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Faith apps (Bible reading, prayer, Quran, daily verse widgets): supply exploded in 2026, and most indie devs are declining. The ones that worked are influencer-driven paid acquisition and switching platforms (iMessage).
Narrowing Inspirational (leans negative) · already crowded; the thing worth borrowing is the format shift First seen 2026-11-02 · last updated 2026-11-08
- Status
- Narrowing
- Why this is written up
- In the first half of 2026, "faith + widgets / short video / AI" was treated as a blue ocean, and a flood of templated apps rushed in. In the second half, indie developers' revenue broadly fell. What still gains traction is either big companies using influencer-driven paid acquisition (BibleScroll is backed by a screen-time company, and "reading the Bible instead of doomscrolling" fits its core business), or apps that switched formats.
- Confidence
- Medium. Indie only covers products with public revenue; BibleScroll's real revenue is unknown. What would overturn this: similar indie apps turning positive in November overall, or BibleScroll entering the US top grossing overall chart top 200.
Evidence
Grouped by store. Each group starts with the charts that can be graphed (real curves, data dates below the chart), then the scanner's original notes and source links.
Qualifying list 2 pieces of evidence · 2 products with curves
BibleScroll Screen Detox Inc
Google Play · Launched 2026-09-12 · 11-07 installs 33,754
Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-07 (10 days, 10 observations). Google's detail page only refreshes install counts every other day, so a flat day doesn't mean nobody installed.
Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-07 (10 days, 10 observations)
Holy Minutes: Bible Scrolling System Two GmbH
Google Play · Launched 2026-10-06 · 11-07 installs 14,977
Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-07 (10 days, 10 observations). Google's detail page only refreshes install counts every other day, so a flat day doesn't mean nobody installed.
Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-07 (10 days, 10 observations)
- Qualifying list (2026-11-02): BibleScroll (Screen Detox Inc, the company behind the screen-time app BePresent; GP com.bepresent.biblescroll, launched 51 days ago) debuted on the GP Philippines top grossing overall chart at #170, with rating up +1,183 that day. Same-day similar apps on the watch list include Holy Minutes: Bible Scrolling, Bible Shorts, Loucio, Qaf: Islamic AI, and Elif: Prayer Times.
- Cleared the bar (11-02): Qaf (first cleared 10-30), Bible Shorts (first cleared 11-01), Holy Minutes: Bible Scrolling (com.holyminutes.holyminutes, System Two GmbH, the same company behind Chorefriend, see [025]), tracked in the "Faith / Religion" cluster.
Meta Ad Library 1 evidence items · 1 products with curves
Charles Winston bepresentapp.sng.link
Meta Ad Library · running 328 ads · earliest seen running from 2026-04-02
Data 2026-11-02 → 2026-11-08 (7 days, 3 observations). Meta Ad Library tracking started 11-01; an advertiser is tracked about every 2–3 days.
- Meta Ad Library (11-02): the Page running ads for BibleScroll, "Charles Winston" (3,087 likes), has 303 live ads, the earliest seen starting 2026-04-02. 86% are creator-paid (branded content), 90% are video, averaging 4.7 versions per creative. Copy: "Replace scrolling with the Bible — I always felt so GUILTY scrolling…", landing on the App Store, GP and sng.link short links.
App Store3 evidence items · 8 products with curves
BibleWatch - Watch the Bible I.M. INFLUENCE MEDIA LTD
App Store · launched 2026-05-06 · US store rating 14,737 · charted in 11-08 of 5 stores
US storeGYSK
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Lower rank is higher; gaps mean it wasn't charted that day
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Apple doesn't publish download counts; rating growth is a proxy for downloads.
Bible Shorts: Watch & Study Menglan Liu
App Store · Launched 2026-07-30 · US rating 4,179 · 11-08 best overall Top Free rank #20 (BM) · Charted in 11-08 106 stores
US storeBMKY
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Lower rank is higher; gaps mean it wasn't charted that day
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations)
Sacred Shorts: Bible Videos Ian Marco Rodriguez
App Store · launched 2026-02-27 · US store rating 9,397 · charted in 11-08 of 67 stores
Sri Lanka #156
Data day 2026-11-07, only 1 days so far. Lower rank is higher; gaps are days it wasn't charted
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Best rank across each day's category charts
وقف | Wagiff EXPERIMENT COMMAND CORPORATION FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
App Store · launched 2026-06-16 · Saudi rating 2,279 · 11-08 · charted in 12 stores
Saudi ArabiaKuwaitYE
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-01 (5 days, 5 observations). Lower rank is higher; gaps mean it wasn't charted that day
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-01 (5 days, 5 observations)
Qaf: Islamic AI Qaf, LLC
App Store · launched 2026-05-19 · US rating 824 · best Top Free overall rank #153 (YE) · 11-08 · charted in 60 stores, 11-08
YEJOSaudi Arabia
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 11 observations). Lower rank is higher; gaps mean it wasn't charted that day
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Best rank across each day's category charts
Quitli - Frei von P*rnos Jaron Marec Braun
App Store · launched 2025-10-06 · German rating 2,270 · 11-08 · charted in 4 stores
GermanySwitzerlandAustria
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Lower rank is higher; gaps mean it wasn't charted that day
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Apple doesn't publish download counts; rating growth is a proxy for downloads.
Prayz: Praying Helper Kenny Ahmad
App Store · debuted 2026-07-15 · France ratings 903 · 11-08 charted in 5 stores
MG #190
Data day 2026-11-03, only 1 days so far. Lower rank is higher; gaps are days it wasn't charted
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Apple doesn't publish download counts; rating growth is a proxy for downloads.
FaithLocked: Biblia y Bloqueo Victor Cristobal Gonzalez Martin
App Store · debuted 2026-05-28 · Mexico ratings 1,193 · 11-08 charted in 13 stores
HNVEArgentina
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Lower rank is higher; gaps mean it wasn't charted that day
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 11 observations). Apple doesn't publish download counts; rating growth is a proxy for downloads.
- App Store (all stores, 11-02): faith apps first released in 2026 with ratings ≥50, at least 25 of them. FivePrayer (launched February) has 40,653 ratings; Quran Widgets has 19,744, best Top Grossing rank #118 in one store; BibleWatch has 14,581; Sacred Shorts has 9,069 (Top Grossing in us, gb, ca, au ranked 51–60); BibleScroll has 8,598 (au category Top Grossing #10, gb #11, ng overall Top Grossing #109); Bible Shorts (launched 7-30, Chinese indie dev) charted in 107 stores.
- App Store (11-02, sub-opportunity A: AI-generated Bible short videos): BibleWatch (6761736440, Morfosis) us Books Top Grossing #26 (report #24), 14,581 ratings; Bible Shorts (6795921981, Chinese indie dev, launched 7-30) us Reference Top Grossing #17 (report #15), ph #5, ng #6, au #34, gb #44, br #92, us 3,733 ratings (11-01 3,671); Sacred Shorts (6759298323, individual) is the only Portuguese and Spanish version, br Reference Top Grossing #22 (2,181 ratings), mx #22 (1,673). Report: Portuguese, Tagalog and Spanish have only one player, Sacred Shorts, and it's not in the top 15.
- App Store (sa, 11-02, sub-opportunity B: faith self-discipline / addiction recovery in non-English markets): وقف / Wagiff (launched 6779910923,6-16) sa Health & Fitness Top Grossing #5 (11-01 #3, overall Top Grossing #195 that day, dropped out today), 2,098 ratings; Qaf: Islamic AI (6767689775) sa Reference Top Grossing #3 (11-01 #2), id #32 (11-01 #8), sa 1,949 ratings. Each language market has a small winner, none cross-language: German Quitli (6752649300) de 2,183 ratings, French Prayz (6787419581) fr Lifestyle Top Grossing #78, Spanish FaithLocked (6764309082) mx Reference Top Grossing #120.
Google Play3 evidence items · 2 products with curves
Qaf: Islamic AI Qaf, LLC
Google Play · Launched 2026-05-19 · 11-07 installs 223,800
Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-07 (10 days, 10 observations). Google's detail page only refreshes install counts every other day, so a flat day doesn't mean nobody installed.
Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-07 (10 days, 10 observations)
Quran Widgets: Verses & Duas Cloud Game Studios
Google Play · Launched 2026-09-30 · 11-07 installs 72,083
Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-07 (10 days, 10 observations). Google's detail page only refreshes install counts every other day, so a flat day doesn't mean nobody installed.
Data 2026-11-03 → 2026-11-07 (5 days, 5 observations)
- GP: among Bible-reading apps first released in 2026, Daily Bible: Widgets & Prayer has 733,126 installs and Lumina 362,008; but none of the top 12 have charted.
- Google Play (11-02, sub-opportunity A): the report said there were "none at all" of the AI Bible short-video apps on Play. Today I found Sacred Shorts: Bible Videos (com.boilerapp, developer Alice Tech LLC, on Play since 3-08) with 10,060 installs, best us Books & Reference Top Grossing #76. Bible Shorts and BibleWatch are still not on Play. It's "nearly empty," not totally empty; the consumer audiences (ph, ng, br, id) are on Android.
- Google Play (11-02, sub-opportunity B): Qaf app.qaf.ai 200,955 installs (report 189,682), 15,473 ratings; Wagiff app.wagiff 145,638 installs, 16,111 ratings; neither is on any top chart. Downloads are on Android, payments on iOS. Quran Widgets (com.cloudstudios.quranwidgets) tr Lifestyle Top Grossing #10 (since 10-29 steadily #10–11), gb #42.
Indie product revenue (TrustMRR)1 evidence · 8 products with curves
TrustMRR · 30-day revenue $6,831 (+2%) · MRR $9,166 · 2,318 subscriptions
2026-02 → 2026-11 (10 pts). Light bars = current month, not yet complete
Data 2026-09-29 → 2026-11-06 (39 days, 39 observations). Single-day swings are big, so look at the trend in the monthly breakdown above.
TrustMRR · 30-day revenue $4,395 (-6%) · MRR $1,726 · 399 subscriptions
2026-03 → 2026-11 (9 pts). Light bars = current month, not yet complete
Data 2026-09-29 → 2026-10-31 (33 days, 33 observations). Single-day swings are big, so look at the trend in the monthly breakdown above.
flint walkwithflint.com
TrustMRR · 30-day revenue $2,682 (-36%) · MRR $1,454 · 133 subscriptions
2026-07 → 2026-11 (5 pts). Light bars = current month, not yet complete
Data 2026-09-29 → 2026-11-06 (39 days, 39 observations). Single-day swings are big, so look at the trend in the monthly breakdown above.
TrustMRR · 30-day revenue $1,124 (-39%) · MRR $1,216
2026-06 → 2026-11 (6 pts). Light bars = current month, not yet complete
Data 2026-09-29 → 2026-11-06 (39 days, 39 observations). Single-day swings are big, so look at the trend in the monthly breakdown above.
TrustMRR · 30-day revenue $811 (-20%) · MRR $1,473 · 236 subscriptions
2025-11 → 2026-11 (13 pts). Light bars = current month, not yet complete
Data 2026-09-29 → 2026-11-06 (39 days, 39 observations). Single-day swings are big, so look at the trend in the monthly breakdown above.
TrustMRR · 30-day revenue $681 (-37%) · MRR $1,244 · 467 subscriptions
2026-01 → 2026-11 (11 pts). Light bars = current month, not yet complete
Data 2026-09-29 → 2026-11-06 (39 days, 39 observations). Single-day swings are big, so look at the trend in the monthly breakdown above.
TrustMRR · 30-day revenue $583 (-30%) · MRR $250 · 150 subscriptions
2026-01 → 2026-11 (11 pts). Light bars = current month, not yet complete
Data 2026-09-29 → 2026-11-06 (39 days, 39 observations). Single-day swings are big, so look at the trend in the monthly breakdown above.
TrustMRR · 30-day revenue $190 (-46%) · MRR $584 · 269 subscriptions
2025-12 → 2026-11 (12 pts). Light bars = current month, not yet complete
Data 2026-09-29 → 2026-11-06 (39 days, 39 observations). Single-day swings are big, so look at the trend in the monthly breakdown above.
- Indies (revenue verified by payment platforms, 30 days, as of 10-31), almost all declining: DivineTV (Christian streaming) $6,080 (−20%), Divine Widgets $4,395 (−6.5%), Flint (faith companionship inside iMessage, walkwithflint.com) $3,435 (−0.3%), Catholic daily widgets $1,529 (−18%), Nuraly (Muslim) $1,274 (−34.5%), Mathani $841 (−17%), DivineTalk $771 (−26%), FaithWall $549 (−40%), Quran Unlock $218 (−48%).
For-sale listings2 evidence items
- For sale: a Turkish Islamic prayer app (Acquire, 27 months) with TTM revenue $218k and profit $44k, asking $200k; an Indian "Bible AI Stories" app on Flippa sold at auction for only $550.
- For sale (Acquire 0623j8nkpq, listed since 11-01, 11-02 unchanged): a Saudi anti-lust / addiction-recovery app, founded 2026-06, last month revenue $21,700, profit $19,400, TTM $44,800, asking $360,000. Founding month, country and "first in the Middle East niche" all match Wagiff, so likely the same product; if so, sa Health & Fitness top 5 ≈ $20k/month.
Already being built (11-02 backfill)
Sub-opportunity A: BibleWatch, Bible Shorts, Sacred Shorts (incl. the Play version com.boilerapp); sub-opportunity B: Wagiff, Qaf, Quitli, Prayz, FaithLocked; Holy Minutes (System Two GmbH).
Still-open opportunities (inferred, not verified)
- Change the carrier: Flint put faith companionship into iMessage, revenue roughly flat, and the smallest decline in this group. Faith companionship on iMessage, WhatsApp, or Apple Watch is worth testing.
- Non-English: Catholic / evangelical audiences in Portuguese and Spanish; Bible Shorts ranks #7 in Brazil's free Reference category.
The hardest step
Distribution. Heavily commoditized; without paid acquisition or creator channels it won't take off.
Who it's for
People who already have a faith community channel or creator resources; solo indie devs building just an app shouldn't go in.
Should every product builder know this?
No, but the pattern of "blue ocean in the first half of 2026, cooling in the second half" is worth knowing for anyone building consumer apps.
Change log
2026-11-08
BibleScroll ad Page running 314 → 328; BePresent still adding. Unchanged.
2026-11-07
BibleScroll GP 7-day +31,960 (cumulative 33,754, 4,088 a week ago), same-day rating +1,855; Meta Page 314. BePresent's paid acquisition is still scaling. No change.
2026-11-06
BibleScroll GP same-day rating 1,521 → 2,439, still accelerating. Three-platform comparison (googleads channels): BibleScroll runs 4 ads on Google, 534 ads across 3 Meta Pages, TikTok Europe 0. The main battlefield is Meta creator-paid ads. Loucio (French Catholic) runs 16 ads on Google; Bible Shorts, Bibleforwomen, Oremus are "checked, not running" on Google, and the last two run 130–140 ads each on Meta. Indies: Flint −32.8%. Conclusion unchanged.
2026-11-05
BibleScroll: GP 7-day +17,829 (only 4,088 4 days ago), ph Top Grossing overall 170→128; same-day rating +1,521; Meta Page live ads 303→314. BePresent's large-company paid acquisition is working. New to the list: Sabr.Ai (prayer times + habit tracking, de two-day rating +54). Indies: DivineTV −11.9%, Flint −24.4%. Conclusion unchanged: the ones that work rely on paid acquisition, and indie devs are declining.
2026-11-04
Meta (11-01 → 11-03): Bible Offline live ads 1,250 → 1,091 (−13%); BibleScroll's Page wasn't rechecked today. Indies: DivineTV −16.4%, Flint −15.3% (last time −9.1%, the decline is widening). The faith cluster on the bar list has 5 today (Holy Minutes added), no new ones cleared. Status unchanged.
2026-11-03
The faith cluster on the bar list has 4 (Qaf, Bible Shorts, Loucio, BibleScroll's ad Page). BibleScroll GP 11-02 one day +15,535 installs (4,088→19,623), us category free #10; Meta live ad count wasn't captured today (tracking runs every 2–3 days). Indies: DivineTV −21%, Flint −9.1%, Nuraly −32.5%, the decline continues. Status unchanged (narrowing).
2026-11-02
Backfill (from App Store New Opportunities §1.4, Google Play New Opportunities §1.9, For Sale §2.1): the report says two sub-areas in faith are still open: A. non-English versions of AI-generated Bible short videos (only Sacred Shorts in Portuguese, Tagalog and Spanish) and the Play version; B. faith + self-discipline / addiction recovery in non-English markets (one small winner per language, none cross-language; the Saudi inference = Wagiff's listing gives an anchor of $20k/month). Today's check: A already has one player on Play, Sacred Shorts (10k installs), so not empty; B's Wagiff and Qaf rankings are steady in the top 5 of Saudi categories. These two sub-areas don't contradict this entry's "overall narrowing, leaning negative". Status line not changed; whether to rewrite it as "narrowing (English saturated; non-English self-discipline and non-English AI short videos still open)" is left to the scanner. Play approach: [019]. The Saudi listing is noted separately: 220,100 downloads, 4.6★; Wagiff is also a sample of [067] "English-validated category translated into Arabic" (from the For Sale report).
2026-11-02
First logged (second scan, from the qualifying list).
Original: Scanner opportunity library #016 (updated daily, 06:00); this page was generated on the 2026-11-08 edition.