "First Letter" test, you need to type the first letter of each word in the verse
      • Your score will appear at the end of each test
    • Edit a Memorize Verse entry to extend it to multiple verses (such as Ephesians 2:8-9)
  • New Speech Module (requires one or more Mantis Voices, sold separately)
    • Purchase one of 5 Mantis voices through in-app purchase or through the Mantis web site (voices are located in the store under "Media")
    • Tap Tools, then tap the new "Speech" icon on the toolbar
    • Select a voice
    • Press "Play"
    • Mantis will read the current text to you
    • Works with any installed Mantis volumes (Bibles, Commentaries, Dictionaries, Books, etc.)
    • Adjust the volume or the reading speed
    • Printed text follows along automatically one sentence at a time
    • Speech will automatically continue from the end of a chapter to the start of the next
  • Plus many bug fixes

  
What's NEW in 4.6.0
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  • New "boxed" inline display options for Strongs Numbers, User Notes, Text Notes, and BYOSB Links.  This option moves inline text to a separate line and places a box around the text, making it easier to distinguish the new text.
  • New "local server" mode.  Located under Notes, Backup, "Local Server", this option allows you to download your notes to a file on your computer (PC, Mac, Linux, etc.)
    • Turn on the local server
    • Visit the address listed from any web browser in the local network
    • Download and save your notes file
    • Optionally, you can upload a file named Notes.txt, which will restore the notes on your device
    • In addition, you can upload and download any other files, using the application as a way to temporarily store files on your device (NOTE: Mantis provides no warranty for data loss if you use this feature.)
  • In-app purchases are now updated individually when you view them
  • New optional search results screen (Tools, Options, Search Tree View)
  • More bug fixes

 

  
What's NEW in 4.5.0
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  • Update to In-App-Purchase:  Apple now allows for In-App-Purchase for free apps, so this capablity should now work with all versions of Mantis.
  • Fixed startup delay.
  • Fixed highlighting bug.
  • Many other bug fixes.
  
What's NEW in 4.4.0
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    • "In App Purchase" - tap to purchase any of over 140 resources from the Apple App Store and download immediately. (This feature is only available in paid versions of Mantis, it will not work in the free version of Mantis as Apple does not allow in app purchases from free apps.)
    • Badges appear in the bookshelf showing you how many un-downloaded books you have available.
    • Ask for Overwrite or Merge when restoring from backup. This should allow you to merge existing notes with notes from your backup.
    • Many bug fixes and performance enhancments.
What's NEW in 4.3.0
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  • BYOSB - Build Your Own Study Bible (See below)
  • Automatic scrolling
  • Inline verse menus
  • Inline translation comparison
  • Inline commentary display
  • Copy/paste now enabled on main reader screen
  • Includes 5 different Bible Reading Plans
  • Includes optional night reading color scheme
  • New icons and graphics
  • Bug fixes and speed improvements
  • Highlighting is much improved -- no more screen redraws during highlighting.
  • Color set example view.
  • Analyze verse speed improvements
  • Removed ability to swipe left/right to change chapters in order to allow for copy/paste in the main reader screen.
  • If a commentary entry is not found for the current verse, we offer the previous and next commentary entry instead.

BYOSB - Build Your Own Study Bible

This is a huge new feature. Alternate translations and commentaries appear as links in the current verse when you tap the verse number. Then you can tap these links to display these alternate translations or commentaries right inline in the main reader screen.

Imagine...you're reading the NIV, but you like to drill down to look at strongs number detail in the CWS. Just tap the verse number, tap [CWS], and you have the current verse in the CWS right inline. Tap on words to open the strongs numbers and drill down just like you normally would in the CWS.

Now you want to read the MacArthur Study Notes, and maybe the IVP Background Commentary for this verse. Just tap [MAC] then tap [IVP]. Tap the verse number again to close everything and return to the verse.

It's way cool.

It's also pretty flexible. You can select which of your installed translations will show up and which of your commentaries will show up. You can decide to place translation links at the beginning or the end of the regular verse text, and the commentary links can also be placed at either the beginning or the end.

  
What's NEW in 4.2.0
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Optional Inline Notes - Notes can be created and edited in the main reader screen

User Definable Color Sets

Email a verse with attached notes

Selectively enable and disable corner scrollers

Shake device to reset and close all open toggles (notes, strongs definitions, etc.)

Added Backup and Restore of Settings (backs up and restores user definable color sets)

Toggle translation note asterisks on and off from the toolbar

Added bookmark and note folder sort options

Translation notes are now active in Analyze Verse mode

Fixed alternate strongs dictionary lookups for NASS strongs numbers ending in "a" or "b"

Support for maps and other graphic elements that can be viewed full-screen, zoomed, and scolled.

Many small bug fixes

 

 

What's NEW in 4.1.0
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Fixed memory leaks making program much more stable and less prone to crashing

History is now logged when using scrollers, also logs where you were when you navigated away if you scrolled from verse 1 down to verse 42 for example

Limiting initial bookmark and note table loading to 20 -- this dramatically increases the response time for users who have hundreds of notes or bookmarks in a folder

Speed improved when switching volumes

New optional startup animation

JUMP links inside verse previews now brings up a menu with new options

Allow notes not attached to a verse (global notes)

Alternate background colors for nested strongs numbers, better colors for links inside strongs definitions

Modifications for Complete Word Study Bible features to handle grammar, grammar notes, and lexical helps

Plus dozens of other bug fixes and speed improvements

What's NEW in 4.0.0
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Landscape (sideways) orientation implemented throughout (and added configurable option to turn off rotation)

Searching speed increased by an order of magnitude

Saving search results to a folder of bookmarks speed increased substantially and now includes activity indicator

Personal notes are now automatically marked up with scripture cross-reference links (this is highly intelligent and will recognize hundreds of different notation systems, such as Genesis 1:1, Gen 1:1-2, Gn 1:1-2, Jude 4, etc.)

New Book Scroller (tap and hold in the bottom left corner and drag up to choose a book)

New Volume Scroller (tap and hold in the bottom right and drag up to choose from among installed Bibles, commentaries, dictionaries, and other books)

Added ability to delete individual history items

New History Options - Local or Global (allows you to view and access history items across multiple volumes)

Dramatic speed improvements in highlighting -- no more "saving highlights" messages

In-place editing of notes from the notes list.

Dramatic speed increase in Strongs Number [Find] option

Change blue words in Strongs "Words Mode" to underlines -- this solves the problem with red words that have Strongs Numbers, and is also less distracting while reading

Turned off Strongs Numbers while in highlight mode

Marked extra Strongs words with [+] in order to give a little extra room to click

Fix for nested Strongs Numbers (once again allowing you to drill down to the root word)

Optimization of settings screen so it closes faster

Fixes to navigation -- returns to exact scroll position when possible, also returns to the exact last verse whenever possible

Fix to remove stray markup formatting from verse previews containing red lettering

Fixed search screen resets caused by low memory warnings

Only show >>NOTE link in cross references where appropriate (inside commentaries)

Entering a scripture reference in search box now takes you directly to that location.

New Options Toolbar for quick access to: Highlighting, toggling Strongs Numbers, Daily Reading Plan, Help

Daily Reading Plan Feature:  one reading plan included, others available as an optional free download.  Program tracks which passages have been read and offers an option to open the plan to the current day's reading or to the last unread passage.

Swipe left and right to change chapters.

Double-tap the screen to toggle full-screen mode.

New tutorial tips for new users (with an option to turn them off under Tools, Options).

Set default font to 15 point.

Got rid of "Notes" header in note editing screen, making the note edit area bigger.

Alternate Strongs Integration -- any volume installed that's based on Strongs Numbers will show up as a link in the strongs definition.  This integrates Brown-Driver-Briggs', Thayer's Greek Definitions, and King James Concordance with the King James w/Strongs or NASB w/Strongs volumes.

New "Analyze Verse" system: compare translations, view commentary, define words, and view/edit your personal notes.  This integrates all installed Bible translations, all installed commentaries, and all installed dictionaries into one convenient place.

New icon.

Selective restore now allows you to restore from your backup any one of:  Bookmarks, Notes, Highlights, Reading Log, or all.

Search results that have been visited are now marked with a checkmark.

Added back button to chapter and verse chooser screens.

Fixed bug in sorting of bookmarks

Program now remembers and reopens the last set bookmark folder.

Fixes to download status code -- we now show [NOTES] and [STRONGS] when those files are downloaded, all downloading information appears at the top of the table.

Many other minor cosmetic fixes and bug fixes

What's NEW in 3.1.0
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Faster (background) loading of chapters (significantly speeds up longer chapters)

For me, this is most noticable in Psalm 119 in a translation with strongs numbers turned on.  What used to take up to 5 or 6 seconds is now a second or less.

Show/hide links in Analyze Verse are now "sticky", allowing a default custom analysis screen

A couple of you pointed out that, while the new Analyze Verse screen is handy, you have to tap "Show" each time you go there for the translations or commentary you want to view.  How handy would it be if you could just toggle on the items you wanted and they stayed that way?  And how about if they stayed that way even after you restart the program?  Done.

New: Strongs Number [FIND], summary and detail drill-down
   Example:  tap a Strongs Number to get its definition,
   Tap [FIND] to see how many times that number is used in each book,
   Tap Gen to see links to all the verses in Genesis where that number is found,
   Tap individual verses to view the text of each verse

This, to me, is the most exciting feature I think we've ever added.  In order to get a good sense of what a word means (I mean a Greek or Hebrew word) you should look at how that word is used elsewhere in Scripture.  That can be a tedious process.  Not many people know that, since Mantis 2.0, you can search for a strongs number by typing it in the search screen (such as H1234 or G456).  That's great, but still not good enough.

So, we've added inline strongs searching.  Fair warning -- this first release is on the slow side.   You'll tap the [FIND] button and think it's not working (but it is!)   Seconds later, you'll see some results like this:

Gen (3), Exo (1), Lev (12), Ruth (4)

Those results show how many times the strongs number is found in each book.  Tap a book name to get cross-reference links from that book.  This all happens inline.  Tap the reference that shows up to view the verse text.  As usual, with each cross reference, there's a link to jump there.  And also, as always, tapping again toggles an item off, so if you tap a verse, and it's not relevant, just tap it again to close it.  Or tap a book name again to close the references for that book. [NOTE: In the 4.0.0 release, we have addressed the speed issue, and this feature is nearly instantaneous.]

This feature either means absolutely nothing to you, or you're as excited about it as I am.

New Settings Options:
   Display Strongs Numbers as:
      Numbers (the current method)
      Hyper-linked words (easier to read)
      Or turn them off

By popular demand, we're offering two ways to view strongs numbers now:

ThisH123 is the firstH456 wayH789.
This is the second way.
The new "display as hyper-linked words" option makes things much more readable.  Words that can be tapped are in blue (just like the verse numbers.)  You can also turn off strongs numbers completely as before. [NOTE:  red-letter words cause a problem in this version, so in 4.0.0, click-able words will be displayed as underlined words instead of in blue.]

To get the new "display as hyper-linked words" option, you will need to download an updated version of the NASS or KJVS text that supports this option.  (Just go to the bookshelf and swipe your finger over the NASS or KJVS entry, delete it, and download it again to get the updated version.)

   Turn triangle guides (scroller guides) off

Some of you found the new triangle guides in the reader screen distracting.  You can now turn them off.  Turning them off does NOT turn off the chapter and verse quick-scrollers, so you can still tap and drag down in the top left and top right of the reader screen.

   Sort bookmarks by book (scripture order) or date (date entered)
   Sort notes by book (scripture order) or date (date entered)
 
You can now sort bookmarks and notes by date & time entered (in reverse chronological order, so your latest bookmark or note will always be on top.)