Give Every Programme Its Own Poster
Add a poster to any programme and it appears at the top of the shared page, in the WhatsApp and iMessage preview, on the PDF bulletin and as the first slide in Present mode. Plus smarter link previews for everyone, and more control over your branding.
Most churches already make a poster for special Sabbaths: a Week of Prayer, a Harvest Thanksgiving, a baptism or a youth-led Divine Service. It goes out in the WhatsApp group on Friday, and then the programme link follows as a separate, plain message.
From today, the poster and the programme travel together.
Add a poster to any programme (Pro)
Open a programme, tap its title or date to open Programme details, and you'll find a new Poster section at the top. Upload an image from your phone or pick one you've already used from your media library.
Your poster is kept exactly as you designed it. Portrait posters made for WhatsApp stay portrait and square ones stay square. Nothing is cut off.
What size works best? A portrait poster 1080 pixels wide, such as 1080 × 1350, fills the width of a phone screen nicely. Wide posters work too. JPG, PNG and WebP are all fine.
Choose how it looks in your list
Right after you upload, PewPlan asks you to choose a thumbnail: drag and zoom a square over your poster to pick the part that represents it, such as the title or a face.
That square appears on the programme's card in your Service Builder list, so your upcoming programmes are easy to tell apart at a glance. Changed your mind? Tap List thumbnail under the poster any time to pick a different square, without uploading again.
Your cards now show the date as text, like "Sat 3 Oct · 10:00", next to the thumbnail. Programmes without a poster show your church icon instead.
Where your poster appears
Say your church is holding a Week of Prayer. You upload the poster once, and it shows up everywhere the programme goes:
- On the shared programme. It sits at the top of the page, full width, above the title and date. Members can tap it to see it full screen, or tap Hide poster to jump straight to the order of service.
- In WhatsApp and iMessage. Paste or share the programme link and the poster appears in the message preview, with the programme title, date and your church's name.
- On the PDF bulletin. The poster is printed on page one, under the header band, in its own shape. You can switch this off in PDF theme if you prefer a one-page bulletin.
- In Present mode. The poster is the opening slide, ready on the screen as people arrive.
Posters that carry over
Running the same series every night? Duplicate the first programme and the poster comes along with it.
Church owners can also add a poster to a custom template. For example, a "Harvest Thanksgiving" template can carry this year's poster, so everyone who starts a programme from it begins with the poster already in place.
Posters for every occasion
Posters aren't only for Divine Service. Any programme you build in PewPlan can have one, so the same poster that announces an event can lead people straight into its order of service:
- Evangelistic series. Put the series poster on each night's programme. Members share one link and their friends see the poster before they even open it.
- Weddings. Use the couple's invitation design as the poster, and guests get the order of service on their phones, with the hymns to sing along to.
- Funerals and memorial services. A photo of the person being remembered, with their name and dates, makes a gentle cover for the programme, on screen and on the printed bulletin.
- Baptisms. Welcome family and friends with a poster that shows who is being baptised and when.
- Youth vespers and Pathfinder events. Let the young people design the poster and share the programme link with their friends.
- Community days, concerts and health expos. Share one link that has the poster and the running order together.
Divine Service and Communion templates are ready to use. For everything else, build the programme from scratch or make a custom template with your own items, and give it a poster.
Better link previews for everyone
This one isn't just for Pro. Every shared programme link now carries its own title, date and church name, so when you drop it into a WhatsApp group the preview says "Divine Service · 3 October 2026 · Your Church", not just "PewPlan".
Churches without a poster show the PewPlan icon in the preview. On Pro, your square church icon is used instead.
Sending from an iPhone
The Message button in Share & Branding now sends the link on its own. That's what iMessage needs to turn it into a proper preview card with the title, date and poster, just like WhatsApp.
More control over your branding (Pro)
Share & Branding now gives each programme clear choices:
- Logo: Default (your church logo), Custom (a logo just for this programme) or Off.
- Footnote: Default, Custom or Off.
- Poster: Custom or Off.
For example, a joint service with a neighbouring church might use a combined logo and a custom footnote with both churches' names. Turning the logo off suits a funeral or memorial programme where you'd rather keep things simple.
These choices now apply to the PDF bulletin too, so what people print matches what they see on their phones. And uploading a custom logo for one programme no longer changes your church's main logo.
Try it this Friday
Pick your next special Sabbath, add its poster and share the link with your church. If you're on Free, you can try Pro free for 30 days and give it a go.