Are missionaries allowed to have smart phones on their missions with internet access? If I had a missionary son or daughter I would prefer they could have instant access to me if something really bad happened. I may be paranoid but if North Korea bombed the U.S. I'd want access to my children. Things happen awfully fast in the world today and communication is not something I would be willing to sacrifice in sending a child (especially an 18 year old) to a foreign country.

Does LDS, Inc. forbid cell phones on missions? Or is it just the internet they are forbidden?

Thanks friends.

A poster here on rfm a couple of weeks ago was posting while serving a mission using his smartphone. Don't know if it was a banned item or not, but he was using it for wholesome purposes.

Unless LDS, Inc. is really, really, really controlling I would think a smart phone would be an excellent missionary tool, especially for converting youth.

They've had smartphones in my area for at least a year, supposedly tablets with Internet access and pre-loaded church videos are planned next eliminating the mission book and necessity of carrying DVD's.

Hopefully this will come to my (UK) area soon and the mishies will stop hogging the free internet access in the local library.