Keep your paper Bible timer open without switching apps

Keep the timer page selected, not just the app open

Prayer First’s physical Bible timer is for reading from a paper Bible. Pick your passage first, open that reading choice, and check the displayed timer. Use Start if your screen offers it; the iPhone timer starts when its page opens. At the end, use the available completion control and check today’s completion state.

Leaving the timer page for another Prayer First screen resets the current timer session. Keeping Prayer First open in the background is a different situation. This guide does not establish what happens on every phone when the display locks, the operating system suspends the app, or the app closes. Check the displayed progress when you return rather than assuming the reading has counted.

If your setup requires time in a permitted Bible app, the paper timer cannot meet that requirement. Use that Bible-app route instead. Restricting the phone to Prayer First would stop you switching to a separate Bible app until you exit the restriction.

Source: Prayer First physical Bible timer and completion

Optional on Android: pin Prayer First

Pinning keeps that app in view. It does not lock Prayer First’s own Back control or make a timer session permanent. Menus and navigation vary by phone.

1. Find App pinning in your phone’s security settings and turn it on. Google’s menu path is Security or Security & location → Advanced → App pinning; consult your phone maker if the option is elsewhere.
2. Open the timer page, then open Overview. With gesture navigation, swipe up to the middle and hold; with three buttons, tap Overview. Tap Prayer First’s icon above its preview, then Pin.
3. Practise unpinning: swipe up and hold with gesture navigation; hold Back and Overview with three buttons, or Back and Home with two. Authenticate if asked.

Source: Google: pin and unpin an Android screen

Optional on iPhone: use Guided Access

Apple says emergency calling and Crash Detection are unavailable during Guided Access. End the session to restore them. If you need immediate phone access, leave this option off and set the phone aside.

1. Open Settings → Accessibility → Guided Access, enable it, then configure Passcode Settings and practise exiting.
2. On the timer page, triple-click the side or Home button, choose Guided Access if prompted and start. Enabling the setting alone does not start a session.
3. To end, triple-click, authenticate and tap End; iOS 18 or earlier uses a double-click. End Guided Access before completing if you disabled the timer’s controls.

Source: Apple: set up, start and end Guided Access

Try a short session before relying on the setup

If the timer restarts or the completion fails, check which screen you left and any message shown. Do not assume pinning fixed the cause. A phone restriction, timer progress and Prayer First’s daily unlock are three separate things to verify.

You can also leave the timer page selected and simply set the phone aside. You do not need to configure another phone feature to try a paper Bible routine. This advice uses official setup instructions and the current timer implementation; it is not a device test of pinning, Guided Access or background survival.

1. Prepare your paper passage and put the phone somewhere you can leave it alone. Use a reading target that is practical for you.
2. Confirm the timer is running. If using a single-app restriction, start it and check that you know how to exit. Stay on the timer page.
3. Read, return to the display, and check the elapsed time. Complete through Prayer First when its control is available; then confirm today’s completion and a feed you selected to protect.

Try the habit on your phone

Prayer First’s free paper Bible timer lets time with your own Bible count toward today’s unlock of selected feeds.

Free to start. Optional paid features are separate.