Reformed Perspective App

The RP App is delivered via a platform called Subsplash which specialized in church websites and apps. They have a number of products which integrate together, but we are just using their Mobile App product. We access the configuration options for the App via the Subsplash Dashboard.

The Mobile App configuration is accessed from the Dashboard by clicking on Apps in the left sidebar, and then Mobile App. It is set up as a series of 'Screens' or 'Tabs' which are shown at the top of the Dashboard interface.

There is some other functionality in the Subsplash Dashboard, such as Push notifications, Analytics, Account Settings, and other Settings.

Subsplash Dashboard

The Subsplash Dashboard has a series of sections along the lefthand side once you log in. Some of these we use, some we don't.

  • Home: The Dashboard 'Home' page which is mostly analytics information
  • Media*: This allows upload and tagging of Media items and management of Media Series
    • Formats: Video (MP4/M4V, MOV, WMV, FLV) and Audio (MP3, M4A, WAV)
    • In addition, Podcasts and Music (including Albums) can be managed here
    • Under 'Settings', it's possible to allow downloads, media items to show alongside scripture passages, and streaming
  • Events*: Allows creation of Events and Calendars including the ability to allow registrations
  • Giving: For managing the Subsplash 'Giving' product which we don't subscribe to
  • People: Manage 'People'. There are 192 people in here. I'm not sure where they come from
  • Groups: Another service we don't subscribe to. Involves people being able to message each other.
  • Apps: This is where our 'Mobile App' is configured, along with Push notifications. There is also a 'TV app' which would show up for Apple TV and Roku users, but we would have to have media in there. Video Podcasts are media, of course.
  • Web*: This is for managing a Subsplash-based website and a 'Web App' that can have pages with our Media and App information
    • This can be viewed at https://subsplash.com/reformedoutfitters right now
  • Library: Access to the 'Library' features
  • Settings: General settings for our Subsplash account
  • Help: Access to Subsplash Support. This requires a separate login.
  • What's new: This is fairly self-explanatory
  • Refer a friend: As is this ;-)

Many things can also be embedded in the RP website, although we don't use this.

Library Item Types and Options

  • Lists: These are just lists of other items. A list can be any combination of other items. It can even be a list of lists.
  • Media Series:
  • Event:
  • Song:
  • RSS: Has a Title and Subtitle and links to an RSS feed. Either Reader or Rows layout.
    • Reader: This layout uses a repeating pattern of 6 tiles to show the Featured image and summary of each item of an RSS feed.
  • Media Item:
  • Calendar:
  • Album:
  • Link: Has a Title and Subtitle and can be any one of the following:
    • Website: Link to external web page. Will open in mobile browser.
    • Video: Link to Youtube or Vimeo video
    • App link: Opens URL inside the app. There are limitations to how well this works.
    • Contact: Link to an email address or phone number. Will open with whatever is configured on the device.
    • Page: Link to custom Subsplash page. (i.e. SnapPages) **
    • Giving or payments: Link to Donation or Store URL
  • Fill In Notes: This seems to be a custom web page or a collection of custom pages designed for people to fill in like sermon notes? I'm not sure what this is for or how to use it properly.

Library items can have artwork associate with them, and this artwork will show up in various parts of the App, depending on which size artwork is relevant. The sizes are:

  • Square: This is a 1024 x 1024 icon. We used this a lot.
  • Wide: A 1920 x 1080 graphic often used as a background image.
  • Banner: A 1920 x 692 suitable for banners.

* = supports embedding
** = we don't use this