User Guide
Everything you need to get productive with Kalamos on iPhone, iPad, and Android. Mac and Linux work the same way, with a keyboard and mouse or stylus.
Kalamos works fully offline from the first launch. Downloading extra translations, connecting a key, or turning on sync are all optional.
1. Installing
iPhone / iPad: install from the App Store, then open the app. No account or sign-in is required.
Android: install from Google Play, then open the app. No account or sign-in is required.
On first launch a public-domain Bible is already available, so you can start reading right away.
2. Reading scripture
- Open a Scripture pane to read. The book and chapter controls
(
Book ‹ n ›) sit at the top of the chapter. - Tap a verse to bring up the verse menu — for example, to study the original language of a word.
- Section subheadings from the translation appear above the verses they head.
- Open a Search pane to search the full text, including section headings; results show where each match came from.
3. The split-pane workspace
Kalamos is built around panes you arrange side by side. The first pane opens as a type chooser; pick what it should hold:
- Scripture — a passage to read and annotate.
- Notes — free-form typed notes.
- Notes + Verses — notes interleaved with scripture.
- Blank page — a page to type and draw on.
- Document — an imported PDF or a scan.
- Search — full-text scripture search.
Tapping a scripture reference opens it, reusing or splitting a scripture pane; long-press (or right-click) a reference to open it in a new pane.
4. Notes & references
- Notes support rich text — select text and apply bold, italic, underline, or a size change.
- Type a scripture reference and it becomes a tappable link: tap to open it, long-press to open it in a new pane.
- Notes are tied to your study, not to a single translation, so they travel with you as you switch versions.
5. Handwriting & drawing
On iPad with Apple Pencil: touch the page with the Pencil to start drawing — the native tool picker (pens, highlighter, eraser, colors) appears. A finger tap leaves drawing mode, so you can still scroll and zoom with your finger while the Pencil draws. Your finger never leaves stray marks.
On Android and other devices: draw with a stylus (such as the S Pen), or turn on the ink toggle to draw with a mouse or finger. Desktop stylus and Wacom tablets are supported too.
- Insert a writing space between verses and your ink flows into the gap.
- Ink is anchored to the verse, note, or space it was drawn on, so it stays put as the layout reflows.
- The eraser splits strokes at the point you erase rather than removing a whole stroke.
6. Documents & scanning
- Import a PDF from your files, or add page images that Kalamos assembles into a document.
- Scan pages with the camera (iPhone/iPad and Android) using edge detection and multi-page capture. On iPad you can also flatten curled book pages before saving.
- On scanned pages, on-device text recognition adds an invisible, searchable text layer, so you can select text, search the document, and tap printed scripture references.
- Draw and drop typed text boxes over any page; rename or delete documents at any time (deletes go to the Trash first).
7. Library & translations
Open the library to manage content. The My documents tab lists what you have; the Browse & download tab lets you install additional Bible translations and study modules (for example from the CrossWire SWORD repository), or connect an API.Bible key. Downloads need a network connection; everything else works offline once installed.
8. Studies & safe deletes
- Create multiple studies and switch between them; the active study is shared across your panes.
- Deletes are safe: notes, pages, and documents go to a per-study Trash (open it from the ☰ menu) and can be restored until you empty it. An undo snackbar appears right after a delete.
- Deleting a whole study removes all of its content permanently, after a confirmation.
9. Sync & backup (optional)
By default nothing leaves your device. When you want your study on more than one device, you have two options — both end-to-end encrypted:
- Bring-your-own-cloud sync. Connect Nextcloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive using your account. Kalamos stores only encrypted files there. Set the same passphrase on each device and your studies stay in sync; if two devices name a study the same, Kalamos offers to merge them.
- Encrypted backup. Export a
.kalbackupfile and keep it anywhere. Restoring on another device merges the contents in — it never overwrites what's already there.
Keep your passphrase safe. Your sync and backup data can only be opened with your passphrase. No one — not us, not your cloud provider — can recover it for you.