Upcoming Update – April 2026 (2026-04-13)

This update focuses on restoring paused features and switching to a new payment system. Also, it will simplify connections between calendars, congregations and publishers.

New Features

• Publishers now can receive internal or public tags, like "guest" or "has key"
• Improved newsletter feature to send out e-mails to publishers of a calendar
• New iCal feed for publishers to use in their calendar apps
• Publishers can be marked as inactive for the current calendar
• Onboarding of new calendars is back
• Excel download for feedbacks is back
• The admin area offers a button on the lower right to get help fast

Changes

• Introducing a new payment system and disabling Patreon subscriptions
• Rework congregation-to-calendar and publisher-to-calendar connections internally to make them easier to manage
• Feedback can be deleted by coordinators
• Deletion of publishers got improved and handles different situations like the publisher being connected to multiple calendars
• Week shift templates can now be edited
• Improved gender balance security rule handling for shifts

Bugfixes

• iCal feed for admins to show all calendar bookings fixed
• Telegram chat bot fixed
• The file upload was fixed

Major Relaunch (2026-03-09)

This update makes the PW-TOOLS calendar faster, more stable, and easier to improve in the future. To ensure a smooth transition, some features will be temporarily paused.

New Features

• A nice new styling.
• New authentication options: Login via Google and Passkeys.
• You can now download a calendar import file directly from a reservation.
• ICS file downloads for appointments.
• The week templates for creating shifts can now be edited.
• Improved processing of the self registration link.
• The option "Will be added later" as selection of a publisher can be disabled in the calendar settings (in the Actions and Behavior section).
• All sent emails now include hidden unsubscribe information. Clicking the unsubscribe link in an email client will stop all PW-TOOLS emails for that user. This helps improve spam ratings and avoid email provider blocks. The unsubscribe link is also visible in the email footer.

Changes

• Temporarily disabled: creating new calendars
• Temporarily disabled: deleting your own calendars
• Temporarily disabled: iCal Feed
• Temporarily disabled: downloading feedback as an Excel file
• Temporarily disabled: sending newsletters to participants
• Temporarily disabled: Zapier integration (may be removed permanently if no longer needed)
• Temporarily disabled: inventory feature (may be removed permanently if no longer needed)

Bugfixes

• Files uploaded to a calendar now open in a new browser tab. This prevents users from getting stuck and makes it easier to return to the app.
• Phone numbers are now normalized across the entire app, so phone links work reliably.
• Opening a reservation from the dashboard now automatically switches to the correct calendar if needed.
• Emails are now sent in the recipient’s language, not the language used when the reservation was created.
• The Telegram bot is working again.

Upcoming Update – May 2026

This release will contain some new requested features and add an exciting new feature: an interactive map for showing locations for public whitnessing.

New Features

• AI help agent for calendar settings
• A map for showing locations for public whitnessing with additional information on an interactive map

Changes

• Allowing four publishers with flexible calendar bookings (currenty only 3)
• Better handling of shifts with too few publishers assigned
• Bringing back the inventory feature
• Implementing a data retention policy
• Bringing back the statistics feature