Member Tools

Review by eFreeware

Keeping track of a congregation is harder than it sounds. Phone numbers change, families move, and the person who once knew everyone's details may have been released from that calling months ago. Member Tools, from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is built to hold that information in one place and put it in the hands of the people who need it.

It has been free since it arrived on Android in December 2010, and it carries no ads and no in-app purchases. The developer's summary is short: members of wards and stakes can check calendars, find meetinghouses and temples, and stay in touch. The app covers a wider set of tools, some open to all members and some limited to leaders.

More than a million installs and a 4.3 average from over 38,000 ratings suggest it has settled into a routine role for its users. My interest here is whether the feature set matches the everyday jobs it is meant to handle, and where the line between member and leader access falls.

The directory at the center of it

The directory is the part most people will open first. It lists contact information and photos for members of your ward and stake, the sort of thing that used to live in a printed list that went stale the moment it was distributed.

Organizations sit alongside the directory: you can see ward and stake callings grouped by organization, so it is clear who is serving where. The developer also includes a lists feature for building custom groups of members from your ward or stake, which is useful when you need a subset rather than the whole roster.

Photos are the piece that keeps a directory from feeling like a spreadsheet. An update lets ward clerks and bishoprics approve member photos, which the developer says keeps the directory up to date. That approval step matters, because a directory is only as trustworthy as the information behind it.

Calendars, messages and the rest of the everyday tools

Beyond the directory, the app covers the scheduling side of congregational life. Ward and stake event calendars are available in the app, and a messages area shows updates or actions that need attention. Between the two, the ordinary question of what is happening and when has a single place to be answered.

The meetinghouse and temple tools round this out. The app also shows when sacrament meeting is held, where the meetinghouse is, and how to reach the bishop. The temple section covers your assigned temple, temples closest to where you are, ordinance schedules, and reminders before a temple recommend expires. For anyone traveling or moving into a new area, that combination removes a fair amount of guesswork.

Missionary details are here too: how to reach the full-time missionaries serving in your ward or stake and those sent out from it. A recent addition lets members request contact from a local leader when they are introducing a friend to the missionaries through a digital form, which folds a step that used to happen in person into the app itself. Two new tiles also open the Seminary and Institute websites in one tap.

What leaders see that other members do not

Many features are limited to members who hold specific callings. Ward and stake leaders can reach membership reports for the members of their ward and stake, which is the layer of information that sits behind the public-facing directory. Clerks, bishops, and branch presidents can transfer records and record ordinances, while organization presidencies can send in payment requests.

The developer also notes that bishoprics and ward clerks can now create custom callings when local needs call for something outside the standard list. That is a small addition on its face, but it speaks to how the app is meant to track the way a ward actually runs rather than an idealized version of it.

What appeals to me about this split is that it keeps the everyday tools uncluttered for ordinary members while still giving clerks and leaders the depth they need. If you hold one of those callings, the app is less a convenience and more a working tool; if you do not, the parts you see are the ones relevant to you.

What the app asks of you

The straightforward part is the cost: Member Tools is free, with no ads and no in-app purchases, and it carries an Everyone content rating. There is no paid tier alongside the free one, and no feature appears to require a purchase.

The directory, calendars, lists, and calling information all draw on records tied to your local unit, so the app is built around that relationship rather than around general use.

That is a narrow audience by design, and it is worth being direct about it. This is not a general-purpose contact manager or calendar that happens to have church branding; it is a companion to participation in a specific congregation, and its usefulness tracks how plugged in you are to that congregation.

How I would use it in practice

The natural rhythm is to check the calendar before the week fills up, then use the directory when you actually need to reach someone.

For leaders, the reports and record management are the parts that justify opening the app on a weekday rather than a Sunday. Moving records and recording ordinances are the kind of tasks that used to wait for a desktop session; having them in the same place as the directory means one tool covers both the administrative and the personal sides of a calling.

The temple section is the piece I would expect to get steady use from people who travel. Seeing your assigned temple alongside temples nearest your current location, with ordinance schedules attached, is the sort of thing that answers a question quickly when you are somewhere unfamiliar. The recommend expiration reminders serve a similar purpose, flagging something that is easy to let lapse.

The recent changes point in a consistent direction: photo approval, custom callings, and the missionary referral form all tighten the loop between what members do and what the records show. The developer also lists bug fixes in the latest update, dated September 21, 2026, which suggests the app is being tended rather than left alone.

A companion app for active church members

Member Tools does one job well: it puts congregational information where members and leaders can reach it. The directory, calendars, meetinghouse and temple tools, and missionary contacts cover the questions people actually ask, and the reports, record management, and finance features give leaders the administrative side without forcing them elsewhere.

For anyone outside that community, the app has little to offer, and that is a fair reflection of what it was built for.

At no cost, with no ads and no purchases, there is not much to weigh against installing it if you are in the intended audience. The 4.3 average from a large body of ratings suggests most people who need it find it does what they came for.

What's new in version 5.6.1-(109119.3428466)

Bishoprics and ward clerks can review and approve member photos right in the app—helping keep the directory current and accurate. Bishoprics and ward clerks can create custom callings when needed—making it simpler to reflect local needs and assignments. Members can request contact from a local leader when introducing a friend to missionaries through a digital form. Access Seminary and Institute websites in one tap with two new app tiles. Bug Fixes