General

On iPadOS 26 or later, use Windowed Apps or Stage Manager and swipe down from the top edge to reveal the menu bar. After setup, WitnessWork Preferences opens in-app settings; the standard Settings item opens your device's settings. File opens Log Visit…, Add Time when hours logging is enabled, Add Contact, New Plan, and Backup & Restore. Edit → Find Contact opens the Contacts list and focuses search. Help opens the Help Center, What's New, your email app for private support, or Check for Update. These shortcuts reuse the existing screens; opening a form does not save or share your records. Check for Update checks for a compatible app update and uses the existing download and restart flow when one is available. It cannot install a new native app version, and is unavailable in development builds. Menu-bar support requires an installed app build that includes it and is unavailable on iPhone and Android. If items are missing, update from your app store and reopen WitnessWork. You can still use the same actions inside the app. For other problems, use the Help Center's private email link and keep contact details and backups out of public reports.

Open Settings → Security and turn on Require Face ID (Require Touch ID or Require Passcode on devices without Face ID; Require Biometric Unlock on Android). WitnessWork asks you to confirm it's you before it turns on. From then on, WitnessWork asks you to unlock it every time it opens. Use Require to choose whether it asks again as soon as you leave the app, or only after 1, 5, or 15 minutes away. If Face ID, Touch ID, or your fingerprint isn't recognized, use your device passcode, PIN, pattern, or password instead. The lock is on this device only: it isn't synced, saved in backups, or sent anywhere, so turn it on separately on each device. Your device needs a passcode, or on Android a screen lock (PIN, pattern, or password); if your Android device has none, tap Open Settings when WitnessWork asks, set one up, then turn the lock on again. If you remove it later, WitnessWork opens without asking. While the lock is on, the app switcher (Recents on Android) shows a blank card instead of WitnessWork's screen; on Android, this needs Android 13 or later. The lock covers the app itself; widgets, Live Activities, notifications, Siri, and your watch still show what they normally do. Messages, celebrations, and Update Required wait until you unlock, and a reminder, widget, or link you tap while WitnessWork is locked opens once you unlock. To turn it off, open Settings → Security, turn the switch off, and confirm it's you. If unlocking keeps failing, check that your device passcode works on the lock screen, then force-quit and reopen WitnessWork. For other problems, use the Help Center's private support link and keep personal details out of public reports.

Sometimes WitnessWork's server changes in a way older versions of the app can't follow. When your version is too old to work with it, WitnessWork shows Update Required with your version and the one you need, and waits until you update. Tap Update WitnessWork to open the App Store, or the Google Play Store app on Android, install the update, then open WitnessWork again. If App Lock is on, unlock WitnessWork first; Update Required appears right after. While it shows, WitnessWork stops contacting its server, so Cloud Sync, Backup, Buddies, and Scribe AI wait. Your service records, contacts, and notes stay on your device and are all there after the update; changes that hadn't synced yet sync then, and Backup runs again a few seconds after you open the updated app. If the store doesn't open, open it yourself and search for WitnessWork. If it doesn't show an update, close the store app, open it again, and check for updates there.

Connect a hardware keyboard to an iPad running iPadOS 26 or later, then hold Command while the main navigation is visible. Small shortcut labels appear beside the bottom tabs or sidebar items. Press Command and the displayed number to open that screen; release Command to hide the labels. Numbers follow the visible navigation order, so by default Home is Command 1 and Contacts is Command 2. Other numbers depend on which items are visible, including Settings in the sidebar. Close any open form or other screen before using these navigation shortcuts; they do not save or discard records. Only shortcut use is measured, not what you type. Support requires an installed app build with the keyboard feature and is unavailable on iPhone and Android. If labels do not appear, check that the keyboard is connected, return to the main navigation, and update and reopen the app. You can always tap navigation items instead. For other problems, use the Help Center's private support link and keep contact details out of public reports.

Connect a trackpad or mouse to your iPad, or hover a supported Apple Pencil just above the screen. Buttons, rows, and calendar days highlight as the pointer moves over them. When the sidebar is narrowed to icons, resting the pointer on an icon shows its name; other icon-only buttons, such as the map controls and Notifications, also show their names. Hover over the activity grid, the Service Year pace chart, or a mileage bar to see its date and value. On the map, hover a pin to see the contact's name, or hover a contact in the map's side list to name its pin. A secondary click (two-finger click) opens the same menu and preview as touching and holding. The sidebar's resize bar shows arrows for the directions it can still move, and two-finger scrolling moves a contact photo while you crop it. Everything is still available by touch: tap, touch and hold, or drag as usual. Hover changes nothing in your records. Only the fact that a pointer or Pencil was used is measured, at most once a day; no positions, names, or values are sent. On Android, a mouse highlights rows and shows names and chart values, but pins on the map don't show names on hover. iPhone has no hover. If nothing responds, check that the trackpad, mouse, or Pencil is connected, then update and reopen the app. For other problems, use the Help Center's private support link and keep contact details out of public reports.

Yes, on iOS. Long-press your home or lock screen, tap the + button, search for WitnessWork, and pick the widget you want. Service Report shows this month's hours toward your goal and how much a day it takes to reach it, on your home or lock screen; if you don't log hours, it shows this month's conversations and studies, counted as in the app. Calendar, Appointments, Contacts, and Pet Companion go on your home screen. Widgets move on to the new day at midnight even if you don't open WitnessWork; if one looks out of date, open the app.

On iOS, the number on the app icon is how many items in the Home notification bell you haven't read yet. News from your buddies, like a buddy's new badge or a reaction to yours, is never counted. Open the bell and scroll through it to mark items read; dismissing or clearing them also lowers the number. It updates while WitnessWork is open and when a Follow-up, Plan, or contact reminder arrives. Other items, like last month's report or a buddy's invitation, are counted the next time you open WitnessWork, so the number can be behind while the app is closed. Each device keeps its own count. The number needs notification permission; to hide it, turn off Badges for WitnessWork in your device's notification settings. That setting only affects this number, not the badges you grow on your profile. On Android, the app icon doesn't show an unread count; your launcher may show a dot for notifications in the notification shade. If the number looks wrong, open WitnessWork, then leave it to refresh the count. If it still doesn't match the bell, contact support from the Help Center.

The bottom bar shows Home, Schedule, Contacts, and Progress, with Add beside them for logging time, creating a Plan, or adding a contact. Progress and Add Time appear when your role logs hours. Map is inside Contacts: tap the map button beside the Contacts title, and WitnessWork opens the view you used last. Buddies, when available on iOS, opens from the Buddies button at the top of Schedule. View Report at the top of Progress opens the Service Report for the month you're viewing. Tap your profile picture at the top left of any main screen for Profile (your role, time served, and stats), Settings, Support, and Help Center; on a wide tablet layout, Settings also stays in the sidebar. If you hid the sidebar, tap Show sidebar in the page header to bring it back. If you turned on Hide Donate Heart, Support is left out of that menu and stays in Settings. Your contacts, plans, and records are unchanged; only where you find them moved. If something still seems missing, update the app, then use Still need help? below.

Use the buttons below to report a bug or request a feature. Include the steps to reproduce it, what you expected, your device and operating-system version, and the WitnessWork version shown under Still need help?. Remove private contact details, notes, account IDs, and Buddies Codes or invite links from public reports and screenshots. For backup or other sensitive problems, use the private email link in Still need help? instead. Source code, the Privacy Policy, and Terms of Use are under Settings → About.

WitnessWork is available in 19 languages: Arabic, Bemba, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Kinyarwanda, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal), Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese. It follows your device's language by default (Device Default). To pick another, open Settings and change Language at the top; WitnessWork restarts in that language. You can also set a language for WitnessWork alone in your phone's settings: on iPhone and iPad, Settings → Apps → WitnessWork → Language (shown once your device has more than one preferred language); on Android 13 or later, Settings → Apps → WitnessWork → Language. With Device Default, WitnessWork follows that choice, and a language picked inside WitnessWork takes priority. If your language isn't supported, the app shows English. Some text is drawn by your phone, so it follows your phone's language instead: alert buttons, date pickers, share sheets, and the widget gallery. On iPhone and iPad, the explanations in permission requests (location, camera, microphone, and others) are still in English. Translations are made with AI, so a word or phrase may sometimes be off, especially terms Jehovah's Witnesses use in a particular way. To report one, use the email link in Still need help? and include your language, the screen, the text you see, and what it should say. A screenshot helps; cover names, addresses, and notes first. Corrections arrive in a later app update. There is no longer a volunteer translation project to join.

Choose العربية under Settings → Language, or set your phone to Arabic and keep Device Default. WitnessWork restarts and reads right to left: screens, menus, swipe actions, progress bars, and charts are mirrored, and back arrows point the other way. Numbers show in Arabic-Indic digits (٠١٢٣٤٥٦٧٨٩), and months use the names in Jehovah's Witnesses' Arabic publications, such as تشرين الأول (أكتوبر). When you enter hours, goals, or mileage, you can type Arabic-Indic or Latin digits. Names, phone numbers, addresses, and notes stay exactly as you typed them. Phone numbers and email addresses read left to right, and numbers you type into a field stay in the order you typed them. Date order, the clock, and the first day of the week follow your Format Region in Settings → Preferences → Region & Formats: choose Middle East (Arabic) there for weeks that start on Saturday, or leave it on Auto (Device) to follow your phone. Widgets and the Apple Watch and Wear OS apps follow WitnessWork's language and direction after the app has opened once. Searching contacts and help finds Arabic words with or without vowel marks. Your records are stored the same way in every language, so switching to another language, or back, changes only how they are shown.

Tap your profile picture, then Settings, and scroll to About. It links to the Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, and WitnessWork's source code. Where Scribe AI is available, it also links to the OpenRouter ZDR policy that covers what you send to Scribe AI. Open Source Licenses lists every open-source package WitnessWork is built with, along with its version, license, and author; tap a package to open its page, which shows the full license and source. Search by package name, license, or author. Long-press any link to copy or share it.

Debugging Tools helps troubleshoot problems with support. Turn it on in Settings → Advanced; it applies only to the device you turn it on for, on iOS and Android. It adds a Tools tab with diagnostic, test-data, and repair actions, shows extra technical details on some screens, and turns on more detailed diagnostic logging. Some Tools actions add sample data or permanently delete data, so only use them when support asks, and back up first under Settings → Backup & Restore. Turning the switch on or off doesn't change your data; turn it off to hide the Tools tab and details again.

Tap your profile picture, then Settings → What's New, for a summary of recent changes. Big updates also open a short tour the first time you launch after updating. If you choose Later, the notification bell keeps a shortcut to it, and What's New has a button to take the tour again.

The bell at the top of Home collects reminders and updates, so they wait there instead of piling up on Home when you open the app. You'll find things like last month's Service Report, a pending time rollover, backup and data protection reminders, missed Follow-ups, reminders that already went off, new badges and new items for your pet that you haven't looked at yet, Buddies activity (where Buddies is available), and What's New. The red badge counts items you haven't seen yet. News from your buddies, like a buddy's new badge or a reaction to yours, sits at the bottom under From your buddies and never adds to that number; a small dot on the bell means some of it is new. Tap an item to act on it, tap X to dismiss it, or tap Clear All. Invitations and requests still waiting for your answer stay until you respond. A dismissed item doesn't come back. Which items you've seen or dismissed is remembered on this device only.

Tap your profile picture, then Settings → Share WitnessWork. Pick Android or iPhone, and your friend can scan the code with their phone's camera to open WitnessWork in Google Play or the App Store. Share Link sends a message with both store links, so it works for anyone. WitnessWork is free on both. The message only contains the store links — nothing about you or your records. If a code won't scan, turn up your screen's brightness or use Share Link instead.

Yes. WitnessWork is back on Google Play, and it's free. Time and reports, the timer, contacts and follow-ups, plans, the map (with Google Maps), mileage, reminders, and backups all work on Android. Buddies works on Android too, including with buddies on iPhone. Supporters can keep their devices in sync with Cloud Sync, which also syncs with an iPhone, or with Google Drive Sync between Android devices. A few features rely on Apple services and stay on iPhone and iPad: iCloud Sync, widgets, Live Activities, and app icons. Scribe AI works on Android too. To move to a new phone on either platform, use Set Up Another Device on the old phone (Settings → Account); with Cloud Sync, the new phone gets your records without a restore step, or it offers to restore your Backup if you turned it on in Settings → Account. You can also create a backup file (Settings → Backup & Restore → Create Backup), copy it to the new phone, then choose From a backup file on the “Pick up where you left off” setup screen. Between Android devices you can also choose From Google Drive there. Keep backup files private; they can contain householder details.

Yes. WitnessWork has no sign-up and no ads, and your records live on your device. Anything that leaves it is encrypted or anonymized, so it isn't tied to you. Your account is anonymous: no email, phone number, or password. If you turn on Backup (Settings → Account), WitnessWork's server keeps an end-to-end encrypted copy of your records that only your devices can read, not WitnessWork; it's off unless you turn it on. Cloud Sync keeps an end-to-end encrypted copy of each device's data on WitnessWork's server that only your devices can read. iCloud Sync and Google Drive Sync go straight to your own account over an encrypted connection, never through WitnessWork's servers; on iPhone and iPad, turning on Apple's Advanced Data Protection makes iCloud end-to-end encrypted. Buddies is end-to-end encrypted, so only you and your buddies can read what you share. A shared contact travels inside its link and isn't stored by WitnessWork. Scribe AI sends what you ask it over an encrypted connection to Zero Data Retention providers that don't store it, and route planning sends only map coordinates. Usage statistics are anonymous counts that never include names, contacts, reports, or notes; turn them off anytime in Settings → Preferences → Share Anonymous Usage Statistics. Supporter purchases use a random identifier, not your name or email. Backup files you export are yours, so keep them somewhere private; they can include householder details. WitnessWork deletes its own temporary copies of exported backups, shared contact files, and picked photos the next time it starts and when you permanently delete householder data. For privacy questions, use the private support link in the Help Center.