Closed-Country Missionary Protection

Field Link Missions has multiple built-in layers of protection for missionaries serving in sensitive or restricted-access countries. When Show on Web Map is unchecked, that missionary is completely invisible to the public at every level — not just hidden from view.

Layers of Protection

Public map API — The map data endpoint only returns missionaries with Show on Web Map enabled. Closed-country missionaries are never included in the response regardless of how it is requested.
Direct profile access — Even if someone knows a missionary's ID, the public profile endpoint returns a 404 when Show on Web Map is off. There is no URL that exposes their data publicly.
Kiosk QR codes — QR codes are never generated for missionaries with Show on Web Map unchecked, neither on presentation slides nor behind the touch kiosk's Continue on your device button. In presentation mode, those missionaries cycle through silently with no scannable code.
URL deep links — The public map's ?open=ID parameter only works if the missionary is in the public map data. A direct link to a closed-country profile simply does nothing.

Show on Kiosk vs Show on Web Map are independent

A missionary can appear on your lobby kiosk (visible only to people physically inside your building) while remaining completely hidden from the public web map (accessible by anyone on the internet). This is the recommended setting for sensitive-context missionaries — known to your congregation, invisible to the world.

What Turning Off "Show on Web Map" Restricts

Public map at app.fieldlinkmissions.com/[your-slug]
Website embed on your church website
All public API endpoints
QR codes on kiosks — presentation slides and the touch kiosk's Continue on your device button
Direct URL profile links

The missionary's data, photos, and letters remain fully accessible to your admin users — only public visibility is affected.

Closed countries are hidden by default

When a missionary's location is in a country closed to missionaries — recognised from the country the geocoder returns when the pin is placed, or from the country as typed — Show on Web Map is turned off on its own, and the editor says why in the Location section. This happens wherever a profile comes from: the editor, the invite form and a CSV import. The list marks such profiles with a shield next to their location.

Your church can still show one: turn Show on Web Map on in the editor and confirm the warning. Do this only if the missionary agrees and understands that the public map can be seen by anyone on the internet. A profile you have confirmed stays shown through later edits; moving it to another closed country hides it again until you confirm once more. While any such profile is on the public map, the dashboard shows a red card naming them, so the exception is never forgotten.

The built-in list (Afghanistan, Algeria, Bhutan, Brunei, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Laos, Libya, Maldives, Mauritania, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen) is the same one the service refuses visitors from: the application cannot be browsed from those countries at all. A missionary there can still send updates through their invite link.

Missionaries can ask for this themselves

The self-service invite form has a checkbox in its Location section: I serve in a sensitive or closed country. Ticking it turns Show on Web Map off when they submit, so they are kiosk-only from the start without the church office having to remember. The editor shows the result in its Visibility section, where you can change it at any time. Only the city is ever recorded for a location — no street address.