One box, for a message or a prayer request
Type what you want to say. Tap Send and it is a message, like any text. Tap Send as prayer request and the same words are kept with the group’s prayers. There is no form and no second screen.
A private place for your small group.
Where prayer requests do not get buried under who is bringing snacks.
Heldwell is for church small groups and Bible studies that use a group text today. You type in one box, the way you text. Each group gets a private place of its own, called a circle.
Do you lead the group?
In a group, or sent here by a friend? You do not start anything. Ask your leader, or the friend who sent you this, to text you the group’s invite link.
Four things to know first.
It is private
Only the people in your circle can read it. Nobody can find it unless its leader chooses to list the group.
No password
You sign in with your mobile number and a code texted to you.
It is free
There is nothing to buy, and it never asks for a card.
The group does not see your number
They see your name. Who does see your number is said plainly below.
The problem
A group text treats everything the same.
A prayer request and a question about snacks land in the same stream. One of them matters on Thursday. By then it is long gone.
What it does
What your group does by text, kept in order.
“I prayed”
One button under every request. Tap it and she knows she was prayed for, and by whom. Nobody has to send “praying!” to the whole group, which only pushes her request further up.
Events, answered with one tap
Say what it is, when and where. Everyone taps I’m going, Maybe or Can’t make it, so whoever is setting out chairs knows how many to expect.
Also in Heldwell
- Requests keep their updates and their answers. The person who asked can add updates under her request and mark it answered. Answered prayers are kept together, so the group can look back at them.
- A leader who can add and remove people. Someone new? The leader texts her the invite link. Someone moves away? The leader removes her in a few taps. Either way the circle and everything in it stay where they are. No new thread, and nobody asking whose number that is.
- Photos and quick polls, in the same chat.
- The books your group is reading. A leader can keep a short list, and Heldwell recommends some books of its own. They are on Books pages, apart from the chat and the prayers.
- Find a group. Look for one by topic, book, day or area and ask to join. The leader says yes before you are in. Only groups whose leader chose to list them can be found.
Not here yet
What Heldwell does not do today.
- There is no iPhone or Android app yet. Apps are planned, and there is no date for them. Today Heldwell opens in your phone’s browser. Tap a link, type your name and number, and you are in. There is nothing to download.
- Notifications are not here yet for everyone. Whether your phone can tell you when someone posts depends on the phone and its browser. On an iPhone it can only work after you add Heldwell to your Home Screen, and even then it may not. Planned with the apps, and not here yet: notifications that arrive like a text, with an “I prayed” button on your Lock Screen.
- United States and Canada only, for now. Heldwell signs you in with a texted code, and today it texts mobile numbers in those two countries. It is in English.
Trust
What Heldwell promises, in plain words.
Private, unless a leader lists her group
A circle cannot be searched for or come across by accident. A leader may choose to list her group so that people looking for one can ask to join. People who have signed in can then read its listing: what the group is, when and in which city it meets, how many seats are left, and the leader’s first name and what she wrote about herself. Never the other people in it, the chat or a prayer request.
Who is given your number
You, the leaders of the groups you are in and the person who runs Heldwell can see it. The company that sends the sign-in text is given it to send that text, and nothing else.
What a leader can see
Your number. She can also note who came to a gathering, and has a private list, called Check-ins, of people who have neither come nor written in a while, so that she can say hello. There are no scores and no streaks, and nobody is told that she is on it.
No ads, and how Heldwell earns money
There are no ads. If you buy a book through a link on a Books page, the bookseller pays Heldwell a small amount, and the page says so beside the link. It costs you nothing extra, and it is the only way Heldwell earns money.
Never sold, and free stays free
Your number, your name and your words are never sold. Nothing that is free today will be charged for later.
The full details are on the Privacy page.
Were you invited?
Then you do not start anything. Your way in is the invite link your leader texts you.
- Find the text from your leader. No text? Ask her, or the friend who sent you here, for the group’s invite link.
- Tap the link in it. It opens in your phone’s browser.
- Type your name and your mobile number, then the code Heldwell texts you.
That is all. No password, and nothing to download.
Questions
Fair things to ask first.
- Who can see my prayer requests?
- Only the people in your circle can read them. A request leaves the circle only if you, the person who wrote it, make a link to share it. You choose the words, and you can switch the link off again. The page used by the person who runs Heldwell never shows anything written inside a circle. Two more things to know. With notifications on, the words travel to your phone through your phone maker’s own notification service, as every app’s do. And the person who runs Heldwell may keep locked backup copies of everything, so that nothing is lost; only that person holds the key.
- Who runs it?
- One person runs Heldwell. It has no advertisers to answer to. You can write to justin@nokevanco.com.
- How do I leave, or delete my account?
- To leave a circle, tap its name at the top, then Leave this circle. The circle and its history stay for everyone else. To delete your account, go to your list of circles and tap Delete my account. Your number is taken off your account and you leave every circle. What you wrote stays in those circles under your name, so the conversation still makes sense to the people in it. The Privacy page says exactly what deleting does, and the little that is kept afterwards.
Do you lead a group?
Starting a circle takes your name, your mobile number and the code Heldwell texts you. Then you name your circle and text everyone its link.
In a group already? Ask your leader to text you its invite link.