What's new
Changes to VolunteerCal, newest first.
October 2026
- Improved
My schedule starts with what's waiting on you
Requests to cover a spot, swaps offered to you and Confirm all now come first, then your Up next card, which keeps Can't make it after you confirm. Days away, Open spots, Services and Calendar sit in one row, and dates are grouped by month.
- New
Volunteers can see upcoming services for their teams
Schedule → Services lists the upcoming services for the teams you serve on. Open a date to see who is serving and how many spots are open. Teams that hide names still do.
- Improved
Clearer scheduling tabs, and each draft says what to do next
Schedulers now see Services, Mine, Build and Setup under Schedule. Build groups schedules into Drafts, In review and Published, and each one says its next step in a line. Draft a schedule starts a new one.
- New
See who gets texts in the directory
People → Directory shows Texts on, Texts off or Stopped for each person, with a Texts filter. Admins can email an invite to turn texts on. People who replied STOP need to text START first.
- Improved
Tell the assistant you can't make it
Say which date you can't make, and the assistant opens My schedule with the Can't make it dialog ready for that date. You choose what happens and send it yourself.
- Improved
Services shows what needs attention
Schedulers and team leads see open spots and who hasn't answered for the next service first, and how staffed each upcoming date is. The numbers match each date's board.
- Improved
Easier to read privacy policy, terms and What's new
The privacy policy and terms have links to each section and list earlier versions, with no change to their wording. This page now describes changes in plain words, and reporting a problem with an organization is clearer.
- Improved
Know what's shared before sending feedback to VolunteerCal support
In People → Feedback, Send to VolunteerCal support now tells you exactly what goes to our team, including any names in the text, before anything is sent.
September 2026
- Improved
Check-in Today shows problems first
Check-in → Today puts the rooms that need attention at the top and refreshes on its own. If you check a child out by mistake, you can undo it for 60 seconds.
- New
View a schedule by team, by date or by person
Schedules open by team, and you can switch to by date or by person. Teams appear in the same order everywhere, and you can set that order in Setup.
- Improved
Help articles match the app as it works today
Every help article was rewritten against how VolunteerCal works now, with the family and kiosk articles first. Out-of-date guides were retired.
- New
Keep editing a plan after you publish it
Published plans stay editable. When you're ready, Update plan shares the changes with your team. Songs are counted in usage reports the day after each service.
- Improved
Archiving someone can be undone
Archiving a person can be undone for 10 seconds, and restoring them puts them back on the same teams. Before you remove someone, you see what will change.
- Improved
Book a room in one step
Booking shows which rooms are free as you choose a time. If the room you want is busy, you're offered the nearest free time or another room that fits.
- Improved
Can't make it lets you ask for a sub and still serve
Ask for a sub and stay on the schedule if no one can cover, or withdraw the request later. If two teammates offer to cover the same spot, the second is told it's already covered.
- Improved
Clearer sign-in errors and a password reset that works end to end
Sign-in and sign-up errors say what went wrong and point to the field to fix. Resetting your password takes you back to where you were going.
- New
Approve a blocked pickup from your phone
When a pickup is blocked at a staffed kiosk, a check-in manager can review it on their phone, seeing the same pickup list as the kiosk. When a child must not be released, the kiosk says so clearly and alerts the right people.
- New
One help library with a link for every answer
Help is now one searchable library at volunteercal.com/help. Search looks inside articles, not just titles, and every article has its own link you can share.
- Improved
Sign-in pages have a help link
Sign in, sign up and password reset share one layout, with a "Trouble signing in? Get help" link on each.
- New
Rooms opens on a day board
Rooms shows every booking for the day at a glance, and the same rule decides what counts as an overlap everywhere.
- Fixed
The home page shows its content right away
Every section of the home page is visible even with motion turned off or before scripts load.
- New
A live day-of board for team leads
On a service day, team leads get one board showing who's here, who isn't yet and what needs attention.
- New
Print one poster for volunteer check-in
Each campus can put up a standing poster. Volunteers scan it with their phone to check in, with nothing else to tap.
- New
Release check at staffed kiosks
At a staffed kiosk, the volunteer sees the child's pickup list before releasing them, and each release check can be used only once.
- Improved
Pickup codes are always texted
Pickup-code texts go out even when an organization has limited other notifications to in-app only, and they use your church's date.
- Improved
Charts follow the plan's key
Each song in a plan shows its chart in the key you chose. Chord charts transpose, and PDF charts show the pages for that key.
- New
Choose how much allergy detail prints on labels
Each church chooses whether child labels show allergy names or just "Allergy · see teacher". Labels no longer use symbols or all capitals, and label sizes that can't print correctly are refused.
- Fixed
Menus on the schedule are never cut off
Menus that open from schedule chips now always show in full, and the add button stays out of the way while a sheet is open.
- Improved
Clearer offline, paused and status pages
If you lose your connection, the offline page says what still works and tries again on its own. Members of a paused organization can switch to another organization or sign out. The status page shows when we last checked.
- Improved
The same menu on every screen
The sidebar, the phone menu and ⌘K search list the same pages with the same names.
- Improved
A fresh look for VolunteerCal
VolunteerCal has a new logo, new type and warmer colors, and buttons and labels read in plain sentence case.
- Fixed
Checking in shows you as here, however you check in
Scanning the poster, checking in from the app and being marked by your lead now all count the same way, so your lead sees you as here.
- Improved
Kiosks follow each station's pickup rules
Pickup-ready pings and one-time contacts follow the settings for each check-in station, checked by VolunteerCal itself rather than only on the kiosk screen.
- Improved
The emergency roster shows pickup blocks
The emergency roster shows which children have pickup restrictions, and the people working from it see each other's ticks.
- Improved
Clearer messages when a save doesn't go through
If a save fails, you see a plain explanation instead of a server error. If someone else changed the same organization settings first, you're told who and when.
- Fixed
The assistant no longer reports changes it didn't make
The scheduling assistant only says a change is done when it is. When it can't help, it says so.
- Fixed
Pre-check-in texts no longer include a family code
The text families get before check-in opens no longer includes part of their family's check-in code.
May 2026
- Improved
The activity log records every sensitive change
Settings → Activity now records invitations, role changes, removals, plan changes, kiosk activations, child checkouts and exports, so you can see who changed what and when.
- New
Team leads hear when a schedule is ready for review
Request approval now emails each team lead to review their team's part of the schedule.
- Fixed
Reminders are never sent twice
If a reminder run is retried, nobody gets the same email or text a second time.
- Fixed
Sign-in works in Safari again
Safari's tracking protection was stopping some volunteers from signing in. Signing in now works in every browser.
Want to suggest something? info@volunteercal.com