Chat safety and security
Chat in Planning Center includes multiple safety features to help keep your congregants safe.
Child and teen safeguards
Users without a birthdate on file must verify their age before accessing chat, and anyone who indicates they are under 13 will be blocked from chatting.
There must always be at least two adults in any conversation that includes a teenager. If any conversation ever drops below that threshold—including a direct message—it will be disabled, and no additional messages can be sent.
Teens cannot start direct messages.
Reporting a message
Anyone in a chat can report a message for spam, harassment, or inappropriate content.
Reports are sent to chat moderators designated by organization administrators. If no moderators have been assigned, the notification goes to group or team leaders.
Chat moderation
Organization administrators can assign specific people as chat moderators, and those moderators will receive an email whenever a message is reported. To assign chat moderators:
Select the product name in the top left corner of Planning Center to open the product switcher.
Choose Account settings at the bottom of the dropdown.
Select Chat in the sidebar on the left of the page.
In the Moderation section, search for and select the name of the person(s) you want to add as a moderator.
When a message is reported, moderators will receive an email. From there they can view the details of the report and take action:
Delete the message so no one else in the conversation sees it.
Disable the conversation, which stops new messages for everyone in it. Participants will see a note where the message field usually appears. Moderators can re-enable the conversation later if needed.
Tip
Moderators will see a ⚠ warning icon at the top of their chat interface in the toolbar. Selecting this icon opens a list of all reported messages, which is especially helpful when there are multiple moderators, to avoid duplicating another moderator's work.
Images and videos
Planning Center moderates chat for known illegal content and violations of the terms of service based on text and content.
Giphy is used for GIF search in chat, and while there is no administrator-level content filter in Planning Center, Giphy's integration is limited to PG-rated content. Explicit content and nudity are blocked at the platform level.
If a concerning GIF is shared, members can report it.
Chat encryption and history
Chat is encrypted when it’s sent and when it’s stored, but it is not end-to-end encrypted. Here's a breakdown of what that means:
At rest: Messages are encrypted while stored on Planning Center’s servers.
In transit: Messages are encrypted when they travel between your device and the servers.
Not end-to-end encrypted: Planning Center can access chat data to support and troubleshoot product features. The support team employs a privacy shield that automatically obscures chat messages and conversation participants unless needed for the specific issue being investigated.
Chat history cannot be downloaded or exported, and deleted messages cannot be recovered by organization administrators or Planning Center's support team.