Plan your first Sunday

On the Sign in or get started card, enter your email and press Continue, whether you are new or coming back. 1stHour emails you a code, so there's no password to make up. Type the Code and press Sign in. That phone or computer then stays signed in.

Because no ward has invited your email yet, 1stHour asks you to set one up. The ward is set up under the email you just signed in with, and that's the address you'll sign in with from now on. The email field is locked for that reason. To use another address, press Use a different email and sign in with that one first.

Then fill in three steps:

1. Your unit: the Ward or branch name, Unit number, Time zone and Sacrament meeting starts. The unit number keeps two wards with the same name apart. The time zone starts on your phone's or computer's; change it if your ward is somewhere else. The meeting time starts at 10:00 AM; change it if your ward meets at another time. It shows on your program, and you can change it later in Settings.
2. You: Your name and Your calling: Bishop, First counselor, Second counselor, Executive secretary or Bulletin specialist.
3. Your bishop: Bishop's name and Bishop's email. If you picked Bishop as your calling, that's you, and there's nothing to fill in.

Invite the others now, if you like. Under Add now (optional) you can add the counselors and the executive secretary. You can also skip this and invite them later.

Press Start and your ward's name.

Only the bishopric and the executive secretary can be added here. Invite the clerk and anyone else afterwards from who can sign in, where you pick the role that fits. They get the same email invitation.

You land on Today. Until your first Sunday is published, it shows one thing: Let’s get your first Sunday ready, with the Sunday it picked and five lines under it. Meeting time is already ticked, from setup. The other four are the guide's steps: Conducting and music, Speakers, Hymns, Ward contacts. Each line ticks itself off as the planner fills in.

Press Open the planner.

The Sunday it picked is the first regular Sunday ahead. Fast and testimony Sundays have no speakers to fill, and General Conference weekends have no meeting, so the guide skips them. To plan a different Sunday, press Not this Sunday? Change and pick one.

Every Sunday for the coming months is already there, each with a program ready to fill in: welcome, announcements, hymns and prayers, ward business, the sacrament, speakers. You can reshape it later under Settings → Sacrament meeting → Meeting templates (see shape your Sunday programs).

The planner opens with a dark guide bar over it: at the bottom of the screen on a phone, under the date on a computer. The bar names the step you're on and outlines the part of the program it's about. Nothing is hidden. The whole program is there, and you can fill in anything in any order. Each field saves when you leave it.

Step 1, conducting and music. Presiding & music opens by itself. The bishop already presides. Add who's Conducting, the Music director and the Organist/Pianist. A role left blank is left off the program. Press Next: speakers.

A Visiting authority presides in the bishop's place, and the welcome names them as presiding. For a visitor the welcome should recognize but who doesn't preside, such as a mission president, tap + Visitors to recognize and add them there.

Step 2, speakers. To put a speaker on a slot, tap Add speaker. The picker shows who is due for a talk, longest wait first. Tap Everyone for the whole list. Your ward list (People) starts out holding only the leaders you named, so for most speakers you'll type a name. If nobody in People has it, tap + Add "…" to the ward list. They join People, so you can pick them next time. Once someone is picked, View person details beside their name opens their record in People, and the back arrow at the top brings you back to the talk.

Someone from outside the ward, such as a stake speaker or a visiting family member, isn't added to People:

1. Tap + Someone outside the ward under the list. On a stake speaker's slot it's already open, at the top.
2. Enter Their name. Anything you typed in the search is filled in.
3. Press Use this name.

The name goes on this Sunday only, marked Guest.

Add a Topic if you have one, and press Done.

The topic before the speaker. If you know what a talk should be about but not who will give it, tap Add speaker on the slot and type it under Topic, then go back. The slot shows the topic under Add speaker on the Sunday and in Program, and keeps it when you pick someone. The program the ward sees shows a topic only beside a speaker who has accepted.

Under the speaker, Who's asking says which member of the bishopric asks them. On a slot nobody has claimed, it starts on whoever conducts that Sunday, if they're in the bishopric. It's saved when you pick the speaker. Tap Change to see the bishopric, with your own seat marked you. Tap a different one to change it, or the chosen one to clear it, then Done.

Picking someone puts them in as an Idea: you haven't asked yet. Send the invitation with Invite him by message (see message a speaker), or tap Asked once you've asked in person. When they say yes, open the slot again and tap Accepted. The program shows who's accepted (green), who's been asked (amber) and which slots are still open. Each speaker's line says it in words too, such as Accepted before their topic. Press Next: hymns.

If a speaker says no, see when a speaker says no. To add or take away a talk, see add or remove a speaker slot.

Moving a talk. To give a speaker another slot, on the same Sunday or another one, open their slot and tap Move this talk. Choose a Sunday from the row of dates. It runs from the next Sunday through eight weeks past this one; scroll sideways to see them all. A Sunday that has already happened is not offered. Each date says how many slots are open. A Sunday where the speaker already has a talk can't be picked: its slots show, but none can be chosen. Then choose a slot and press the button at the bottom. Their status, topic and who's asking go with them.

An open slot takes the talk, and the slot it left opens. A slot with someone in it trades places, so the two speakers swap. A trade is greyed out when it would send the other speaker back to a Sunday where they already speak. A talk already Accepted moves to its new date on their record in People. Nothing is sent to either speaker.

Step 3, hymns. Type the hymn number and the title fills itself in. Tap a number that's already there and it's selected, so the number you type replaces it. The Hymnbook choice is under each hymn if you're using Hymns—For Home and Church or the Children's Songbook. A hymn that isn't in the book can still go on the program: type its title in the title box and leave the number blank, or type both. The title box also suggests hymns as you type. A number that isn't in the chosen book, but is in just one other, switches the Hymnbook for you. Leave a Prayer blank until someone is asked: it reads "By invitation" on the program and in the script. If nobody will be named, tick Keep it by invitation. Tap an empty Prayer to see who has waited longest to pray, with when each last prayed (anyone snoozed isn't offered), or type any name in the ward. Press Next: contacts.

Music between the talks can wait. Under the speakers, Between the talks is on for every Sunday, so your musical director can fill it in. Pick a Musical number or a Hymn yourself, with Comes to place it, or choose None to turn it off for that week. A musical number can also name who plays for it: tap + Accompanied by. Tap + Congregation note to add a line such as "The congregation is invited to join on the last verse." The conductor reads the note. The program prints who accompanies under the number, and the note on its own line. Until someone fills it in, nothing prints for it. For another piece of music anywhere else in the meeting, use Add a block, then Musical number.

Step 4, ward contacts. A Ward contacts card opens in the panel: Bishop, already filled in from who can sign in, then Executive secretary, Elders Quorum president and Relief Society president. Anyone who signs in with one of those callings is filled in too. For the rest, start typing a name and pick the person from the ward list (People), or type a name that isn't in it yet, then add a phone number. They print on the back of the program and show on Ward contacts on the ward's public page, from now on. They are the same contacts as Ward page → Ward contacts. Press Finish.

Skip moves on without filling a step in; Back goes one step back. Nothing you skip is lost: an empty speaker slot reads "To be announced" and an empty prayer "By invitation".

Not now? Press × (Finish later) on the bar. A thin line says where the guide paused, with Resume. Back on Today, the button reads Continue: and the step. Anyone in the bishopric who signs in sees the same place.

After Finish, the bar reads Your first Sunday is ready.

1. Press Preview & publish on the bar, or Preview under Publish. The preview shows the Sunday as the ward will see it, before anyone can.
2. Look it over. On a phone, tap Phone or Print to switch between the phone program and the printed one. On a wide screen they sit side by side.
3. Check Before you publish. It lists each line that will read "To be announced" or "By invitation", and anything left off. You can publish with them; each fills in once you add it.
4. Press Publish. You're back on the Sunday, and it's live.

The Sunday gets a Published at link with three buttons: Copy the link, Share the link (straight to a text or email), and a printer button, Folded program, that opens the program to print and fold in half.

Publishing sends nothing by itself. The ward sees the program when you share the link.

Publishing also ends the guide, for good. Today goes back to its usual self and says once that the Sunday is live, with Copy link and Print beside it. Hide takes that line away on that phone or computer.

You don't need to start over after publishing. Keep editing the Sunday as usual. Each change shows on the public page once it's saved. See the program your ward opens for the rest.

To take it down, press Unpublish, where Publish was. It doesn't ask first. The ward's page stops showing that Sunday's program until you publish it again, and nothing is sent to anyone. You need to unpublish before you can change what kind of Sunday it is.

Settings›Sacrament meeting›Meeting time and link

If you skipped the ward contacts, the Sunday card on Today keeps one line, Last step: ward contacts for the back cover · Add, until they're in. It opens Ward page → Ward contacts.

The Meeting time was set when you set up the ward. Change it here if it was wrong. If the Time zone ever needs changing, it's under Your ward → Ward details.

Planning the next Sundays. Upcoming lists them. Each card counts what is still open in its corner, such as 5 open: empty speaker slots, plus hymns, prayers and conducting nobody has chosen yet. The Program card on Today adds these up for the next three Sundays.

1. On the card, tap a dashed button, such as + Closing hymn or + Invocation.
2. Choose the hymn or the person.
3. Press Done.

What's already chosen shows on one line under the buttons. When nothing is left, the card says Speakers, music and prayers set. A blank prayer still counts as open, even though the program reads "By invitation". Tick Keep it by invitation when it stays that way. To see only the Sundays with something left, tap Still open.

1. Open the speaker's slot on the Sunday.
2. Tap Declined. A box opens for Why (optional).
3. Type a reason if you like, then tap Record & find another. Keep them closes the box and leaves them on the slot.

The "no" is saved on their record in People, with the date and your reason. The slot opens for the next name, and keeps its topic. If the talk was Accepted, it comes off their record. Nothing is sent to the speaker. A guest from outside the ward has no record, so the slot just opens.

Under each month's name on Upcoming is a short line, such as "Who conducts? · organist/pianist? · director?". It turns amber while one is missing.

1. Tap Edit at the end of the line.
2. Fill in Conducting in the month, Organist/pianist in the month and Music director in the month. Each saves when you leave it.
3. Tap Done.

Each name fills that month's draft Sundays that have nobody in that role yet. A Sunday where you picked someone else keeps its choice, and a published Sunday doesn't change. If the month has nobody yet, the first conductor or musician you pick on one of its Sundays becomes the month's too. Nothing is sent to anyone.

To add a talk on one Sunday, tap + Add a speaker slot under the speakers, then Adult, Youth or Stake. The new slot opens at the end. It's on the main Speakers & music block only, not on a Solo speaker block. To change how many talks every Sunday starts with, change the template's speaker mix (see shape your Sunday programs).

To take a speaker off, open the slot and tap Remove this speaker, then Remove them. The slot stays, open for someone else. The topic goes with them.

To take the slot away, open an empty slot and tap Remove this slot, then Remove the slot.

Each field saves on its own, so two people can work on the same Sunday. If you both change the same thing at the same moment, the save line reads "Someone else changed this at the same moment. Try again." Do it again and it saves.

The planner doesn't refresh itself while it's open. To see what someone else changed, open the Sunday again. Only the Conduct script updates itself (see what your ward sees).

Every Sunday is already laid out, most of them as a Standard Sunday. To make one a Fast & Testimony Sunday, the Primary Program or any other kind:

1. Open the Sunday.
2. Under the date at the top, tap Change type, next to what the Sunday is now.
3. Choose the kind. The list is your ward's own templates, such as Standard Sunday, Fast & Testimony or Primary Program, then Stake Conference, Blocked: no meeting and Something else…. Something else… makes a Sunday called Special Sunday, with no speakers. There's no name to type; add slots and shape its program on the Sunday afterwards.
4. Check the date in Which Sunday. The line under it says what the Sunday is now and what it will become.

5. Press Change, followed by the date.

The Sunday opens again with the new kind's program. Nothing is sent to anyone. Add a Sunday on Upcoming opens the same list: pick a Sunday that's already there and it changes that one.

Change type only shows on a draft. A published Sunday must be unpublished first. A Sunday with anyone named in a speaker slot can't change either, even someone only marked Idea: remove them first. For a Sunday with no meeting, see a Sunday with no meeting.

Open a speaker's slot on the Sunday. Under the status buttons, the slot says where the ask stands:

Idea

Invite him by message (or her, or them) opens the speaking invitation.

Asked

When they were asked, such as "Asked by message Oct 19", and "No answer yet". Follow up opens a note checking back.

Accepted

Remind opens the speaking reminder.

The sheet fills the template in with their name, the Sunday, the topic and your name. The speakers you're asking are also on Assignments, each with Message or Follow up.

1. Type into any amber blank, such as how long the talk should be.
2. Tap Share the message, Copy, or Text message, Email or WhatsApp. You pick the speaker in that app.
3. When the sheet asks Did it go out?, tap Mark him as asked (or her, or them) to move a speaker at Idea to Asked. The slot then says the day it went. On a follow-up or a reminder, tap Done.

1stHour sends nothing itself and keeps no phone number or email for it. Marking them asked changes only the Sunday. See send a message for the templates and their words.

On their phones. The link opens the ward's home. On Sunday morning it leads with the program, one tap from a phone-sized copy; the rest of the week, with this week's events. Below are rows such as Announcements, Sign-ups and Ward contacts (see what members see).

On paper. The printed program is the same Sunday on one letter sheet, printed on both sides and folded. The back has a QR code that opens the live program on a phone. The code works every week, so it can go on the chapel doors.

At the pulpit. Whoever conducts presses Conduct on the Sunday and gets the whole meeting as a script, one section at a time, with every name already filled in. Press Next or swipe left to go on, and press Previous or swipe right to go back. Under the sacrament hymn, both blessings are open under Sacrament prayers, so whoever presides can follow along; tap it to fold them away. In View all they start folded. The script is for signed-in leaders only; it isn't part of the public program. Nobody types a name twice.

Bullet wording. Under Step through and View all, turn on Bullet wording to read each line in a few words instead of the full wording, such as "Opening Hymn 2 · The Spirit of God" or "Invocation · Sis. Ann Lee". The welcome names who presides and who conducts, such as "Welcome · presiding: Bishop Alden Marsh · conducting: Bro. Corin Tate". Each announcement shows its name, then when and where it is. Releases and sustainings list each person and calling, and a reminder such as "Pause here" still shows under its line. Turn it off to go back to the full words. It works in both Step through and View all. It starts off, and your phone remembers your choice for you, so someone else signed in on the same phone keeps their own.

If the program changes while it's open. When someone else changes the Sunday while you have the script open, the script updates itself. There is nothing to tap, and you stay on the section you were reading. It checks when you come back to it and about once a minute while it stays open. With no signal, it keeps showing the copy it has.

The welcome names your ward, in the words under Settings → Sacrament meeting → Conducting script. It also gives the conductor's calling, such as "second counselor in the bishopric", when the conductor was picked from the ward list and holds that calling in Callings or Who can sign in. If your ward has a virtual meeting link, the sacrament hymn starts with a sentence pausing the broadcast.

Many chapels have weak signal or none. Once your phone has opened 1stHour with signal, it opens without signal too.

What still opens. The Sunday's planner, its Conduct script, the Bulletin and Today, as your phone last loaded them. A member who opened the program link once sees their saved copy too. A saved copy is kept for up to two weeks.

How you know. A line at the top of the page says "Offline. Showing what was saved at 9:42 AM." It goes away as soon as the signal is back and the page loads fresh. A screen your phone never loaded says "You're offline" instead.

Before you leave home, open the Sunday and press Conduct once while you have signal.

Nothing you change while offline is saved. Try again once you're back online. An open script can't hear about changes to the program while there's no signal; it says so once the signal is back.

If your sign-in runs out while you're offline, a line at the top says so. It renews by itself once the signal is back, without a code.

Sign out removes everything your phone saved for your account. Someone who signs in on the same phone afterwards never sees it.