Chat in the Services mobile app
Coordinate your services more effectively by using chat to communicate with your teams. Start a chat to stay in touch or communicate about specific plan details!
In addition to the Services mobile app, Services teams can chat using the Church Center mobile app or the toolbar in any Planning Center product they can access.
Who can chat
Services: Anyone with Services editor permissions or higher, or a team leader, can start a conversation with everyone on the team or only with team members scheduled for a specific plan date.
Only team members scheduled for the plan date can see a team plan conversation.
Important
Children under 13 years old cannot see the chat icon or receive chat notifications. For more information, see the Planning Center privacy policy.
If a team has children 13 or under, conversation leaders will see a reminder that those children will not see the chat. They will see those names on the list for reference only. No one else will see the names or reminders about these children.
Start a new conversation
You can start a conversation in the Services mobile app from any screen or within a plan.
Start a chat from any screen
Select the 💬 chat icon at the top of the screen.
Select the ✏️ pencil icon in the top right.
Choose Team.
Select which team you want to chat with from the teams you lead or tap Select teams to choose a team you don't lead.
(Optional) Use the Filter by plan toggle and select a date from the dropdown to include only team members scheduled for that date.
Select Done.
Tap Start conversation.
Start a chat with scheduled team members on a plan
Select a plan from your My Schedule page or from the Plans tab (if you have access).
Select the Teams tab.
Select the 💬 Chat button located beneath the tabs.
If you only lead one team on this plan, you'll go directly to an empty chat for that team. Type your message in the Send a message box and select the up arrow to send it.
If you lead multiple teams on this plan, you'll go to the New Conversation page. You can adjust which teams to include by tapping on a team name and selecting the checkboxes on the next page. All of the teams you lead will be selected by default.
Once you've selected the team(s) you want to include, select Done in the top right.
Select Start conversation.
Filter conversations
If you belong to multiple teams or groups, you can filter your conversation list to find and focus on specific conversations.
Tap the Filter button in the top left of the Chat page.
Choose one of the four filter options:
Select All my teams & plans to view conversations for all your Services teams and plans.
Select All my groups to view conversations for all your groups.
Select a team to view conversations for a specific team and its plans.
Select a group to view conversations for a specific group.
Select the X next to a filter's name to remove it.
Manage chat conversations
Select the 💬 chat icon.
Select a conversation from the Conversations page.
Select the conversation title to see the Conversation details.
All chat participants can manage their own conversation experience by muting conversations, viewing current members, and marking them as unread.
Users with editor permissions or higher can manage conversations by renaming them, muting them, viewing members, and marking them as unread.
Team leaders and conversation owners can manage conversations by renaming, muting, or deleting them, and viewing members. They can also restrict posting to leaders only while still allowing everyone to react to messages.
Set a custom avatar for a conversation
A custom avatar provides a shared visual cue for a conversation, helping it stand out wherever it appears.
Select the 💬 chat icon.
Select a conversation from the Conversations page.
Select the conversation title.
Select Update avatar.
Choose an icon or emoji, or upload an image to set as the avatar for this conversation.
Select Done.
Once set, this avatar appears for everyone in the conversation.
Respond to messages
You can reply to, copy, report, or react to other people's messages, as well as edit or delete your own messages.
Press and hold someone else's message to select a reaction emoji, reply to, copy, or report the message.
Press and hold your own message to select a reaction emoji, reply to, copy, edit, view read receipts, or delete the message.
Tap the 📎 attachment icon to use your device's camera or to select an image from your photo library.
Select the ⚡️ lightning bolt icon to search for a GIF to share in your chat.
Troubleshooting common chat issues
Here are some common chat issues and their fixes. If none of these address your issue, reach out to the Planning Center support team — they're happy to help!
Ask a group leader if they've enabled chat for your group. If chat is enabled for your group but you can't start a conversation, your group leader may have chosen to only allow group leaders to start conversations.
For Services teams, only a team leader or administrator can start the team/plan conversation.
Non-chat notifications are also included in your Church Center app notification badge — open the app, tap the 🔔 notification bell icon, and select Mark all read to clear those notifications.
Here's how to update your notification preferences.
You can only delete messages you've created, unless you're a group or team leader.
If a message is harmful, you can report it by pressing and holding it in the mobile app or by selecting the three dots next to the message on a web browser.
Press and hold a message in the mobile app to see additional options, or select the three dots next to a message in a web browser.
Here are all the ways you can respond and react to messages.