Realm Connect Reviews

RealmConnect has been pretty good so far except for recently (maybe post April 19 release?). Every time I open app I have to log in even though I have checked the option to keep me logged in. When I try to find info about this in Help section there isn’t any (just three general Help items that are helpful when first using app). When I tap support in this platform it takes me to a product page for this company that states the page doesn’t exist. There is no contact info to share issues with developer so I’m having to share it here. Your ‘See known issues’ link redirects to the same page instead of to a page that lists known issues. Hoping to get a solution. Thanks.

I am blind and use voiceover on my iPhone to access realm. If the buttons are labeled and you tap on them nothing happens, you have to turn voiceover off and hopefully whatever you want comes on the screen. After tapping and turning voiceover off and back on you might be where you want to be. Our pastor posted an article and the only way to see this was to try that trick. Our church website is semi accessible making finding realm on the web difficult, once I did still could not navigate using Safari with voiceover. People disabilities are often excluded from church because elements are inaccessible. I am disappointed that is a person who is blind that RealmConnect which could otherwise connect me with people is another opportunity to exclude me.

One of the least intuitive apps I’ve ever used on desktop and mobile. Given that the audience of church members includes people who may not be comfortable with technology, this company should invest in product design. Right now, it’s not meeting the needs of its users, which really slows adoption and creates challenges for the customers who are forced to purchase it as one of the only solutions on the market.

Product flows don’t make sense (just one example, why are photo posts different from regular posts?) and permissions are hard to understand or don’t make a lot of sense (e.g. you can’t leave a group yourself, you have to email the leader to be removed).

The documentation is nearly un-googleable, not designed around user needs, and doesn’t include common information people need. Another area that is really important to invest in given the audience.

lol sounds petty but I’d rather attend a church that receives annual pledges in the normal way. RealmConnect signed me out and then multiple times refused to let me log back in or to reset my password. The first time it happened I had to bring my phone by the church office. I kept getting bombarded with letters from our pastor reminding me to finish my pledge, and between that and Realm not working, I decided to just go elsewhere, which is sad because I sort of do miss it, but a parish that relies on a terrible app like this probably really isn’t interested in accessibility, and there’s plenty of other churches in my area to explore.

Realm has a very tight browser restriction for some reason—for example with Firefox they only support the latest version or the one previous to latest. I have one church member who doesn’t own a computer, she uses her computer at work to access Realm. At least she used to. After 4 months of successfully using Realm, she’s now blocked due to an unsupported browser. Her work computer is “locked down” so she can’t update her browser. Realm can offer no workarounds.

I didn’t detect this restriction when initially evaluating the system or we never would have chosen it.

Their browser restriction is, IMO, unnecessarily restrictive. We’ll have to evaluate whether we want to continue paying for a system that not everyone can use. And Realm is awfully buggy to boot. I’m sorry to say I can’t recommend Realm.

Our parish uses RealmConnect and it has potential but there are so many things that don’t feel user-friendly or obvious. First is that everything is set up the most restrictive privacy and communication settings that you don’t realize you’re not getting access to conversations until it’s too late.

I’m doing some training with a more experienced user but even so, not everyone in the parish will complete such intensive training to increase use—so again, so much here that’s not intuitive. In an age of Apple products, widespread Facebook and other social media use, I am frustrated by the difficulty navigating RealmConnect whether as a regular parishioner or an an authorized leader.

The functionality provided by Realm is great but RealmConnect is quite disappointing. The numerical indicator on RealmConnect icon never represents actual new things and almost never clears, even when I’ve read everything. Posting information with RealmConnect is extremely difficult due to the fact that switching to something else momentarily will almost always clear whatever was entered. Any of the things that fall under the communications section of RealmConnect are nearly useless due to the notification issues and the lack of timeliness of things coming in.

App has potential and could be very useful. However after waiting and waiting for bug fixes, updates and more. To be honest, seems ACS Team is not interested in a better user experience with this mobile app. One key issue, the badge notification does not update after you read all msgs or clear them. Also, my members continue to get app crash while in Chat...random occurrences from simple things like website links, file attachments, etc. Lastly the experience on iPad is the same if not worse.

Realm connect is great for helping to stay on the same page, but there are still some hurdles. If you start to write a post, but then to need to look up some thing else on your phone, don’t click out of RealmConnect or it will delete the post and you have to start all over again.
Make sure everything is the way you want it on your post, once you click “post” anyone with email settings will get an email. You can go back and edit the post later, but if the emails have already gone out, they won’t see the edits.

While RealmConnect doesn’t actually require re-entering of login credentials constantly, it does require them too often. In addition, it is currently impossible to login using RealmConnect . Logging in via the web portal goes off without a hitch, but RealmConnect just gives the “Incorrect credentials” notification regardless of the fact that I’m using the same credentials I just used to login via web. Also, resetting the password doesn’t work as an email is never sent (spam folder remains empty). Aside from the login woes, it’s a decent app for church communication, although a little clunky.

We’ve had RealmConnect at our congregation now for over a year, and it has been helpful in many ways, such as getting info out quicker to members and online giving. However, there are bugs and issues with RealmConnect frequently. It’s also way too difficult for the average person to navigate and use. It could be simplified a ton. Also, there are some features that need to be updated and added. It’s a good app, but it needs some work.

Though I appreciate and often utilize the services that Realm provides, it consistently shows badge notifications after I’ve opened the application. I’ve had a badge notification on the Realm icon for weeks now, and the last time RealmConnect offered an update was in late April. I understand the times can limit fixes to things like this, but this isn’t new. RealmConnect has proven to be buggy since its inception, including limitations on posting. If you try to make a post that fills the visible area of your screen above the keyboard, the screen will not follow the cursor once it gets too big. Therefore, you lose visibility on your typing, which is dangerous for devices that like to autocorrect! Three stars is probably being generous.

I cannot sign-in on my IPhone 7 Plus with software version 15.7.3. The option to skip the two factor ID did not appear on my phone and I’ve tried changing passwords, deleting RealmConnect and reloading, and even deleting RealmConnect on both phone and IPad. I can access the Realm with the IPad using my device’s security, but I have had no success with the iPhone and have deleted RealmConnect on the phone. I have heard of others in my church having the same issue and I understand that our church pays a subscription fee for the use of RealmConnect . Is this a known issue that is being corrected? Are there suggestions or steps to fix this? Your help is deeply appreciated!

I mostly enjoy RealmConnect and how useful it is for church organization, but it is very annoying to have to log in to it nearly every time I open it! That level of security makes sense for a banking app but is completely unnecessary in RealmConnect. It makes me open RealmConnect much less frequently “just because” to see what else is happening in the church. I end up just using it when I have a specific message in my inbox or a question for someone else.

For this user RealmConnect makes no sense in how it works. Example: if I want to send a note to my group, I select News then click post (a pencil/paper icon). I don’t click on communications. But before I select news I need to find settings to ensure my post will also go to their regular email address as well as Realm because nobody looks at Realm otherwise. And if we need a reply to just me or to the whole group I need to ensure it’s selected. Looking everywhere. ZLeeClarke Too many things in too many places.

What I do like is the directory of church members.

RealmConnect is far easier to use than web interface. Unfortunately, I have to use the church’s web to send long messages. Sometimes I’ll spend quite a long time preparing my message just to have it vanish. This usually happens when I need to look up something from an email, etc. my new workaround is to prepare the memo in Word & copy & paste to Realm once I’m satisfied with the message.
Linda Sarratt
Buncombe Street UMC

RealmConnect makes church management so easy and to be able to have this tool in the palm of your hand is wonderful! Our pastor and group leaders love it! I did have some problems with RealmConnect on a droid but it is smooth sailing on an iPhone! (In fairness those problems were several months ago so the bugs might be worked out.) Realm Connect enhances the ability to communicate quickly in throughout our church and we love that!

Realm is a great way to keep up with events at church. Our class uses it for updates and information.
The only complaint I have is every so often it kicks me off. I then have to sign in. It doesn’t have a save the login information like some apps do. If I don’t have my password handy I can’t sign in until I get the password.
Other than that I like it.

I would like to be able to switch between this and other apps, copy from another email and paste here. If I’m in the middle of typing something and I have to switch to another app, I lose what I’ve typed, even though I left RealmConnect still open. I use it with my group all the time, and I like that if someone doesn’t have RealmConnect , they will still receive the message as an email. It would be nicer if they could receive it as a text instead.

I appreciate the convenience of Realm access on my phone. I use it every week to mark worship attendance, and our small group leaders mark weekly group attendance as well. RealmConnect is also great when I want to get a quick word out to the community, and I like having the ability to post a photo with the announcement. It helps a lot when it comes to lost & found items!

My only gripe is that occasionally I have to delete and re-download RealmConnect before changes made in the system will register in RealmConnect . And also sometimes the notifications badge stays on after I’ve opened and read all messages. No big deal! Overall, Realm Connect is a great app and ACSTechnologies is a wonderful partner in ministry.