Universalis

Review by eFreeware

Universalis is a paid Android app from Universalis Publishing that carries the Catholic Church's daily prayer and Mass texts. The main reason to consider it is simple: it holds the Liturgy of the Hours and the Mass for every day of every year, and it works without an internet connection.

Universalis takes the opposite approach. The publisher describes the app as complete in itself, needing neither a connection nor extra downloads, and for anyone who prays the Office on a schedule that is the appeal.

Who this app is built for

The clearest audience is people who already pray the Liturgy of the Hours, or who want to start. The app includes the Office of Readings, Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, Night Prayer and the daytime hours, so it gives the whole daily cycle rather than a selection. Anyone who has juggled a printed breviary, a ribbon set and a separate missal will recognize what is being offered here.

It also suits Catholics who follow the Mass readings day by day but do not need a whole library of commentary. The app pairs the readings with the Order of Mass, so the texts for a given day sit together instead of being spread across two volumes.

The local calendar support widens that group. Feasts and celebrations come from the General Calendar and from local calendars, including those for the UK, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland. Someone in Dublin and someone in Sydney are not looking at the same list of saints, and the app accounts for that.

The daily texts, from Mass to Night Prayer

The Mass side rests on the readings for the day, drawn from the New American Bible in the United States, the latest English Standard Version in Great Britain, and the Jerusalem Bible in the rest of the world. The Mass Today page then combines those readings with the Order of Mass, which is the part I would expect to use most: one screen for the whole celebration rather than flipping between a missal and a lectionary.

The Hours are laid out in full. The RSV is available as an optional add-on for readers outside the US who prefer it.

There is also an About Today page for the saint or feast of the day, giving background beyond the bare name in the calendar. It is a small addition, but it answers the question that comes up when a lesser-known feast appears.

Audio for the hours and the Gospel

Audio is sold as an in-app purchase or subscription. It includes Compline sung in Latin, Morning and Evening Prayer and the daytime hours spoken in Latin, and the day's Gospel read in English from the Jerusalem Bible. That mix is narrower than a general audiobook library and clearly chosen for people who pray rather than listen casually.

Praying along with a recording is a reasonable way to learn the rhythm of the Office, and Latin Compline has an obvious appeal for anyone who wants the traditional sung form. The point for a buyer is that the texts themselves are not held back behind the audio options.

What it costs and what that buys

The app is a one-time purchase at $12.99. It carries no ads, and it offers in-app purchases on top of the initial price, which in this case are the audio options described above.

Paying up front for a reference work you expect to open daily is a defensible trade, and the absence of advertising matters in an app used for prayer.

If you want to see the content before committing, the publisher points to the Catholic Calendar: Universalis app, which gives a free 30-day preview. One warning belongs here: if you already hold a Universalis registration code, the publisher asks you not to buy this app and to enter the code in the About screen of Catholic Calendar instead.

How it compares with the alternatives

The obvious comparison is a printed breviary or daily missal. Print has the advantage of familiarity and no battery to worry about, but it is bulky. Universalis also carries the local calendar variations that a single printed volume usually cannot.

Another comparison is a general Catholic app or a parish website that publishes the day's readings. Where Universalis stands apart is the completeness of the Hours and its independence from a network.

The publisher also notes that the content matches the Universalis versions on Windows, Mac and iOS. For someone already using it on a computer, the Android app is the same material in a phone-sized form rather than a cut-down edition.

A settled choice for daily prayer on Android

Universalis has been on Android since November 2012 and holds a 4.9 average from 4,771 ratings, with over 50,000 installs. That is a long run and a high score for a paid reference app, and the most recent update in September 2026 was limited to corrections and calendar adjustments.

The $12.99 price, the local calendars and the audio add-ons are the things to weigh before buying.

If you mainly want to try the content first, the free preview app costs nothing to try. If you want the full texts in your pocket, this is the version built for it.

What's new in version 2.221

A few corrections and calendar adjustments.