Planning Center Change Log

New: Add a description to add-on options

Mon, 04 May 2026 16:21:43 GMT

You can now add a description to add-on options in Registrations, giving attendees the context they need during signup.

Add-on names alone may sometimes leave attendees guessing, especially for meals, gear, or session upgrades where the details make all the difference. With a description, you can answer those questions upfront, right where people are making decisions.

Attendees will see the description directly below the add-on option during signup.

The Registrations Team

New: Create gender-specific chat conversations

Mon, 04 May 2026 16:06:26 GMT

A lot of groups have a main conversation for the whole group, plus separate conversations for the men and women. If your church has been using another chat app for those gender-specific conversations, you can now bring them into Planning Center Chat!

When creating a new conversation in a Group, you'll see a new gender filter. Toggle it on, and the conversation will only include members whose gender matches yours. So if you're a woman creating the conversation, it becomes a women-only conversation.

Once a gender-specific conversation exists, it stays in sync with your group. In this case, if a new woman joins the group, she'll be automatically added to the chat. No one falls through the cracks.

What if I need to create a conversation for the opposite gender?

Since gender-specific conversations are based on your own profile, you can only create one that matches your gender. So if you're a male group leader who needs both a men's and a women's conversation, here are a couple of easy ways to get the women's conversation set up:

If your group settings allow all members to create conversations, any woman in the group can start the women's conversation herself.
Or, you can add a woman as a co-leader on the group. She'll be able to create the women's conversation, and it gives the group a clear point person for that conversation too.

Make sure your congregation's gender info is up to date

For this feature to work well, your congregation needs gender set on their profiles. Managers in People, head to your Church Center settings and you'll find Gender listed as a built-in profile field, right alongside birthdate and grade. You can control whether congregants can add their gender if it's blank, edit it freely, or whether only admins can make changes. If you want people to set their own gender but not change it afterward, "Can add if blank" is a good fit. Admins can also update anyone's gender directly from their profile in People.

We hope this makes your groups feel a little more connected.

The Chat Team

New: Know when someone joins a conversation

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 22:48:15 GMT

It's easy to miss when someone new joins a chat. They quietly appear in the member list, and unless you happen to check, the group can grow without anyone noticing.

Now, we post a short message in the conversation whenever someone is added. Everyone can see who's joining and take a moment to welcome them, so new members feel included from the start.

The Chat Team

Improved: Attendance reports (avg. member count + individual % clarity)

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 19:55:47 GMT

A couple attendance reporting improvements to add more clarity:

1) You can now see a group’s average member count in the Attendance by Group report for the date range—so it’s easier to understand attendance numbers in context to the group size. You can sort by this too, if you want to focus in on the larger groups for example.

2) Under each person’s % attendance, you’ll now see the (X of Y) count so it’s easy to understand what that percentage is based on.

Team Groups

New: Additional guest counts for event RSVPs

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 15:22:55 GMT

When someone RSVPs to a group event, they can now add the number of additional guests they’re bringing. This optional event setting gives leaders a more accurate headcount for planning things like food, seating, childcare, and supplies.

(This change is on Church Center Web, Church Center iOS/Android apps v2026.4.22 or newer, and in the RSVP email responses)

Leader versus member display of guest counts

The leader view shows more detail, so leaders know exactly who to follow up with.

Members see a simpler version—since they don’t need follow‑up details—but it’s still helpful if they’re hosting and need to plan.

Settings and options

You have full control on which events allow additional guests.

Admins can enable guest counts for:

Group type default (events in new groups created in that type default to allowing guests)
Group default (new events in that group default to allowing guests)
Individual or recurring events

Leaders can enable additional guests for events through Church Center.

Why is this helpful?

Accurate event headcount's, fewer “how many are you bringing?” texts—so you can plan snacks and chairs without guessing (or over-ordering 40 pizzas).

Go ahead and RSVP—now with plus-ones, so the pizza math finally adds up.

Team Groups

New: Verified First background checks now in Planning Center

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 21:41:46 GMT

Verified First's add-on allows you to order their background checks right from Planning Center.

If your church uses Verified First for background screening, you can now place and track orders without leaving Planning Center—no more switching between systems or re-entering volunteer information!

Order background checks without leaving Planning Center

Enable the add-on from the Integrations tab in your account settings. You'll need to share your organization ID with your Verified First representative to complete setup.

Once connected, you can order background checks two ways:

Bulk orders: Go to People → Background Checks → New Background Check to screen multiple candidates at once.

Individual orders: From a person's profile, use the dropdown menu to order a background check for that person.

Choose the screening package that fits your needs

Select from preset packages or choose services à la carte. Verified First offers abuse and sex offender registry searches, criminal checks across multiple states and jurisdictions, and drug testing. Not sure what to screen? Verified First can help!

Track status from the person's profile

Then you can check on the status of any order directly from the person's profile in Planning Center.

Ready to get started? If you’re not yet a Verified First client, start there!

Contact them here so they can get your account, screening products, and packages set up. Then, enable the Verified First add-on in your Planning Center account.

The API team

Improved: Station check-ins show security codes in Church Center

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 15:39:17 GMT

Available on Church Center v2026.4.8 and up:

Previously in Church Center, the only way a parent could see a security code in the app was if they checked in using Church Center. If they checked in at a Check-Ins station, the code didn't show up in the app. Now, security codes are visible in Church Center no matter where the check-in happened!

What's improved?

See a real-time check-in status in the app. Whether someone is checked in or out, Church Center now shows that check-in status accurately for everyone. No more conflicting information between your Check-Ins stations and what parents see on their end.
Security codes are always accessible in the app. Household members can now see security codes for every active check-in, including ones created at a station, so there's no scramble at pickup if someone's label goes missing.
Families can check in again for a second service. If a child is already checked in and needs to be checked in for an additional service, parents can handle it themselves in the app by tapping "Check-In again."

One screen, the full picture

Instead of splitting the household across multiple screens, everything now lives in one place. Families will be able see who's already checked in (with their security code) and who still needs to be checked in, all at a glance.

If you have any questions, reach out by hitting the question mark (?) in the top right corner of any page in Planning Center. We love hearing your feedback!

Happy Checking In!

Team Check-Ins

Improved: Attachment support for all People emails

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:49:14 GMT

In addition to inline images support, many of you have asked about expanding attachment support beyond list emails too. We’re happy to share attachment support is now available everywhere you compose an email in People!

Where you can now add attachments

Individual profiles — attach a document when reaching out to someone directly
Workflow cards — include relevant files when emailing someone about their progress in a workflow
Workflow steps — attach resources when emailing everyone at a particular step
Email templates — save attachments as part of a reusable template so they're ready to go every time

Attachment limits

Each email supports up to 5 attachments up to 10MB total. Most common file types are supported — things like PDFs, images, Word documents, and spreadsheets.

If you've been using attachments from lists, the experience is the same: we've carried the same placement and UX to every emailer so it feels familiar wherever you're composing from.

We’ve been working toward making email experiences consistent across People—we’d love to hear from you if there’s a specific email capability you’d like to see next!

The People Team,
Zane, Usborn, Shawn, Shane, Kody, Julia, Gabi, Fred, Dave, and Benson

New: Create reusable links for QR codes and NFC tags

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:27:26 GMT

Whether it's printed on a flyer, etched into a lobby sign, or programmed into an NFC tag on a pew, a link can't be updated once it's out in the world. If the destination changes — a new giving page, an updated event signup — you're stuck reprinting materials or reprogramming tags. It's a small frustration that adds up fast.

Now you can create redirects in Planning Center Links — short, reusable links that you control, so you can change where they point anytime without reprinting or reprogramming a thing.

In the Links app, tap Create redirect to get started. Give your redirect a memorable link (like mychurch.churchcenter.com/r/give or mychurch.churchcenter.com/r/connect) and set the destination URL to any page in Church Center.

Once it's created, you can generate a QR code or program an NFC tag using that redirect — and if you ever need to point it somewhere new, just update the destination. The QR code and NFC tag keep working.

You can also create and manage redirects in Publishing for easy access outside the mobile app.

In both Publishing and the Links app, you can see how many times your redirect was clicked.

Print a poster once, program a tag once, and never worry about it again. Redirects give your church a set of permanent, flexible links that grow and change with you.

The Church Center Team

New: Planning Center Help Center

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 18:26:12 GMT

We've been on a bit of a consolidation kick lately, and this one's been a long time coming.

All 14 of our product help centers are now together in a single, unified destination: help.planningcenter.com.

No more guessing which help center to visit before you can start searching. No more bouncing around just to track down a cross-product answer. Everything lives in one place now!

A few other things you might notice:

Light/dark mode: We know ministry never stops, so this one is for your late-night "Wait, how does this work again?" moments.
Picture-in-picture video player: Watch a tutorial and navigate at the same time? Look at you multitasking!
Improved search: Smarter, faster, unified…It’s giving results.

We want finding help to be easy. We're really proud of this one, and we hope you feel the care that went into it.

→ Explore Planning Center Help now!

The Documentation Team