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Yi Jing, also known as “I Ching,” is an ancient Chinese book of wisdom that can also be used as an oracle to ask questions, and receive answers from the book. There are many different translations and interpretations. Some describe how to use it as an oracle with coins, yarrow stalks or other methods.

The app provides ways for you to consult the oracle, and keeps track of your questions and the answers in a journal. The Yi Jing app also lets you switch between different translations. 

Some translations provide valuable information for deepening your understanding of the I Ching. Check out each book provided by the app, and read its introduction or supplementary material to learn more. You can also learn more about the I Ching in hardcopy books, or online.

The I Ching or Book of Changes app is a standalone interactive book app that includes the text of Book I by Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes, in English. Books II and III are available for additional in-app purchase. Question oracle methods include manual input, quick mode (one tap), 3 Coins and Yarrow Stalks. An integrated journal is included.

The Yi Jing app includes several default English translations and many localized translations, but does not include the Wilhelm text by default. Yi Jing includes all of the oracle methods described above plus 4 Coins, Circle of Protectors and Mandala. Yi Jing also provides a Library, to let you organize and quickly switch between book translations, and a Store to add more book translations for additional in-app purchase. The other two apps provide a Sync mechanism to install their content in the Yi Jing app.

Tap the Library icon to view the books in your library:

Then, select a book to make it the current book translation. The new book's text will appear in your Journal and in the Book.

If you are noticing that the text in the Journal or Book appears to be very different from a previous update, it is likely that a different book translation was inadvertently selected in the Library. To switch back to the text you are familiar with, or back to the default translation:

1. Tap the Library icon  
2. Tap to select the translation you prefer
3. Return to the Journal or Book, and the selected translation's text will appear there

If you are noticing that the text changed from a previous in-app purchase after upgrading to a new device, see the section below on restoring in-app purchases.

The default translation since version 1 is "Yi Jing" by Brian Arnold, and its core hexagram and lines text remains unchanged. To learn more about other translations that are available in the Library and for additional in-app purchase in the Store, see the Books page.

Tap the Edit button at the top of the journal. Then, select the entries and tap the Delete button.

To turn off password-protect for the journal:

1. For iPhone or iPod touch, tap on the Journal icon; for iPad, view in Landscape orientation or tap on the Journal icon.
2. Tap the Action button to view the journal options.
3. Select Turn Passcode Off and follow the instructions.

If you have forgotten your journal passcode, you must un-install and re-install Yi Jing to reset the passcode. First, connect with iTunes on your computer to ensure that the app is backed up. Tap and hold the app icon then tap the X button to remove it from your device. Then, re-install it by reconnecting with iTunes. Your journal will also be reset.

Teachers of the I Ching oracle have found that new students become confused about how to interpret no changing lines, or multiple changing lines. Therefore, by default, when the oracle method is set to Quick, the app generates a hexagram with 1 Changing Line. 

The Quick method can be changed to use 3 Coin probabilities or Yarrow probabilities in the Settings app. See the section below for details.

The app lets you produce a hexagram either manually, or automatically using your device. The device can produce a hexagram based on your physical actions, such as shaking the device to toss the coins, or dividing a pile of yarrow stalks with your fingers. Your device’s accelerometer, the position of your fingers, and the present moment in time each play a role in producing a hexagram. You decide how you and the device play a role by choosing an oracle method:

• Quick—your finger to tap
• 3 coin—the accelerometer while you shake
• 4 coin—the accelerometer while you shake
• 3 dice—the accelerometer while you shake
• Yarrow—your two fingers to separate a pile of yarrow stalks
• Circle of Protectors—your finger to tap
• Mandala—your finger to tap
• Manual—you manually specify each line value

The 3 coin method is the most common method. Heads or tails are interpreted as Yin or Yang respectively. Some prefer heads to be interpreted as Yang, and you can change this in the Settings app. Each coin has an equal probability of being heads or tails. 3 coin line probabilities are:

•   6, greater changing yin, is 1 in 8
•   7, lesser yang, is 3 in 8
•   8, lesser yin, is 3 in 8
•   9, greater changing yang, is 1 in 8

The Yarrow stalk method is preferred by more serious students of the I Ching. This involves separating yarrow stalks and counting them, which takes more time, enabling you to meditate upon your question. Yarrow stalk line probabilities are:

•   6, greater changing yin, is 1 in 16
•   7, lesser yang, is 5 in 16
•   8, lesser yin, is 7 in 16
•   9, greater changing yang, is 3 in 16

The 4 coin method is relatively new, and has the same probabilities as the yarrow stalk method. In this method, each coin represents a binary value, either 0 or 1, 0 or 2, 0 or 4, or 0 or 8, and summing these produces a numeric value from 0 to 15. This is then used to determine the line value from the yarrow probabilities.

The Quick method generates yin or yang lines with equal probability, and only one changing line by default. This can be changed to use 3 coin or yarrow stalk probabilities in the Settings app.

The 3 Dice method is devised by Michael Hurn, and is described in more detail in his book, “I Ching: the book to turn to for Wisdom and Guidance,” available for additional in-app purchase.

The Circle of Protectors method is devised by Stephen Karcher, and is described in more detail in his book, “Navigating Change,” available for additional in-app purchase. 

The Mandala method is devised by Michael Tingle, and is described in more detail in the default book translation, as well as on this web site: http://www.michaeltingle.com/apps/.

Some oracle methods, such as 3 Coin and Yarrow, may produce no changing lines, or multiple changing lines. When no changing lines are produced, Changes and Future tabs do not display any text. However, the Future tab provides a link to the Mutual (or Nuclear) hexagram, whose reading may indicate hidden potential for the situation.

See the section for Settings options to control the display of lines text when there are multiple changing lines.

Tap on any hexagram in the Book or Journal to view its component trigrams, and then tap and move your finger over the enlarged hexagram to change the selected component trigram and view its attributes. 

Yi Jing version 4 or later honors the Text Size setting found under Display & Brightness in the Settings app, and also honors the Larger Text setting, if enabled, found under General > Accessibility in the Settings app.

The journal is stored locally on your device, to ensure privacy. With iCloud enabled, the journal is also synced automatically across all of your devices.

We strongly recommend that you regularly backup all the information on your device using iTunes, or using iCloud, particularly before installing important OS or App updates. Please see this Apple support article for detailed instructions on how to back up and restore your device's content:

iOS: How to back up and restore your content (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1766).

You can also use the Manage Journal feature from the Action menu in the Journal screen to export or import journals with cloud services.

The journal is stored locally on your device, to ensure privacy. With iCloud enabled for the app, the journal is also synced automatically across all of your devices. Other cloud document storage options that may be installed on your device are not used for storing or syncing the journal..

The Document Storage option is available in the app in order for you to be able to save a copy of a journal on other document storage systems (backup), and merge a copy of a journal back to the locally stored journal (restore). You can use the Manage Journal feature from the Action menu in the Journal screen to export or import journals with cloud services. 

If you change the Document Storage option to anything other than iCloud Drive in the Settings app, then syncing the journal between devices will be disabled.

If the journal indicates "Loading" for more than several minutes, or does not save new journal entries, or does not delete old entries, your device may be experiencing an iCloud sync issue. 

1. To turn off iCloud sync for the Yi Jing app, leave the app by pressing the Home button once, then press the Home button twice quickly to view recently running apps at the bottom of the screen. 
2. Tap and hold the Yi Jing app icon at the bottom of the screen. Swipe up on the app screen.
3. Press Home again, open the Settings app, and select iCloud.
4. Select iCloud Drive, then scroll down to the bottom and turn it off for the app. When this is turned off, a local journal will be used instead of the iCloud-based journal. 
5. Press Home again and open the app.

You may not see previously saved journal entries after you turn off iCloud sync.

If you would like to re-enable iCloud sync, reverse the setting in steps above. Once you are able to re-enable and restore iCloud syncing, the local journal will be automatically merged with the iCloud journal.

Sometimes after an app or iOS update, text in the app temporarily stops displaying or scrolling correctly. Force quitting and restarting the app usually resolves this issue.

To force quit and restart the app:

1. Press the Home button on the device to return to the home screen.
2. Press the Home button twice quickly, to see all of the recently run apps at the bottom of the screen. 
3. Swipe the app screen up until its screen and icon are removed.
4. Press the Home button once to return to the home screen and restart the app.

App updates, downloads, and in-app purchases are all handled through Apple iTunes Store. If you are having problems, confirm that you are using the correct iTunes Store Apple ID account, and use Apple’s support web site for diagnosis.

Open the Settings app on your device, select Store, and inspect your Apple ID. Then, open iTunes on your computer, select iTunes Store, then Account, and confirm that it matches the account used on your device. Then select Purchase History and locate your purchase, to confirm that it is the same account used to make the purchase.

Go to http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/, Apple’s support web page, to see if your issue is described there. Alternatively, use a search engine to find support web sites that may also describe the problem and possible solutions.

If you find an Apple support page that matches your issue, but you still cannot resolve it, use the EMail Us link on that page to contact Apple directly for further assistance.