Why can't I see Chat?

This is the most common Messaging question, and it is nearly always one of a handful of things. Work down the list in order, because the first two are the quickest to rule out.

Working through the checks

1. Are you in the app, rather than the website? Chat lives in the app. Visit your church’s website address followed by /app on your phone and add it to your home screen. See installing the church app on your phone.
2. Are you logged in? Chat only appears once you are logged in with your own account, because it works out your conversations from the groups you belong to.
3. Is the app up to date? If it has been on your home screen for a while, close it completely and open it again so it picks up the latest version.
4. Has your church switched chat on for a group you are in? This is the answer most of the time. Chat is enabled group by group, so if none of your groups has it, there is nothing for you to see. Only your church can change that. See How to turn on chat for a group.
5. Are you actually in the group? Being on a rota or a mailing list is not the same as being a member of the group. Ask your church to check the group’s member list.
6. Has the chat setting expired? Chat can be set to run until a certain date. If that date has passed, it will have switched itself off.

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Good to know

• If you can open Chat but the list is empty, that is the same answer as point four: you are in the app and logged in, but no group you belong to has chat switched on yet.
• If someone in particular is missing from your Chat list, that is a different question. See Who can message whom?
• If messages are arriving but not as notifications, log out and log back in, and accept the notifications prompt when it appears. Our guide on app notifications covers the rest. Also check you have not muted the conversation.
• Children and young people do not see group chats at all, only one-to-one conversations with a leader. That is deliberate rather than a fault.
• Administrators: if you have switched chat on and members still cannot see it, check they are in the group, and ask them to close and reopen the app once.
• New to the app? Start with How to start using Messaging in the app.