Praying remotely: The iPhone really does do everything

Today I tried out a cute application that was launched last night called jPray (screenshots below) by Jerusalem.com. With jPray (you can download here), you record a prayer and then the prayer is said over loudspeakers in Jerusalem. That is right, you speak the prayer into the iPhone as if it is a local call in Jerusalem, close to to the Temple Mount and Wailing Wall if you are Jewish, the Church of the Holy Seplichre if you are Christian and the Dome of the Rock if you are Muslim. You can then schedule delivery for now, evening or morning prayers.

The app, which costs $1.99, is cool and cute and I think religious people everywhere will like it. It lacks two features that I would like to see, post to your social network and a feedback loop where you can see a picture of the holy site at the time your prayer is said, or, alternatively, confirmation that they prayer was spoken in Jerusalem.

jPray (screen shots below) joins another prayer app focused on the Jewish world called Kotel Notes, by Shai Winniger. Kotel Notes goes the old-fashioned way. You scrawl a note into your iPhone and even though you are unable to physically place it in the Wailing Wall, Kotel Notes will print it out for you on paper and, in time-honored tradition, will have it inserted between the hallowed stones of the Wall.

Kotel Notes also lacks the feedback loop as one of the reviewers (Bostonjew123) comments: "Great idea but need to know it got tucked in the wall!"

All in all, these are good and cute apps that are worth getting if you can't get to Jerusalem and do the real thing. But nothing beats the feeling of the real thing.

href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JQDO0yGqgXA/S3qnYJbd1FI/AAAAAAAAAZc/7FNmvcGWUps/s1600-h/Screen+shot+2010-02-16+at+4.08.32+PM.png">