Shema
An offline audio Bible
Shema · שְׁמַע · Hebrew for “Hear”
The name comes from the Shema, the prayer that begins “Hear, O Israel.” It's a small, offline player for listening to Scripture, with no phone and no accounts. The battery lasts about ten hours.
"Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one."
Made for listening
simple, durable, distraction-free
Completely offline
No WiFi, no accounts, no internet. Scripture plays from a microSD card, so everything stays private.
~10 hours of playback
A single charge lasts about ten hours at a comfortable volume. Charge over USB-C and go.
Many versions & languages
Drop multiple translations and languages on the card; the device lists whatever you add.
Round, tactile UI
A 360×360 touch display built for the round screen, with books, chapters, a player, and a sleep timer.
One-click install
Flash the firmware from your browser, with nothing to download. Plug in over USB-C and click Install.
Open source
The firmware is free and open. Flash it as is, or customise it, and set up players for a parish, family, or friends.
A look at the interface
Every view is laid out for the round screen.
Make your own
three simple steps, no coding or soldering
If you can copy files to a USB stick, you can set one up. Here's all it takes.
Order the device
Buy the device (Waveshare 1.85C, SKU 30684). It comes assembled, with the screen, speaker, and battery inside. Around US $30–50.
Add the Bible audio
Copy Bible MP3s into simple folders on a memory card (microSD), then slide the card into the device. The step-by-step layout is below.
Install & listen
Plug it into any computer with a USB-C cable, open our installer page, and click Install. It takes about a minute, then press play.
Want to make several for a parish, family, or friends? The same three steps work for every device.
Get the device
buy the board, customise the software
Buy the hardware
Get the Waveshare ESP32-S3-Touch-LCD-1.85C (V2), the "BOX + battery" version (SKU 30684). The hardware comes fully assembled: round 360×360 touchscreen, speaker box (enclosure and speaker), and a 3.7 V battery. You then flash the firmware and add a microSD card with the audio (the three steps above) to turn it into a player.
Variants you may see:
- SKU 30684: BOX + battery (recommended; everything included)
- SKU 30685: BOX (speaker box, no battery)
- SKU 30683: bare board only (no box, no battery)
Typically US $30–50, depending on variant and seller. Also on AliExpress and Waveshare resellers.
Open source
MIT-licensed firmware on ESP-IDF, LVGL, and the Helix MP3 decoder. Fork
it to add languages and versions, rework the UI, or change playback,
then idf.py build
and flash. It targets the stock Waveshare ESP32-S3-Touch-LCD-1.85C (V2);
the hardware is off-the-shelf, only the software is yours to change.
Load the Scripture
prepare the microSD card
The audio is not bundled. Recordings are licensed by their rights holders, so you download the audio and prepare the card yourself. Use recordings you have the right to use, for example the free non-commercial audio Bibles from Faith Comes By Hearing or public-domain recordings.
Format a microSD card as FAT32 and lay the files out as
BIBLE/<LANGUAGE>/<VERSION>/<book>_<chapter>.mp3.
- • Book = number 1–73 (Catholic canon order, Genesis = 1 … Revelation = 73).
- • Keep numbering consistent in each folder: all zero-padded (
01_01.mp3) or all plain (1_1.mp3). Padding is recommended. - • The device scans the card at boot, so it only lists what you add. Folder names show in the menu as-is.
SD card (FAT32)
└── BIBLE/
├── Malayalam/
│ ├── POC_Dramatized/ (default)
│ │ ├── 01_01.mp3 Genesis 1
│ │ ├── 01_02.mp3 Genesis 2
│ │ ├── 02_01.mp3 Exodus 1
│ │ └── ...
│ └── POC_Reading/
│ └── ...
└── English/
└── NRSV/
└── 01_01.mp3 Have the device? Flash it now.
Install the firmware right from your browser, with no software to download. Plug the device into a computer with a USB-C cable and click Install.
"So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."