Members Missing from LDS Tools

There are members not showing up in LDS tools for multiple users. The records members are in MLS and available on Leader and Clerk Resources. Users have synced their LDS tools app and are using the currents version.

Odds are the "missing" members have their privacy settings in the Directory set such that they only appear to leaders, or members of their own ward. A clerk can change that, but it should not be done without the permission of the members involved. This is far worse in countries with strict privacy laws, such as the UK. Over there, the members have to "opt-in" to appear, unlike the US where they have to "opt-out" to disappear.

Out-of-unit leaders can be another source of issues - they appears in their callings, but may not appear in the ward directory as technically they are not a member of that ward.

I am the Relief Society President in the Front Range Ward, Golden Colorado Stake, Golden Colorado.. I have noticed two names so far that do not appear on my LDS tools app.
The Bishop and Ward executive secretary do have these names on their app. Does this mean these people have given permission for only those people to have access to their information?

georgannk wrote:I am the Relief Society President in the Front Range Ward, Golden Colorado Stake, Golden Colorado.. I have noticed two names so far that do not appear on my LDS tools app.
The Bishop and Ward executive secretary do have these names on their app. Does this mean these people have given permission for only those people to have access to their information?

It means that their privacy setting is set so that only ward leaders can see them in the directory (and LDS Tools). For this purpose ward leaders is defined as the bishopric, executive secretary and clerks.

eblood66 wrote:For this purpose ward leaders is defined as the bishopric, executive secretary and clerks.

That definition was set some time ago. With expanded access to LCR, I wouldn't be surprised if "ward leader" is redefined at some point, since I believe they are visible to the same people in LCR. Maybe when the LDS Tools API is revised at some point.

russellhltn wrote:

eblood66 wrote:For this purpose ward leaders is defined as the bishopric, executive secretary and clerks.

That definition was set some time ago. With expanded access to LCR, I wouldn't be surprised if "ward leader" is redefined at some point, since I believe they are visible to the same people in LCR. Maybe when the LDS Tools API is revised at some point.

Quite possibly but I'm pretty sure that hasn't happened yet.

eblood66 wrote:

russellhltn wrote:

eblood66 wrote:For this purpose ward leaders is defined as the bishopric, executive secretary and clerks.

That definition was set some time ago. With expanded access to LCR, I wouldn't be surprised if "ward leader" is redefined at some point, since I believe they are visible to the same people in LCR. Maybe when the LDS Tools API is revised at some point.

Quite possibly but I'm pretty sure that hasn't happened yet.

I can confirm that the privacy setting has not been revised. "Private - leadership only" is still limited to the pre-LCR group of leaders.

russellhltn wrote:With expanded access to LCR, I wouldn't be surprised if "ward leader" is redefined at some point, since I believe they are visible to the same people in LCR.

Just to be clear, I was speculating on a future change. Sorry, I should have said "will be" instead of "is"

russellhltn wrote:Odds are the "missing" members have their privacy settings in the Directory set such that they only appear to leaders, or members of their own ward. A clerk can change that, but it should not be done without the permission of the members involved. This is far worse in countries with strict privacy laws, such as the UK. Over there, the members have to "opt-in" to appear, unlike the US where they have to "opt-out" to disappear.

Out-of-unit leaders can be another source of issues - they appears in their callings, but may not appear in the ward directory as technically they are not a member of that ward.

Is this still true? When a member "opts out" does the record become completely invisible, or is it just the contact information that is no longer visible? There seems to be a discrepancy in the description. The first section of the FAQ below seems to suggest that the record is no longer visible. But the next section says it is just the contact info and photos that are not visible. Which is it????


Privacy and Visibility
Why can’t other members in my ward or stake see me in the directory?
Verify your privacy settings by selecting yourself from the directory. Then select Edit and verify and update your visibility settings as desired.

Why are members of my ward or branch not listed in the directory?
Members can choose to allow some or all of their individual or household photos and contact information to display.

bretpetersen1 wrote:When a member "opts out" does the record become completely invisible, or is it just the contact information that is no longer visible?

That depends on which settings are used. If the entire household is set to Leadership Only then even the name will not be visible. But if the household visibility is set to Ward or Stake then individual contact items (address, phone and/or email) can each be set to a different visibility level.

Thank you. That explains why some members can't be seen. I don't think that is at all clear in the explanations of the settings.

The description and operation of the Household visibility limit is not consistent. The help states:

"The Household Visibility Limit sets the maximum visibility for any part of your household information.

For example, suppose your household phone is set to Stake, but the Household Visibility Limit is set to Ward. If you click to edit your household phone, you will still see the setting on Stake, but it will be grayed out. You can change the setting to Ward or Private - Leadership Only, but even if you leave it on Stake, it will still be displayed as if it were set to Ward, because the Household Visibility Limit takes precedence. "

The above makes it appear that the household limit just sets the visibility of each of the other settings. However, in practice, the household limit set to "Private" or "ward" has another completely unexplained result - it makes that household completely unlisted. We have an Elder Quorum president in our stake that set the household privacy limit to "Ward". He is now not visible to the rest of the stake. Other members of the stake in LDS tools look and see that his ward apparently does not have an EQ president. I don't think this is what was intended. Or if it was intended, it is not explained in the "Learn more" tab. I think this needs to be changed or at least explained so less people, especially leaders would not choose this option.

I don't think they intended that setting the visibility limit would make people completely disappear from the visibility of other members. It sounds like it should just limit the visibility of the listed information - telephone number, email, etc. I sent feedback about this but never heard back.

bretpetersen1 wrote:"The Household Visibility Limit sets the maximum visibility for any part of your household information."

I think the "any part" should make it reasonably clear. I suspect the problem is folks get too caught up in the reset of the explanation and fail to understand the significance of the quoted statement.

As a community forum, there's not much we can do. Submitting feedback was the correct action. It does get read, but not always responded to.

I don't agree that is is reasonably clear. That is the whole point. The whole description is about visibility of each part and then the household setting over rides those individual settings. So I say it is not clear at all that your record will become invisible. I think the more reasonable interpretation is that the visibility setting will just override the setting for each part. And there is no individual setting that hides the whole record, i.e. your name. I think it needs to be made more clear than mud in the description of the settings. When I approached two people that used this setting they said they had no idea that was what would happen. They quickly changed it when I showed them the result. It may be clear to you, but not to most so not reasonably clear.

I know this forum has no power to make the change. But maybe a better awareness and a few complaints will get it changed. As a stake clerk, I heard about this problem from several people in the stake.

bretpetersen1 wrote:We have an Elder Quorum president in our stake that set the household privacy limit to "Ward". He is now not visible to the rest of the stake. Other members of the stake in LDS tools look and see that his ward apparently does not have an EQ president.

You may want to give feedback in LDS Tools to ask for some "placeholder" to indicate that's redacted information rather than empty. That would help with at least that aspect of the issue.

There are for sure people missing on lds tools
It not their privacy settings ot anything like that
Is is just not working right on the abdroid app. I am an Elders Quorm President and people are just disappearing. I suggest please that it just get fixed insdead of just talking around it. It started about the middle of March.

pquinn wrote: Mon Apr 03, 2023 6:14 pm I suggest please that it just get fixed insdead of just talking around it. It started about the middle of March.

This is primarily a user to user forum, so no one here can just fix it. I'd suggest you report it via the feedback function in the app.

pquinn wrote: Mon Apr 03, 2023 6:14 pm There are for sure people missing on lds tools
It not their privacy settings ot anything like that
Is is just not working right on the abdroid app. I am an Elders Quorm President and people are just disappearing. I suggest please that it just get fixed insdead of just talking around it. It started about the middle of March.

I have seen this behavior as well in our stake - a member of our Stake Presidency and his family disappeared from Member Tools, but they were still visible on the directory via the browser. For me, performing a full data refresh in my Android Member Tools fixed it. There is at least one other thread in this forum about this and others reported on that thread that uninstalling and reinstalling Member Tools fixed it for them. You also could log out (which would clear your stake data) and then log back in (which would download a fresh copy).

As has been stated previously, no one on this user-to-user mutual help form has the power to fix this - we are all just regular members like yourself and church leaders do not visit this forum. Like it or not, you and I are not considered customers in this scenario - the sponsoring departments in the church are the customers and they direct the developer's assignments. To get your request to those who set the developer's priorities, you should either provide feedback from within the app or ask your stake president to bring it up with the general authority in the coordinating council he is a member of.

Since it's release, I have seen behavior like this on occasion - if Member Tools is missing data, there is no way for the user to know. Early on the most common thing that went missing was ministering assignments but as you have seen, random membership data is the most recent thing going AWOL. I have no guess as to why unless there is some interruption or corruption of the data when it is checking for membership and calling updates.