Our popular Church Connect feature is now a website AND an APP!

Last year we introduced Church Connect as a customizable website and member portal. Church Connect makes it easy for your people to donate online, submit church forms, view and update their profile, register for events, and view upcoming events. With Connect you can easily manage and update your content right within your ChurchTrac account. And now we've made it an installable app! But how is Church Connect an app if it’s not available on the App Store or Play Store? That’s a great question! In the world of installable apps, there are actually TWO varieties: NATIVE apps and WEB apps. Native apps are installed from a "Store" on your device; web apps are typically installed from your browser. Both native and web apps are launched from a shortcut (icon) on the home screen, making it convenient for people to use the app. For the user, the primary difference between the two is in how they are installed; once installed, it is often difficult to tell the difference.

Installing the Church Connect app is even easier than installing a native app on your phone or tablet. With Church Connect, you simply share the QR code we provide. You can display this code on your printed handouts, or on your screen during your worship services. When someone points their phone camera at your QR code, their phone immediately takes them to your Connect page and prompts them to install your app to their home screen. Point, Tap, Done.

So, why not a "native" app?

Native apps are not affordable. Not only are they expensive, they require either a professional developer to code, or an ongoing contract with service provider. If you were to research this, you'd quickly find that companies that offer this service do not typically post their prices...and the ones that do have a monthly cost that exceeds what most churches send to missionaries...for an entire year.

Native apps are difficult to maintain. With native apps, you'll find it is difficult to update and maintain your content. It typically becomes a "static" app that never changes, an expensive relic that few people actually use. Instead, people end up looking at your website or social media posts to see your latest content.

Native apps don't have online giving. Due to restrictions on in-app "purchases", you can't do online giving in a native app without giving Apple a huge chunk of the revenue. So most native apps that offer online giving will simply redirect your users to an external website for online giving. Ultimately, people will end up skipping the app and going straight to the website instead. So what's the point of having a native app if you can't use it for giving?

What are the benefits of using Church Connect?

As a web app, Church Connect does not suffer from native app limitations. Online Giving is built right in to Church Connect, and the only processing fee you pay is Stripe's fee (for churches this can be their unpublished non-profit rate...just ask us for help with this). We have ACH and Text giving built-in too.

Plus, there's no extra fee to use Church Connect because it is already included with your ChurchTrac subscription.

Church Connect is easy to update and maintain. In fact, we've made it simple for you to create, update and publish your content right from your ChurchTrac account. You can even create your own custom icon for those who install the app. You simply upload an image file to in your ChurchTrac account, and that image will be used whenever someone installs your Church Connect app. You may already have a nice logo file that may work, but there are some specific requirements for these icon images....so don't be afraid to ask a savvy friend for help with creating your icon if you need it! (We do have a default icon that will be used if you haven't uploaded a custom icon yet).

Takeaway

Church Connect is your unified web page, member portal, and app platform for interacting with your church people like never before. Whether they download the app or simply view your church’s site, their experience will be seamless. As an added bonus, you (and your church) save both time and money.