What is blocking the use of circles for your organization?

[prestondlee]

I think we're overlooking something really important here and that is the barrier to entry.
Regardless of what age a person gets a phone or if it's a parent vs. a youth, 99% of phones come pre-equipped to send and receive text messages.

To use Circles, I have to:

1. Know the app exists and is being used in my ward.
2. Have a device that will allow me to download the app.
3. Care enough about receiving messages from my leaders to actually download it.
4. Take the time to download it.
5. Have a church account and know my credentials.
6. Sign in using my church credentials.
7. Be given the correct permissions (even as a parent).
8. Learn how to navigate the app, set up notifications, etc.
9. Remember to check the app regularly if I don't get notifications.

OR, I could:

1. Have a device.
2. Send a receive text messages.

[drepouille]

Maybe someone should have told that to Elder Gong during the Face to Face Event in November 2019?

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/chu ... d-families

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/chu ... face-event

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/chu ... red-living

[gljones77]

As a ward we are trying to use circles, but the inability to customize access limits it's usefulness. For example, since access is based on current calling, we have a YM "specialist" that will be working with all three Aaronic priesthood quorums. There is no way to give him access to all three quorums without listing him in the system as having 3 different calling (one in each quorum).
Also we just discovered today the the Bishop cannot text certain groups within circles. He wanted to forward an article and a spiritual thought to the young women in the ward through circles, but he doesn't have access to their circles group (at least not that we could find). The Bishop (of all people) should be able to send messages to whatever circles group he chooses within the ward. This is one major failure of the program in my opinion.

[Ryanob]

I thought I'd mention something I learned that I haven't seen listed:
I was just introduced to Circles myself. I find it very useful but wonder about how to implement. I have seen many concerns listed here and did find that there is a solution for children who do not have a device.
You can have many accounts on one device/app and they allow you to use a pin to keep them private.

[chriswoodut]

I did notice quite a few features added to Circles in the recent app update. Many complaints on this thread may no longer apply.

[AmberMcArthur]

The ability to add anyone that isn’t a member of the church. We have non-member youth and adults alike attending and participating in different youth classes regularly and in primary…. there is no Option to add them or their parents manually, so it isn’t inclusive, it may feel exclusive.

[tonynocchi]

What is blocking the use of Circles? Well, I can't speak for everyone but I'll speak for me:

1. Limitation to mobile platforms.
- I am in my 40s, an early adopter of technology, and have a background in IT so 'mobile devices' are not an inherent issue, but I also have nerve damage to my hands and carpal tunnel (years in the military). Typing anything out on my phone is slow and painful. If I could access it from my computer I would be much more active on it and send more meaningful messages. I'm sure this probably applies to older folks with arthritis as well.

2. Limited functionality.
- There are other apps out there that do things better from simple messaging to having local control over users. In many cases, Circles is just another tool to of pay attention to when we have other tools that do things better. Want to discuss various topics and have a space to meet (audio/video)? Discord is better. Want to send out messages to everyone in a specific class/quorum/calling? LCR/Email is better. Want to communicate in small groups (e.g. a presidency or ward council)? Text message groups are better as long as the group membership is not super-dynamic.

3. It doesn't work well.
- I've heard this from multiple people and seen it first hand. Occasionally I'll get alerts to messages I can't find. I'll show unread messages in a 'forum' that I can't find. I'll check to see if there are replies to posts and I can't find them.

My wife recently got called as the Relief Society president in our ward and I'm looking for ways to help her communicate effectively at various levels and Circles is not it. The primary means of communication is text messaging / text groups. The medium she plans to use for presidency meetings is Discord. The medium they are using for more dynamic information is Facebook. The medium she is using to share more static information at various levels is Google Drive. These are all tools that can be locally controlled and interact with members and non-members.