iSutra

One phone, a treasury of sutras. Not a plain reader: bilingual study, recitation, woodfish, copy-sutra, daily practice. Daily Sutra waits on Home Screen. Fully offline.

iSutra is an offline sutra reading and practice app. Open a Daily Sutra, compare Chinese and English with optional vernacular notes and pinyin, follow recitation highlighting, trace a line by hand, and dedicate the day. No account, no ads, no tracking. Texts are built in and work without a network. For study and cultural learning only.

This is not just a source-text browser. The category is crowded. iSutra puts the difference in bilingual reading, highlighted recitation, woodfish counting, handwritten tracing, daily practice, and a Daily Sutra that reaches you through widgets, Lock Screen, Control Center, and voice shortcuts. It is made for education and cultural study. It does not tell fortunes.

Built-in library Browse Prajna, Lotus, Avatamsaka, Pure Land, Ksitigarbha, esoteric mantras, Chan, Forty-two Chapters, and Eight Awakenings. Long works open by section: Diamond in thirty-two parts and Ksitigarbha in thirteen chapters, still offline. Also included: Heart Sutra, Amitabha Sutra, Universal Gate, Platform Sutra, Samantabhadra vows, Medicine Buddha vows, and mantra excerpts. It does not claim to be the whole canon.

1. Daily Sutra: today's text, continue reading, famous lines, local reminders, and shortcuts to recitation, chanting, copy-sutra, practice, study, random, and keyword hunt. A widget can switch it.
2. Bilingual close reading: bilingual, Chinese only, or English only. Toggle vernacular, English, and pinyin. Interface in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and English. Type size, vertical layout, section navigation, notes, history, and immersive mode.
3. Recitation studio: line highlighting, adjustable pace and voice, continuous play, background audio, lock-screen remote, looping, and a Live Activity where allowed.
4. Woodfish chanting: today, lifetime, and streak counts. Targets such as 27, 54, 108, or 1080. Wood, deep, bright, soft, and qing sounds. Progress on the Daily Chant widget and Lock Screen.
5. Copy-sutra tracing: on iPhone and iPad, trace a line on paper-like canvas. Switch ink, thickness, and pen. Undo a stroke. Guide text can be tracing, faint, or hidden. Save a line to Photos or export the whole text.
6. Daily practice: separate morning and evening lists, check items, mark the day complete, and read or write a dedication.
7. Chant study: fade, fill-in, check, and quiz. Mark familiar, learned, or mastered. Keyword Hunt asks you to recall a line from a character.
8. Browse: find a text by category, theme, or translator. Diamond and Ksitigarbha open a volume catalog first. Layout can be list, grid, or cards.
9. Favorites: star a text, build lists, read in sequence, or study in a batch. Optional cloud sync is available.
10. Search: Chinese or English in titles, translators, and lines. System search, deep links, and Home Screen quick actions open Daily Sutra, recitation, chant, copy-sutra, practice, and more.
11. Widgets and system: Daily Sutra, famous lines, favorites, study progress, and Daily Chant on Home Screen, Lock Screen, and StandBy. Live Activities for reading and chanting. Control Center can hold Daily Sutra, recitation, chant, practice, and more.
12. Dharma cards: turn a line into a card, pick a style, save to Photos, or share.
13. Look and data: accents and alternate icons. Settings cover language, pinyin, vertical text, Live Activities, voice, pace, and notifications. Data stays on device by default. Optional system cloud sync can update favorites, lists, practice, chant counts, progress, history, and notes.
14. Privacy: no account, no ads, no third-party analytics. Core reading is offline and is not uploaded. Source texts are public-domain Chinese translations. Some English is public-domain or study wording. Vernacular notes are for learning, not religious instruction or academic authority.

Read one sutra into one day. Welcome to iSutra.