Digital Temple Recommends

Question on the new option to switch to the digital temple recommend.

The instructions that just came out say that a member of the bishopric can convert a person’s temple recommend from Printed to Digital. I discovered that as a Stake Exec Secretary, I have the option to switch the recommend to digital (I also have the option to activate a recommend). Why do I have the ability to switch the recommend to digital? Why do I have the ability to activate a recommend?

dotson98 wrote: Fri May 30, 2025 12:53 am I discovered that as a Stake Exec Secretary, I have the option to switch the recommend to digital (I also have the option to activate a recommend).

I do not know why, but you are correct that it is not in the instructions but nevertheless possible to do, at least for a ward executive secretary. I wonder if a clerk can also do it, but have not had a chance to check.

It is probably a programming error. The instructions say that the stake does not have the capability to switch the recommend. If it is a concern, I would send feedback.

dotson98 wrote: Fri May 30, 2025 12:53 am Why do I have the ability to switch the recommend to digital? Why do I have the ability to activate a recommend?

Executive secretaries are often in attendance and coordinating the stake presidency temple recommend interviews. I'm guessing this lets them complete the activation process to free up the stake presidency member as they conduct the interviews.

Does anyone know why as a Bishop when I go to "Switch active recommend format from printed to mobile" in LCR the select button is greyed out for some members?

I figured out that the Temple Recommends for the ones that are greyed out were issued by my counselor that I replaced a couple weeks ago. Since he is no longer in the Bishopric, we will have to issue new recommends for those members that want to switch to mobile recommends that he interviewed originally.

Switching formats can only be done by the issuing unit, and only if the issuing leader can still issue recommends

bcfridley wrote: Sun Jun 01, 2025 10:34 am Does anyone know why as a Bishop when I go to "Switch active recommend format from printed to mobile" in LCR the select button is greyed out for some members?

If either of the approvers on the current paper recommend is no longer serving in their calling, you will not be able to convert the recommend. You will need to start the regular process of issuing a new recommend, which may be issued as a mobile recommend.

lajackson wrote: Sun Jun 01, 2025 11:16 am

bcfridley wrote: Sun Jun 01, 2025 10:34 am Does anyone know why as a Bishop when I go to "Switch active recommend format from printed to mobile" in LCR the select button is greyed out for some members?

If either of the approvers on the current paper recommend is no longer serving in their calling, you will not be able to convert the recommend. You will need to start the regular process of issuing a new recommend, which may be issued as a mobile recommend.

that is what the documentation says, but my recommend was converted to a mobile recommend and the stake interviewer who interviewed me was no longer serving in the stake presidency.

Another reason could be the member does not have an individual photo of themselves on their profile. That is required for the mobile recommend.

skiddlyarcus wrote: Sun Jun 15, 2025 10:36 pm my recommend was converted to a mobile recommend and the stake interviewer who interviewed me was no longer serving in the stake presidency.

Any idea what that calling that interviewer is holding now? I wonder if the software is just checking to see if they're holding a certain class of calling and not necessarily the same one, or in the same unit.

Two interesting items from my recent experience:

1) A completely new Bishopric is now in place from when I received my printed recommend last September, although our Stake Presidency is still intact (the opposite scenario of what @skiddlyarcus posted). The current Bishop was able to issue my mobile recommend two weeks ago, and it still retained the Sept 2026 expiration date. So it seems like if the ward approver is not in the calling anymore (my case), or the if the stake approver is not in his calling anymore (the previous post), it still goes through at least in some situations. Not sure if this is a "bug" in the system, or if it's actually what's desired and in that case the help docs are not correct. As an aside, my original ward interviewer is now a SS Teacher, so that wouldn't seem to affect things.

2) My Bishop came up to me this Sunday and requested I upload a "Temple-worthy profile picture". Interestingly, I don't believe I've seen this documented anywhere, and I didn't ask where he had gotten that directive (stake president? church email?). I didn't press him mostly because to me it makes a lot of sense, since it's what is going to pop up when I show my recommend at the temple desk. My previous pic wasn't inappropriate by any means, but definitely was a more "fun" pic. And it showed a younger version of myself, which is always nice

russellhltn wrote: Mon Jun 16, 2025 1:46 am

skiddlyarcus wrote: Sun Jun 15, 2025 10:36 pm my recommend was converted to a mobile recommend and the stake interviewer who interviewed me was no longer serving in the stake presidency.

Any idea what that calling that interviewer is holding now? I wonder if the software is just checking to see if they're holding a certain class of calling and not necessarily the same one, or in the same unit.

Currently he has no calling assigned. Stake presidency reoganization was in March.

I had asked the same bishopric counselor who was the one who interviewed me to change to a mobile recommend - he did the change and it worked.
I'm the stake clerk and I initially didn't see an option where I could have changed my recommend to a mobile recommend. So for me it appears that it needed to be a bishopric member making the change as I could not do it at the stake level.

I just went down the entire list of pending recommend activations. I am unable to change any of the members who have interviewed at the ward level to mobile (all of them would have been intereviewed by the previous stake presidency). However, I have the option to change any of the recently activated recommends to mobile (for members who have a photo and were interviewed by currently serving bishopric/stake presidency).

As a side note: kudos to the programmers who put the date/time stamp into the QR code making it so screenshots will not work ... we already attempted screenshots and it didn't work at the temple.

skiddlyarcus wrote: Mon Jun 16, 2025 9:32 am As a side note: kudos to the programmers who put the date/time stamp into the QR code making it so screenshots will not work ... we already attempted screenshots and it didn't work at the temple.

The main reason a screen shot will not work is because the mobile recommend generates a new recommend number quite often and the old one no longer works.

Stake Clerk Question - I typically activate recommends for the stake presidency. I have noticed when activating the mobile recommend it does not appear on their app very quickly. I have them do a manual sync but still nothing. I send them home with the promise it will pop up soon and it is just a delay in the servers. Is this correct or is there something else I should have them do to see it?

You can try "Refresh Data" found under "Three bars" menu > Settings. That's more complete than just "Sync".

For church systems in general, it's not usual for there to be a delay. For example, we generally advise waiting 24 hours after being placed in a calling to get those rights.

silus99 wrote: Tue Jun 17, 2025 7:28 pm I have noticed when activating the mobile recommend it does not appear on their app very quickly.

Wi-Fi, Sync, Refresh Data.

The instructions tell the member that it may take up to 15 minutes to appear. A friend that asked the bishopric to switch her current recommend to digital said it took about 10 seconds. I just went through the entire process and when the stake presidency counselor approved my recommend it was there when I opened the app to look about three seconds later.

I think the key is how Member Tools updates normally in other circumstances. If they have the Sync Automatically Only on Wi-Fi button set, it should sync as soon as they are back on Wi-Fi. At church it might not update if they have not accepted the splash screen.

If they left their own meetinghouse to go to the stake center, they would need to accept the splash screen again to be back on Wi-Fi. This is probably the main reason it does not update quickly. When they get back home, it updates when they open the app again while they are on their home Wi-Fi, and the problem is solved.

I have Automatic Sync turned on. It seems to update every time I open the app and need to sign in. The same sync screen shows when Tools last synced. It also has a Manually Sync button that works. I would send them there next.

As russellhltn suggests, I would recommend Refresh Data on the Settings page as the next step. That forces a complete data reload.

Hello Good Day

it says "Switch active recommend format from printed to mobile
Switching formats requires digital signatures to be recorded for each interview"

how do i this?