The magazine was first issued in January 1971, along with the correlated New Era (for youth) and the Friend (for children).

For many years, the May and November editions of the Ensign provided reports of the proceedings of the church's annual and semi-annual general conferences.

This change coincided with the church's revamping of the home teaching program into ministering.

[5] In August 2020, the LDS Church announced that the Ensign would cease publication at the end of 2020 and would be replaced by the English-language version of Liahona.

The magazine's editors included the following, with all those beginning with Dean L. Larsen being general authority seventies:[citation needed]