If you have any problems with NW Publisher app, please see NW Publisher app Problems
Security and Privacy
Yes! We take data security and privacy very seriously.
Please see How does the NW Publisher app work? for detailed information about how safe and secure the NW Publisher app is.
New World Scheduler and NW Publisher app are not official apps or programs created by the Watchtower Society. Therefore, New World Scheduler and NW Publisher app are obviously not “endorsed by”, “recommended” or “officially approved” by the organisation.
This makes sense. The organisation does not and will not create a list of books, songs, movies, websites, programs or apps we can or cant use. (see w14 7/15 14)
The branch is fully aware of New World Scheduler and NW Publisher app and has no objections to its use. World Headquarters (WHQ) has been in contact with us several times about our software.
New World Scheduler and our NW Publisher app are both used by hundreds of thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide every single day! This includes elders, pioneers, missionaries, Bethelites and even Branch Committee members.
Please feel free to read the comments of many spiritually mature elders around the world, including in your local area.
Downloading & Installing NW publisher app
NW Publisher app can be downloaded and installed on any Apple iPhone, iPAD or iPod Touch running iOS 12.3 or greater, any Android phone or tablet running Android 4.4 or greater, and any Amazon Tablet running Android 4.4 or greater, and some Windows 11 computers.
Yes! NW Publisher app can be installed on some Windows 11 devices.
See Install NW Publisher on Windows for more information.
While this is technically possible, we do not recommend it.
Notifications, Reminders, Field Service Activity and other data may not sync between devices and may cause problems.
- Open New World Scheduler
- Click App
- Under App Summary, see the Latest App Version.
Ask the publisher to download NW Publisher app on their mobile device. They can do this by:
- Visiting NWPublisher.com, or
- Searching for NW Publisher in the Apple Store, Google Play Store or Amazon Store.
If the App Summary > Latest App Version in New World Scheduler is different to the Apple, Google and Amazon versions, this means a new version is coming soon!
Both Apple, Google and Amazon must manually check and approve each new App release. Their review times vary greatly, from a few hours to a few days, or even longer. This means the new Apple, Google or Amazon versions might sometimes appear several days apart.
There is nothing we can do about this, so please be patient while the new version is checked, approved and then released.
Please do not contact us telling us a certain version is not yet available, or asking when a certain version will be available. Please be patient. It will appear soon.
If the App Summary > Latest App Version in New World Scheduler is different to the Apple, Google and Amazon versions, this means a new version is coming soon!
Both Apple, Google and Amazon must manually check and approve each new App release. Their review times vary greatly, from a few hours to a few days, or even longer. This means the new Apple, Google or Amazon versions might sometimes appear several days apart.
There is nothing we can do about this, so please be patient while the new version is checked, approved and then released.
Please do not contact us telling us a certain version is not yet available, or asking when a certain version will be available. Please be patient. It will appear soon.
Yes, of course!
Please see How does the NW Publisher app work? for more information.
Connecting to the App
Appointed Brothers
When an elder opens NW Scheduler and clicks App for the first time, they must enter the Congregation PIN.
The Congregation PIN is automatically generated when the NW Publisher app is first enabled, and can also be manually changed by clicking Change PIN.
Any App Administrator can see the Congregation PIN on their App > App Summary view.
He should give this Congregation PIN to other elders so they can connect to the App inside NW Scheduler
The Congregation PIN is automatically generated when the NW Publisher app is first enabled, and can also be manually changed by clicking Change PIN.
Any App Administrator can see the Congregation PIN on their App > App Summary view.
Ask any App Administrator to tell you.
Publishers
We strongly recommend publishers only connect with 1 device.
If they use multiple devices, data may not sync correctly and reminders will not work correctly. For example,
- Recording Field Service Activity will not sync between devices.
- Submit Field Service Reminder will not work correctly with multiple devices.
IDs, Passwords and PINs
Congregation ID: A unique 9-digit ID that identifies your congregation. This is used by both appointed brothers to connect to Congregation Sharing, and by publishers to connect to the NW Publisher app. Please see Help > Congregation > Congregation Information
Congregation Sharing Password: This has nothing to do with NW Publisher app. A password created by a Congregation Sharing Administrator that allows other appointed brothers to use New World Scheduler Congregation Sharing. Please see Help > Congregation Sharing > Congregation Sharing Help
Congregation PIN: This is a 8-digit number randomly generated by New World Scheduler that is given to publishers to allow them to use NW Publisher app to connect to your congregation. It can be found on the App view, and can also be changed on this view. Please see Help > NW Publisher app Help
Previously Congregation PINs were 6-digits in length, and will still continue to work.
App Person PIN: This is a 8-digit number randomly generated by New World Scheduler. This is given to publishers by their elders, and allows them to Identify themselves in the NW Publisher app. It can be found on the App > App Persons view. Please see Help > NW Publisher App > App Persons
App Users will still be connected to the congregation and will still be able to see any current App Data.
However since the Congregation PIN is used for data encryption, any newly Sent or Received Data will not work unless all App Users Disconnect and then Reconnect using the new Congregation PIN.
Yes, please click Change PIN.
All new Congregation PINs must be 8-digits, but existing 6 digit PINs will still work.
Using the App
Please visit the NW Publisher app – Help & Support website
- Yellow: You have an Assignment this meeting
- Green: You have a Duty this meeting
- Teal: You have Cleaning this meeting
- New or Updated
- Upcoming soon, within your Initial Reminder period
- Upcoming very soon, within your Final Reminder period
- Delegate Assignment or Duty
App Data Explanations
All future assignments and duties are shown in NW Publisher App.
All congregation announcements are shown in NW Publisher app, until they reach their expiry date.
All future congregation events are shown in NW Publisher app.
8 weeks of Life and Ministry Meeting schedules and Weekend Meeting schedules. This cannot be changed.
4 weeks Field Service schedules and Public Witnessing schedules are shown in NW Publisher app. This cannot be changed.
Previous Assignments, Duties and Events are automatically removed within 24 hours after the time of the assignment, duty or event.
Congregation Announcements will display for 30 days from the date of creation, before being automatically deleted from the App. You can also manually remove any announcement at any time inside New World Scheduler. If you manually remove any announcement from New World Scheduler, you will need to Send App Data for the announcement to be removed from NW Publisher.
Schedules are removed within 24 hours after the date of the schedule.
- Yellow: You have an Assignment this meeting
- Green: You have a Duty this meeting
- Teal: You have Cleaning this meeting
- New or Updated
- Upcoming soon, within your Initial Reminder period
- Upcoming very soon, within your Final Reminder period
- Delegate Assignment or Duty
App Features can be enabled or disabled from within New World Scheduler. Any features disabled will show a message that the feature has not been enabled.
There is no other way to limit what is shown on the NW Publisher app.
App Features
App Features can be enabled and disable by a App Administrator from within NW Scheduler by clicking App > App Features, then ticking or unticking App Features.
Please see App Features for more information.
Both Apple, Google and Amazon must manually check and approve each new App release. Their review times vary greatly, from a few hours to a few days, or even longer. This means the new Apple, Google or Amazon versions might sometimes appear several days apart.
There is nothing we can do about this, so please be patient while the new version is checked, approved and then released.
Please do not contact us telling us a certain version is not yet available, or asking when a certain version will be available. Please be patient. It will appear soon.
App Features can be enabled or disabled from within New World Scheduler. Any features disabled will show a message that the feature has not been enabled.
There is no other way to limit what is shown on the NW Publisher app.
Field Service Report Questions
Yes, there are two ways to do this:
- App Delegates. Please see App Persons > Delegates
- Group Overseers can submit the Field Service reports for persons in their group. Please see App Features – Me > Publishers
Yes, please see App Features – Me > Publishers
Yes, please see App Features – Me > Publishers
Yes.
To report less than one hour, publishers can use decimal places to represent how much to report.
E.G.
- To report 15 minutes, please enter 0.25
- To report 30 minutes, please enter 0.5
- To report 45 minutes, please report 0.75
If publishers would like to report less than 1 hour without specifying the number of minutes, they can select Less than 1 hour when submitting their Field Service Report. This will be imported into New World Scheduler as 0.1 hours.
All minutes will be totalled and added to the Congregation Field Service Report (S-1), however as only whole hours can be reported to the Branch, the Secretary should use their discretion regarding what is reported.
There are 2 ways:
- Use decimals to represent partial hours, e.g. 1.5 = 1 hour and 30 minutes.
- Use a colon to represent hours and minutes, e.g. 1:30 = 1 hour and 30 minutes.
All minutes will be totalled and added to the Congregation Field Service Report (S-1), however as only whole hours can be reported to the Branch, the Secretary should use their discretion regarding what is reported.
No, not using the NW Publisher app.
True Christians must always be ready and willing to give a witness to anyone they encounter, including family, friends, workmates, doctors, sales people, etc. In fact, we should be actively trying to give a witness wherever and whenever possible.
Even if someone has no plans to engage in formal witnessing for the rest of a month, they would always be on the lookout to give an informal witness. This might happen on the first day, or the last day, of a month.
“Always ready to make a defence before everyone who demands of you a reason for the hope you have, but doing so with a mild temper and deep respect” – 1 Peter 3:15
For example, an unbelieving relative may phone a publisher on the last day of a month, or a telemarketer might call a publisher on the last day of the month. These situations might present a good opportunity to share our faith, and such time should be reported.
If there are rare and exceptional circumstances where a publisher must submit their report early, they can do this manually.
No, not using the NW Publisher app.
NW Publisher App only allows publishers to submit their field service report for the previous month.
For example, you can submit your September field service report from October 1st onwards. As of November 1st, you can submit your October field service report.
You cannot submit past or future months. This is logical and avoids confusion.
Yes, please see Help > App Features – Me > Field Service Activity
No. Recording Field Service Activity will not sync between devices.
We strongly recommend publishers only connect with 1 device. If they use multiple devices, data may not sync correctly and reminders will not work correctly.
Field Service Activity and History
Elders must enable this feature, please see App Features > Show Field Service History
Yes, please see Help > App Features – Me > Field Service Activity
No. Recording Field Service Activity will not sync between devices.
We strongly recommend publishers only connect with 1 device. If they use multiple devices, data may not sync correctly and reminders will not work correctly.
No. There are already many excellent apps that can do this.
NW Publisher is designed for communication between a publisher and their congregation elders, not for managing your personal ministry.
No, Field Service Activity will not save or transfer between devices.
However any past Field Service History already sent to the local elders will be saved.
In future, we plan to add a method to Backup Field Service Activity, but this is not yet available.
Reminders and Notifications
Publishers can choose to Enable Reminders in NW Publisher by tapping Settings.
The following Reminders can be enabled:
Submit Field Service Report
- This will automatically create a reminder to submit their report on the 1st of the new month at 7pm.
- Another Reminder to submit their report will be given on the 8th of the month. (If not already submitted)
- A Final Reminder to submit their report is given on the 15th of the month. (If not already submitted)
Assignments
- An Initial Reminder will be given for all upcoming Assignments 6 days before the assignment.
- A Final Reminder will be given 24 hours before any upcoming Assignment.
- Note: The Initial and Final reminder period can be adjusted by the publisher.
Duties
- An Initial Reminder will be given for all upcoming Duties 1 day before the duty.
- A Final Reminder will be given 1 hour before any upcoming duty.
- Note: The Initial and Final reminder period can be adjusted by the publisher.
Congregation Events
- An Initial Reminder will be given for all upcoming Congregation Events 7 days before the event.
- A Final Reminder will be given 1 day before any upcoming event.
- Note: The Initial and Final reminder period can be adjusted by the publisher.
There is no way to create any other reminders.
If you make any of the above changes in NW Scheduler, notifications are automatically sent when you click Send App Data > Prepare and Send.
If you do not want to send Notifications for a particular change, please first click Prepare, then remove all Notifications, then click Send.
- Note: See Send App Data for more information.
Publishers can choose to Enable Notifications in NW Publisher by tapping Settings.
The following Notifications can be enabled:
Information Board
- This allows appointed brothers using New World Scheduler to send publishers a Notification when either the Congregation Information Board or Congregation Events have been updated.
Assignments and Duties
- This allows appointed brothers using New World Scheduler to send publishers a Notification when their Assignments or Duties have been updated, or a Schedule was updated.
No other notifications can be sent to publishers.
- In NW Publisher, tap Settings to Enable or Disable Notifications and Reminders
- Check that your phone has given NW Publisher access to Notifications. (iOS only)
- Close NW Publisher
- In iOS, tap Settings > scroll down to NW Publisher > tap Notifications
- Select Allow Notifications
- Select Allow Lock Screen, Notification Center and Banners.
- Enable Background App Refresh
Dates and Times
There are two possible reasons for this:
- Data in New World Scheduler was incorrect at the time it was sent to NW Publisher app
- The Congregation Time Zone is different to the publishers device Time Zone setting
Data in New World Scheduler was incorrect at the time it was sent to NW Publisher app
Data shown in the app represents the data that was sent to the app by New World Scheduler. If you change or update your congregation data in New World Scheduler, this does not automatically change the data on the app. Please ensure the data in your Congregation is 100% accurate before sending data to the App.
Examples:
- Ensure your Congregation Meetings Time for Next Year is correct before sending next years schedules.
- Ensure your Congregation Time Zone is correct before sending any data.
To Fix:
- Double-check the follow is set correctly in New World Scheduler:
- Congregation Time Zone
- Congregation Midweek Meeting Day and Time, this year and next year.
- Congregation Weekend Meeting Day and Time, this year and next year.
- Refresh the wrong App data. See How to Refresh App Data above.
The Congregation Time Zone is different to the publishers device Time Zone
All dates and times sent from New World Scheduler to NW Publisher app include Time Zone information. If a publishers device has a Time Zone setting that is different to the Congregation Time Zone setting, the days, dates and times will not display correctly.
To Fix:
- Ensure any publisher with a problem is using the latest version of the App.
- Visit NWPublisher.com, or
- Search for NW Publisher in the Apple Store, Google Play Store or Amazon Store.
- Ensure everyone using the App has the same Time Zone as the Congregation set on their device.
The NW Publisher app time format is set by the NW Scheduler Settings – Time Format of the brother who sent the App data.
If a brother later changes their Time Settings in New World Scheduler, this does not automatically change the data on the app. They must refresh the app data.
Symbols and Icons
- Yellow: You have an Assignment this meeting
- Green: You have a Duty this meeting
- Teal: You have Cleaning this meeting
- New or Updated
- Upcoming soon, within your Initial Reminder period
- Upcoming very soon, within your Final Reminder period
- Delegate Assignment or Duty
Attachments and Links
NW Publisher uses the phones default URL viewer (or Link viewer) to open links. Usually this is the phones web browser. If a member is having problems, they should fix or change the default URL viewer.
We obviously cannot diagnose or fix publishers phones, so if they are having trouble opening a link they should please contact their phone manufacturer or ask a local brother who is good at fixing phones.
- Ensure Congregation Sharing is enabled and connected
- Ensure publishers are using the latest version of NW Publisher
- Ensure the attachment is either PDF, JPG or PNG format
- Ensure the attachment is 2MB or less
- Ensure the Attachment filename contains only roman characters. No special characters are allowed.
- The attachment might have expired, or failed to correctly upload. Remove and then re-add the attachment.
- Note: Don’t forget to then Send App Data!
- Ensure the attachment is not corrupted or damaged by opening it on your local computer.
- Try renaming the attachment to something simple, like “Announcement1.pdf”, then re-attach to the announcement.
- Try saving the attachment in another format., i.e. take a screenshot and save as Image, or click Print to PDF and re-save the PDF. Some PDF files have advanced embedded features that prevent phones from opening.
- Try deleting and re-creating the entire Information Board item.
If none of the above work, sorry there is nothing we can do.
Interacting with other Apps
Yes, Ministry Assistant app can send publisher report data to NW Publisher.
We hope to work with more ministry related apps in the future.