Tech Forum

Hello!

First of all: thank you for the great app and it's continous development!

I talked to our happy-with-their-shiny-new-ipads-full-time missionaries in my ward last sunday and I found out that they can see our ward and its members in LDS Tools, but they only get to see the list of members' names / housholds. They have no access to the details (like street address, phone # or e-mail).

Is there a way for them to have this information available on LDS Tools on their iPads?

Thanks a lot and warm regards from Switzerland
Simon

s.sunke wrote:... I found out that they can see our ward and its members in LDS Tools, but they only get to see the list of members' names / housholds. They have no access to the details (like street address, phone # or e-mail).

Is there a way for them to have this information available on LDS Tools on their iPads?

Thanks a lot and warm regards from Switzerland
Simon

They most likely cannot see phone numbers and addresses due to the privacy laws in Switzerland. I believe Switzerland is an privacy opt in country by default vs the U.S. Which is opt out by default. Members would have to individually change their privacy settings to be seen by the missionaries and other members.

kellymab wrote: I believe Switzerland is an privacy opt in country by default vs the U.S. Which is opt out by default. Members would have to individually change their privacy settings to be seen by the missionaries and other members.

If that theory is correct, then I'd expect "rank and file" members to see the same thing - or less.

Thanks for your replies. The opting sounds reasonable, however they still see less than a regular ward member - which doesn't seem logic to me.
Ward leaders in Switzerland see addresses and phone # for all members in their ward regardless of the respective members privacy settings.
As missionaries usually get a copy of a full ward directory anyway they may be regarded just about as trustworthy as ward leaders (excluding sensitive information like membership no, temple recommend status etc. of course which should only be visible to the ward leaders).

s.sunke wrote:As missionaries usually get a copy of a full ward directory anyway they may be regarded just about as trustworthy as ward leaders

It's not a question of trustworthiness - it's a question of law. Ward leaders have a direct responsibility for the ward members that missionaries do not have. I'm surprised they see less than the rank-and-file. I'm not sure if that's a bug or not.

Well, from the legal point of view the church is organized as an association (or club) in Switzerland. As to my understanding none of the ward leaders play any role in the association and thus aren't any other than the rank-and-file in the ward regarding the legal entity. However that's just my two cents and I'm neither a lawyer nor a privacy expert

If you'd like I can get you a set of screenshots (missionaries and members view) so you can compare them and identify whether it's a bug or not?

s.sunke wrote:[T]hey still see less than a regular ward member ... Ward leaders ... see addresses and phone # for all members in their ward regardless of the respective members privacy settings.

It sounds like you're considering ward leaders to be regular members in terms of what they can see. Have you checked what a non-ward-leader sees – not a member of the ward council and not a member of a presidency? Ward leaders (ward council members and members of presidencies) do see everyone, but other members probably see the same as the missionaries.

Today I did a side-by-side comparison of a missionaries' and a normal ward members' view in LDS Tools. Their information is equivalent and the behavior is by design.
However, may I suggest that missionaries assigned to a ward receive higher privileges than normal members in the app as they're (usually) equipped with a ward directory in order to fulfill their duties?
Thanks for your help!

The best way to submit suggestions and make sure it gets to the decision-makers is by sending feedback through the app. It's under Settings > Send Feedback.

Thanks, I'll do that!