Tech Forum

showseason wrote:I totally agree. I have even started bringing a notebook to bishopric with CURRENT callings by org, calling of members and those without callings. The bishop still wants that visibility that all the bishopric can view and discuss. All members have a smartphone (and a couple have iPads) so I've been thinking of what I can do to keep their devices updated so we could all view the current calling list using Ward Tools and/or LDS Tools.

Just found out today that the church (David Hazar) asked Calvin to remove Ward Tools from the Android Store and all other stores.

I find this very unfortunate. LDS Tools is not yet ready to replace Ward Tools, at least on the Android. Many of us rely on this app on a daily basis to make decisions and contact members. Please reconsider!

combblai wrote:Just found out today that the church (David Hazar) asked Calvin to remove Ward Tools from the Android Store and all other stores.

I find this very unfortunate. LDS Tools is not yet ready to replace Ward Tools, at least on the Android. Many of us rely on this app on a daily basis to make decisions and contact members. Please reconsider!

First of all, note that those monitoring this forum are simply community volunteers, and are not in a position to reconsider this decision. Someone from the Church's mobile application teams might happen to see this, but there's no guarantee.

My opinion is that apps such as Ward Tools performed a valuable role, but their security model and data handling have always made the Church leaders uncomfortable. I've never used Ward Tools, but I've worked with leaders who have and who really appreciated what it could do. But to make it work, those people used the Membership.csv export file from MLS, which contains all sorts of highly confidential information. I can certainly understand why that might create some concerns at CHQ.

Discovered today from www.ldstools.com that the church (David Hazar) asked Calvin to remove Ward Tools from all app stores and shutdown all operations.

I find this very unfortunate since I and many others utilize this app on almost a daily basis and is an important tool in getting the Lord's work done.

I understand that LDS Tools is destined to replace Ward Tools when the development is complete. That time has not yet arrived, at least for the Android devices.

I am making a sincere request for church leadership to reconsider their decision until such time when LDS Tools can truly provide all the information now provided in Ward Tools.

What did Ward Tools offer that LDS Tools does not?

cougs wrote:What did Ward Tools offer that LDS Tools does not?

On the Android platform, LDS Tools does not yet offer any of the privileged leadership-specific information that Ward Tools did. Most of this is available in the iOS version of LDS Tools.

Neither the iOS version nor the Android version of Ward Tools has any HT/VT data yet, because this data is not even available yet on lds.org, their data source. Ward Tools got this data from local MLS exports.

Ward Tools included HT/VT information and the ability to create custom reports.

I wish to add my voice to this plea. Ward Tools has been absolutely indispensible to me in my leadership role, being able to create custom reports and being able to view HT/VT information from my iPod touch. This is not available in LDS Tools nor will it be for some time. Shutting down Ward Tools is a huge step backwards for me.

Features in Ward Tools I would like to see added to LDS Tools - Callings, Home and Visiting Teaching Assignments, Priesthood, Recommend Expires Date, Home and Visiting Teaching Lists in addition to the standard reports that existed in the Reports section of Ward Tools.

I am a Bishop and all of this has been helpful. When on the road and someone calls to discuss an issue, it is great to be able to see who the home and visiting teachers are. When I get a call that someone is on their way to the temple and forgot their recommend, it was nice to be able to see when their current recommend expires (and confirm that they have a current recommend). When extending a calling, the reports which list all of the participants in a class was helpful as I could discuss those class participants with the teacher. The Bishopric reports have also been a great tool.

Moderator Note: Back on August 8, user combblai started two separate discussions in different forum sections (Ideas & Suggestions and LDS Tools) on the same topic. Doing that is contrary to the Code of Conduct, which says "Do not post the same material in multiple threads." The result was two separate discussions where participants may not have known what was being discussed in the other thread.

I have now merged those threads so that the discussion can all be in one place. His two posts are now the first and third posts in this thread.