Who can message whom?

There is no separate address book in Messaging, and that is deliberate. Who can message whom follows the groups you already have, so the answer is always traceable back to a group setting rather than to something hidden. It is visible in the app too: open any conversation and the group it runs through is shown under the person’s name.

The rules

• A person can send a one-to-one message to anyone who shares a group with them, where that group has direct messaging switched on. Everyone they can reach appears in their Chat list.
• A person can post in a group chat for any group they are in that has group chat switched on, unless the group is set so only leaders can post.
• Two people who share no group with chat enabled cannot message each other, and will not appear in each other’s Chat list at all.
• Children are a separate case entirely. Only leaders your church has authorised through Safe Messaging can message a child, and every message needs a parent’s approval. Children are never in group chats. See What Safe Messaging is, and how it works.

Working out why someone cannot be reached

When a member says someone is missing from their Chat list, work down this list.

1. Are they both in the same group? Check the group’s member list.
2. Does that group have Direct Messages switched on? Group chat alone does not allow one-to-one messages.
3. Has the chat setting expired? Chat can be set to run until a date, and that date may have passed.
4. Is the person they are trying to reach a child? If so, this is Safe Messaging, and it needs the permission plus a parent’s approval. See Why can’t I send a message to this child?

See How to turn on chat for a group for where those settings live.

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Good to know

• This is worth thinking about when you plan which groups get chat. A church that only enables chat on small ministry groups gets tidy, purposeful conversations. A church that enables it on a group containing the whole congregation has effectively opened one-to-one messaging to everyone, and put everyone in everyone else’s Chat list.
• Adding someone to a group gives them chat access to that group straight away. Removing them takes it away.
• If you want people to receive messages but not send them, make the group announcement-only rather than trying to manage it by membership.
• Group membership is the only lever. There is no way to block one individual from another inside a group, so if two people should not be messaging, the answer is group membership or a pastoral conversation rather than a setting.
• If somebody cannot see Chat at all, rather than one person being missing from it, that is a different question. See Why can’t I see Chat?