The new version of the Universalis program for Windows is now available for download.

It contains the new English translation of the Order of Mass, and various other improvements.

You will notice blue arrows on the right-hand side of some of the pages. These let you choose between various options. For instance:

• Optional memorials: which saint (if any) you want to celebrate.
• Invitatory psalm: which hour you want to precede with the Invitatory Psalm.
• Daytime psalms: whether you want to use the psalms of the day or the complementary psalms.
• Order of Mass: many options, such as the choice of Penitential Rite, Creed, and Eucharistic Prayer.

For the blind and partially sighted who are using a screen reader, blue arrows do not appear. Instead, all these options are selectable from the menu bar, in the new View menu.

The equivalent iPhone application will be updated soon: it has already been submitted to Apple. The Mac version of Universalis will be updated next week.

NOTE: As of Sunday 4 September, the downloadable program for Windows includes an option to create an e-book for the Order of Mass.

We have ceased further development of Universalis for Palm OS and Windows Mobile. These are old systems, and having to cope with their limitations has been holding back the development of Universalis in general.

The final versions of Universalis for these systems are dated 8 August 2011. They will remain available for download in the future but no updates will be issued. For this reason we have made them into free downloads, for Palm OS and for Pocket PC / Windows Mobile. You don’t need to pay, and no registration codes are required.

If you have an old Palm or Windows Mobile device lying unused in a drawer, you might consider installing Universalis on it and donating it to someone who wants to have electronic access to the Liturgy of the Hours but can’t afford a new device.

We have today received the Imprimatur that allows us to include the Order of Mass in the Universalis downloads.

The new iPhone version of Universalis will be available as a free update from the App Store as soon as Apple have approved it.

We are working on the new Windows and Mac versions and they will be available soon.

For the latest news about Palm and Windows Mobile, please see the next blog post.

Some users of the HTC HD2 phone have reported that they cannot select which saint to celebrate on a particular day because the drop-down list at the top of the page isn’t visible.

This is a bug that has been incorporated into the HD2 by HTC themselves. A normal Windows Mobile 6.5 device does not show this problem.

The following information from a Universalis user may be helpful:

I have been doing some more experimenting.  I have flashed new ROM’s to my devices from xda.

The problem is not with WM6.5 – there are certain versions of 6.5 which have no trouble showing the dropdowns, others will not allow you to scroll through the various options for the day. So I have now have the Energy ROM loaded on my HD2, which now allows you to select which day you wish to celebrate; with the old stock ROM, it couldn’t handle the dropdowns.

We have now completed an iPad version of Universalis and submitted it to Apple for approval. Approval normally takes a week or so, but it may take longer in this case if Apple are being flooded with new applications for the iPad.

Universalis for the iPhone/iPod Touch and Universalis for the iPad are one single purchase from the App Store – what Apple call a “Universal application”. This means that if you have an iPhone and an iPad, you only need to buy Universalis once: it’ll work as an iPhone app on the iPhone and as an iPad app on the iPad.

If you already have the iPhone application, you don’t need to do anything except wait: as soon as Apple have approved our update, it’ll automatically be offered to you through the App Store.

Read the rest of this entry »

After a successful experimental period, the Universalis daily email service is now officially operational. It will send you the Universalis pages of your choice daily until you tell it to stop.

You can read all about it on this page. Here is a summary:

• If you have Universalis on the iPhone, you can set up the service directly from the Universalis application.
• If you have bought a Universalis registration code, you can set up the service by filling in a form on our web site.
• To stop receiving the daily emails, simply reply to one of them. It doesn’t matter what you say: even an “out of office” autoreply will be enough to stop the service until you decide to start it again.