Product Updates

Raise your flyswatters, it was a successful week of bug-squishing! Now you don’t worry about getting kicked out of the Altar Android app when joining meetings, disappearing chats, or announcement confusion. We patched some critical bugs on Community Landing pages and Meetings.

2 WEB BUG FIXES 

• Community Landing pages were restored
• Meetings should not be showing a white page

4 ANDROID BUG FIXES

• Users are no longer kicked off Android
• Fixed Greeter chat disappearing for users
• Red dot showing on Announcements again
• Polls are opening as expected on

‍

Pricing Pages are live, onboarding has improved, and more Android bugs were squashed! When choosing an Altar Live plan, you will now be able to choose the number of monthly active user seats that will best suit your community. 

1 FEATURE- 1 IMPROVEMENT- 1 BUG FIX

• Pricing Pages
• Getting Started on Altar Live
• Joining Tables Glitch on Android 

‍

This week brought some bug squishing, improvements to Android and a new streaming option! As you plan your next Altar Live event, you can now use StreamingChurch.tv as a livestream platform. 

2 FEATURES - 2 BUG FIXES

• StreamingChurch.tv
• Pre-recorded videos through Resi
• Notifications on Android Chat 

‍

August brings many new features, fixes, and bug squishing! Since July we have worked to meet all your requests and bring features that will make your Altar Live experience efficient, effective, and effortless! 

HERE'S WHAT'S NEW:

• Onboarding
• Community Dashboards
• Personal Meeting Rooms
• Meetings and Rooms for Mobile
• Free Trials
• Subscription Page
• Pre-Recorded file size to 5 GB
• Play Video Screen

‍

Community Dashboards are live! Our new dashboard style ensures organization and accessibility. Now, each Community Dashboard features personal meeting rooms, event creation portals, and areas to help you with your online engagement! 

2 FEATURES

• Community Dashboard 
• Personal Meeting Rooms
  

This week events and meetings are even more seamless and efficient!  We have implemented the “Play a Video” screen, fixed a bug, added an “Ongoing” label, and increased pre recorded file size. Now your events and meetings will be better than ever. This week also brings two new features that will make your Altar Live experience even better than before! Our new onboarding process is simple and effective. And our 14 day free trial gives you full feature access!  

4 FEATURES - 2 BUG FIXES- 1 IMPROVEMENT 

• Play Video Screen 
• Ongoing Label 
• Pre-Recorded file size to 5 GB
• Onboarding
• Meetings and Rooms Mobile
• Free Trial
• Fixed User duplications 

‍

Say hello to the biggest game-changer in online church tools. Our most requested feature has finally shipped: larger Rooms in the Lobby and video-conference Meetings. Are you ready to turn off Zoom? Because now you can.

‍

4 NEW FEATURES

• Video-conference Meetings (beta release)
• Larger Rooms in the Lobby (beta release)
• Screen-sharing in Meetings and Rooms
• Host has controls over participant mics & cameras

This is our biggest product release since we exited beta! You can now send announcements, create polls, connect via RTMP and multi-stream to Facebook and YouTube. It's all that and more!

4 FEATURES 

• Announcements 
• Polls
• RTMP Connection 
• Ability to Multi-Stream to Facebook from YouTube 

July will be welcoming all kinds of new releases! Since June, we have been working on your requests. You will soon be able to see the many improvements we made to make your experience efficient and effective. 

HERE’S WHAT’S COMING:  

• Announcements 
• Polls
• Meetings  
• Classrooms
• RTMP Connection 
• Ability to Relay to Facebook from YouTube

‍

Community Landing Pages are out of beta with new improvements!! You can now customize your community landing page to fit your desired look by choosing the light or dark mode. We also improved the landing page proportions and added badges to featured events. You can also see updated events in real time. 

1 FEATURE • 2 IMPROVEMENTS • 1 BUG FIX

• Light mode/dark mode for Community Landing pages
• Fixed Landing Page proportions
• Live badge added to featured events 
• Events that are live, ended, or updated will automatically be added to the community landing page 

Learn more about how to customize community landing pages.

4 FEATURES

Introducing the new Community Landing Pages! You can now connect Altar Live seamlessly to your website with a fully customizable event landing page. Use your own logo, color and even custom URL! Start beta testing today.

• Community landing pages (beta release)
• Customizing logos, color & url for community landing pages( beta release)
• Backlinks from community landing page (beta release)
• Ability to feature events (beta release)

‍

Learn more about how to set up and customize your community landing pages!

4 FEATURES • 2 IMPROVEMENTS

Chat just got a whole lot better! This week you will see chat notifications when someone sends a new message, the ability to turn off/on your chat notification settings, and more moderation tools for Hosts to manage the General Chat channel. Plus, so much more!

• Chat sound & banner notification
• Turn chat notifications on/off
• Chat moderation - ability to delete and edit messages
• Ability to give emoji reactions on chat messages
• Side panel stays open when you moved between Lobby/Auditorium

May is going to be a big month of releases! Since our exit from beta in April, we are excited to be focusing on some long-requested features. Here's what we're shipping this month...

Here's what's coming:

• Default events to open on mobile browsers
• New community creation flow
• New Events & Meeting screen design on mobile
• Social logins on Android & iOS
• Ability to name table from lobby on iOS apps
• New automated greeter message flow
• Uploading pre-recorded video directly to Altar Live
• Chat notifications
• Chat moderation
• Turn off/on General Chat
• Community landing pages

1 FEATURES • 4 IMPROVEMENTS

This week is a big release! You can now upload pre-recorded videos directly to Altar Live. Once you upload a video file, the system will upload and then transcode the video to optimize your video for attendees on mobile devices and slow internet connections.

• Uploading pre-recorded videos
• The default event start time is now set to +1 hour to the current time
• Direct messaging bugs fixed on events over 100 members

1 FEATURES • 4 IMPROVEMENTS

We believe in hospitality, which is why this week we've improved the automated greeter message flow so your online host team's message inbox is more streamlined. You'll also notice lots of small, but delightful improvements across the platform.

• New automated greeter message flow
• Icon for leave table/row is more clear
• Countdown timer shows seconds again
• Event start and end time picker is more intuitive
• Number of attendee counter is shown again

3 FEATURES • 1 IMPROVEMENT • 1 BUG FIX

This week, we're also simplifying the new community creation process, an important step in making the creation of an online community easy and seamless.

• New community creation flow
• Making the whole table clickable in the Lobby
• New Events & Meeting screen design on mobile!
• Ability to name table from lobby on iOS apps
• Google won’t ask for your Gender when you create a new account

Plus did you see our update from last week about updating your recurring event links?

2 ANNOUNCEMENTS • 1 FEATURE • 2 BUG FIXES

This week we released even more updates to events on mobile browsers!  Plus, we have some important updates to your event links:

• Swap out your iframe embed codes
• Update your recurring event links

We also made some improvements to the platform this week:

• New countdown design
• Facebook videos are synced on mobile
• Vimeo videos are synced on mobile

Today, we’re making it possible to join events on mobile browsers, an important step in making Altar events easy and seamless to join - no matter what device you're on! Plus, we now support HLS (.mp3u8) links from DaCast, ChurchStreaming.TV, and more!

Here's what's new:

2 FEATURES • 3 IMPROVEMENTS • 1 BUG FIX

• Join events on mobile browsers
• Support for HLS (.mp3u8) links from DaCast, ChurchStreaming.TV, and other providers!
• Video feeds will now auto-play if you started the event in the Lobby mode and then moved people into the Event after the countdown timer passed
• You can now invite other people to join the event with "Share Invitation" button on the iOS app
• Profile pictures from Facebook are shown correctly on mobile apps

P.S. Do you use iframe embed code to connect your video feed? Check out a better way to stream with HLS links from DaCast, ChurchStreaming.TV, and other providers!

Today we’re releasing our biggest update since entering beta last December.

The Altar team is pioneering how we do the work of the church online by virtual spaces for deep and meaningful connection, where people can be heard, known and understood. It’s taken months of explorations, testing, and iterations to bring to life.

When we started our redesign process, we had three main goals:

• Radically improve navigation around the platform
• Create a seamless viewing and interactive experience
• Simplify the process of joining an event and allowing permissions

We’re confident this update will make your experience of Altar Live delightful and marked by hospitable, virtual conversations.

After 5 months in beta, we're excited to share that Altar Live is now fully released. After months of hard work behind the scenes, we're thrilled to introduce you to our new design.

Here's what's new:

1 Announcement • 3 Features

• Intuitive new design for both watch parties and lobby
• Seamless and continuous live streaming
• Helpful new camera and permissions flow

P.S. Have you checked out the new apps? Download them today from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

Spring is here and so are the long-awaited mobile apps! Online engagement should be delightful, that’s why we’ve designed frictionless and intuitive apps so your community can join your events on any device. Head to the Google Play Store and Apple App Store today to try them out for yourself.

Here's what's new:

MOBILE APPS ARE RELEASED

• Mobile apps now available for download in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store
• Engage with your community
• Take a seat with someone else
• Move between tables in the lobby
• Chat with other participants
• See who else is online

1 FEATURE • 2 IMPROVEMENTS • UPDATES TO MOBILE APPS (BETA)

This week we’re introducing a few big updates to our iOS and Android apps, which are currently in beta. (Want access? Send us a message and we'll send instructions.) We’re also making it easier to connect pre-recorded video to ensure synchronization.

• You can now switch between pre-recorded and live video input options.
• People who experience internet lag and then reconnect won't disappear from a table or watch party or from the member list
  
• Videos are now self-mirrored
• Mobile apps have now been released to beta

‍

5 IMPROVEMENTS

With Altar Live, setting up and running events should be simple and straightforward, and editing should always be effortless. This week, we're introducing more improvements to recurring events, and much more!

• Custom text is shown after you specify recurrence
• Recurring events cannot be edited to be non-recurring once they are created
• Design improvements to Altar on Safari browsers
• 'Connected interrupted' message shows consistently for other users when user loses internet connection
• Profile pictures will display as updated everywhere on the platform when user changes it

Have you tried setting up recurring events yet? Learn more about how to create recurring events with static links.

3 IMPROVEMENTS

Each week, we aim to make Altar more intuitive, more stable, and more delightful. With this week's update, we did a lot of work behind the scenes. On your end, you will see improvements!

• Event countdown is consistently centered
• Live stream video height is proportional on big screens
• Ability to take see pew view even if you have not granted camera/mic permissions

Plus, check out our support guides for resolving common issues on Altar.

‍2 FEATURES • 1 IMPROVEMENT

It's finally here: recurring events and static URLs! If you want to use the same URL for a certain type of event (i.e. weekly Sunday service, morning Bible study, etc), you will want to create a recurring event series. Plus, we've also changed the links on events so they are shareable on Facebook. Keep reading for more long-awaited updates!

• Recurring events have static URLs so you can use the same event link week after week
• Links are now shareable on Facebook
• Greeters aren't automatically moved into a new chat message with people who join the event

5 Improvements

This was a big week for optimization across the Altar Live platform. We worked on reducing data consumption needs, server distribution, and client processing power. In everyday English, this means you will see more stability in both chat and video conferencing. Read on for more specifics on what we did to the backend!

• Improved client processing power, reduced data consumption needs, and increased global communication servers coverage
• No length limit to General Chat messages
• General Chat optimization for larger groups
• Facebook profile pictures no longer shown as broken
• Ongoing event label will show on event card again

2 Features • 2 Improvements

Some weeks we don't have as many updates to share because we are busy working on our next big releases behind the scenes. While this is a lighter week of updates, we did make some improvements to the flow of events in Altar Live.​

• Banner countdown when Host moves everyone from Event to Lobby
• General chat is now enabled 60 minutes before the event begins
• No longer required to add a profile picture when creating an account
• Fixed error when inviting people with your community link

3 Features • 7 Improvements

Whether you created an account in Altar Live a day ago or have been with us since our launch, you know that we have been hard at work to continually stabilize the video-conference. We are excited to announce that today we released some significant updates in Altar Live. These are the first of many that will be rolling out in the coming weeks. Check out all the stability updates:

• Video disconnection will fix itself
• Seeing and hearing other people
• Member names not appearing on the list
• Resinated ability to add yourself as Host/Greeter
• Event creation options simplified
• Sent messages are now grouped
• Member list updates when anonymous users log in
• Notifications icon for unread direct messages
• Date/time tooltip to sent messages
• Member no longer showing the wrong name

3 Features • 4 Improvements • 1 Known Issue

After months of hard work behind the scenes, we're thrilled to introduce you to our new design and new sign in flow. This week, we shipped:

• New community design
• Find your community search
• Sign in faster with magic sign in link
• Restream widget sizing is fixed
• Show me around Altar tour works again
• Invite a friend to the Demo
• Email verification email sends consistently

2 Features • 5 Improvements

You asked, and we heard you: deleting events is now available! Some weeks, our product updates are exploding with exciting new features. Other weeks, we focus on fine-tuning existing behavior. Guess which type of week this is? Updates include:

• Ability to delete events
• New design for event cards
• Fixed direct message bug
• The “send invitation immediately” option is checked by default
• Upgrade your plan from the event creation flow is responsive again
• Number of members online label is consistent on all screens
• Add New Member button is responsive again

2 Features • 3 Improvements

Let the chorus of "good mornings" and "amen's" flow! You now have a way to communicate to everyone on the event in one general chat channel. Chat also got some other updates and bug fixes this week:

• Tool tips show you what buttons do
• Cursor jumping is resolved
• Spinning wheel in chat is gone
• Live stream errors were addresses

3 Features • 3 Improvements

We know everyone has a different setup at home. Using an external camera or mic? No problemo - you can now easily change your audio and video input. That’s not the only way we’ve improvement ease of finding, seeing and hearing other participants this week:

• Find on screen option helps you find seated people
• Now integrating with Castr
• Ability to join a table without video permissions
• Start a new message defaults to only online members
• Updates to Safari browser compatibility

‍

3 Features • 4 Improvements

New year, new features. This week there’s even more to love about the lobby. Tables can now be named! Name a Prayer Table or Welcome Table, or the Donut-lovers Table. Go crazy. But that’s not all that’s new this week:

• More streaming integrations
• Edit you profile during an event
• New look for event titles
• Go attend an event at another church
• Greeters can chat with visitors
• Upload even more pre-event slides

4 Features • 4 Improvements

In our last update of 2020, we come bearing gifts! In this release, you’ll see:

• Pre-recorded videos synchronized for all participants
• A new look for the lobby
• Ability to collapse your table view
• One minute countdown before event ends
• New banner notifications

2 New Features - 1 New Improvement - 2 Known Issues

A whole new way of doing church has arrived. Watch parties are here! You can actually turn to your neighbor online and “pass the peace” or pray with someone in real time over video. But that’s not the only good news:

• New pew view & video-conference watch parties
• Easier sign with Google
• Fully supported on all browsers