Seraph vs Formed
A Catholic streaming and formation library from the Augustine Institute — movies, studies, audio, kids, daily content, an account — and a quieter flame that never asks for one. This page is written by the maker of Seraph — read it knowing that — and it will be generous to Formed, because Formed has earned it.
Our bias, declared: we make Seraph. The linked Formed sources support the specific download price, In-App Purchases labels, parish-signup path, store listings, and privacy wording identified below; this is not an independent review of either app. Our product details describe Seraph’s current published offering. If we've got something wrong, tell us and we'll fix it.
The main difference
Consider Formed if you want a Catholic content library you sign into: movies, studies, audio, e-books, kids’ programming, and daily formation, on a phone, a browser, or a TV box. formed.org titles the product “On-Demand Catholic Movies, Audio Books, Podcasts & More,” and the download line names Daily Reflections, studies and parish programs, audio, movies, e-books, and family-friendly kids’ programming from over 100 content providers. The US listing (id1212963367) lockup on this check is “Free · In-App Purchases,” subtitle “Forming Catholics for Life.,” seller Augustine Institute, Inc., category Education. JSON-LD Offer on that page is price 0, currency USD — the download, not the library. The catch is the door: an account, and a paid (or parish-sponsored) subscription for the catalogue. We are not a silent office they also happen to be. They are a content library.
Choose Seraph if you want something quieter: one flame kept daily, the whole King James Bible readable free, guided prayer paced by breath — and a hard privacy line: no account to create, no ads, and a public vow of no prayer analytics. Your prayer life stays on your device. Seraph+ is $6.99/mo or $59.99/yr on our US App Store listing and on our pricing page. The daily office is free. Sacred Seasons, including Advent, are not. There is no Seraph+ trial. Formed’s named US IAP year is $99.99. That is not Seraph+ annual. We do not invent that one year is cheaper as a worldwide claim; we print the two numbers.
Side by side
| Feature | Seraph | Formed |
|---|---|---|
| Annual price | $59.99/yr | The US listing In-App Purchases list, read September 10, 2026, names FORMED Subscription $99.99 next to FORMED Subscription $9.99. JSON-LD Offer on that page is price 0 / USD for the download. The same listing’s subscription terms say you subscribe “on a monthly or yearly basis,” that pricing “can vary by region and will be confirmed before purchase in the app,” and that payments auto-renew unless deactivated at least 24-hours before the end of the current cycle. The IAP list also shows unlabeled SKUs Formed - 1999 $19.99, Formed - 099 $0.99, Formed - 1699 $16.99, Formed - 1499 $14.99, Formed - 1799 $17.99, Formed - 1599 $15.99, and Formed - 1899 $18.99. Apple does not label which of those extra SKUs is current. We do not invent that they are regional variants. Parish and organization plans are a separate path on formed.org/parishes; that page does not print a public parish dollar amount. Check checkout, not only this table. |
| Monthly price | $6.99/mo | The same US listing names FORMED Subscription $9.99. The Play listing reprints the monthly-or-yearly sentence and does not print those dollar amounts on this check. Their Terms of Use (Last Updated September 20, 2023) describe a “Self-Serve” plan you sign up and pay for online, and an “Enterprise” plan with a sales representative. We do not invent a website monthly SKU from that TOS sentence. We print the named IAP labels. |
| Family plan | — | No family SKU published. This check found no Family Sharing sentence on the US listing. Their leaders FAQ describes parish, school, hospital, and cluster subscriptions as organization products, not a household IAP. We do not invent a family plan price. |
| Free trial | None — the free tier is the trial | A trial is named; a duration is not, on the pages cited here. The US listing and the Play listing: “Any unused portion of your free trial will be forfeited upon payment.” Their Terms of Use refuse refunds for “Fees charged immediately after a free-trial period ends.” Their leaders FAQ answers “Why was I charged $1 after signing up for a trial?” with a $1 pre-authorization “with every trial sign up,” credited back in a few days. The watch.formed.org chrome on this check includes a Start Free Trial control that points at checkout. We print those sentences. We do not invent a 7-day, 14-day, or other trial length. |
| Free, forever | Daily verse · 2 guided sessions · the whole KJV Bible (1,189 chapters) · every reading plan · streak flame · reminders | The download they price at 0, not the streaming library. The US listing lockup is “Free · In-App Purchases.” JSON-LD Offer is price 0 / USD. The Play listing Offer is also price 0. Parish-sponsored access is a real product path, cited next, and it is not a personal forever-free catalogue. Their leaders FAQ says trailers are “easy to watch and share, no subscription necessary.” That is trailers, not movies, studies, audio, and kids. We found no Contains ads chip on that Play page. We do not dump the paid library into this cell. |
| Subscription opens | Full guided-prayer library (12 sessions) · Sacred Seasons (Advent & Lent) | What the listings call all features and content. The US listing: “To access all features and content you can subscribe to Formed on a monthly or yearly basis with an auto-renewing subscription right inside the app.” formed.org names Daily Reflections, studies and parish programs, audio, movies, e-books, and family-friendly kids’ programming from over 100 content providers. formed.org/parishes: “expert led bible studies, sacrament preparation, movies, and daily formation content on any device.” Their leaders FAQ also names Spanish content on watch.formed.org, offline playback after you sign into the app, and “My List.” We do not treat that catalogue as the free-forever row. |
| Account required | No — no sign-up exists | Yes, for the library. Their leaders FAQ: after you have signed up, “simply ‘sign in’ to formed.org by entering your email,” then check that device for an authentication email; visit watch.formed.org, click Sign In, enter your email, then follow the inbox link. Their parish signup article (modified December 11, 2025) walks parishioners through email, a one-time code or password, parish zip code, and a password of at least 7 characters with one number and one special character. Their Terms of Use have an Accounts section and say Formed is a joint venture with Ignatius Press whose partner “will have access to your account information and behavior on that Site, excluding payment information.” We do not claim Formed has no account. |
| Catholic formation library | Quiet text office paced by breath. No movies. No kids catalogue. No parish programs. | The product. formed.org is on-demand Catholic movies, audio books, and podcasts, with new content “every day, every week.” formed.org/parishes names bible studies, sacrament preparation (baptism, reconciliation, the Eucharist, matrimony), movies, and daily formation. The US listing describes “faith-informed content” that “educates, and moves with you.” That is a streaming / formation library you sign into. It is not a silent one-flame office. |
| Parish-sponsored access | No scholarship or sponsorship path published. | First-party, and it is the path they put first for many users. formed.org has “FIND YOUR PARISH SUBSCRIPTION.” formed.org/parishes: “One parish subscription. Everyone gets access…” Their leaders FAQ: a subscription “is free through a local parish, or if you purchased an individual subscription”; parishioners go to formed.org/signup, search by zip / postal code, register with name and email, then check that inbox; “We no longer use custom URLs or Parish Codes.” The help article says “create your free Formed account under your parish,” starting at formed.org, then Find Your Parish Subscription. Parish, school, and hospital plans are sold as organization products; we found no public parish dollar amount. We do not invent a parish-count statistic from a third-party review. |
| Prayer analytics | None — a public vow. Prayer data never leaves your device | First-party pages do not say the same sentence, and none of them is a prayer-analytics vow. Apple’s App Privacy label on the US listing (self-reported, not verified by Apple): This check found no “Data Used to Track You” section. Data Linked to You — Location (Coarse Location), Contact Info, User Content, Identifiers, Purchases (purposes on that label include Developer’s Advertising or Marketing, Analytics, Product Personalization, App Functionality). Data Not Linked to You — Usage Data, Search History, Diagnostics. Their Google Play Data safety section: “This app may share these data types with third parties Personal info, Financial info, and Device or other IDs”; “This app may collect these data types Location, Personal info and 5 others”; “Data is encrypted in transit”; “You can request that data be deleted.” The listing Privacy Policy URL is watch.formed.org/privacy; on this check that URL returned a Vimeo OTT / VHX shell with Sign In and Start Free Trial, not a readable policy body. The same origin’s cookies page prints a Vimeo OTT Cookie Policy. Their Terms of Use legal notice address is customerservice@formed.org. We print those pages. We do not restate rating or ranking marketing from those listings. |
| Bible | Full KJV bundled; offline on iPhone | A formation library that includes studies and daily Mass-reading reflections, not a 1,189-chapter King James you can finish as a plan. formed.org names studies, Daily Reflections, audio, and e-books. Their leaders FAQ describes Daily Reflections as short daily videos by Dr. Tim Gray on the Catholic Mass readings, with a separate inbox signup at daily.formed.org. We do not invent a Protestant reading plan inside Formed. Offline playback in the app is for signed-in Formed users on that FAQ, not a bundled KJV. |
| Platforms | iPhone and web | The US listing Information section names iPhone (iOS 16.6 or later), iPad, Apple Vision (visionOS 1.0 or later), and Apple TV (tvOS 16.6 or later). JSON-LD availableOnDevice on that page is “Apple TV, iPhone, iPad.” JSON-LD operatingSystem also names iPod touch. We print both. Languages on that listing: English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish. The Google Play listing is Android, package com.ai.formed.formed, developer The Augustine Institute. formed.org also names Amazon Fire Tablet, MacOS, Windows PC, Chrome OS, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku. Their leaders FAQ: “In addition to your web browser, iOS, Android and TVOS, we now offer Roku and AndroidTV.” |
| Tradition | Broadly Christian, KJV | Catholic streaming and formation, published by the Augustine Institute. The US listing seller and copyright are Augustine Institute, Inc., © 2026. Category Education; JSON-LD applicationCategory EducationalApplication. Their Terms of Use: “Formed is a joint venture with Ignatius Press.” Age Rating on the listing is 4+, with Contains Advertising Messaging and Chat User-Generated Content — that is Apple’s content descriptor, not a Play “Contains ads” chip. |
| If you cannot pay | No scholarship or sponsorship path published. Advent and most guided sessions require Seraph+. | Ask whether a parish, school, or organization already sponsors access, then use formed.org/signup or Find Your Parish Subscription on formed.org. That path is free to the parishioner only if the organization is subscribed; it is not a personal forever-free library. Individual checkout is the named IAP pair above, or Self-Serve on the web per the Terms of Use. Cancel depends on where you paid: Apple, Google, Roku, Amazon, or the website, per the leaders FAQ. Trailers without a subscription are named on that FAQ. We found no scholarship sentence for individuals on the pages cited here. |
Formed’s named US IAP year is $99.99. Seraph+ annual is $59.99/yr. Formed’s named US IAP month is $9.99; Seraph+ monthly is $6.99. Those are different products: a signed-in Catholic streaming library versus a quiet office. Parish-sponsored Formed can cost the parishioner nothing if the parish is already paying; that is not a Seraph price, and it is not a claim that Formed’s catalogue is forever free. No worldwide cheapest-price claim is made here. Subscription automatically renews unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, per the listings; manage in Apple ID settings on iOS, Google Play if you paid on Android, or the website if you paid on the website.
What Formed does better
The library, and the parish door. If “Catholic movies, kids’ shows, studies, audio, a parish login, Android, Roku, Apple TV” is the requirement, they meet it. Their listing Offer is price 0 for the download; the catalogue is the subscription. We gate ten guided sessions and Sacred Seasons behind Seraph+. They publish a formation platform you sign into. We are a simpler daily office. They are not a silent office, and they do not pretend to be.
They also ship Android, name TV boxes on formed.org, and put parish-sponsored access in public: zip code, name, email. If your parish already pays, start there before you buy an individual plan. If you want the Catholic streaming catalogue, Formed is the honest recommendation, and we are not in that contest.
What Seraph does differently
Restraint as a feature, and a Bible you can finish with your eyes. No account between you and prayer — Formed’s FAQ will not let you into the library without an email sign-in. Prayer data never leaves the device; their US listing reports Location, Contact Info, User Content, Identifiers, and Purchases as linked, including for advertising or marketing, and their Play listing reports data shared with third parties. Two prices, written in plain numbers: $59.99 a year or $6.99 a month, auto-renew, cancel anytime. The entire KJV free — not a streaming catalogue behind a parish or a $99.99 year — bundled offline on iPhone, every chapter. A public web office you can open without installing an app. A streak that forgives a missed day instead of shaming it. No ads on free or paid. Guided prayer paced by breath. Compare the plan and features that fit your use, rather than assuming one worldwide price difference.
Three disclosures that belong here. The web subscription and the iPhone subscription are separate purchases and do not unlock each other. The complete offline Bible is the iPhone app; on the web, chapters you have already opened stay readable. And restoring a web subscription in a new browser emails a magic link, so we will not claim “no email ever.” There is no Seraph+ trial: you never try a paid session before buying it. The daily office is the trial of Seraph, not of the paid library.
When each app wins
Formed — if you want a Catholic streaming and formation library, including parish-sponsored access
Start from formed.org. Search for your parish at formed.org/signup before you pay personally. If no parish plan covers you, read the US listing IAP pair ($9.99 / $99.99) and the checkout in front of you. Use Android, Roku, or Apple TV if that is the screen. Do not come here first for a silent one-flame office with no account and a public vow that prayer never leaves the device. They are the Augustine Institute’s formation library, and the listings say so.
Seraph — if you want a quiet office with no account, a full KJV, and a price you can read before you install
Ours, last on purpose. A flame, the KJV, two free guided sessions, reading plans, no sign-up. Paid for the remaining sessions and Sacred Seasons, free for the office. Small, new, iPhone-and-web only. If none of those sentences is what you came for, Formed is the better fit, and we would rather you found it here than felt sold to.
Sources and scope
Checked against the following official Formed and Augustine Institute pages on . These references do not establish an independent review or endorsement of Seraph. Subjective product fit remains our assessment. watch.formed.org/tos is the Terms URL printed on the store listings; on this check it returned a Vimeo OTT / VHX shell, so we quote the readable Augustine Institute Terms of Use for account, trial-refund, and joint-venture wording instead of inventing a TOS body from that shell. The Augustine Institute Privacy Policy (Last Updated February 21, 2025) states that it does not apply to Formed and Formed en Español and points at the Formed Privacy Policy; we therefore do not treat that Augustine policy as Formed’s policy body.
- US App Store listing (id1212963367)
Supports “Free · In-App Purchases,” subtitle “Forming Catholics for Life.,” JSON-LD Offer price 0 / USD, seller Augustine Institute, Inc., copyright © 2026 Augustine Institute, Inc., category Education, JSON-LD applicationCategory EducationalApplication, the monthly-or-yearly auto-renew copy and free-trial-forfeiture sentence quoted above, named IAP labels FORMED Subscription $9.99 and FORMED Subscription $99.99 plus the unlabeled Formed - 1999 / 099 / 1699 / 1499 / 1799 / 1599 / 1899 SKUs, Information devices (iPhone, iPad, Apple Vision, Apple TV), JSON-LD availableOnDevice “Apple TV, iPhone, iPad,” languages English / French / German / Portuguese / Spanish, Age Rating 4+ with Contains Advertising Messaging and Chat User-Generated Content, In-App Purchases Yes, App Privacy as parsed from the live HTML (no Track section on this check; Linked — Location, Contact Info, User Content, Identifiers, Purchases; Not Linked — Usage Data, Search History, Diagnostics), and the Privacy Policy / Terms of Service URLs watch.formed.org/privacy and watch.formed.org/tos. We do not restate their rating, review count, or chart rank. “Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS” appears in this HTML on another Augustine Institute title (Amen) in the more-by-developer shelf; we do not treat it as Formed’s lockup.
- Formed on Google Play
Supports an Android listing, package com.ai.formed.formed, developer The Augustine Institute, itemprop Offer price 0, the same monthly-or-yearly auto-renew and free-trial-forfeiture copy, Data safety “This app may share these data types with third parties Personal info, Financial info, and Device or other IDs” / “This app may collect these data types Location, Personal info and 5 others” / “Data is encrypted in transit” / “You can request that data be deleted,” no Contains ads chip on this check, and the same watch.formed.org TOS / privacy URLs. We do not name the five “others.” We do not restate review counts or install totals from that page.
- Formed homepage
Supports the on-demand movies / audio books / podcasts product, FIND YOUR PARISH SUBSCRIPTION, Daily Reflections / studies and parish programs / audio / movies / e-books / family-friendly kids’ programming from over 100 content providers, and the device list (iPhone & iPad, Amazon Fire Tablet, Android Phone & Tablet, MacOS, Windows PC, Chrome OS, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV). The same page prints a “Trusted By” people / parishes / dioceses marketing lockup; we do not restate those counts here.
- Formed — Parishes
Supports “One parish subscription. Everyone gets access to expert led bible studies, sacrament preparation, movies, and daily formation content on any device,” sacrament materials named for baptism, reconciliation, the Eucharist, and matrimony, and parishcare@formed.org / +1 (844) 367-6331 for parish technical help. No public parish dollar amount on this check.
- Formed — Signup
Supports the parish-registration URL named by the leaders FAQ. This check loaded a signup shell without a readable field list in the static HTML, so we quote the FAQ and help-article steps for what you type, not a form we could not read.
- Formed leaders FAQ
Supports email sign-in after signup, watch.formed.org Sign In, “free through a local parish, or if you purchased an individual subscription,” formed.org/signup zip-code / name / email steps, “We no longer use custom URLs or Parish Codes,” cancel paths by storefront (Apple, Google, Roku, Amazon, website), the $1 trial pre-authorization, trailers with no subscription necessary, Spanish content, offline playback after signing into the app, Roku / AndroidTV, and Daily Reflections as short daily videos by Dr. Tim Gray on the Catholic Mass readings. We do not reuse testimonial marketing from other pages as product fact.
- Formed help — parishioner signup under the parish
Supports “create your free Formed account under your parish,” formed.org → Find Your Parish Subscription, email sign-in, one-time email code or password, parish zip code, and password rules (minimum 7 characters, one number, one special character). Modified on this check December 11, 2025. Contact named parishcare@formed.org / 1 (800) 777-7502.
- Augustine Institute Terms of Use
Supports Last Updated September 20, 2023, Formed as a joint venture with Ignatius Press, Self-Serve vs Enterprise plans, “We may offer free memberships or paid subscriptions,” auto-renew / cancel-by-storefront links, refund windows for some Self-Serve purchases made directly from Augustine Institute (30 days after an annual plan, 5 days after a monthly plan) and the listed exceptions including “Fees charged immediately after a free-trial period ends,” and legal notices to customerservice@formed.org. We do not treat “free memberships” in that TOS sentence as the streaming library being forever free. The store-listing TOS URL watch.formed.org/tos is cited as a shell above.
- Formed — Privacy URL printed on the store listings
Supports the Privacy Policy link on the US App Store and Google Play listings. This check returned a Vimeo OTT / VHX shell (Sign In, Start Free Trial), not a readable policy body, so we do not invent Formed privacy-policy clauses from it. Cookie copy on the same origin is a Vimeo OTT Cookie Policy. The US listing’s App Privacy label and the Play Data safety section are cited separately above.
Daily office free, with no account · Seraph+ $6.99/mo or $59.99/yr · auto-renews · cancel anytime
Web and iPhone subscriptions are separate purchases and do not unlock each other