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Dashboard

In-App Announcements

You can share information with app users on the dashboard using Announcements.

For example, do you have a word of encouragement to share with everyone? An upcoming event you'd like to feature? Or a facility closure you need to let everyone know about? Create an announcement!

Make your announcement stand out by adding a compelling image. You can even include buttons that take users to relevant areas of the app or webpages outside of PocketPlatform, like an event sign-up page or your church website. And, for a more personalized app experience, you can set an announcement to only display for certain audiences.

Image displaying an example announcement on a phone.

Create Announcements

You can create and manage announcements from the Platform. If needed, you can link the entire announcement or add buttons that link to another area.

  1. Go to PocketPlatform > Announcements.
  2. Click New Announcement.
  3. Select the Announcement Type to indicate what this announcement is for.
    Note: The Sort Order and Enabled fields on the Announcement Type record determine if/where this type of announcement shows on the Dashboard.
  4. Enter the Announcement Title that displays in bold at the top of the announcement.
  5. Enter the Body that displays below the title.
    Tip: You can enter any HTML formatting in this field, and it will be rendered appropriately. For example, you may want to use line breaks to split up longer descriptions into paragraphs.
  6. Select the Start Date when this announcement should begin displaying on the Dashboard. For example, for an event announcement, this might be two weeks before the event for promotional purposes.
  7. Optional: Select the End Date when this announcement should stop displaying on the Dashboard. For example, for an event announcement, this might be the last day that people can sign up before the event.
    Tip: Be mindful of how long an announcement displays in the app and what other announcements may display at the same time. It's important to make sure the ones that display on the Dashboard are relevant!
  8. For Enabled, select Yes to show the announcement on the Dashboard.
  9. If you want the entire announcement to be clickable (meaning app users can click anywhere on the announcement to go to another area), enter the Link URL.
    • To link outside of the app, enter a fully qualified URL that starts with "http://" or "https://".
    • To link to another area of PocketPlatform, we recommend using the Link Generator tool after saving this record. Make sure to refresh the page so your link displays in the Link URL field! Or, you can enter the relevant app link.
    • If you would rather show a button under an announcement for users to click, see Add Buttons to an Announcement.
  10. If you have multiple announcements, enter a Position to indicate the order this announcement should display in relation to the others. Otherwise, if Position is not indicated, announcements display in the order they were created.
  11. If you want to allow app users to dismiss the announcement so they no longer see it on their Dashboard, set Dismissible to Yes.
  12. If you want this announcement to only display for a certain audience, select an Audience. For details on this option and how it works with the Campus/Parish Selector, see Show an Announcement to a Certain Audience.
  13. Click Save.

Announcements display on the Dashboard as soon as you save the record, assuming the Start Date is set to the current date/time. Otherwise, it displays as soon as the Start Date begins. If you set it to be dismissible, app users can click the X in the corner of the announcement. If they want to see it again, they can go to Settings and click Reset Dashboard.

Here's an example of what an Announcement record might look like:

Example of an Announcement record showing the Type as Church Wide, Title as Manage Your Groups, start and end dates entered, Enabled set to Yes, Link URL set to [[APP_PREFIX]]group_management, Position set to 1, and Dismissible set to Yes, with an image file attached

Add Buttons to an Announcement

  1. Open the Announcement record, and click the Buttons tab.
  2. Click New Announcement Button.
  3. For Button Text, enter the short phrase or word to display on the button.
  4. For Link URL, enter either a fully qualified link (with "http://" or "https://"), a generated link, or an app link. This overrides the Link URL on the Announcement record, if entered.
  5. Select the Start Date when this button should begin displaying on the Announcement.
  6. Optional: Select the End Date when this button should stop displaying. This may be useful for limited time offers, such as an early bird discount or certain registration periods.
  7. For Enabled, select Yes to show the button on the announcement.
  8. If you have multiple buttons, enter a Position to indicate the order this button should display in relation to the others. Otherwise, if Position is not indicated, buttons display in the order they were created.
  9. Click Save.

Add an Image to an Announcement

  1. Open the Announcement record.
  2. Expand the Files panel on the right, and click Attach File.
  3. Upload and attach the image.
  4. Close the record.

Show an Announcement to a Certain Audience

If you've set up audiences in the Platform, you can set an announcement to display for a certain group of people. For example, if you have an audience of women at your church, your app can show the upcoming Women's Retreat announcement only to those whose gender is set to Female.

Note that announcements behave differently based on whether your app uses the Campus/Parish Selector.
  • If you don't have the selector:
    • The Campus field is not visible on the Audience record.
    • If you don't select an Audience, the announcement will be visible to all users.
    • If you select an Audience, the announcement is only visible to users included in that audience.
  • If you have the selector:
    • The Campus field is visible on the Audience record.
    • You must select a Campus in order for the announcement to display in the app.
    • To show an announcement across all campuses/parishes, select All Campuses in the Campus field.
    • If you don't select an Audience, the announcement will be visible to all users in the selected campus/parish.
    • If you select an Audience, it works in conjunction with the selector. In order for a user to see the announcement, they must be in the selected Campus AND be part of the selected Audience.

      For example, you select Campus A and an Audience of females from all campuses (A, B, and C). This announcement will only be visible to females who are in Campus A, and females in Campuses B and C would not see it. If you want all females in Campuses A, B, and C to see the announcement, you would set Campus to All Campuses.

  1. Make sure you've created the audience you want to show the announcement to.
  2. In the navigation menu, click PocketPlatform > Announcements.
  3. Open the Announcement record you want to show to a certain audience.
  4. Click Edit Record.
  5. Select the Audience you want to show this announcement to.
  6. Click Save.

Announcement Scroller

You may want to share many announcements at the same time. Use a recipe to create an announcement scroller! It shows announcements side by side instead of taking up lots of vertical space on the Dashboard. This way, app users can easily see all the important information on the Dashboard and choose whether to view all the announcements. If you're interested, contact Support to get started.

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Last updated: October 29, 2024