As an introverted member of the church, the idea behind this app is invaluable- a place where I can look up my fellow church members and leaders and get their number or address and find a way to connect that isn’t walking up at church and saying “hello, let’s talk” because that’s terrifying. However, many of the aspects of this app make it difficult for me to use, earning it’s star rating- it’s been buggy lately, meaning that I have been too anxious to use it for its intended purpose. The information doesn’t sync often enough (despite my best efforts to push the sync button!) so it often isn’t very helpful. So many people are on “private”- I don’t know if that’s the default or if people are just choosing it, but again, if all of my church leaders are on “private”, I feel like I don’t even know who to talk to much less how to reach them. And there’s no in-app messaging options, which honestly would make my life so much simpler. If these things were updated, especially the last one, this app would get 5 stars from me. But until the technology catches up with my needs, the best I can do is 3 stars.
This app is atrocious. As a clerk, I see so much potential in its use, but it is a literal pain to work with. It’s glitchy, slow, inconsistent, and with the Church-wide push towards digital/online materials I really hope they either revamp or replace this app entirely. I try to encourage members to get accustomed to everything being online/digital, but when they need to use this app, it can be discouraging. Honestly, I just barely deleted it and plan on just using the church website (which is not perfect either, but is significantly better). I may redownload it, but for now, it is too unreliable. EDIT: Since being reached out to about my review, I redownloaded the app to see if the said changes actually did anything. The app seems a little less glitchy and more user-friendly. I added a star to my rating, because I could tell people are actually trying to make it better. I appreciate effort and genuinely hope this app can live up to its potential. I plan on adding more stars to my rating if it continues to work well. Thank you. EDIT #2: This is significantly better. Thank you.
Overall I think this app is great! I think it does a great job when it comes to contacting members and finding peoples numbers in my ward, which I find is very necessary at times. It also is a really great tool when I want to see who the new people in the ward are and their names so I don’t constantly ask them “hey, sorry what’s your name again?” I just look it up haha. A few things I think would make it better are 1. I often find that I need to find someone from another stake but I don’t have access to the stakes around me, it would be infinitely more convenient if I could see as far as the stakes in the area around me to be able to contact people in those wards as well. 2. Another thing is age, it has been very difficult for me to figure out who people in my ward are when they don’t have a picture or ages on this app. I know that only a few people can access age but I feel that it is a very important identification tool and would help immensely if everyone could see age and birthday (even if it’s just for individual wards). These are just a few things I would suggest. Thanks for keeping these in mind!
So the syncing issue, for me anyway, has been going on for quite some time. I’ve developed Apps in the past and finally had some time to dig in and dedicate to testing this one, to see if I could find a pattern to the issue. I’ve been able to reproduce the issue and fix it multiple times now. Here are steps I took to fix the Syncing issue. For reference I am on the latest update of iOS on an iPhone 11 Pro. - Here is the fix - Open the app and immediately click Help in the upper right of the screen, Click Sign Out / Reset and then OK. Then, Delete the App from your phone and then re-download it. Sign in and accept the permissions. Sign in and let it update. The update will likely take a while, a few minutes (3-5) for me. It should work. It worked for me a few times on a few devices. Here’s the other important thing. If you want to make updates much much faster go to Settings, under the More... menu and turn off Download Photos. The issue may actually be caused by turning on Download Photos. This is a great app, when it’s syncing. Enjoy.
Like several others note the app suddenly and recently stopped being able to finish it's sync process. This may have been triggered by multiple attempts to sync while the Church's web site was having seizures yesterday. Since the Church's web site became functional again I tried to sync repeatedly (because the app wouldn't let me do anything else), and I tried the usual iOS methods for removing and restoring the app. The fix this time was to go deep in iOS settings and delete the app along with it's data and documents. (Try Settings, General, iPhone Storage, open the Tools app listing and choose Delete App.) This app still needs fixing. Maybe allow customers to kill an obviously stalled sync process and/or clear failed sync downloads from within the app. Maybe prevent the app from trying to sync when Church web resources are glitching. Like others I've learned to expect the app to catastrophically fail at the most inopportune times and function reasonably well only when it's not really needed. Having functioned as a ward, assistant, or stake clerk for around 35 years this app is the only tool so far that has not been reliable. I've been wishing it would get better since it was made available. Function increases have been great. It now needs stability/reliability fixes.
This app is a handy little thing to use and it’s awesome! Well, when it works, at least. It worked for the first little while, and it was nice to be able to find phone numbers so I can contact ward members. It’s a great way to see who to contact to get information on activities, meetings, etc. It’s a great app, but recently it hasn’t been working. It stopped working a few months ago. It randomly signed me out of my account and whenever I open the app, it brings me to the login screen. The problem with this is it won’t let me tap on anything, it won’t let me type in anything, no matter what I do it stays frozen in place. I have the app fully updated, including the most recent update from Feb. 3rd, but yet, it still does the same thing. I know other people such as my brother who are having the same problem. Please fix this! It’s not just a bug, it’s a major problem. I can’t even use the app or do anything with it except look at the pretty cover (which by the way is a beautiful color). Please, please, please fix this! Otherwise it’s an awesome app. It comes in handy to have. Nice job, with the exception of that problem, but otherwise it’s great 👍🏻
I have been frustrated with app since was created. It is hard to sync, sometimes the app just don’t let you sync. I used to see the self reliance missionaries of my ward and know it says that i have no access to it. Sometimes I open it and close itself immediately. Sometimes just start syncing for ever and never end. Many times it says that my password and id is incorrect and i know it is not. I had to change passwords a lot because this don't let me used my real id and password. I took this app from my apps and put it back and still the same problem or a new one. I am just annoyed by the church’s apps. I have the same problems with the Gospel Library app, Memory and Family tree. For a week I wasn’t able to see all my memories. They just disappeared. I was so scared of losing my journal entries. Anyway, this is a negative review for another app. Please dedicate my time on this apps and fix these problems. I would not use this apps but because of my callings I have too. These apps are very useful when they work properly. Let take advantage of technology and make the best of this apps so we can do our callings better. Thank you.
I’ve appreciated the development of this app over the years. It has become very helpful. The latest release has a horrendous UI and the new homescreen is reminiscent of a windows desktop cluttered with all of a user’s files and shortcuts. There are way too many tile shortcuts and no ability to delete the unwanted ones. Some tiles link to information in other apps. I don’t go the Tools app for handbook information or information related to my calling. Clean it up. I would make fewer tile that had broader categories that opened a screen with related information. Less is more in my opinion and the homescreen is also less functional because I can’t even read the words on some of the tiles. I appreciate the long development hours behind this app and appreciate all the effort there. I also understand the value in honest feedback in the developer process. I would prefer the look of the previous version with improved sync functionality. Keep developing this app and know that what you’re doing is helpful.
**UPDATE** This is the 2nd review I am sending in. Still having issues with syncing. Please take some time to fix this issue! I would like the benefit of being able to access ward information from my phone in order to fulfill my church calling. I haven’t really had any issues with this app in the past, but lately it has consistently been having issues with not being able to sync manually or automatically. Would really appreciate it if this app could have a major fix through, I use this app for my church calling constantly and it’s frustrating that the app isn’t working on my phone.
Consistent crashing. Syncs do not work. Signing in fails and so a reset of the password is requires. Resetting the password takes 12 hours to register. Tried to contact support and needed to sign in to contact them, which obviously isn’t possible because of the need to rest the password. The workflow isn’t working, there are often failures in buttons, a request to sync. I am often stuck in “update” or “sync” mode. Nothing is improving. And as I have moved I still cannot get in (1 month later) to find a ward and times. Additionally, there should be an option for me, as a user and member, to request my records to be moved - and it should be automated. I shouldn’t have to find a local priesthood leader, which I cannot identify because I can’t find a ward because the app doesn’t work, to get my records moved. It’s record movement, not furniture moving. This really should work better.
My credentials no longer work, presumably after the update to version 5.0. I am still able to login to the church website to access my account with the same credentials, but they do not work on this app. After changing my password multiple times and reinstalling the app, I reached out to support. I was given an email to contact them, and after looking into it all they said was to hope the next update to the app fixes my issue. Very difficult to have a church calling that requires LDS tools, and not have access to it. Update: the developer response is a little canned and worthless response asking me to try stuff I have already tried multiple times with multiple members of the support team. You would think the developers would spend time fixing the basic functionality of the app rather than reposting worthless information in response to critical reviews.
There is no reason for an organization of this size and power to have such a buggy and unreliable app. These bugs have been persistent for what feels like ages now. Certainly years, as I keep having to redownload the app every few months when the sync issue can’t be dodged anymore. - Does not sync. I have to uninstall and reinstall the app every time I want to sync, manual and auto sync features simply do not work. Out of a handful of people I asked, it did not work for them either. - Search is not useful. The search feature is too narrow, for example inputting a phone number does not show the family attached to it. - Does not remember preferred temples. - Modal about app update/“new” stuff sometimes appear 3 or more times when opening the app instead of only on the first open after updating. ??? Who is in charge of this app development, to have not made any real improvements to these usability bugs for years?? If you have teammates who want better funding, usability testing, engineering time, whatever, you should listen to them because this app isn’t even pretty, and that’s much easier to develop than actual functionality. “Usable” by redownloading the app constantly is trash, that accessibility is awful, especially for anyone not tech savvy. Get it together guys
I removed this app from my phone months ago, and every so often (once a month?) I try redownloading it to see if the issues have been fixed. Not a chance. I am not able to download/sync my data/properly sign in regardless of how often I uninstall and reinstall this app. It just stays stuck on the “updating” wheel. On the random occasions it does sign in (when whichever stars seem to be aligned), it refuses to remain signed in and/or doesn’t let me navigate away from the “Updates” page to access my actual information. I think the last time I was actually able to access my ward info from this app was maybe... June or July? I’ve kinda given up on the app. Maybe one day they’ll fix it, but in the meantime I have been using the church website’s Ward/Stake portal to get ministering and committee information—which is a lot worse in terms of design and UX, and is a headache to use, but at least it LOADS.
Authentication inconsistencies between app and web
I recently changed my password on the website to one generated by Apple keychain. The password works fine on the web. However, at the same time the app member tools started having problems and I could not login again to the tools app on iPhone. Weeks went by and I could not login to tools app but I could login to the website. The tools app kept saying incorrect password. But it wasn’t. It donned on me that all my problems started when I set my password to one generated by apple. So, I changed my password to one shorter and without special chars. Now I can login to both tools and web. Please, fix the app so that it accepts the password provided and does not alter it. Seems what’s allowed on the web differs from what the app can use. These must be in sync to avoid problems like this. Leaving this 1 star review hoping someone there sees this.
Fraught with so many little problems I may become Hindu. - Forced updates (even when you’ve supposedly selected the manual update option), so you can’t even access the program to do anything while the update struggles with the overtaxed servers in Salt Lake. - Did you login? How about logging in again? Oh, you’d like to see the ward directory? Let’s login again just to make sure. You’d like the face recognition option like all your other apps? Sure. Tomorrow we’ll have you type it again… then it will lockup on the update. Then ask you to login again. Wash, rinse, repeat. - Need to send a text to your district? Best wishes. After you login for the fourth time, and wait for the update, it will display the message window on top of a line of names. If you choose to start typing it will become an indecipherable collage of names and text. Try to edit and you’ll select names, or a bit of the message. I found if I swipe up the app two times it will eventually display the information correctly, but you have to type in three lines of text first for it to change. I should say retype three lines of text. After that it will kick in the update. Such a needed app, yet so frustratingly incapable of doing what it needs to do.
This app used to be great, but the last couple of years its definitely been going downhill. At this point almost everything I try do do on it takes forever. Anything I select takes almost a full minute before it responds. Separately, I still don’t get the issue with needing to “sync” the app regularly. Not a single one of my other apps need to be “synced” regularly to work. If I access this data on my computer, the website doesn’t expect me to sync anything to my computer regularly, so what’s the need for the app to be fully synced? Don’t get it… Third, I’ve been wondering about this for years, but why can we no longer see the birthdays for those we minister to? I guess we don’t “need” the parents ages, but I think we should need the kids ages so we know when they have upcoming ordinances to prepare for. I guess all of this is because we’re supposed to be excellent ministers and ask them for all this info regularly huh?🤔 We used to get all this info on the little slips of paper we used to get at church. Maybe we should go back to that? Prior Review and Rating: Great and getting better! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ One of my more used apps.
The app definitely provides all the functionality it promises, under normal circumstances. Unfortunately, despite having enabled automatic updates and allowed the app to update while wifi is off, the app will not update, not even manually. I just get an eternally spinning progress wheel. This shouldn’t be hard. The amount of information that needs to be updated isn’t large. The app should always be up-to-date. Instead, I’m left with a months-old directory that’s missing a good half of my new ward members, has several dozen people that have moved out, and is full of out-of-date callings. I live in a student ward. There is tons of turnover. The main functionality of the app is hamstrung by an out-of-date directory that does not update. I can’t in good conscience give this app a good score.
TIRED of having to actually delete the app every time I want to sync. Across multiple of my devices, then there’s the older folks in the ward who think they’re doing something wrong because it give them the message about syncing or you’ll get logged out, but then says it can’t sync and eventually becomes worthless. Amazing that deleting and re-installing IMMEDIATELY allows syncing again (for a while). It’s like working on Windows (except I don’t have to reinstall iOS). When it works, it’s a great time saver compared to the church website (which is non-standards compliant and fails all over the leader tools section if you don’t use Chrome — but doesn’t tell you that: just seems like it doesn’t work). Anyway. Good idea, but something fundamentally wrong with this app.
Wonderful app that’s gone through many necessary changes and updates over the years. It’s gotten progressively better, but has one huge flaw: It’s dependent on members to actually participate and get things done. Lol. This is the Church’s issue in microcosm! C’mon people, get your photos posted and info updated. It only works when you do! One thing I’d love is the ability to view a photo roster of any organization in your ward or the entire ward. It used to have this ability back in the day, but has now been removed. This would be super helpful for new move-ins and Stake visitors. Hate fumbling over peoples names!
Hello. I am a big fan of lds tools, I use it every day so that I may remember the names of people I have forgotten. But something very important is missing from this beloved app: a dating function. Just think about it, if people were able to message the cute girl directly from LDS tools rather than stalking her and looking for her number it would take out the creeper aspect. Tools could accomplish so much more and bring to pass Gods purpose of bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man, is not this the meaning of member tools?? Just think about it.
Let me just start off by saying that this app is a great concept and I’m grateful for it when it’s working correctly, but more and more often lately it’s simply too glitchy to be useful. I’ve had to delete and redownload the app several times in the last few months because it simply stopped working. It’ll work okay for a couple weeks after redownloading it, then those blasted new privacy messages pop up, which I promptly acknowledge and accept, after which my directory goes blank and the only thing I have access to is the calendar. I am a relatively tech savvy person with a relatively new phone (iPhone 13) and it just seems inconceivable to be that an app that’s so widely used within the church should be so glitchy as to be unusable so frequently.
I am having syncing issues it seems. Not able to see current information in the directory. Member’s phone number is changed but I still see the old phone number. She and another sister I checked with is able to see the correct phone number. I have synced twice, no change. I turned off my phone and left it off for over three hours, and still the same. I have deleted the app, waited for several hours before installing again and the same thing. I have deleted it from all my devices, but no different. I do not get the option to reinstall, only to open because it is in the “cloud”. Please advise how to avoided installing the same corrupt app. It is not showing in iCloud in settings.
Great app that makes it easy to connect to your ward, and easily contact anyone. The newest update has also made the UI much cleaner, and up to date with today’s standards. It is very nice. What would make it even better is having the ability to not I only search or categorize by last name, but by first name also. It would also be very helpful if all the pieces of information were standardized in their format such as the phone numbers where some appear with dashes, an others without them. The dashes make it much easier to read when you need to write down a phone number.
Around the beginning of 2020 the app stopped working. Occasionally I will be able to use it briefly before it starts “updating,” & seizes up. I’ve done everything—restarting the app, deleting & reinstalling the app, & even deleting it from settings. Nothing works. Since I have a leadership position this is really inconvenient. It seems to me like the church’s tech was great until the end of 2019. Then it was like they were too ambitious & trying to change everything at once. Websites & content that I used before couldn’t be found, apps (including Tools) weren't navigable & crashed, & I’ve even been disappointed with the Gospel Living app. It hasn’t delivered on promises. Perhaps covid has complicated everything? Maybe my 6S+ is too old to smoothly install the updates? I’m not sure. 😟
App has worked great up until several months ago. Using iPhone 11. No longer remembers my credentials, kicks me out multiple times a day. Once I do log back in, after 3-5 minutes of updating it may or may not let me back in. Submitted a ticket for this issue and was given three steps: Turn off the mobile device completely, wait a couple of minutes, then turn it on again. Rebooting will reset the app. Delete the app, wait a few hours and then download it from the App Store or the Play Store. The wait time is crucial to ensure that the old version isn't pulled back up. Go to the More Menu > Settings > Refresh Data. This will kick-start the automatic updates as well. After going through the steps twice on separate occasions, still have the same issue.
iOS 14.5.1 - app wanted to update all the time and would always fail but I could still use it after it failed - finally I chose to log out in effort to obtain a successful update but then it still failed and now I can no longer access member information because now it fails back to the log on screen. I have also deleted and reinstalled it several times trying to get a clean start but same behavior - I can no longer use the app because it will not update. It authenticates me then stops at 1/4 or almost 1/2 of the update circle then hangs and never finishes. Sometimes it advances to almost 1/2 then after a minute or so will rewind the spinner and start over but then only get 1/4 the way and hang again - Updating…
Ever since the update, the app has not been working for me. It struggles to load, freezes, kicks me out of the app randomly and important information on members, like their photos won’t show up. Its really getting in the way of my calling. My husband had the same issue and finally got his to work after over an hour or refreshing, messing with settings and deleting and redownloading the app. We aren’t sure what fixed it but now it’s working! We have tried to do the same for mine but nothing is working. I don’t think it’s an issue with my phone because it worked before the update and I have the newest iPhone. I’m not sure what this update was supposed to accomplish, but it made the tools app worse somehow.
I use this app all the time and it works amazing! So glad we have an app like this now and how we can easily connect with the missionaries as well. There are only two things I would want changed to this app. First, is to be able to save events to other calendars than just apple calendar(I have an iPhone). It won't let me choose my Google calendar to transfer an event from the app calendar to my calendar. Second, it would be amazing to be able to add events in the app and not have to go to the website to do it. Thanks for all the amazing improvements that you keep putting into the app.
It’s easy to take this for granted, but I remember the days of printed Stake directories. We have it good. I use this reliable, intuitive app for a hundred little tasks and questions: getting around on splits with missionaries, keeping track of kids’ names and birthdays, helping youth sign up for FamilySearch accounts, reviewing new move-ins, and much more. Would love to see in future releases: a map module like the one on LCR; my location and option for driving directions; ability for clerks etc to update info in the app; and reporting for HT (now ministering).
According to church app support, this app no longer works per new Apple protocols unless you have iOS 11 and higher. Nothing can be done. Older iOS will no longer work. They church app support suggestion is to do the online internet search to find the info needed. I can't update my OS because will lose access to 9 apps I paid for that no longer exists that I use weekly if not daily. Wish I had known about losing member tool access with the latest syn before hand. Would have saved important member contact info into contact app before hand. Just wanted to warn others that you may lose the app if you do the next syn, and sooner or later, all will have to syn. Older devices are being left behind as the church moves forward.
Sorry guys… the tool is great and indispensable; however, it is frustrating the update function does not work. It goes through the update, reports back the update was successful, but the data was not updated… even after waiting 24-hours. Have to delete the app and reinstall it to actually get updated information. I’m not the only one having this problem, several other members in my ward are complaining about the same thing. Running on an iPhone 12Pro latest version.
Normally I have no complaints about this app. It’s great and very useful! However, specifically this weekend when I’ve tried to do a manual update it’s been giving me an error message saying that the church site is down for maintenance. That’s not true. I’ve checked and the website works. I’m watching Conference right now through the Gospel Library which I believe it powered by fhe website. I’ve been on the website and it’s not down. What’s going on. I was at a friend’s for the morning session and her app was working just fine. Why doesn’t mine work?
This app has been a lifesaver so many times for helping me stay in touch with my ward or fulfill callings! This year however it has been very hit and miss as to whether I can use it. Between mandatory syncs that freeze up, but still lock me out of my contacts until they are done, error messages when trying to contact support, and intermittent issues with biometrics for login, I never know if I’ll be able to use it or not. I appreciate the new features over the last few years, but can we please go back to basics and make the app reliable again before anything else?
“Sign in or sync now” a phrase that instantly scares the spirit away.. and it is shown every time I attempt to use this app. When the “sync now” feature actually works, (hasn’t for several weeks for me) you are left waiting while the app establishes a dial up connection to get the most recent data. Suggestions: 1) get rid of the “sign out or sync now” button.. I wouldn’t have downloaded the app if I didn’t want it to sync.. 2) it would be awesome to be able to pay tithes/offerings via the app. Just a thought. P.s. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true.. stay blessed.
This is an app that mostly benefits those with callings in church organizations. Want a better tool where you can message with participating members? Download the Gospel Living app. You can message members, make goals, find inspiration, etc… the only downside to it is the fact that many ward members haven’t downloaded it yet. I don’t know if it’s because they don’t know about it or what but our ward members, other than those with callings, haven’t made use of it. It’s a shame. Otherwise, this tools app is handy, but definitely is a work in progress. Hope they figure out the glitches.
Update is better (because now it works), but still not very responsive when searching members in the directory (which is probably the most used feature). Some basic navigation buttons can be pretty sluggish too. I’m on an iPhone 15 pro max. And the meetinghouse feature kinda doesn’t work a lot of the time. I type in a specific address and no meeting houses populate (I don’t share my location with the app). However you can type a city and state and one location appears on the map. why can’t we see on the map all the chapels in Mesa within a certain radius? And to just show the jankiness of the app, I can actually select the word “meetinghouses” on the meetinghouses screen and delete it/type over it. This feels more like a beta version. The other problem is the same with the library app… they are constantly changing major UI elements.
Another update and the same longstanding issues persist. No appreciable change. Search continues to be buggy. Frequently locks up. Often the keyboard freezes in position making it impossible to use the bottom navigation. When you click on the directory icon there is always a pause, especially when trying to search the Stake Directory. I have the latest iPhone and my iOS is up to date. I think I was able to browse the directory for about 2 minutes longer than normal before the app completely froze. Really disappointing. I am hopeful that at some point the team can get their hands around the issues plaguing this awful app.
I’m locked out of this app because it constantly tells me the church website is down for maintenance when I try to sync. That is completely untrue as I am able to log in to the church site easily every time. So it’s stuck on the opening sync screen, telling me it can’t sync. I have a new phone as of one year ago & I'm running a current iOS. I’ve deleted & reinstalled the app with no improvement. Since we no longer receive paper ward or stake directories, what are we supposed to do to reach other members when this app doesn’t work? This app is an important tool for members. It’s baffling to me that the developers still haven’t fixed it. It could be great but unfortunately it’s completely unusable. Please fix it!
This app is very useful once you get in! Every time I need to use it, to look up a phone number, address, etc. it wants to sync ( i.e., even if I just used it 30 min. earlier!). The sync can be quick, however, it will kick me out & make me re-enter my user name & password! Really annoying! I saved my face recognition & it rarely uses it. This happens when I can’t remember my password, it’s at home, so then I’m locked out while at church, etc. Yesterday I was in our boat with the young women’s group when it stalled. We needed to call for help to the members onshore, & this app synced & locked me out once again! Ugh! Please fix this poor app!
There are so many good things about this app. It is very useful to help reach out to people and also to help fulfill your callings. However, none of this matters when the app crashes. This app crashes way too frequently. I have been dealing with an issue for months with my personal info being set to private. I have tried changing the setting so other members can see my contact info with no luck. When I go to edit my personal profile the app either crashes, or doesn’t update my personal info after I change it. I still use the app regularly, but it’s kind of like riding a bike with flat tires.
The member tools app is good at showing you the people in your ward. However, it doesn’t perform any updates at all when I change my info. My photos are super old and I had to ask my ward clerk to update my contact info because every time I did it reverted back after I closed and reopened the app. Very frustrating user experience. Also, when I moved wards I had to uninstall and reinstall the up for the sync to work, otherwise it just showed the spinning circle indefinitely as if it was syncing but it never finished. I would love it if the church would put a little more work into the app. As a small business software developer, I can tell you that we would go out of business if our app performed like this one.
When it works it is wonderful. It just has too many random failures. For a while my password worked on my iPad but on my iPhone it wouldn’t accept the same password. Before it just lost all info in the middle of a bishopric meeting. And for a couple of weeks the app on my year-old iPhone XR has insisted on updating whenever I open it, even when it’s set for manual updates. Then it spends 10 minutes failing to update and finally tells me Tools is unavailable right now. As a bishop, I really need this app but I can’t count on using Tools on my phone—even though it works great on my old iPad. Please either get this fixed or give us another app.
Would the Church ever consider digital Temple Recomends?
I woke up early to go to the temple with my wife and son and when checking to make sure I had my recommend, I realized that I had misplaced it somehow. Anyway, I had to send the two of them off and it later occurred to me that this app shows my temple recommend status as being active. I don’t know if this would have sufficed, but it did give me pause thinking that a digital version, one that could be added to my ewallet would be very convenient.
I’ve seen and reported a bug that has persisted for years, unresolved. As of this writing they’ve introduced a new, less helpful UI where you have to scroll past every family member to go through the list. Truly poor UI design. To make matters worse they have apparently put the database update function on the UI thread. A clear violation of iOS programming principles. You can easily see this if you just test the app before releasing to production. The UI is frozen during updated, giving the impression that the whole app has seized up.
When I open the app, immediately a pop-up window says “Warning-You have automatic update enabled but background app refresh is disabled” with the option to “enable in settings” or “disable automatic settings.” When I go to settings background app refresh is set on but is greyed out so I can’t do anything with it. Turning either function on or off doesn’t do anything so this pop-up window appears every time I open the app. How do I make this stop?
I love this app and if/once it gets fixed will happily give it 5 stars but good grief, I tried to log on today to get temple/stake information and the entire app just died. I couldn’t sync the app so stuff wouldn’t load, so I tried signing out, then I learned I couldn’t sign back in (I even reset my password in case I just was remembering it wrong), so I deleted the app and reinstalled it, that still didn’t work. So now I’m just sitting here trying to figure out if there’s any way to redownload a previous version so I can get my app back 😅 if we can just go back one update it would be great! It’s just this latest update that seems to have killed it 😔
As a member of the church, I do find this valuable because it helps members find addresses. My only complaint is I can’t take attendance when I have been called as Assistant Secretary (Primary, Relief Society, EQ, YW, YM, Etc…) (primary for me so far). There has been many a time when the actual secretary wasn’t at church and I couldn’t take attendance right on my phone because I don’t have access which is Not right. All secretaries should have access to Leader and Clerk records to help in their callings.
This tool works well except with iOS 14 you are no longer able to enable the app in the Phone->Call Blocking & Identification. When you select it, there is a pause and then an error message “The data provided by Tools was invalid. You may try enabling the extension again, and if the problem persists contact the application developer.” I have not found a way to contact the application developers at the church so hoping this review piques someone’s interest. This is a feature I love.
Constant required password changes, which take forever and don’t work for an hour or so after it’s changed, syncing required constantly which the program is disabled after 5 log-ins if you don’t sync. I’m unsure why the password changes are necessary if I use Face ID? The log in issue is difficult because it’s usually during a meeting I have to sync and the wifi in our church is terrible so it takes forever. I’m a high counselor and cannot access necessary info of the ward I’m assigned to which is puzzling. Hard to magnify my calling when I can’t access information I need. Wish it was better
This app was working fine all long until a couple months ago. It asked to be sign in then it tells me that it may take a few minutes to download. The download is complete but it just sit there and does not do anything else. I'm clicking on any button I can find and it took me to the App Store. It gives me the Open feature but when I click on it, it just takes me back to the login page with the download message still on. The only access I have is to write this review. This is a great app when it works and I depend on it heavily for my church calling. Please, fix this or if anyone knows of what I'm doing wrong, let me know. Thank you.
The Member Tools app provides members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with the ability to contact ward and stake members, access event calendars, and locate Church meetinghouses and temples. Leaders can also access additional membership information and reports. Directory. View contact information and photos of members in your ward and stake, including members you’re assigned to minister to and those assigned to you, and update your contact information. Messages. View messages with important updates or actions needed. Organizations. View ward and stake callings by organization. Reports. Ward and stake leaders can view and update membership reports for members of their ward and stake, including recording attendance and ministering interviews. Manage records. Bishops, branch presidents, and clerks can move records and record ordinances. Calendar. View event calendars for your ward and stake. Groups. Create custom groups of members in your ward and stake. Temples. View your assigned temple, temples nearest your current location, ordinance schedules, submit names to the prayer roll, and set up a temple recommend expiration reminder. Meetinghouses. Find meetinghouse locations and addresses, sacrament meeting times, and contact information for bishops. Missionary. Access contact information for the full-time missionaries assigned to and serving from your ward or stake, and refer a friend to the missionaries. Finance. Organization presidencies can submit payment requests. Update. Turn on automatic updates and manually update your data. Settings. Select a light or dark theme for the app, set photo downloading preferences, and allow former mission leaders to view your contact information.
