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The App settings page controls how your Our Church app behaves — from which member type new sign-ups become, to who receives SMS reply notifications, to how the address list looks and what your app menu is called. This page walks through each setting.
Finding App settings
Go to the App section of Church Admin and open App settings. Make your changes, then click Save at the bottom — settings only take effect once you save.
SMS reply notifications
This section requires Twilio set up as the plugin’s SMS provider.
The first field lets you choose which app users receive a push notification when someone replies to one of your SMS messages. The people you select here also get the SMS replies item added to their app menu, so they can read and manage incoming replies from within the app. Start typing a name to search for a person and select them.
This is worth setting up if you use two-way SMS — otherwise replies from your congregation can go unnoticed.
Member type for new registrations
When someone registers through the app, they are added to your address list as a particular member type. Use this dropdown to choose which type new app registrations become — for example Visitor or New Contact — so fresh sign-ups don’t land straight in your Members list. You can always change an individual’s type later.
Registration and editing controls
- Disable app registrations — turns off the ability for new people to register through the app. Tick this if your app is for existing members only.
- Disable editing for non admins — prevents ordinary members from editing content or records in the app, leaving editing to administrators only.
Push notifications on publishing
By default, publishing new content can send a push notification and email to app users. Tick Stop push notification and email send on content publishing if you’d rather publish quietly without alerting everyone each time.
Use Gutenberg editor for the app
Tick Use Gutenberg Editor for App to edit your app content pages with the WordPress block editor rather than the classic editor. This gives you the familiar block interface when building app pages.
Show anniversaries and birthdays
Tick Show anniversaries and birthdays where privacy allows on address list to display members’ birthdays and wedding anniversaries in the app address list. This only shows dates for people whose privacy settings permit it, so individual privacy choices are always respected.
Address list style
Choose how the address list appears in the app:
- Alphabetical individuals (admin can edit) — lists people individually and allows administrators to edit records directly in the app. This is the default.
- Alphabetical households (no admin editing) — lists people grouped by household, with no in-app editing.
App menu title
The App menu title field sets the heading shown on your app’s menu. Use your church’s name or a short welcome so the menu feels like yours.
App menu CSS
The App menu CSS box lets you add your own styling to customise the look of the app menu. This is an advanced option — leave it blank unless you’re comfortable writing CSS. A small mistake here can affect how the menu displays, so test any changes on your device after saving.
Choosing the Home page
The Select which app page is “Home” dropdown lets you decide which page app users land on when they open the app. By default this is Home, but you can pick any item from your app menu — for example the calendar or a welcome page — so the app opens on whatever’s most useful for your church.
Saving your changes
When you’ve finished, click Save. You’ll see a confirmation message, and your changes take effect in the app straight away.