What would you like to know more about?

October 5, 2022

View enhancements and corrections released on October 5, 2022.

Security & Privacy

Control what your congregants can see and do in Realm. Using the Member Status field on congregants' profiles, you can set whether they're allowed to see and do certain things.
Note: The Member Status field is customizable, so your church may have edited the label in Realm. No matter what you call it, it will be used for congregant security and privacy.

For example, you might allow participating members of the church (marked as "Member") to see other congregants in the directory, whereas someone who visited the church once (marked as "Visitor") should not be able to view the names of your congregants. Setting these options based on the Member Status can ensure that your congregant information is safe and only visible to those who should have access to it.

Here's how congregant security and privacy works:
  • Add values for Member Status under Profiles > Settings on the Profile Fields tab.
  • Set up what each Member Status is allowed to see and do under Settings > Security & Privacy.
  • Assign a Member Status to every profile, based on what the individual can see and do.
  • When congregants log in, they can see and do only what their Member Status allows.

You can allow or disallow the following options for each Member Status. (For full details on these options, see Congregant Security and Privacy Field Descriptions.)

If this option is enabled...Congregants with this Member Status can...
See the directorySee the names and default avatars (congregant's initials) of anyone who has a Realm account and anyone who is opted in to the online directory.
Start a chatStart a chat (under Communications > Chat) with anyone in the church who has a Realm account.
See others' contact and personal infoSee the contact and personal information on profiles (including profile picture and birthday) but only if the individual allows their information to be shared via their profile privacy settings.
See children profilesSee profiles that have a family position of "Child".

Member Status is your key to locking down congregant information. To be fully secure, every profile needs a Member Status.
  • With this feature's release, all existing Member Statuses that you have set up will have all options enabled. That way, congregants who log in today can still see and do everything they have always been able to. This gives you time to set the options you want for your Member Statuses and inform your congregation of any changes you plan to make.
  • Profiles without a Member Status selected will get the most restricted view of Realm, so be sure to add one as soon as possible. To find profiles that don't have a Member Status, you can run a query on Member Status ... is blank.

Realm users and leaders still have their assigned access. These settings do not affect your Realm users who are set up under Users & Permissions > Users With Responsibilities. Likewise, Leader permissions override the Member Status. So, if you have any staff or leaders set up as congregants (that is, they have a Realm profile), their responsibilities are not limited by their Member Status.

Registration Events

What does it mean to Allow Guests? When Allow Guests is selected, individuals can add guests during their registration.