I’ve had it installed on my phone for I think a few years now. I’ve never used it to prove that I’m a Mason in good standing while traveling, for some reason that’s a question I’m never asked, but I do think it is an extremely slick way to find Lodges I want to visit someday, or even soon.
The app has been undergoing continual improvements, including three recently that I think are quite cool.
The first thing is that they have created a new kind of Masonic ring for our fingers. Their ring doesn’t have the Square & Compasses, rather you tap it against a phone, and it will bring up your own information. Your Grand Lodge, Lodge, and your current status. Very neat. I saw a number of these rings being purchased while I was at the Conference of Grand Masters not long ago.
I imagine that every Lodge in the United States has a copy, or a dozen copies of the book List Of Lodges, used to verify the status of visitor’s Lodges. Amity is of course working to replace that old system of looking in books with the modern app, dragging our Fraternity into today, but nevertheless, there are still plenty of Tylers out there who don’t want to be using an app.
That would have all been OK, except for the fact that the company that used to publish List Of Lodges each year stopped doing so.
The people at Amity stepped into the breach and began publishing their own book to serve those Lodges that are not interested in adopting new technology at this time. You can find it at the link below, and if your Lodge has an old out of date List Of Lodges and doesn’t want to adopt a newer technology, I’d recommend getting a Lodge copy:
Finally, I learned last week that all of the reports of the Commission On Information For Recognition from 2004 to 2023 are now included in the app, with reports going all the way back to 1973 slated to be added within the next few weeks. There are over 300 Grand Lodges in the world, and Recognition is a veritable hornets nest. With Amity you’ll have a report, personalized for your own Grand Lodge, showing every Grand Lodge in the world that shares recognition with your own. Awesome for those planning far flung travel. The Commission reports will add nuance to this. If your Grand Lodge recognizes The Super Special Grand Lodge Of Mars, you’ll be able to browse the old reports and maybe discover why. Or maybe discover why your Grand Lodge doesn’t recognize The Ancient And Awesome Grand Lodge Of Bill. Very cool.
Given all of this, I thought that it would be interesting to discuss Amity. Are you aware of it? If you are, do you use it? If you weren’t aware of it before today, will you be downloading the app now?
My chances of masonic travel outside of our jurisdiction are pretty slim for the foreseeable future, I might download it (Amity) if I am planning a masonic trip out of state. It is cool, however, that a company is stepping up to provide modern technology accessible products for masons that appear to be pretty affordable.
I was completely unaware of this app and upon learning about it i have signed up for it.
This is the kind of development i have been hoping to see within masonry to assist us in our travels. Additionally this is a good tool in general to connect with other masons around the world.
Once my verification is complete I intend to try this out and spread it among the brothers in my area to test it out.
I’m aware of it, I was a very early adopter back in beta! I have found it to be highly useful everywhere I’ve traveled for checking out what’s around.
It has the same problem as the old book though, they rely on data from Grand Lodges and when GLs don’t report that a lodge closed three years ago the book and the app are both wrong and you show up at an empty building :-)
Thanks for bringing this up, Cameron. While I had the app downloaded, I had never set it up. After perusing their website, I saw that they are going to distribute the Short-Talk Bulletin in the app now. That is huge, as that is going out of print, so I have set it up now and am waiting for verification! The ring looks pretty slick. A bit of James Bond there, I would say. All in all, seems like a valuable service for the Fraternity as a whole.
It is a really neat addition for the traveling man. I’ve used it in my travels to Kansas and will use it on my future trips to Tennessee and North Carolina. It provides GPS support and if lodges have uploaded info correctly, you’ll see dates and times of meeting s without having to scour the internet. As for the ring, my cousin RW Mark has it and uses it as his daily wedding band. It’s pretty nifty on how you can hold it right next to a phone and have instant Masonic verification.
Are you familiar with just how the verification process takes for this app? I signed up two days ago, and nothing. Is it reliant on our GL to verify by hand, so to speak?
I would love it if my GL (and all GLs for that matter) would push Amity. I think it's a fantastic app and would love to be able to use it for verification during travel.
My chances of masonic travel outside of our jurisdiction are pretty slim for the foreseeable future, I might download it (Amity) if I am planning a masonic trip out of state. It is cool, however, that a company is stepping up to provide modern technology accessible products for masons that appear to be pretty affordable.
I was completely unaware of this app and upon learning about it i have signed up for it.
This is the kind of development i have been hoping to see within masonry to assist us in our travels. Additionally this is a good tool in general to connect with other masons around the world.
Once my verification is complete I intend to try this out and spread it among the brothers in my area to test it out.
I hope it works as well as it appears to.
I’m aware of it, I was a very early adopter back in beta! I have found it to be highly useful everywhere I’ve traveled for checking out what’s around.
It has the same problem as the old book though, they rely on data from Grand Lodges and when GLs don’t report that a lodge closed three years ago the book and the app are both wrong and you show up at an empty building :-)
What is this thing you call a "cell phone" MW??
I do have 10 computers running 24/7 here at home but my phone doesn't have a wire that can make it from Port Ludlow to Wenatchee >;-]
Thanks for bringing this up, Cameron. While I had the app downloaded, I had never set it up. After perusing their website, I saw that they are going to distribute the Short-Talk Bulletin in the app now. That is huge, as that is going out of print, so I have set it up now and am waiting for verification! The ring looks pretty slick. A bit of James Bond there, I would say. All in all, seems like a valuable service for the Fraternity as a whole.
It is a really neat addition for the traveling man. I’ve used it in my travels to Kansas and will use it on my future trips to Tennessee and North Carolina. It provides GPS support and if lodges have uploaded info correctly, you’ll see dates and times of meeting s without having to scour the internet. As for the ring, my cousin RW Mark has it and uses it as his daily wedding band. It’s pretty nifty on how you can hold it right next to a phone and have instant Masonic verification.
Are you familiar with just how the verification process takes for this app? I signed up two days ago, and nothing. Is it reliant on our GL to verify by hand, so to speak?
I would love it if my GL (and all GLs for that matter) would push Amity. I think it's a fantastic app and would love to be able to use it for verification during travel.