Church Account vs Family Search Account

Our ward family history consultant says that he was told you should set up a separate account for Family Search and not use your church account..... I always thought you could use the Church Account for many things, including Family Search... ???

zaneclark wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 2:24 pm Our ward family history consultant says that he was told you should set up a separate account for Family Search and not use your church account..... I always thought you could use the Church Account for many things, including Family Search... ???

You used to be able to use your Church Account credentials to sign in to FamilySearch, but that has changed. The two systems were separated not too long ago.

I think you can still use your church account...

zaneclark wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 2:24 pm Our ward family history consultant says that he was told you should set up a separate account for Family Search and not use your church account.....

I would ask the consultant for the source of that statement.

I do think it's a bit simpler to use a FS account as that's what it seems to default to. From a security standpoint, It's not a bad idea in case one gets compromised, the other service is unaffected.

russellhltn wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 4:08 pmFrom a security standpoint, It's not a bad idea in case one gets compromised, the other service is unaffected.

Very true. But when they made the split, your Church Account credentials carried over unless you set up something different. So, since I have not changed anything, I am able to sign on to FamilySearch with the same credentials, even if I have not signed on to anything at another Church site beforehand.

And yes, it is bad form from a computer security standpoint.

Here is the article on FamilySearch about the split from Church Account.

https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/familysearch-and-church-account-split

Found this on Family Search..

"Notes for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
You probably have a Church account for the Church website or Church apps, such as Tools. You do not need a separate account for FamilySearch.org. On the sign-in page, click Sign In with Church Account.
To use the Family Tree or Memories mobile apps, you must create a FamilySearch account.
If you choose to create a FamilySearch account, use the website steps.
On the first screen, click the box to indicate that you are a Church member.
Enter your Church record number. If you cannot find it, click in the box, and then click Continue.
To add your Church record number to an existing account, go to your Account Settings. At the bottom of the page, click Add Church Record Number."

nmecantwin73 wrote: Thu Dec 01, 2022 11:09 am Here is the article on FamilySearch about the split from Church Account.

https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/familysearch-and-church-account-split

The option to use your Church Account credentials has been a part of the FamilySearch website but has not been available on mobile apps. A new Church Account button has been added to mobile apps to provide users the capability to use their Church account credentials to sign into FamilySearch.

It looks like there was a good reason, but that has since changed. It's still an extra click to use a church account.

zaneclark wrote: Thu Dec 01, 2022 12:54 pm Found this on Family Search..

When you refer to a page, it's helpful to supply a link to that page. I was eventually able to find this article in the Help Center:

How do I create a free FamilySearch account?

One reason it's important to link to a page is that content gets updated. In this case, what you quoted is no longer accurate, as your quote contains the statement:

"To use the Family Tree or Memories mobile apps, you must create a FamilySearch account."

That statement is no longer correct, since you can now use your Church Account to sign in to the mobile apps. That statement no longer appears in the linked help article.

When you only sign in to FamilySearch using your Church Account, you might think you don't have a FamilySearch account. But that's not true. No matter how you sign in to FamilySearch, you are signed in to your FamilySearch account. If you used your Church Account to sign in initially, then a FamilySearch account was automatically created for you (and also automatically linked to your Church Account).

Once you are signed in to FamilySearch using your Church Account, you can go to Settings and set your password for your FamilySearch account, and then you could sign in to FamilySearch websites or apps using your FamilySearch account.

It may seem like I am splitting hairs on this topic, but this distinction can be very important as FamilySearch adds more third-party login options. Facebook is now available, and others will be coming. If you casually use different third-party logins, and your third-party logins are not all consistently linked with the same email address, you could inadvertently end up creating more than one FamilySearch account behind the scenes. You could easily be surprised and disappointed to discover that your contributions, messages, and other account-specific details are not all connected to the same account.