Tech Forum

I'm in the bishopric and have the habit of not picking up my phone when I don't recognize the number. Ideally I'd like to have the entire ward as contacts in my iPhone so that I DO recognize the numbers of members. I'd also like to have these contacts in a labeled group for easier searching, identifying, and eventually deleting.
I've read through a bit on this forum but haven't found anything really iphone friendly. I know that in LDS tools I can individually add members to my contacts but I want the whole ward in so adding them one by one isn't reasonable. Please let me know your thoughts.
Thanks in advance!

No idea if it works on iOS, but the Android version has a Caller ID lookup function. But the Apple OS may prevent that.

But keep in mind that even with all the numbers listed, a member may choose to call you from their work number or even from a blocked number.

iOS does support caller ID with third-party directories, since iOS 10, but it hasn't been integrated into LDS Tools. You can send feedback through the app and suggest it – I think it'd be a great feature.

danielloveland wrote:I'm in the bishopric and have the habit of not picking up my phone when I don't recognize the number. Ideally I'd like to have the entire ward as contacts in my iPhone so that I DO recognize the numbers of members. I'd also like to have these contacts in a labeled group for easier searching, identifying, and eventually deleting.

As sbradshaw said, send feedback. Android LDS Tools has a feature that will match the digits of an incoming call with the phone numbers in the LDS Tools directory. You tell it how many digits, 4, 7, etc., and if there is a match, the family name shows up. It is a little slow and does not always work in time.

It appears that iOS now has that capability. Hopefully, they will decide to program it into LDS Tools.

Neither Android nor iOS are able to bulk load contacts from LDS Tools. You have to do them one at a time. As an Android user, I have my contacts tied to gmail (intended as a sort of "cloud" backup). I don't know if there is a way to bulk load a list of contacts through the gmail website, but I would at least look if I were going to do it. Otherwise, it would be a couple of hours on a slow afternoon which, of course, does not exist for a bishop (or most anyone else).

As for keeping them all grouped together, I would use a one- or two-place code for all of them. For example, if you were the First Ward, I would enter a W1 either before or after each name, depending on how your contacts list sorts in iOS. The names then would all be together in the W section of your contacts list. Or you could use another letter, like Z, to put them all at the end, etc.

Those are all painful workarounds, but if you wish to do it, those are the best ways I know of, at least for now.

Can you please send me the detail instructions to put my ward Directory in my apps onto my iPhone. Email: annewerner2017@icloud.com Thank You you! Anne

annewerner wrote:Can you please send me the detail instructions to put my ward Directory in my apps onto my iPhone.

You have to do them one at a time. There is not a way to take the LDS Tools app directory and transfer all of it into your phone at once, not even if you are using an Android. Sorry.

Don't rely on the Android thing - it has never worked for an incoming call or text. It will very nicely give you a notification afterwards that it matched someone in the LDS Tools database but has never been useful to identify who is calling.

Also, it is the suggestion/update that is most frequently requested of that team and is a real no-brainer but the Church is in no hurry to change it or knows how to (remember folks, we are not the team's who design this stuff's clients. Only departments in the church are their clients). Each department is lined up to get 'their special stuff added' in some kind of priority list, likely the seniority of the GA at the head of the department.

It's a web service written a very long time ago that all online tools and apps utilize for directory data and my guess is the original writer is long gone from the church and nobody else claims ownership of it and due to other priorities nobody is getting the budget to go make it happen without another department adding it to the list.

annewerner wrote:Can you please send me the detail instructions to put my ward Directory in my apps onto my iPhone. Email: annewerner2017@icloud.com Thank You you! Anne

Install the app called LDS Tools, each individual member can be saved to your contacts, normally with a long-press on the name/phone, etc...

Go to settings -> Phone -> Call Blocking and identification -> Turn on LDS Tools

LDS Tools isn't an option under Phone - Call Blocking and identification. Not sure why, there's another app there. I'm on v3.5.1 (6324) so the option should be there. I already tried restarting my phone, deleting and reinstalling LDS Tools.
Suggestions?