On This Page
Welcome
Welcome to rfrmd.com. This is a free Bible reading tool built for anyone who wants to read Scripture, follow a daily plan, pray through the Psalms, or dig into theology. There is no account to create, nothing to buy, and nothing to sign up for. Just open the site and start reading.
Most of what you do here stays on your device. Your notes, reading history, settings, and progress are stored locally in your browser by default. If you choose to use notes sync or notes sharing, the relevant notes data is sent to the server for those features. The site also works offline, so once you have visited it, you can keep reading even without an internet connection.
Getting Around
When you open rfrmd.com, you will see a slim bar across the top of the screen. Think of this as the top bar. It shows the page, chapter, or reading you are on, and it keeps the main controls close at hand.
The Flyout Tabs
To open the main menu, tap the three-dot menu button on the right side of the top bar. A panel will slide out from the side. At the top of this panel you will see tabs such as Bible, Notes, and Site. There is also a small gear icon there for settings.
The Bible tab is where you pick which book and chapter to read. You will see the Old Testament and New Testament listed out. Tap a book to see its chapters, then tap a chapter number to open it. There is also a search bar at the top if you want to jump straight to a book by name.
The Notes tab shows any notes you have written for the chapter you are currently reading. You can edit, delete, share, or receive notes from here.
The Site tab is your navigation menu. It lists the main pages available: Bible Reader, Daily Reading, Prayer Guide, Library, Welcome, Theo Links, How to Use, About, and Terms of Service. Tap any of them and the page will load in your reading panel without leaving the app.
The gear icon inside that menu opens your settings, which we will cover further down.
The Library Icon
On pages where the library shortcut is shown, you will also see a small bookshelf icon in the top bar. Tap it to open the Library directly in your reading panel. The Library is a collection of articles and studies on theology and the Christian life, and it has its own search feature so you can find what you are looking for quickly.
The Help Button
Look for a small ? icon in the top bar. Tapping it will bring up a quick overview of the main features. It is a handy reminder if you forget where something is.
The Bible Reader
The Bible Reader is the heart of rfrmd.com. It displays one chapter at a time in a clean, readable layout. Each verse is numbered so you can follow along easily.
If you want a fuller walkthrough of the Reader itself, especially split panes, verse study, notes flow, and reference chasing, see the Using the Bible Reader guide. This page gives the broader site overview, while that guide focuses on the Reader in detail.
Choosing a Chapter
Tap the three-dot menu button to open the side menu, make sure you are on the Bible tab, and pick your book and chapter. You can also use the search bar at the top of the Bible tab to type a book name and jump there directly.
Navigating Between Chapters
Once you are reading a chapter, you can move forward or backward using the arrow buttons that appear at the bottom of the text. Tap the right arrow to go to the next chapter, or the left arrow to go to the previous one. You can read through an entire book this way without ever opening the flyout again.
Clicking a Verse
Tap any verse number to open its study actions. The top bar will keep showing where you are, which makes it easy to stay oriented as you move around the chapter.
Bible Translations
rfrmd.com comes with five offline translations: the King James Version (KJV), American Standard Version (ASV), Berean Standard Bible (BSB), World English Bible (WEB), and NET Bible (NET). All five work completely offline with no internet needed. The English Standard Version (ESV) is available too, but it is an online-first translation served through the app's Crossway proxy rather than from the offline bundle on your device. See the ESV and Reader Accounts section below for details.
You can switch translations anytime in your Settings.
Taking Notes
One of the most useful features on rfrmd.com is the ability to write notes as you read. You can attach a note to an entire chapter, or to a specific verse.
Chapter Notes
To write a note about the whole chapter, open the flyout and tap the Notes tab. You will see a space to write or edit a chapter-level note. This is a great place to jot down themes, outlines, or observations as you study.
Verse Notes
To write a note about a specific verse, tap on the verse number in the reading panel. A note area will appear where you can write your thoughts about that particular verse. Your note is saved automatically.
Building Outlines
A lot of people use the chapter notes to build study outlines. For example, if you are working through Romans, you might write a short outline for each chapter as you go, summarizing the main argument and key verses. Over time, you build up a personal commentary that helps you remember what each chapter is about. You can chain these together by reading one chapter after the other, adding to your outlines as you go. By the time you finish a book, you have a complete set of notes that you can review, share with your small group, or come back to later.
Sharing Notes
Once you have written notes for a chapter, you can share them with others. This is especially useful if you are leading a Bible study or small group and want to send your notes to the people in your group.
Sending Notes
Open the flyout, go to the Notes tab, and tap Share. The site will generate a short code (like a six-character word) that you can give to anyone. They enter that code on their copy of rfrmd.com and your notes appear on their device. The code expires after a set period, so there is no worry about old notes floating around forever.
Receiving Notes
If someone gives you a share code, open the flyout, go to the Notes tab, and tap Receive. Type in the code and the shared notes will load onto your device. It is that simple.
What Gets Shared
When you share, only the notes for the current chapter are sent. Your personal settings, reading history, and notes on other chapters are never included. The note content is reviewed by an automated moderation system to keep shared content appropriate. If something is flagged, you will have the option to submit an appeal.
Daily Reading Plan
The Daily Reading page follows the M'Cheyne Bible Reading Plan, a classic plan designed by Robert Murray M'Cheyne in the 1800s. It takes you through the entire Bible in one year, with the New Testament and Psalms read twice.
Each day shows four Scripture readings. Tap any of the readings to open that passage directly in the Bible Reader. As you complete readings, they are marked off so you can track your progress. The plan follows the calendar year, but do not worry if you fall behind or start mid-year. All of God's Word is worth reading; just pick up wherever today's date lands and keep going.
Your reading history and streaks are saved automatically on your device.
Psalm Prayer Guide
The Prayer Guide walks you through the Psalms as a framework for prayer. Each day corresponds to a group of Psalms, and the guide breaks them down into themes you can pray through: praise, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, and so on.
This is not meant to replace your own prayers. Think of it as a starting point, a way to let Scripture shape the words you bring before God. The Psalms have been the prayer book of the Church for thousands of years, and this tool simply helps you follow that tradition.
Tap the three-dot menu button, go to the Site tab, and choose Prayer Guide to get started.
The Library
The Library is a collection of articles and studies on topics in theology: the doctrines of grace, covenant theology, the sacraments, church history, and more. These are written to be accessible without watering things down.
Opening the Library
Tap the bookshelf icon in the top bar. The Library will open in your reading panel with all the articles organized by category.
Searching
At the top of the Library you will see a search box. Start typing a word or topic and the articles will filter in real time. Only articles that match your search will be shown, and the number of matches is displayed next to the search box.
Navigating Search Results
When you have search results, a small navigation bar appears below the search box showing which result you are on (for example, "1 of 5") with arrow buttons to jump to the next or previous match. You can also press Enter to move to the next result, or Shift+Enter to go back. This makes it easy to hop through several articles on the same topic.
Reading an Article
Tap any article card to open it. The article loads right in your reading panel. If you came from a search, you will see a small bar at the top of the article with a few options: a Library button to go back (your search will still be there), an Open button to open the article in a new tab for printing or sharing, and arrow buttons to move to the next or previous article in your search results without going back to the list.
On wider screens (like a tablet or computer), the Library will display articles in a two-column grid so you can see more at a glance.
Split View and the Bible Reader
The Bible Reader can open a second panel when you follow a reference, inspect notes, or compare passages. This lets you keep one passage or page open above while opening related material below. Each pane keeps its own translation, chapter navigation, and scroll position.
Quick lookup pills at the bottom of the screen let you hop between recent chapters without losing your place. Highlights persist per chapter and per translation. Notes support lightweight markdown for headers, bold, italic, strikethrough, and underline.
For a full walkthrough of the split-panel reader, including tips for parallel reading and cross-reference study, see the Using the Bible Reader guide.
Settings
Tap the three-dot menu button to open the side menu, then tap the gear icon to see your settings. Here is what you can adjust:
Bible Translation: Choose between KJV, ASV, BSB, WEB, NET, or ESV. ESV needs an internet connection, but it does not require a separate ESV-only registration step just to read.
Font Size: Make the reading text larger or smaller to suit your eyes.
Default Page: Choose which page loads when you first open the site. You can set it to the Bible Reader, Daily Reading, Prayer Guide, or Library, whichever you use most.
Theme: Switch between light and dark mode, or let the site follow your device's system setting.
Notes Backup: Export all your notes as a JSON file that you can save on your computer or phone. If you ever need to move to a new device or just want a backup, this is how you do it. You can also import a previously exported file to restore your notes.
Installing on Your Device
rfrmd.com is built as what is called a Progressive Web App. That is a fancy way of saying you can install it on your phone or computer and it will look and feel like a regular app, with its own icon on your home screen and everything. No app store required.
On an iPhone or iPad
Open rfrmd.com in Safari. Tap the share button (the square with the arrow pointing up), then scroll down and tap Add to Home Screen. Give it a name if you like, then tap Add. You will now have an icon on your home screen that opens the site like an app.
On Android
Open rfrmd.com in Chrome. You should see a banner at the bottom or a prompt asking if you want to install the app. Tap Install. If you do not see the banner, tap the three-dot menu in the top right corner and choose Install app or Add to Home screen.
On a Computer
Open rfrmd.com in Chrome or Edge. Look for a small install icon in the address bar (it usually looks like a monitor with a down arrow). Click it and confirm. The site will install as a standalone window on your computer, separate from your browser.
Once installed, the site loads instantly and works offline. It updates itself quietly in the background whenever you are connected to the internet.
Working Offline
One of the best things about rfrmd.com is that it works without the internet. The first time you visit, the site saves itself to your device automatically. After that, you can open it anytime, even on an airplane, in a remote area, or anywhere you do not have a signal.
The KJV, ASV, BSB, WEB, and NET translations are fully offline. Every chapter is cached on your device, so you can read the entire Bible without a connection. The ESV is different: it is requested through the app API, which holds the Crossway key server-side and may reuse recently requested chapters through bounded caching, but ESV should still be treated as an online-first translation rather than a guaranteed offline one.
Your notes, settings, reading history, and streaks all work offline too, since they are stored on your device.
When the site updates (new articles, bug fixes, or features), the update will download automatically the next time you are online. You may see a small notification letting you know a new version is available.
ESV and Reader Accounts
The English Standard Version is available on rfrmd.com, but because it is a copyrighted translation, the text is served through Crossway through the app's server-side API rather than being bundled as an offline Bible text on your device.
You do not need a special ESV registration step just to read it. Reader accounts are now used for sync and shared-note features. If you create an account, you enter an email address and a passphrase so your notes, highlights, library favorites, shared-note permissions, and daily reading progress can follow you across devices.
If you prefer not to create an account, the KJV, ASV, BSB, WEB, and NET are always available without any personal information needed, and ESV can still be read while you are online.
Privacy
Your privacy matters. Here is exactly what happens with your data on rfrmd.com.
Analytics: The site uses GoatCounter, a lightweight, open-source, privacy-first analytics tool. It counts page visits using aggregate data only: which pages are visited, approximate country, browser type, and screen size. No cookies are set, no personal information is stored through analytics, no fingerprinting is used, and no data is shared with third parties for advertising. IP addresses are used only momentarily to estimate location and are never stored.
Your Data: Your notes, reading history, settings, and streaks are stored locally on your device by default. If you do not sync or share notes, they stay only on your device. If you choose notes sync, a server copy is stored so your notes can be restored on another device. If you choose notes sharing, the notes you share are stored on the server for delivery by code. If you use export and import, you can move notes yourself without using server-based sharing.
Reader Accounts: If you create a reader account for sync or shared-note features, your email is hashed for lookup and also stored in encrypted form for account recovery and administration. Your passphrase itself is not stored in plain text, and the site does not sell your email address.
Notes Privacy: Notes on rfrmd.com are personal study notes, but they are not promised to be end-to-end encrypted or inaccessible to the site operator. Synced or shared notes may be reviewed only as reasonably needed for Terms of Service enforcement, abuse prevention, feature administration, or support you request. If you want notes to remain only on your device, do not use sync or sharing.
External Connections: The site connects to the internet when loading ESV text or audio through the app API, when syncing notes, and when sending or receiving shared notes. If you use offline translations and keep your notes local, the site can continue working entirely from your device after it has been cached.
Terms of Service
By using rfrmd.com, you agree to the site's Terms of Service, which cover the intended purpose of the site, notes sharing guidelines, content moderation, scripture copyright, reader accounts, privacy, and liability. Please read them at your convenience.
Getting Help
If something is not working right, or if you just have a question, there are a few things you can try. First, make sure you are using the latest version of the site. You can check the version number at the very bottom of any page. If you installed rfrmd.com as an app, try closing it completely and reopening it to pull in any updates.
If you need to report a bug, please include the version number and a description of what happened. You can submit issues through the project's GitHub page.
If you would like personal help, have a question about how something works, or are interested in learning more about how to share rfrmd.com with your church, small group, or friends, feel free to reach out by email at john@rfrmd.com. I am happy to help.
~ john
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