Tech Forum

I use an iPhone 3GS, I'm not sure if other mobile devices could make use of this kind of a feature on lds.org or not. Do you think there would be and "bank for the buck" with something like this?

Currently: When a ward member calls my cell phone my caller ID shows up as a telephone number and most of the time I don't recognize it. (I also don't usually answer it.) If they leave a voice message I listen to it. If the caller was someone I know (aka, a ward member) I create a new contact in my phone with their name attached to the phone number. Now, the next time they call my caller id displays their name (I know who they are so I answer the call, usually).

The problem: Keeping a large number of ward members phone numbers in my phone results in old phone numbers over time and another place to maintain contact information.

The Idea: Provide a LDAP and/or CardDAV service to grant access to the ward directory. The service could use the LDS Account to determine whether some or all information should be served to the user. The iPhone (again, not sure what support is available for other devices) allows us to add LDAP and CardDAV accounts for accessing contacts. Since these contacts are stored on a server they can be automatically updated. When added in this manner, the caller ID on the iPhone displays the callers name nicely.

What do you think? Possible? Feasible? Useless?

Just wondering . . .

I like the end results. I know Android allows connecting contacts across multiple apps. I wonder if there's a way to allow the phone to "see" the numbers in the LDSTools app.

RussellHltn wrote:I wonder if there's a way to allow the phone to "see" the numbers in the LDSTools app.

That would be a nice way to accomplish the same thing without a separate project.

I was just thinking about this today, how nice it would be if the Church provided LDAP or CardDAV for accessing the LDS.org Directory and also CalDAV for accessing the LDS.org Calendar. I wonder what it would take to make that happen, if such a project were approved.

The trend seems to be toward restricting exports. So I don't know as such a thing would happen for the directory.

The issue is with easy export anybody in the ward can do what they want with it. On purpose or not.

Like being signed up for election because a lady added her whole email contacts about electing her for school board. Or when I was in a singles stake and the stake decided everyone wanted to get txts from a 3rd party service about ward functions without an opt-in.

Personally what I have done is added people that are in my presidency or home teachers and put a note on the contact saying "LDS WARD". If you use Google Contacts on your IOS/ANDROID device its even easier. Add them to a group and then remove them when you move. Its that easy.

I also have setup a Google Voice number just for handing out to the ward. This day and age my generation doesn't have a home phone. So it calls both my wife and I or we just let it go to message to answer later in the day.

how nice it would be if the Church provided LDAP or CardDAV for accessing the LDS.org Directory

Bump! This would be a great feature!

cgibby wrote:Bump! This would be a great feature!

And the way to get it to the developers is through any of the Feedback links at the church site. This is a user-to-user help forum.

However, I think it's highly unlikely to happen. The data doesn't belong to the church. It belongs to the individual members the information describes. The church is required to safeguard that information. That's hard to do if it get spread around into other systems it doesn't control.