Migrating from RSVP App

A comprehensive guide for RSVP App users transitioning to Church RSVP.

Welcome to Church RSVP

If you’re coming from RSVP App, welcome back. Church RSVP builds on the foundation of RSVP App with a singular focus: giving churches exactly what they need for their high-capacity events—no more, no less.

This migration guide will walk you through everything that’s changed, what’s been improved, and what’s been removed.

Your Data is Safe

First things first: all your data from RSVP App has been preserved. Your organization, events, and RSVP history remain intact and accessible in Church RSVP.

The Big Picture: What Changed and Why

When RSVP App tried to serve everyone, we found ourselves building features that churches didn’t use while struggling to deliver the capabilities you actually needed. By narrowing our focus exclusively to churches, we’ve been able to:

  • Remove complexity that slowed development
  • Simplify features that caused confusion
  • Build the capabilities you’ve been requesting
  • Create a more predictable, reliable experience

The result is a platform that does less, but does it significantly better for church events.

Major Improvements

These are the headline features that directly address the feedback we received:

Full Admin RSVP Management

The most requested feature is now here. Event admins can now:

  • Create RSVPs directly from the dashboard on behalf of attendees
  • Edit any existing RSVP (change occurrence, seat type, quantity)
  • Override capacity limits when needed
  • Delete RSVPs without restrictions

This was previously impossible due to payment processing complications. By removing paid ticketing (more on that below), we unlocked the RSVP management flexibility churches actually need.

Overhauled Notification System

The notification system has been significantly improved with three core principles: flexibility, segmentation, and predictability.

What’s new:

  • Two notification types:

    • Automatic notifications: Triggered when an RSVP is created, updated, or deleted—sent only to the person who owns that RSVP
    • Scheduled notifications: Send once at a specific date/time you choose

  • Unlimited notifications per event: Create as many as you need for different purposes

  • Easy duplication: Clone existing notifications to quickly create similar ones

  • Powerful segmentation: Target specific groups by selecting one or more occurrences and/or seat types

    • Send different messages to different service times
    • Send specialized information to specific categories (e.g., childcare instructions to families with children)

  • Complete control: Every notification is fully editable, and any notification can be disabled entirely

What’s fixed:

  • No more surprise notifications: Notifications only send when explicitly scheduled by an admin or directly triggered by an attendee’s own action. No more confusing “RSVP updated” emails when an admin changes occurrence details.

  • No more locked templates: Previously, some automatic notifications couldn’t be edited or turned off. Now everything is under your control.

Simpler, More Transparent Behavior

Several changes make the platform more straightforward:

  • Occurrences stay visible: Service times no longer disappear from your event page. They remain visible whether registration is open, full, or already started.
  • Registration is straightforward: If your event is published and capacity is available, registration is open. Once an occurrence starts, registration closes.
  • Optional end times: You only need to specify when an occurrence starts. End times are optional.

What’s Been Removed

To focus on what churches actually need, we’ve removed several features that were rarely used or added unnecessary complexity:

Removed: The ability to charge for event registration.

Why: Most church events—especially Christmas and Easter services—are free. The paid ticketing feature added significant complexity around refunds, payment handling, and admin RSVP management that ultimately prevented us from building the flexible RSVP management tools churches actually needed.

Will it return? Possibly, if there’s persistent demand. For now, we’ve prioritized the features churches have been requesting most urgently.

Registration Windows

Removed: The ability to set specific date/time ranges when registration opens or closes.

Why: Nearly no one was using this feature, and it added complexity to the system.

New behavior: Registration is open from the moment an event is published until the occurrence starts (or capacity is reached).

RSVP Confirmation Requirement

Removed: The extra step where attendees had to confirm free RSVPs.

Why: This was a holdover from the paid ticketing flow and created unnecessary friction. Nobody wanted this extra step.

New behavior: RSVPs are immediately confirmed when submitted.

Draft Mode

Removed: Events can no longer be saved as “drafts” before publishing.

Why: Users found it confusing and couldn’t figure out how to publish their events.

New behavior: Events are immediately live when created. However, event URLs are not publicly discoverable unless you share them, so you have time to set things up. The 7-day trial period effectively serves as your testing window. Once an event is completed or if you need to hide it, you can archive it to remove the public page.

Cascading Settings (Timezone & Support Email)

Removed: Complex inheritance of timezone and support email from organization → event → occurrence.

Why: The cascading model was confusing and hid settings from where they actually mattered.

New behavior:

  • Timezone: Set only at the occurrence level (where it’s actually used) and notification level
  • Support email: Set only at the event level

This makes it clear exactly what timezone applies to what, and where support emails go.

Tracking Codes

Removed: Organization-level and event-level custom tracking code fields.

Why: No one was using this feature.

Terminology Updates

To better reflect church use cases, we’ve updated some terminology:

Tickets → Seat Types

Changed: What was called “Tickets” is now called “Seat Types.”

Why: This church-friendly terminology better describes how churches actually use this feature (Adults, Children, Balcony, Floor, Wheelchair Accessible, etc.). This was actually the original terminology that many users missed when it was changed.

Pricing Changes

The pricing model has changed to $399 per event (one-time payment, no subscription).

Most churches use event management software 2-3 times per year for major services like Christmas and Easter. A per-event model makes more sense in that context than an ongoing subscription. Each event includes a 7-day free trial with full access to all features.

Questions or Concerns?

This is a significant transition, and we want to ensure you’re set up for success. If you have questions about any of these changes or need help migrating your workflow:

  • Review our updated documentation
  • Reach out to support
  • Take advantage of the 7-day trial to test everything before committing

We’re grateful for your patience during the Easter challenges and your constructive feedback that shaped Church RSVP. This platform is better because you told us what you needed.

Thank you for giving us a chance to serve your church well.