# 🛠️ ChurchCRM 7.0.4 — Seamless Reliability

Released: March 18, 2026

Building on the foundations of the 7.0 series, **Version 7.0.4** is a critical stability release. We have focused on "polishing the pipes"—ensuring that upgrading to the latest version is error-free and that system logs are formatted perfectly for easier troubleshooting.

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## 🚀 Smoother Upgrades

We've listened to feedback from our community regarding the 7.x transition. This release addresses specific edge cases in the upgrade engine:

- **Upgrade Error Handling:** We fixed a rare issue where certain server environments would encounter a timeout or permission error during the file-replacement phase of an upgrade.
- **Pre-Flight Validation:** Improved checks to ensure your database and PHP environment are fully ready before the upgrade process begins, preventing "half-finished" updates.

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## 📋 Standardized Logging

To help church tech teams and our developers support you better, we have overhauled our internal diagnostics:

- **Log File Format Fixes:** System logs now follow a modernized, standardized format. This makes them much easier to read in text editors and allows external monitoring tools to parse your church's system health more accurately.
- **Diagnostic Accuracy:** Corrected several instances where background tasks were reporting "errors" that were actually routine notices, keeping your log files clean and meaningful.

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## 📍 Mapping & Geocoding Refinements

We continue to improve our new open-source mapping system (introduced in 7.0.2):

- **Status Indicators:** At-a-glance icons show which families need their addresses geocoded.
- **Deep-Linking:** One-click "Get Directions" buttons for mobile users are now more robust across different mapping apps (Apple Maps, Google Maps, Waze).

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## 🌟 Key Features of the 7.0.x Series

If you are moving from a 6.x version, 7.0.4 includes these major milestones:

- **Self-Service 2FA:** Users can now manage their own Two-Factor Authentication security without admin intervention.
- **New Plugin System:** MailChimp, SMS, and OpenLP are now flexible plugins—enable only what you need.
- **Admin Info Center:** A dedicated hub at `admin/system/church-info` for managing your church's global settings.

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## 🌍 Global Reach: 44 Languages

Our localization community continues to push forward! This release includes the latest translation updates, ensuring that ChurchCRM speaks your language naturally and accurately.

> 💡 **Pro Tip:** With our **AI-assisted translation workflow**, updating your local language is faster than ever. If you see a button or label that isn't quite right in your language, join our POEditor project and help us fix it in minutes!

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## ⚙️ Platform Requirements

- **PHP 8.4 is Required:** Please verify your server settings before upgrading.
- **Modern Infrastructure:** Full support for **FrankenPHP** and updated security dependencies (Uppy, PDFMake, and React-DatePicker).

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**Full Changelog**: https://github.com/ChurchCRM/CRM/compare/7.0.2...7.0.4
