When to Use Manual Attendance
Photo attendance is fast and fun, but it is not always the right fit. Manual check-in gives you a simple, reliable alternative for situations where taking a group photo is not practical.
Use manual attendance when:
- Your meeting is virtual. Zoom calls, phone conferences, or any meeting where people are not in the same room.
- Lighting is poor. Dim living rooms, outdoor settings at dusk, or campfire gatherings where a photo would not turn out well.
- The group is very small. If only three people showed up, a photo feels like overkill. Just tap their names.
- You are recording attendance after the fact. If you forgot to take attendance at the meeting, you can go back and manually mark who was there from memory.
- Someone is on the phone. If a member called in or joined remotely for part of the meeting, you can manually mark them present even though they are not in the photo.
How Manual Check-In Works
Step 1: Open the Event
Navigate to the Events tab and find the event for your meeting. If you set up a recurring event, it should already be there.
Step 2: Go to the Attendance Tab
Inside the event, tap on the attendance section. You will see a list of every member in your group.
Step 3: Mark Who Is Present
Each member has a toggle or checkbox next to their name. Tap the toggle for each member who attended. Their status changes to "Present."
Members you do not tap remain marked as "Absent" by default.
Step 4: Mark Excused Absences (Optional)
If a member let you know they would be gone — vacation, work trip, family event — you can mark them as "Excused." Excused absences are different from regular absences because they do not count against the member's attendance record. This means an excused absence will not trigger an at-risk alert.
Step 5: Add Visitors (Optional)
If a first-time guest joined your meeting, you can add them as a visitor. Enter their name and, optionally, their contact info. The visitor appears in your attendance record and in your visitor report, so you can follow up after the meeting.
Step 6: Save
Changes save automatically as you tap, so there is nothing extra to do. When you are done, just navigate away and your attendance is recorded.
How Long Does It Take?
For a group of 15 members, manual attendance takes about 30 to 45 seconds. Tap, tap, tap — done. Even for larger groups, it rarely takes more than a minute.
The key is that you do not need to type anything. The member list is already there. You just mark who showed up.
Recording Attendance After the Meeting
Life happens. Sometimes you get so caught up in a great discussion or prayer time that you forget to take attendance before everyone leaves.
No problem. Open the event anytime — even the next day — and manually mark who was there from memory. Flock does not care when you record it, as long as the data gets in.
Tip: If you regularly forget, try taking attendance right at the start of the meeting, before things get going. It takes 30 seconds and becomes second nature after a few weeks.
Manual Attendance and At-Risk Detection
Manual attendance feeds into all the same analytics and alerts as photo attendance. Flock uses the data to:
- Track attendance trends over time for each member
- Flag at-risk members who miss three or more meetings in a row, or attend less than 50 percent over four weeks
- Calculate group health scores based on overall attendance rates
It does not matter whether you used photo mode or manual mode — the data is treated the same way.
Tips for Better Manual Attendance
Use the member list as a roll call. Scroll through the list at the start of the meeting and mark people as you see them. It is quick and ensures you do not forget anyone.
Combine with photo mode. You can take a group photo for most of the room, then manually add anyone who was not in the picture — someone who arrived late, joined by phone, or was out of frame.
Mark excused absences proactively. If someone texts you before the meeting saying they cannot make it, mark them excused right away. This keeps your data clean and prevents false at-risk flags.
Do not overthink it. The goal is not perfect data. The goal is good enough data to spot trends and care for your people. Even rough tracking is better than no tracking at all.
Related Help Articles
- How to Take Attendance for Your Church Group Meeting — Overview of all attendance methods
- Attendance Trends: Spot Patterns Before They Become Problems — What the data shows you
- How to Identify Disengaged Members Before They Leave — Using attendance patterns for care