Gospel Living Retirement Notification

I received a notification in the Gospel Living app that it was being retired at the end of the year. It then goes on to say that goals are being retired.

Is the whole app being retired? Or just the goals portion?

We use the circles portion of the app extensively for communication. Is that also going away?

I just saw an announcement in the Gospel Living app that it is being discontinued on December 31, 2026, due to the refinements announced today with the Children and Youth program. Has anyone heard anything about what is becoming of Circles within that app?

[Admin note: two threads on the same topic were merged.]

It sounds like it's being discontinued in stages. The first stage is at the end of the year when you'll no longer be able to set new goals or activities.

It does say "Existing goals and past activities will remain available. while the app is being discontinued." It goes on to say "A new approach to goal setting ("My FSY Invitations") and a growing set of activity ideas are now available in the Gospel Library app. "

Hopefully this means something to replace circles will come out.

It's good need about the phased retirement.

As the original post started, our ward uses the Circles app for communication for all groups. My question is about a replacement for the Circles functionality.

I did take part in a survey from the Church earlier in the year (I think) about communications tools. Maybe something is in the works?

The notification was vague. They only mentioned about the "goals" portion but I assume it's the entire app going away which would include the circles. I sent a message to the reference email asking for clarification on that so we will see what they respond.

You are the only person I've found that has this notification, where did you get it, where is the information you are working with?

johnshaw wrote: Tue Nov 03, 2026 8:49 pm You are the only person I've found that has this notification, where did you get it, where is the information you are working with?

In the app, tap on Settings (Gear icon), then tap What's New. The most recent notice is titled Gospel Living Is Being Discontinued. Tap the first item of the same name as the group title to see the first page. There are five pages in the notice.

Is the push going to be towards WhatsApp? That just doesn’t seem like a workable alternative.

johnshaw wrote: Tue Nov 03, 2026 8:49 pm You are the only person I've found that has this notification, where did you get it, where is the information you are working with?

I opened Gospel Living and there it was. Perhaps I got it because I had to start the app. It wasn't one of my pending screens (for lack of a better term).

What are the chances they would break Circles out into its own app? It is a great tool for the whole ward/branch. I always thought it was a bit odd it was placed within an app designed for the primary/youth.

Having a way to segregate messages to specific organizations, quorums, parents without having worry about adding in new members or move-ins or remove those who move out is a great tool.

Youth want something more interactive than email. Yes, all the comments for improvement for Circles like a desktop version are needed as well.

That was a very odd way to receive a notification, especially on a day they announced changes to the program that didn't include this app going away. But as they are saying most of what they want to keep is being integrated into Gospel Library - thanks for helping me find the 'notification' that people received.

This has always been a great tool for the content it had, but circles was nearly impossible to adopt, the app is aimed at the youth, and what I've been able to gather along the way, poorly adopted, espeically among the youth. When i was work the Deacons and Teachers I had 1 or 2 out of a dozen or so boys that even had phones with apps on them, some had phone/text devices only, but most didn't. This was the biggest problem with adoption, you couldn't use it for the first 4 years of youth experience. It was doomed for failure from the beginning... See the 185432 page post on this board about the app that we've been talking about since it came out.

Honestly this was pretty awful of them to announce this without any details on what if anything will replace circles. Argh! I for one hope they replace it with the ability to actually set up groups for texting and send group texts. Doubt they will do it though.
My thoughts:

1) email is worthless. I never bother with it any longer as the members won't usually read it
2) circles for many is an app/feature they don't want as it's just a place for someone to ask them to do something often . Frustrating as can be but seems to be true.
3) text is the one place they do respond but needs a method to avoid big reply chains so therefore needs to be done with a texting service like Twilio. I've thought about setting one up for our EQ but just have not spent the time/money on it yet.

ldsrussp wrote: Thu Nov 05, 2026 8:12 am 3) text is the one place they do respond but needs a method to avoid big reply chains so therefore needs to be done with a texting service like Twilio.

And I personally detest text as it tends to be something that demands your immediate attention. Messages from church rarely fall into that category.

Well, I suppose. Text can be annoying and that is why reply chains should not be allowed. However, I'm growing weary of not being able to get the brethren to do anything and then telling me things like 'I didn't know' because they refuse to look at the church apps. It's pretty frustrating. Text is often the only way I can get a response so I hope the church makes that easier going forward.

I also found it interesting that as part of the coordinated rollout of the updated C&Y program, both the General YW and General YM Presidencies released discussion videos covering the changes and the reasons behind the changes. They discussed resources like the Youth church webpage and Gospel Library content, but never mentioned either the Living App or the Circles functionality. And since we then simultaneously saw a message in the app that it's being discontinued due to the C&Y changes, the Church must have something pretty well-along in development to replace or transition Circles. And it would be nice to also have recognition that the Living App isn't just for youth, but also widely used by adults (since many of us have been slowly beaten into submission and finally made the effort to try and adopt Circles at the local level).

I have positive hopes that what we end up getting will be an improvement. But given the track record of Circles and the lack of current information, I'm not sure why I'm hopeful

Has there been any discussion on the Thoughts function in the Gospel Living app? I have used it extensively for a journal and have over 1000 entries, many of which are long. And I am troubled to think that they may be erased or lost. And the thought of trying to move this data is also problematic, because 1) I don't know a good secure place to move to, right now, and 2) If I have to scroll, highlight, cut, paste, retitle, and redate each of these, it's going to take a few minutes. 3 mins x 1000 is 50 hours. So, I am wondering what may happen regarding app and feature.

How do we provide feedback to the Church on this? It would be a shame to loose Circles. It's an easy way for members to chat without texting. Wards within our stake use it to share updates for activities, etc. Some wards have been very successful with communicating this way. Most recently and entire ward was evacuated for weeks during a wildfire and the ward members used Circles to check in with leaders and communicate about resources. It was so much easier than trying to create large text groups.

The best way is in the app itself. From the home page, gear icon, Send Feedback.

It's strange that the notification didn't even mention circles.

We do deserve a good safe way to message each other; despite the issues that Circles has, in my ward anyway the EQ and RS are all well-connected with it.

I know email won't be as widely used for various reasons, and we're gonna be stuck using invasive third-party apps like Whatsapp soon, or worse. Hopefully "Gospel Library" builds in a way to trickle down messages from local leadership at the very least!

betaylor wrote: Thu Nov 05, 2026 1:16 pm Has there been any discussion on the Thoughts function in the Gospel Living app? I have used it extensively for a journal and have over 1000 entries, many of which are long. And I am troubled to think that they may be erased or lost. And the thought of trying to move this data is also problematic, because 1) I don't know a good secure place to move to, right now, and 2) If I have to scroll, highlight, cut, paste, retitle, and redate each of these, it's going to take a few minutes. 3 mins x 1000 is 50 hours. So, I am wondering what may happen regarding app and feature.

Be sure to send feedback about this. Based on the (mostly) successful migration of Sacred Music playlists to Gospel Library when Sacred Music was retired, I think there is some recognition that user data is sacred and important to preserve. But the level of effort put toward that may depend on feedback they receive.

sbradshaw wrote: Fri Nov 06, 2026 3:54 pm But the level of effort put toward that may depend on feedback they receive.

More importantly, how many used it. I'm sure they know that by looking at their systems.

Most wards in our area (outside of Utah) used it for ward communications. The other content no one used. Tbh, the only thing worth anything was the communication portion. Y ward has been using it for the 5 years since I've been the bishop. Never had to send an email....bc no one ever reads the emails. It wasn't perfect but better than other 3rd party apps for comms and I don't even need to manage it.

They should just integrate it into the member tools app. Just like they should make the stupid calendar edible from the app instead of only online.

Agree, agree, agree!

Our ward JUST decided to start using Circles for communications within each of the organizations and was thrilled by the opportunity to communicate via a platform with automatically updating rosters, parental visibility to youth-related communications, and support for posting events. It is used extensively by other units in our stake as well. We will share feedback with the Church via the app and hope they preserve this functionailty somehow.

Circles has been notoriously unreliable. Trying to help members navigate using the app while I as the clerk don’t get half of the messages sent or get them sometimes weeks after they are sent, has been frustrating. Having children, we’ve often not received messages and missed out on crucial information.
I hope we either receive clearance to go back to using text messaging or we’re provided with a reliable communication system.

Thank you for your input. I will continue to put effort and feedback into showing others what a powerful and useful tool Thoughts is.