- Starting price
- Free
- Free tier
- Yes
- Platforms
- iPhone · Android phones and tablets · Apple Silicon Mac · Apple Vision compatibility
- Developer
- Churchly Inc.
- Launched
- 2020
- Updated
- Aug 3, 2026
The verdict
Tabella is an appealing Catholic alternative to a parish Facebook group: announcements, push notifications, weekly emails, community posts, schedules, and a free media library can live in one purpose-built app. It is especially useful when a parish actually claims and maintains its page. The privacy story is the obstacle. Apple says “data not collected,” while Google and Tabella’s April 2026 policy describe personal data, precise location, posts and messages, advertising identifiers, analytics, session replay, interest-based advertising, and third-party sharing. Use it for public parish communication, not confidential pastoral life, until those contradictions are corrected.
Try Tabella ↗Opens tabella.app
Tabella is a free Catholic community and media app from Churchly Inc. Individuals can listen to the daily Gospel, Rosary, novenas, prayers, reflections, talks, and podcasts; find and follow parishes or ministries; view Mass, Confession, Adoration, and event times; receive announcements; join groups; publish text, images, videos, or documents; and react or comment. Administrators can create public or private communities, add multiple admins, send instant notifications, and reach members through automated weekly email even when they do not install the app.
The product is explicitly Catholic. Its mission page says it aims to bring people closer to the Sacraments, and its media library includes Catholic prayer and creators in English, Spanish, and Filipino. That clarity is useful. Tabella is not trying to represent Protestant, Orthodox, Latter-day Saint, or generic spirituality communities. It can complement the life of a Catholic parish, but a listing in the app does not itself establish diocesan recognition, canonical status, doctrinal review, or the accuracy of a sacramental schedule.
The official website calls Tabella a private, secure, safe Catholic space and says hundreds of parishes and communities use it across dozens of dioceses. The site also offers parish verification through a short video and presents communication, donations, media, groups, dioceses, and Catholic-business advertising as one ecosystem. Those claims make governance and privacy more important, not less: church membership, devotional habits, location, prayer groups, youth ministry, and private discussions can reveal sensitive religious and family information.
This researched review uses Apple ID 1535274607, Android package com.jointabella.tabella, current store listings, the official product, mission and parish pages, the April 2026 privacy policy and terms, help documentation, and the faith.tools listing. We did not create an account, join a private parish, send a post, verify an administrator, donate, or assess moderation response. Apple reports about 4.8 from 84 US ratings; Google shows about 4.7 from 318 reviews and more than 50,000 downloads.
✓ The good
- Purpose-built Catholic environment - parishes, sacramental schedules, ministries, prayer, media, and community share one clear context
- Free for users and communities - the website advertises no subscription or content paywall for core use
- Multiple communication channels - push notifications and automated weekly email can reach both app users and less active members
- Public or private groups - administrators can choose community visibility and add multiple leaders
- Rich posting tools - text, images, videos, documents, likes, comments, and announcements cover ordinary parish communication
- Large devotional media library - daily Gospel, Rosary, novenas, podcasts, reflections, and prayers support individual use
- Active development - frequent 2025 and 2026 mobile releases show ongoing maintenance and bug fixing
✗ Watch out
- Apple privacy label is implausibly narrow - “Data Not Collected” conflicts with accounts, groups, posts, messages, notifications, and Tabella’s own policy
- Tracking is extensive - the policy names precise location, ad IDs, AppsFlyer, UXCam, PostHog, Google Analytics, Hotjar, Facebook, and interest-based advertising
- Community content can become public - user IDs and activity may be visible, and public posts may be difficult to remove
- Schedule accuracy depends on administrators - Mass, Confession, Adoration, and event times must be confirmed with the parish
- “Safe” is not a moderation specification - public pages do not present response times, moderator staffing, screening, appeals, or youth-protection detail
- External donations leave Tabella - parish links may open eCatholic, OSV Hub, PayPal, or another processor with separate terms and privacy
- Accessibility is undocumented - Apple lists no developer-declared support despite a social feed, media player, forms, and documents
Best for
- Catholics whose parish or ministry actively maintains a verified Tabella community
- Parish staff who want notifications, weekly email, files, posts, groups, and schedules without a general social network
- Users seeking free Catholic audio, prayer, Rosary, daily Gospel, reflections, and podcasts in several languages
- Ministry groups that can establish adult administrators, privacy rules, moderation, and a separate confidential pastoral channel
Avoid if
- Your parish has not claimed or updated its listing and you need guaranteed current sacramental or event information
- You need confidential counseling, confession, health, financial-assistance, safeguarding, or prayer-request communication
- You are unwilling to accept advertising analytics, location collection possibilities, public user IDs, or third-party processors
- You need verified accessibility, under-13 participation, or detailed moderation and incident-response commitments
What Tabella is
Tabella has two overlapping products. For an individual, it is a Catholic content player and directory: listen, pray, find a parish, see a schedule, and follow announcements. For an organization, it is a lightweight community-management channel: establish a parish or group, invite members, choose visibility, appoint administrators, post media and documents, and send notifications. Weekly emails extend announcements beyond installed users.
It is not a diocesan registry, sacramental record system, emergency alert guarantee, secure confessional, financial institution, or replacement for a parish’s official contact information. The surrounding Tabella brand also promotes Catholic businesses, advertising, links, rewards, and financial initiatives. Users should identify which legal entity and policy governs each feature instead of assuming every adjacent service is part of the free app.
Why a Catholic-specific community layer can be better than a generic social network
A parish Facebook page competes with unrelated feeds, advertising, political content, and an algorithm. A messaging group can become chaotic and offers little public discovery. Tabella combines Catholic identity, parish search, sacramental schedules, devotional media, ministry groups, documents, administrator posts, notifications, and weekly digest email. Members arrive expecting parish and faith content rather than general social entertainment.
A purpose-built label does not create safety by itself. Parish leaders still need verified administrators, written posting rules, separate adult and youth roles, two-adult safeguarding, escalation contacts, consent for photographs, records retention, and a channel for confidential concerns outside the social feed. Before migrating, export a member list lawfully, explain what data enters Tabella, and give parishioners a non-app way to receive essential notices.
Parish schedules and notifications are valuable only when ownership is current
A followed parish can publish Mass, Confession, Adoration, and event times and send instant changes. Tabella’s website demonstrates a parish verification process involving details and a brief video, which is stronger than an entirely open directory. Automated weekly emails can collect announcements for users who miss pushes or do not install the app.
Never rely on a directory entry alone for a sacrament, holy-day obligation, funeral, weather closure, or accessible accommodation. Confirm on the parish’s official website, bulletin, phone line, or diocesan directory, especially while traveling. Tabella should show a verification badge, who last changed each schedule, the time zone, exception dates, and a one-tap route to report stale information.
Community posts and private groups need real moderation and youth safeguards
Members can post text, images, video, and documents, while admins can create public or private groups and add other admins. Google rates the app Teen because users interact. The terms prohibit hateful, obscene, abusive, threatening, illegal, deceptive, infringing, and privacy-violating content and allow Tabella to remove content or preserve and disclose it under specified conditions.
A private group is access-controlled, not secret or end-to-end encrypted. Do not post confessions, counseling notes, abuse reports, medical details, addresses, immigration status, aid requests, children’s schedules, or prayer information without consent. Youth ministry should never depend on private one-to-one adult messaging. Publish moderation coverage, reporting tools, blocking, evidence preservation, appeals, law-enforcement policy, and safe-ministry escalation before inviting minors.
Free Catholic media and outside donation links create different trust boundaries
The media catalog advertises thousands of hours of Rosary, novenas, daily Gospel, reflections, talks, podcasts, videos, music, and other Catholic content in English, Spanish, and Filipino. A user can benefit even if no local parish uses the community tools. The site also lets parishes display donation buttons linking to systems such as eCatholic, OSV Hub, and PayPal.
Check the creator, date, diocese or publisher, and whether a piece carries an imprimatur when that matters to you; inclusion in an app is not the same as formal approval. For giving, verify the parish name and destination domain before entering money. Tabella may be presenting the link rather than processing the donation, so receipts, refunds, recurring gifts, card security, tax status, and donor privacy belong to the outside processor and parish.
Pricing
Individual app
$0
The app, media library, parish following, groups, posts, schedules, and notifications are advertised as free, with no subscription or paywall on current public pages.
Parish and group tools
$0 advertised
Tabella says parishes and communities can create public or private groups, add administrators, publish content, and send notifications and weekly emails free of charge.
Optional products and external giving
Varies
The terms reserve the ability to sell optional content products, and the site demonstrates parish donation links to outside processors. Advertising, rewards, financial products, and giving each carry separate conditions.
The consumer proposition is simple: install and use Tabella without a subscription. The official site repeatedly says free, no paywalls, and no subscriptions for Catholic content and community access. Neither current store shows an in-app purchase catalog. That is attractive for parishes serving households with different budgets.
The legal documents leave room for a broader model. The terms say the app is free to download but may offer optional content products through Apple or Google purchases. They also reference a Tabella Rewards Program for community administrators. The website markets advertising to Catholic businesses and shows external giving links. Free core software can therefore coexist with commercial, advertising, rewards, or financial services around it.
The economic exchange includes attention and data. Tabella’s policy says it uses analytics and tracking technologies to understand interests, personalize content, deliver or measure advertising, connect activity across time and services, and create matched audiences. Parishes should not describe the service as cost-free without also explaining that data-supported business model to members.
External giving is never covered by “free.” A payment processor may charge the parish, invite a recurring gift, retain donor data, or provide a different refund process. Users should confirm the destination, amount, frequency, fee treatment, receipt issuer, and cancellation route. Parish administrators should use official processor links and regularly check for compromised or outdated URLs.
Where Tabella falls behind
The Apple privacy label is the most serious credibility problem. It says the developer does not collect data. Yet Tabella requires accounts, displays user IDs, supports profiles, public and private posts, messages, photos, videos, documents, comments, reactions, groups, invitations, notifications, weekly email, location-based discovery, analytics, ads, purchases in the terms, and deletion rights. Tabella’s own current privacy policy describes all of those data categories. The label must be corrected.
Google is closer to the written policy: it says the app may share personal information, app activity, and two other categories and may collect personal information, photos and videos, and three others; it encrypts in transit and supports deletion requests. Store labels remain developer-supplied summaries, and neither proves security or completeness, but Google at least acknowledges the social product’s basic data flows.
The April 2026 policy is broad and sometimes appears adapted from unrelated software. It mentions purchase information, statistics on “practice” and “achievement of milestones,” enterprise subscriptions through employers, workforce wellness benchmarking, and research partners—concepts not clearly explained by a Catholic parish app. Boilerplate breadth makes it hard to tell which clauses actually apply. A data map by feature would be far more useful.
Tracking detail is substantial. The policy names Google Analytics and Hotjar for web, PostHog, AppsFlyer, and UXCam for mobile, plus Google and Facebook advertising. It describes precise or general location, IP, device and advertising identifiers, page and traffic logs, content, messages, contacts invitations, cross-device tracking, interest-based advertising, research sharing, and public user activity. UXCam session recordings are said to exclude sensitive text fields, but the policy does not define excluded screens or verification.
“Safe” and “private” marketing therefore needs qualification. The terms admit no online system is perfectly secure and say Tabella can monitor usage. The privacy policy says public posts may not be removable, activity is traceable to user ID, and a real name can identify it. Tabella should state encryption at rest, tenant separation, admin visibility, employee access, breach notice, backups, deletion timelines, private-group access, direct-message design, and law-enforcement handling.
Youth rules need more clarity. The terms require users to be over 13, Google rates the app Teen, and parish marketing explicitly asks whether youth under 18 can use it. A Catholic community platform should publish age verification, parental-consent rules, diocesan safe-environment integration, adult-minor messaging limits, photo consent, group visibility defaults, mandatory reporting, grooming detection, background-check responsibility, and emergency contacts.
Accessibility is not documented. Apple lists no supported features even though the app includes audio, video, text feeds, documents, schedules, reactions, forms, and notification settings. Tabella should test VoiceOver, TalkBack, dynamic type, contrast, captions and transcripts, keyboard and switch access, alt text, accessible PDFs, language switching, and parish-schedule semantics, then publish results instead of relying on audio as a proxy.
Tabella vs. Flocknote vs. Hozana vs. Laudate
Flocknote is a mature church communication service centered on email, text messages, member databases, groups, and administrative workflows. It is more institution-facing and often paid by the parish. Tabella is free, more consumer-social, and adds parish discovery plus a Catholic media library. Flocknote is stronger for controlled lists; Tabella is stronger for an app-centered feed and devotional content.
Hozana focuses on online prayer communities and novenas across languages rather than local parish administration. Laudate offers a broad free Catholic reference and prayer collection but little social parish management. myParish App and ParishSOFT provide other parish-specific combinations, generally with different organizational pricing and integrations.
Choose Tabella when an active parish wants a free Catholic community feed and members value included media; Flocknote for dependable email and SMS administration; Hozana for global prayer communities; or Laudate for a personal Catholic toolbox. A parish may use more than one, but should designate one authoritative schedule and one confidential pastoral route.
The bottom line
Tabella has a coherent vision: bring parish communication, Catholic community, devotional media, and local discovery into a space built for Catholics rather than an algorithmic general network. Free access, multilingual content, groups, rich posts, notifications, weekly email, schedules, and active development make it a credible option—especially when a verified parish commits to maintaining it. The service must now be as rigorous about trust as it is enthusiastic about community. Apple’s “data not collected” label is incompatible with the product and written policy; the policy itself allows extensive location, analytics, advertising, session-replay, public activity, and partner sharing. Install only if that tradeoff is acceptable. Verify sacramental times outside the app, keep sensitive pastoral matters off the feed, inspect external donation domains, lock youth groups behind real safeguards, and give members a non-app communication choice. With corrected disclosures and explicit moderation, Tabella could be an excellent parish commons. Today it is useful, active, and free—but not private in the ordinary sense many parishioners will hear.
Alternatives to Tabella
FlocknoteA church communication platform centered on email, text messages, groups, member information, and staff administration.
LaudateA large free Catholic prayer and reference toolbox with readings, Rosary, chaplets, documents, and many links.HozanaA Catholic-rooted global prayer-community app for novenas, intentions, formation, and shared prayer journeys.
iBreviaryA Catholic liturgical app for the Hours, Mass readings, prayers, rites, and multilingual offline texts.Frequently asked questions
What is the Tabella Catholic App?
Tabella is a free Catholic media, parish-directory, and community app. It offers prayer and podcasts, parish and ministry groups, schedules, posts, notifications, weekly emails, files, reactions, and administrative tools.
Is Tabella free?
Core consumer, content, parish, and group features are advertised as free without a subscription. The terms allow optional paid content, and the larger ecosystem includes advertising, rewards, outside donation links, and other services.
Can I trust Mass and Confession times in Tabella?
Treat them as convenient directory information. Confirm important times with the parish’s official website, bulletin, phone line, or diocesan directory, especially for holidays, weather changes, travel, or sacraments.
Are Tabella groups private?
Administrators can create private groups, but private means access-restricted, not confidential or end-to-end encrypted. Tabella’s policy describes monitoring, user IDs, content processing, providers, analytics, and legal disclosure. Keep sensitive pastoral information elsewhere.
Does Tabella collect data?
Its April 2026 policy says it may collect names, email, photos, location, purchases, activity, posts, messages, IP, device IDs, media, and more and uses multiple analytics and advertising tools. Apple’s contradictory “Data Not Collected” label should not be relied upon.
Can teenagers use Tabella?
The terms say users must be over 13, and Google rates the app Teen because users interact. Parents and parishes should still require safe-environment rules, supervised groups, photo consent, reporting routes, and limits on adult-minor messaging.
Does Tabella process parish donations?
The official site demonstrates donation links to external services such as eCatholic, OSV Hub, and PayPal. Verify the destination. The outside processor and parish govern charges, recurring gifts, refunds, receipts, and donor privacy unless a specific Tabella feature states otherwise.
Sources & further reading
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AmenAmen is the Augustine Institute's free Catholic prayer and audio Scripture app, and it is free in the strict sense - no subscription, no in-app purchase list, no locked sessions. The reason to read past the 4.9 rating is what the nonprofit still does not carry.
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