How content works
Content is everything your members read, watch, and listen to in your Apollos apps — sermons, devotionals, articles, announcements, videos, and more. Understanding how content is organized and published helps you get the right thing in front of the right people at the right time.
How it works
Content moves through a simple lifecycle:
- Create — Your team writes content in Admin (or it syncs automatically from a connected system like Rock RMS or Studio C).
- Organize — You file content into collections, link related items together, and add tags.
- Publish — You publish immediately or schedule it, and Apollos handles when it appears and disappears.
- Discover — Members find it in your app's feeds, through search, in the Daily Habits experience, or through shared links.
The same content library powers your mobile app, TV apps, and website embeds — upload once, and it's available everywhere you choose to show it.
Where content comes from
- Created in Admin — Most content starts in the Content section of Admin, written by hand or with Creator AI.
- Synced from your church management system — If you use Rock RMS, content from your Rock content channels can sync into Apollos automatically. See Rock RMS.
- Synced from Studio C — Media and other content can flow in from a Studio C integration.
Knowing where a piece of content came from matters when something looks wrong: if it was created in Admin, fix it in Admin; if it synced from Rock or Studio C, fix it at the source and let the sync update Apollos.
Collections: how content is organized
Collections are like folders that group related content — "Sermons," "Devotionals," "Announcements." Every content item should live in at least one collection. Collections matter for two reasons:
- For your team — they keep the content library organized and easy to browse in Admin.
- For your app — feeds pull content from collections, so filing an item into the right collection is how it shows up in the right place in the app.
Series: parent and child content
Content items can be linked in parent–child relationships. A sermon series is the classic example:
- The parent is the series itself ("Faith in Action").
- The children are the individual messages ("Week 1: What Is Faith?", "Week 2: Faith and Works").
Linking content this way lets the app show episodes in order, display an "up next" suggestion, and track each member's progress through the series ("You're 60% through"). You set these links in the Related content section when editing a content item.
Tags
Tags are labels you attach to content — topics like "prayer," "family," or "youth." They do two jobs:
- Organization and filtering — members can browse content by topic in the app.
- Personalization — tags connect content to the campuses and audiences who should see it. Content with no tags shows to everyone; tagged content can be targeted. See Personalization: tags & audiences.
Kinds of content
All content shares the same foundation — a title, summary, cover image, body, publish settings, and a shareable link. On top of that, different kinds of content unlock different experiences in the app:
| Kind of content | What's special | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Standard post | The flexible default: text, images, buttons, embedded video or audio | Announcements, articles, blog posts |
| Devotional | Displays linked Scripture passages alongside the text | Daily devotionals, Bible reading plans |
| Media | Puts the video or audio player front and center | Sermon recordings, podcasts, teaching videos |
| Weekend / live | Shows a "LIVE" indicator while your service is streaming | Weekend services with a livestream |
| Series | Groups child items, shows progress and "up next" | Sermon series, multi-week studies, courses |
You don't usually have to think about these as separate "types" — they follow naturally from what you add (media, Scripture blocks, a livestream, child content).
Publishing and visibility
Every content item has three controls that decide whether members can see it:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Published / Draft | The on/off switch. Drafts never appear in the app. |
| Publish date | Schedule content to go live at a date and time — for example, Sunday at 9 AM. |
| Expire date | Auto-hide content at a date and time — handy for time-sensitive announcements. |
Content appears in the app only when it's published, the publish date (if set) has passed, and the expire date (if set) hasn't. If any of those fails, members won't see it — but you'll still see it in Admin so you can manage it.
Common patterns:
- Publish now — click Publish and leave the dates empty.
- Schedule for later — set a publish date before publishing.
- Temporary content — set both a publish and an expire date to create a visibility window.
- Take something down — unpublish it (it becomes a draft again).
How members discover content
- Feeds — the screens of your app are built from feeds, which pull content from your collections and tags. This is the main way members encounter content. See Feeds.
- Personalized sections — feed sections can show different content per member, based on campus, audience tags, or what they follow. See Personalization.
- Continue watching and series progress — members who start a series or video see it resurfaced so they can pick up where they left off.
- Search — members can search your whole content library by keyword. See Search.
- Shared links — every content item has a shareable link and QR code. Someone with the app is taken straight to the content; someone without it is guided to download the app. Shared links also produce rich preview cards on social media and in messages — make sure your content has a cover image and summary so previews look great.
Troubleshooting
Why isn't a link in imported YouTube content tappable?
It should be. When Apollos imports a YouTube video, web and email addresses in the description become tappable links in the app, so members can follow them without copying text. If a link still isn't tappable, check that the description spells out the full address, then contact Apollos support with the content title.
Why isn't my content showing in the app?
Check, in order: is it published (not a draft)? Is the publish date in the past? Is the expire date in the future (or empty)? Is it filed in a collection that a feed actually uses? For the full checklist, see Content troubleshooting.
Why don't members see the series progress bar?
Progress only works when episodes are linked as children of a series and the member is signed in. Check the Related content links on each episode.
Why does my shared link preview have no image?
Social previews use the content's cover image and summary. Add both, then share the link again.