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PocketPlatform Chat

Set up and manage dedicated chat conversations for different audiences.

Attention: *EA feature in testing*: This page is under construction while our wonderful Early Adopters try things out!

The Chat feature brings members of an audience together so they can send messages within your app. Each audience can have one chat conversation, and all audience members can participate equally.

Note: If you previously used Group Chat, all existing groups and messages were migrated so you could use this feature moving forward.
Here's how to set up a chat conversation in MinistryPlatform:
  1. Create an audience of people.
  2. Go to PocketPlatform > Audience Chats, and add a record.
    1. Select the audience you created.
    2. Add a start date to enable the chat.
    3. Select an option in the PocketPlatform App field to show this chat in the app.
    4. Save the record.
  3. On the Moderators tab of the Audience Chat record, add people who can moderate messages for this chat.

After you set up a chat conversation, go into your app and make sure the chat displays on the All Conversations screen. Changes should display in your app within 15 minutes. To reload your app, you can either log out and log in again or fully close the app on your device and restart it. You'll only see a chat if you're an audience member, moderator for the chat, or SPoC. You might get the conversation started with an introductory message so the audience knows what the chat is for.

Remember, an audience is a static list of people that gets updated every day. If people no longer meet the criteria for the audience, they will be marked Inactive. At that time, they will no longer have access to the audience's chat conversation. If they are marked Active later, they can access the conversation again.

View Chat Messages

In PocketPlatform, app users can see the chats they're part of on the All Conversations screen. In MinistryPlatform, admins can view all conversations under PocketPlatform > Chat Message Log.

Example showing a chat conversation between praise band audience members

Moderate Chat Messages

You can set up PocketPlatform administrators as moderators so they can hide messages from a chat conversation. This can help keep your chats in line and ensure a safe environment for everyone. Add moderators on the Moderators tab of the Audience Chat record or under PocketPlatform > Audience Chat Moderators.

Remember, SPoCs can send and moderate messages in the chat conversation, even if they're not an audience member or a moderator.

In the AppIn MinstryPlatform
Example showing the popup you see when moderating a chat message that says, "Moderating this message will hide its content from everyone in the conversation. You can restore it later." with buttons for Moderate and CancelExample showing the Audience Chat page in MinistryPlatform with a separate popup for the chat conversation where you can select messages to moderate

Hide a Chat Message

  • You must be a moderator for the chat conversation to moderate messages in the app.
  • If you have the PocketPlatform Administrator security role, you can moderate messages in the Platform.
  • Any MinistryPlatform SPoC can moderate any chat, even if they're not in the audience or chat conversation.

You might need to hide a chat message if it doesn't comply with your guidelines or otherwise disrupts the conversation. You can moderate messages either inside your app or within the Platform.

In the app (if you're a moderator):
  1. From the All Conversations screen, open the chat.
  2. Press and hold the message you want to hide.
  3. When the popup displays, tap Moderate.
In MinistryPlatform (if you're a PocketPlatform administrator):
  1. In the navigation menu, click PocketPlatform > Audience Chats.
  2. Click Tools, then select Chat Moderation.
  3. Select the message(s) you want to hide, then click Moderate.

In place of the hidden message, audience members will see "[[DELETED BY MODERATOR]]".

If you need to un-hide the message, you can repeat these steps, locate the hidden message, click View Message, then click Undo Moderation.