Each tap moves you to your next prayer chain, and then to All prayer chains, which shows every request from all of them together. The name at the top of the screen always says which one you are looking at, and a small ⇆ on the logo marks it as tappable — it only appears if you belong to more than one.

Open ☰ Menu → 🔔 Notifications and tap Turn On. On iPhone and iPad you must first add Prayer Chain to your Home Screen — in Safari tap Share, then Add to Home Screen, and open the app from that new icon. Notifications cannot work from an ordinary Safari tab.

You are told when someone is added to the prayer chain, or when a note is added to an existing request — usually within about 15 minutes. Several additions are grouped into one message rather than arriving one after another, and the message shows only the person's name, never the text of a note. Personal prayers never notify anyone — only requests shared with everyone. Untick New prayers & notes to stop these while keeping your own reminder times.

Add one or more times of day and Prayer Chain will remind you to pray at each one. Tap Pause to silence a time without deleting it. Times follow you when you travel — open the app once after you arrive and a 3:00 PM reminder stays at 3:00 PM where you are.

Open ☰ Menu → 🔔 Notifications, pick a time and tap Add. Your phone will remind you to pray through your list at that time every day. Add as many times as you like — tap Turn off to silence one without losing it, or Delete to remove it.

The first time you add a reminder, your phone asks whether to allow notifications. Tap Allow — if you decline, the time is still saved but nothing can appear at it, and you would have to turn notifications back on in your phone’s own settings. Reminders are scheduled by this phone itself: they need no account and no signal, and nothing about them is sent anywhere.

Some requests are for someone you cannot name — “Grandmother”, “A friend”, “A young mother”. Tick Generic name when you add one of these. Prayer Chain then keeps that request separate instead of joining it to an earlier one that happened to use the same word, so two different grandmothers never end up sharing one prayer history.

Leave it unticked for a real person’s name. That way, when you add another request for them later, Prayer Chain offers to add it to the person you already have and their history stays in one place.

To change it afterwards: tap the person’s name in the prayer list to open their history, then tap Edit Person. You can do this for your own personal prayers; administrators can do it for anyone.

A photo is optional and belongs to the person, so it appears everywhere they do. Tap Add Photo when adding a prayer, or open their history and tap Edit Person. Tap the person’s name in the list to see their history with their photo at the top. A generic name usually has no photo, which is normal — their initials are shown instead.

Tap the person’s name in the prayer list to open their history, then tap Edit Prayer to change that request’s name, category, summary, details or number of days. It is also where a request is marked for removal. Edit Person sits beside it for the things that belong to the person rather than the request — their photo, a generic name, a care-updates link. You can do this for your own personal prayers; administrators can do it for anyone.

The number is how many notes a request has. Tap it to read them — notes track updates and answered prayers over time — and to add one of your own from the button under the list.

This icon means the prayer is personal — only you can see it. Other prayer warriors on the chain cannot view it.

When someone on the prayer chain dies, their request moves into the Repose of Soul section — the prayer itself has changed, from healing to the repose of their soul and comfort for their family. What they were being prayed for is kept beside their name, so the section still reads was Cancer, was Hospice, and so on.

A cross (†) beside a name means the same thing on an older request that was never moved out of its original section.

Some families post updates on how someone is doing on a site such as CaringBridge. If a link has been recorded, tap the person’s name to open their prayer history and you will see Care Updates under their photo, followed by the name of the site. Tapping it opens the page in your browser, and Prayer Chain stays where you left it.

The link stays available if the person later dies, so what their family wrote during their illness can still be read.

To add one: open the person’s history, tap Edit Person and paste the link into Care Updates. Administrators can do this for anyone in the group; you can do it for your own personal prayers.

Tap the person’s name to open their prayer history. If an obituary has been recorded for them and they are marked as deceased, an Obituary Web Page button appears under their photo; tapping it opens the obituary without closing Prayer Chain, so you stay where you left it.

To add one: open the person’s history, tap Edit Person, tick Deceased and paste the link into Obituary Web Page. Administrators can do this for anyone in the group; you can do it for your own personal prayers.

The green NEW badge marks requests you have not seen before on this device, or that were added today. It clears automatically once you have viewed the list.

The amber TODAY badge means a note on this prayer request has an important date set to today — such as a surgery or anniversary. Tap the badge to read that note.

To set one, tap Add a special date when you write the request, or add it later with a note. You can add a time as well if the moment matters — leave it blank for “sometime that day”. The date and time show on the note, and the badge appears on the day itself.

The number on the far right of each row shows how many days remain on that prayer request. It turns orange on the last day and red once the request has ended.

The box above the list filters it as you type, matching the person’s name. Tap the × to clear it and see everyone again. If nobody matches, Prayer Chain offers to search all requests instead — useful when the person you are looking for is on a request that has already ended.

Open ☰ Menu → 📋 Requests to switch between Current Requests (the everyday list, still within their days to pray), Prior Requests (ones that have ended — nothing is ever deleted by running out of days) and All Requests. The menu line always says which one you are in, and so does the heading at the top of the screen. My Requests shows only the ones you added yourself.

Under ☰ Menu → 🎨 Display. Choose Large text if the standard size is hard to read, and Dark if a bright screen is uncomfortable at night. Both apply the moment you tap them — there is no Save button, and the list behind the panel changes as you choose so you can see the result before you close it. The setting stays on this device.

Under ☰ Menu → 🗑️ Erase Prayers on This Device. It tells you first how many prayers and notes will go, then asks you to type ERASE to be sure. Because nothing you write in this mode is ever sent anywhere, there is no copy to bring back — erasing here erases it everywhere, and it cannot be undone. The app stays installed and you can start again straight away.

How many people are on this prayer chain. Not how many have the app — everyone on the chain prays, however they hear about it. It is the answer to “how many people will be praying for them?”

The most people this chain has ever carried on a single day. It is counted from the chain itself and keeps itself up to date — nobody types it in. Personal prayers are never counted, and it is about the chain you are looking at, not about you. How many are on the chain today is the line at the top of the screen.

If something on the chain should not be there, open the request’s notes and tap ⚑︎ Report Request. It goes to an administrator, who can take it down. You can say why in your own words, and the person who wrote it is not told who reported it.

Under ☰ Menu → 🚫 Blocked Members. Blocking somebody hides what they write — their requests and their notes. It does not hide a person being prayed for: if somebody else asks the group to pray for them, you still see that, because it is somebody else’s prayer. Unblock at any time from the same screen; nobody is told either way.

Under ☰ Menu → 🗑️ Delete My Account. It first counts what will go so you can decide knowing what it costs, then asks you to type the word to confirm. You do not need the app to do this — the same page is at getprayerchain.com/delete-account.html. Prayer requests you added for other people stay on the chain: they belong to the people being prayed for, not to you.

People asking to join appear under ☰ Menu → ⚙️ Administration → ✋ Join Requests, with the name they gave so you can recognise them. Nobody sees a single prayer until you accept them, and the badge on the menu tells you when somebody is waiting. A request marked On your list is someone who was already on your prayer chain and has now set up the app with the name and email you have for them — approve them, and that is your cue to take them off the email list.

Everyone who has ever been prayed for, whether or not they use the app. This is where a name is corrected, a photo added, someone marked as deceased, or a care-updates link recorded — and because all of that belongs to the person, it follows them onto every request they have ever had.

The people who can sign in. Add someone and ✉️ Send Login Invite once they have an email on file, set a new Access Code for anybody who cannot get in, or make somebody an administrator alongside you. Anyone already on your list can also set themselves up: they tap Join your group in the app, enter your join code with the name and email you have for them, choose a password, and appear under Join Requests marked On your list. A role belongs to a group, not to a person, so promoting someone here changes nothing about any other group they are on.

The headings the prayer list is grouped under, and the order they appear in. Categories belong to your group alone — renaming one here changes nothing for anybody else.

Everything sent from 💬 Help & Feedback, by anyone, on any group — with the device and app version already attached, so a report of “it will not let me in” arrives with the facts you would otherwise have to ask for. The badge counts the ones nobody has answered yet. Deliberately not shown to administrators: a help request routinely names a group’s own administrator, or says something the sender would not say to them.

Who signed in, when, and from what device. Tap a row to see the detail. Useful for answering “did they ever actually get in?” when somebody says the app is not working — usually faster than asking them.

Every group on Prayer Chain: its name, its join code, its contact address, its website, and the word it uses for itself (“parish”, “church”, “group”) which the whole app then speaks back to its members. Fetch Branding reads a group’s website and offers its logo and colours, which you can preview before accepting.

The role badge at the top of the screen switches you into what an Administrator or an ordinary Prayer Warrior sees — the menu, this guide and the list all repaint. It is the fastest way to check that something restricted is genuinely hidden. Nothing you do while previewing can change data, and ↩️ Exit preview is the first item in the menu — deliberately outside the Administration group, which a Warrior preview hides entirely.