The App · Live on Google Play · iOS next
The whole library, in your hands, forever
This website is the reading room — all the texts, free, with the story around them. The app is that library in your pocket: offline, searchable, and yours. One-time $9.99. Never a subscription. No ads, no account, nothing leaves your phone.
No account. No ads. Yours forever.
Two tiers. Zero tricks.
| Free forever | All Access — $9.99 once | |
|---|---|---|
| Texts included | Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Mary, Thunder, Perfect Mind | All 19 texts — and every future text, free |
| Reading paths | The Sayings of Jesus, The Voice of Wisdom | All four, with The Hidden Origins and The Lost Gospels |
| Reader, Ask the Library, read-aloud, highlights, notes, daily reading | Everything included | Everything included |
| Works offline | Always — it's the architecture, not a paid add-on | Always |
| Subscription | Never | Never — one price, like a book |
| Ads · account · tracking | None · none · none | None · none · none |
7-day full trial of everything — no card, no account. Restore your purchase on any of your devices. Already had the app before version 1.1.1? The whole library is yours, free, for good.
Depth, not breadth
We shelve nothing but the recovered scriptures. Every text in this library is here because it belongs to them — credited to its translator and manuscript, with the gaps shown honestly — and the library grows in one direction only: deeper. If the lost gospels are what you came for, this is the shelf built for you.
Every feature, honestly described
The library shelf
Every text in the library on one shelf, grouped by collection — gospels, revelations, wisdom. Each one opens on its own historic picture, shown whole: a manuscript page or a historic work of art, with its caption. What you own is open; what's coming is announced on the in-app roadmap, so the library visibly grows in your hands.
Free tier: Thomas and Mary — every surviving page, gaps marked — and Thunder, Perfect Mind, forever. (In the app Thunder is its opening pages today; the complete poem, already on this site, arrives in the next update.)
A reader built for scripture
Every section opens like a printed page, with a headline, a drop capital and its reading time. Long-form reading with standard scholarly numbering, swipe-forward chapters, day and night themes, and adjustable type and spacing. The gaps in the manuscripts appear as honest brackets — exactly like the site, exactly like the papyrus.
Every text credits its translator and manuscript on the overview screen.
Reading paths, and a guide to choose one
Not sure where to begin? Tap Guide me, answer a few multiple-choice questions, and the app sets you on a reading path — a route through the library, one part a day, shown on every screen so you always know where you are. Change paths, keep your place, or step off the path whenever you like.
Four paths: The Sayings of Jesus (115 days) and The Voice of Wisdom (more than 120 days), free forever; The Hidden Origins (51 days) and The Lost Gospels (25 days) with All Access.
Search the whole corpus
Full-text search across every unlocked text. Chase a phrase from Thomas into Philip; find every place the light, the bridal chamber, or the All appears. The kind of search scholars wish they'd had for fifty years — in your pocket.
Instant, offline, across your entire library.
Ask the Library
Ask any question and the library answers in its own words: ranked verbatim passages with citations, straight from the texts on your device — tap any answer to read it in context. Nothing is generated, so nothing can be invented.
On-device retrieval over the whole corpus. No AI server, no account — your questions never leave your phone.
In plain words
Every section of every text — more than 400 of them — carries a plain-English companion note: one tap for what the passage meant in its own world. Ancient terms like Pleroma, archon, and gnosis are explained right where they appear, so you never lose your place to look one up.
Clearly labeled commentary, kept apart from the scripture — never passed off as the text itself.
It reads to you
Tap Listen on any passage and your phone reads the scripture aloud — the whole section, manuscript gaps announced honestly, hands free. These texts were written to be heard; now they are again.
Uses your phone's built-in voices. Offline voices work in airplane mode like everything else; a voice marked online uses your phone's speech service.
Highlights, notes, and export
Mark any verse, attach your own thoughts, and build a private commentary as you read. The Notes tab gathers every note, highlight and pinned passage in one place, searchable. Export everything to a plain text file whenever you want — your insights are yours to keep, not ours to hold.
Stored only on your device. There is no cloud because there is no account.
A daily reading that finds you
One passage a day at the hour you choose — the next part of your reading path, or a passage from anywhere in your library. The texts that ask you to seek work best when you meet them daily — this is the gentlest possible practice, one notification, zero noise.
Scheduled locally on your device. Turn it off anytime.
Privacy as a feature, not a promise
No ads. No trackers. No account. The entire library ships inside the app and reads in airplane mode; the app goes online only through Google Play — for updates, for purchases, and for the one review request Google Play may show you — and for an online voice if you choose one. Your highlights, notes, and questions never leave your phone.
Play data-safety label: no data collected, no data shared. Verify it yourself.
One price, yours forever
All Access is a one-time $9.99 — every text now, every future text free as the library grows. No subscription, no renewal, no countdown timers, no dark patterns. Buy it once like a book; own it like a book.
7-day full trial, no card required. Restore purchase on any of your devices.
Why we built it this way
These are texts people were once willing to bury in the desert to protect; the least a reading app can do is respect them — and respect you. Every design decision above follows from that one commitment.
It comes from the makers of The Gospel of Thomas Daily, the devotional companion app for the text that started it all — same standards, same privacy, same promise.
Begin with the free library
Free forever: the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Mary — every surviving page — and Thunder, Perfect Mind, with every reader feature. All Access: every text and every future text, $9.99 once. Try everything free for 7 days, no card, no account.
Common questions
Is The Gnostic Library app free?
The app is free to download, and your first seven days open the whole library — no card, no account. After that, three texts stay free forever: the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary, and our rendering of Thunder, Perfect Mind, with the daily reading and every reader feature. All Access — every text, every future text — is a one-time $9.99 purchase. No subscription, ever.
Does the app collect my data?
No. The app runs entirely on your device: no account, no analytics, no trackers. It goes online only through Google Play — for app updates, for purchases, and for the one review request Google Play may show you — and for an online voice if you choose one. Your highlights, notes, and reading progress never leave your phone. The Play Store data-safety label reads: no data collected, no data shared — and you can verify that claim there.
What's the difference between the website and the app?
The website is the reading room — the same texts, free, with the scholarship around them. The app is that library in your hands: every text offline, searchable, highlightable, annotatable, with reading paths, a daily reading and your own growing set of notes. If the site made you curious, the app is where you actually live with these texts.
Which texts are included?
Nineteen. Thomas, Mary, and Thunder are free forever; All Access adds the Gospels of Judas, Philip, Truth, and Peter, the Secret Book of John, the Secret Book of James, the Infancy Gospels, the Egerton Gospel, the Hymn of the Pearl, Pistis Sophia selections, and more — with new texts added in free updates for All Access owners.
What are reading paths?
A reading path is a route through the library, one part a day. Tap Guide me, answer a few multiple-choice questions, and the app sets you on a path; each day's part waits in the Daily tab, with a reminder at the hour you choose if you want one. There are four paths: The Sayings of Jesus and The Voice of Wisdom are free forever; The Hidden Origins and The Lost Gospels come with All Access. You can change paths, keep your place, or leave the path and go back to a passage from anywhere in the library.
I already had the app before the update. Do I have to pay now?
No. Everyone who had the app before version 1.1.1 keeps the whole library, free, for good — the app tells you so the first time you open it after updating. The seven open days and the one-time unlock apply only to new installs.
When is the iOS version coming?
The Android app is live now on Google Play; the iOS version follows within weeks, with the same one-time price and the same privacy posture — no subscription and no account, on either platform.