Leveraging BQML Translate to Bring Efficiency

YouVersion is a ministry of Life.Church, and if you’re new to YouVersion, let’s get you up to speed on who we are. In 2008, we launched the first iOS Bible app and then launched on Android in 2009. 

Today, our app is used in every country and has over half a billion installs. Thanks to our partners, we can offer Bible text in more than 1,800 languages, and we support search in 103 of those languages! 

We are passionate about developing a tool that connects people worldwide with God’s Word! And we don’t take it lightly. We are constantly stretching and breaking through constraints with that purpose in mind.

Recently Google invited us to be an official launch partner for BigQuery, a flagship product on the Google Cloud Platform. 

This month, the Google Cloud Next conference featured YouVersion, which included a demo of how we use BigQuery, and how BQML Translate will help us gain efficiency in the future to serve our global community. 

People who open the app often look for answers to something they’re going through. Many people use the search function to find relevant content, like daily devotionals, videos, Bible verse images, and Bible text. 

For example, when the war in Ukraine began, we saw many people use this function. With BigQuery, we were able to look at the aggregated data to see what people were searching for and how we could help them find content that would bring them comfort in such a difficult time. 

We continue to use this aggregated data from around the world to inform content updates and to fine-tune search results. And now with BQML Translate, we will be able to do this even faster all within BigQuery.

From Digital Marketers to Quality Assurance Engineers to Automation Engineers, our team is constantly growing and working to serve our YouVersion Community. The opportunity to utilize BigQuery within our use case was no different. Adding value to our Community while partnering with Google was next-level.

Watch this video to hear more about the partnership, how we served the people in Ukraine, and how the Google Cloud Translate model enhanced our ability to serve them well! 

If you've ever dreamed of combining your faith and love for technology, we'd love to meet you–because we are actively seeking talented engineers to join our team. With more than 500 million installs of the Bible App, the YouVersion team, a ministry of Life.Church, is rapidly growing to help users around the globe connect with God and His word. Join us to work within an agile, Christ-centered team, building new app experiences and features inside the Bible App for Apple platforms!