Seraph vs Magnificat
A curated Catholic monthly companion — Mass texts, Hours-inspired prayers, meditations, saints, and art — and a quieter flame that never asks for an account. This page is written by the maker of Seraph — read it knowing that — and it will be generous to Magnificat, because Magnificat has earned it.
Our bias, declared: we make Seraph. The linked Magnificat sources support the specific download price, In-App Purchases SKUs, website subscribe prices, feature list, store listings, and privacy wording identified below; this is not an independent review of either app. Storefronts are cited separately because they do not print the same dollar amount. 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 Magnificat if you want a Catholic daily liturgical magazine on the phone: morning, evening, and night prayers inspired by the Liturgy of the Hours, the entire text of daily Mass, Gospel meditations, saints, and sacred art. The US listing is Magnificat English Editions, subtitle “American and British Editions,” lockup on this check “Free · In-App Purchases · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS,” seller Magnificat, Inc., category Books. JSON-LD Offer on that page is price 0, currency USD — the download, not the magazine. The catch is the product: a subscription content companion, not a silent one-flame office, and not a full King James Bible you can finish as a plan. Their US offers page also names Android. We do not have Android.
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.
Side by side
| Feature | Seraph | Magnificat |
|---|---|---|
| Annual price | $59.99/yr | Storefronts disagree; we print each one. The US App Store listing (id363526415) In-App Purchases list names One year subscription $24.00, re-read September 10, 2026. JSON-LD Offer on that page is still price 0, currency USD (the download). Their US offers page names Digital Only “Only US $19.99” (online for all devices; as an app on iPad, iPhone or Android) and Paper & Digital Edition “Only US $49” (12 issues per year plus 1 special issue for Holy Week). Their digital save page: “1 year for $19.99 or 6 months for $14.99.” The listing’s developer-website link, Magnificat Online, on this check instead reads “1 year for $24 or 6 months for $14.99.” We do not merge those dollar amounts. |
| Monthly price | $6.99/mo | No monthly-plan dollar amount is named as a subscription SKU on the pages cited here. The US listing copy says subscriptions purchased through the App “are on a monthly or yearly basis.” The named In-App Purchases list on this check shows One year subscription $24.00 and individual month issues, including September 2026 $1.99 and older issues such as Magnificat December 2010 $0.99. The Play listing says then “buy each month or subscribe for one year” and shows an In-app purchases range of $1.49 - $24.00 per item. We do not invent a monthly subscription price from that range or from the month-issue SKUs. |
| Family plan | — | No family SKU published. This check found no Family Sharing sentence on the US listing. We do not invent a family plan price. |
| Free trial | None — the free tier is the trial | A first-time window, not a forever-free magazine. The US listing: “For first-time users, the App is free from the day it is installed until the end of that month, at which time you can subscribe on our website or through the App.” The same copy: “Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication.” The Play listing: “free from the day you install the App, until the end of the month.” Print subscribers are described separately below. |
| 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, and complimentary App access if you already take print. The US listing JSON-LD Offer is price 0, currency USD — the download, not the magazine. “Subscribers to the print edition receive complimentary App access.” The Play listing: “The App is free for subscribers to the printed version of the USA edition.” The first-time install-month window is a trial, not forever. The liturgical magazine itself is the subscription, in the next row. |
| Subscription opens | Full guided-prayer library (12 sessions) · Sacred Seasons (Advent & Lent) | The magazine after the first-time window, unless print already covers you. The US listing names prayers for the morning, evening, and night inspired by the Liturgy of the Hours; the entire text of daily Mass; meditations on the daily Gospel from the Church Fathers and recent spiritual masters; essays on the lives of the saints; sacred art masterpieces with commentaries; American English Edition (Fr. Sebastian White, OP, Editor-in Chief) with the New American Bible Lectionary; International English Edition (Léonie Caldecott, Editor-in-Chief) with the English Standard Version Lectionary for England, Wales, and Scotland. Same listing Information section: In-App Purchases Yes, with the named SKUs above. Annual subscriptions “automatically renew” unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current subscription; after purchase they “may be managed, and auto-renewal may be turned off” in Apple ID Account Settings. Their online page and digital save page both say the digital editions include audio files of selected hymns and chants. We found no Contains ads chip on the Play listing. We do not invent ads from a third-party review. |
| Account required | No — no sign-up exists | A subscriber login on the web, not a “no account” product. Their online page and digital save page: “Already a subscriber? Log in to read your Magnificat online. Each individual print subscription includes free digital access.” The privacy policy describes cookies that “identify you” so “you would not have to log in a password more than once,” and order forms that collect name, shipping address, and credit-card data. We do not invent an App Store login from Apple ID. We also do not claim Magnificat has no account. |
| Liturgy of the Hours | Quiet daily office paced by breath. Not the Roman Breviary. No Invitatory-through-Night-Prayer cycle. | Hours-inspired prayers, not a published Invitatory-through-Compline breviary on the pages cited here. The US listing: “prayers for the morning, evening, and night inspired by the Liturgy of the Hours.” The Play listing: “prayers for both morning and evening inspired by the Liturgy of the Hours.” We print the wording they use. We do not invent a missal-and-breviary license or a full Roman Hours table. |
| Mass readings | None. Not a missal. No Order of Mass. | The magazine’s daily Mass. The US listing: “the entire text of daily Mass”; American edition using the New American Bible Lectionary; International edition based on the English Standard Version Lectionary. The Play listing: “the official texts of Mass”; liturgical source “United States Conference of Catholic Bishops & ICEL.” |
| Meditations, saints, and art | None of these as listed products. Breath-paced guided prayer, not a monthly liturgical magazine. | The rest of the companion. The US listing: meditations on the daily Gospel; essays on the lives of the saints, both well-known and obscure; sacred art masterpieces with commentaries. The Play listing repeats Mass, morning and evening prayers, meditations, and profiles of saints. |
| Spoken audio | None. Breath-paced guided prayer, not a spoken breviary. | Selected hymns and chants on the digital edition, not a paid spoken-Hours add-on named as its own SKU. Their online page and digital save page: “the digital editions includes audio files of selected hymns and chants.” This check found no spoken-Hours subscription SKU on the US listing. |
| Prayer analytics | None — a public vow. Prayer data never leaves your device | Three 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): Data Linked to You — Contact Info, User Content, Identifiers; Data Not Linked to You — Identifiers, Usage Data, Diagnostics. The expanded label on this check: Data Linked to You for Developer’s Advertising or Marketing (Contact Info — Email Address) and App Functionality (Contact Info — Email Address; User Content — Customer Support; Identifiers — User ID); Data Not Linked to You for Developer’s Advertising or Marketing (Usage Data — Product Interaction), Analytics (Identifiers — Device ID; Usage Data — Product Interaction; Diagnostics — Crash Data, Performance Data), and App Functionality (Identifiers — Device ID; Usage Data — Product Interaction). This check found no “Data Used to Track You” section. Their Google Play Data safety section: “No data shared with third parties”; “This app may collect these data types” — Personal info, Financial info, and Device or other IDs; Data is encrypted in transit; You can request that data be deleted. Their privacy policy covers www.magnificat.com, www.magnificat.net, www.magnifikid.com, www.magnifiermagazine.com, affiliated websites, and the Magnificat App: information you voluntarily give via email or other direct contact; order forms that collect name, shipping address, and credit-card number; an outside shipping company and a credit card processing company; cookies, including CUSTOMER and FRONTEND session cookies. We print all of that. We do not restate rating or ranking marketing from those pages. |
| Bible | Full KJV bundled; offline on iPhone | Lectionary texts in the magazine, not a 1,189-chapter King James you can finish as a plan. The US listing: New American Bible Lectionary (American English Edition); English Standard Version Lectionary (International English Edition). We do not invent a Protestant reading plan inside Magnificat. |
| Platforms | iPhone and web | The US listing Information section names iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac (macOS 11.0 or later, Apple M1 or later), and Apple Vision. The same listing’s lockup prints “Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.” JSON-LD availableOnDevice on that page is “iPhone, iPad, iPod.” We print all three. The Google Play listing is Android, name Magnificat (US edition), developer Magnificat. Their US offers page names the digital edition “as an app on your iPad, iPhone or Android.” Their online page is a subscriber web office with a Log in, not a no-account public Hours page. |
| Tradition | Broadly Christian, KJV | Catholic liturgical magazine. The US listing seller is Magnificat, Inc., category Books; JSON-LD applicationCategory on that page is ReferenceApplication. Copyright on that listing is © Magnificat®. The listing’s Privacy Policy button points at the bookstore privacy page; the description also names that URL for Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. |
| If you cannot pay | No scholarship or sponsorship path published. Advent and most guided sessions require Seraph+. | Download the app they already price at 0, then the first-time window until the end of that month. The US listing Offer is price 0. The Play listing Offer is price 0. Print subscribers receive complimentary App access on the pages cited here. No scholarship path for Magnificat is named on the pages cited here. |
Magnificat’s US listing is a free download with In-App Purchases inside. App Store One year subscription $24.00 is not the same sentence as website Digital Only US $19.99. Read the table, not a merged price. No worldwide cheapest-price claim is made here.
What Magnificat does better
The curated month. If “daily Mass, Hours-inspired morning and evening prayer, Gospel meditations, saints, sacred art, a print magazine, Android” is the requirement, they meet it. Their listing Offer is price 0 for the download; the magazine is the subscription. We gate ten guided sessions and Sacred Seasons behind Seraph+. They publish a monthly liturgical companion. We are a simpler daily office. They are a magazine you pray with.
They also ship Android, keep American and British English editions, and give print subscribers complimentary App access. If you want the Catholic Mass as a monthly companion, saints and art beside the readings, or a phone that is not an iPhone, Magnificat 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. No account between you and prayer — Magnificat’s online page tells subscribers to log in, and their privacy policy describes login cookies and order forms. Prayer data never leaves the device; their US listing reports Contact Info, User Content, and Identifiers as linked, and their Play listing reports Personal info, Financial info, and Device or other IDs collected. 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 day’s Mass readings — 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
Magnificat — if you want a Catholic daily Mass magazine with Hours-inspired prayer
Start from the US listing or the Play listing. Read the day’s Mass. Pray morning and evening. Use the saints and art if that is the work. Subscribe on the website or through the App — those storefronts do not print the same yearly price. Use Android if that is your phone. Do not come here first for a full King James you can read offline as a plan, or for a silent one-flame office with no account and a public vow that prayer never leaves the device. They are Magnificat, Inc.’s liturgical magazine, 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, Magnificat is the better fit, and we would rather you found it here than felt sold to.
Sources and scope
Checked against the following official Magnificat pages on . These references do not establish an independent review or endorsement of Seraph. Subjective product fit remains our assessment.
- Magnificat English Editions US App Store listing (id363526415)
Supports “Free · In-App Purchases · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS,” subtitle American and British Editions, JSON-LD Offer price 0 / USD, seller Magnificat, Inc., category Books, JSON-LD applicationCategory ReferenceApplication, copyright © Magnificat®, the Mass / Hours-inspired prayers / meditations / saints / sacred art / NAB / ESV / complimentary print-subscriber App access / first-time-until-end-of-month copy quoted above, named In-App Purchases SKUs including One year subscription $24.00 and September 2026 $1.99, annual auto-renew wording, Information devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac with Apple M1 or later, Apple Vision), JSON-LD availableOnDevice “iPhone, iPad, iPod,” App Privacy as parsed from the live HTML (Data Linked to You — Contact Info, User Content, Identifiers; Data Not Linked to You — Identifiers, Usage Data, Diagnostics; no Track section on this check), and the Privacy Policy button to the bookstore URL below. We do not restate their rating, review count, or ranking marketing.
- Magnificat (US edition) on Google Play
Supports an Android listing, JSON-LD Offer price 0 / USD, developer Magnificat, name Magnificat (US edition), the Mass / morning-and-evening Hours-inspired prayers / meditations / saints / print-subscriber / first-time-until-end-of-month copy quoted above, liturgical source United States Conference of Catholic Bishops & ICEL, In-app purchases chip with range $1.49 - $24.00 per item, Data safety “No data shared with third parties” / may collect Personal info, Financial info, and Device or other IDs / Data is encrypted in transit / You can request that data be deleted, and no Contains ads chip on this check. We do not treat that IAP range as a named monthly SKU. We do not restate review counts or install totals from that page.
- Magnificat USA — special subscription offers
Supports Paper & Digital Edition “Only US $49” (12 issues per year, 1 special issue for Holy Week) and Digital Only “Only US $19.99” (online for all devices; as an app on iPad, iPhone or Android). This is not the App Store IAP list. We do not merge $19.99 with $24.00.
- Magnificat USA — Magnificat online (save)
Supports “Each individual print subscription includes free digital access,” a Log in for subscribers, and digital-only “1 year for $19.99 or 6 months for $14.99,” plus “the digital editions includes audio files of selected hymns and chants.”
- Magnificat USA — Magnificat Online
Supports the App Store listing’s Developer Website link, the same Log in / print-includes-digital-access sentence, digital-only “1 year for $24 or 6 months for $14.99” on this check (not $19.99), and the same hymns-and-chants audio sentence. We print $24 here and $19.99 on the two pages above. We do not merge them.
- Magnificat privacy policy
Supports a policy for www.magnificat.com, www.magnificat.net, www.magnifikid.com, www.magnifiermagazine.com, affiliated websites, and the Magnificat App; collection of information you voluntarily give via email or other direct contact; order-form contact and financial information; cookies including login/session cookies; an outside shipping company and a credit card processing company; and contact at magnificat@magnificat.com. The listing description also points at this URL for Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. This page is not a prayer-analytics vow. The US listing’s App Privacy label is 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