Chat safety and security
Chat in Planning Center includes multiple safety features to help keep your congregants safe.
Age verification
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 chat that includes a teenager.
Reporting a message
Anyone in a chat can report a message for spam, harassment, or inappropriate content.
Group and team leaders are notified by email with the message details and suggested next steps. If the reported person is a leader, the notification is sent to organization administrators.
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.