Tech Forum

Is there any way to have Gospel Library have a setting to disable the phone while the app is on? This way the kids can use their scriptures and not be quite as distracted. Thanks, Dan (Teachers Quorum adviser)

I fully understand the desire. Even if they added this, it would have to be an option which you could use your agency to enable or disable - so why add the option when your agency and the existing phone features would work just as well?

I'm thinking a polite reminder from the teacher + the example and teachings of their parents + counsel from an apostle* + agency might be a better option.

* https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/ ... d?lang=eng
"And consider putting your smartphone or your tablet in airplane mode for the entire Sunday block. You will still have your scriptures, general conference talks, hymnbook, and manuals, but you will not be distracted by incoming text messages or push notifications."
"Be Still, and Know That I Am God" by Elder M. Russell Ballard

If it's really needed, you could take a part of a class to teach all the students how to do this, checking that each one understands how to follow the counsel of an Apostle...

Just my opinion.

Liz

A feature like this would need to be implemented in the operating system, not the app. As lmcguire pointed out, too, agency is rather important. Locking them out of the rest of their phones won't actually fix their desire to learn.

ToManyLetters wrote:A feature like this would need to be implemented in the operating system, not the app.

Or, to put it another way, the OS may not allow an app to have that much power over the entire device.

Precisely. Something like that may be available on custom ROMS for Android, but such a feature would pose far too large of a security risk for inclusion in a general release of a mobile operating system.