Members' guide · Getting started

More than one community

Belong to several communities with one account, and switch between them.

One account, several communities

Your phone holds one account: one name, one key, one set of 12 words. You can use it to join more than one community. Each community keeps its own beans, trades and posts.

Joining another community

• A community lets you in with an invite from one of its members. No invite? From the global community you can ask a community near you to let you in: see "Finding a community near you".
• Tap the invite icon (a person with a plus) at the top right of the screen to open Invites.
• Under Join Another Community, paste the invite link or code. If you only have a code, also fill in the community's address.
• Tap Join Community.

Your key, your 12 words and your name come with you. Your posts, chats and trades stay in each community. Next you check your name and photo for the new community. A sign-in that protects your account is kept by each community, so the app asks you to protect your account in the new one too: tap Protect it, or Later.

Joining the global community from your account

The global community needs no invite, and you join it with the account you already have: the same key and the same 12 words. The app offers it only when the global community is open.

• Tap the bean at the top left. In the BeanPool sheet, under Your communities, tap Join the global community. It is also in Settings, under Advanced / Subsystem. If you are visiting the global community as a guest, tap Join at the top, next to the bean, then Join with a sign-in.
• Choose how to join: Create an account with 12 secret words, which uses the 12 words your account already has (no sign-in, so no phone lock), or Or sign in once with Google, Apple (on an iPhone) or Facebook. For a sign-in, the app asks for your phone's lock first, because this sign-in also becomes a way back into your account.
• Check the name people there will see, and tap Join. If someone already has that name, the app suggests others.
• Then choose your photo for the global community, as for any new community.

Nothing changes in your other communities, and your 12 words stay the same. A sign-in also becomes a way back into the same account: a locked copy of it is kept for that sign-in, so if you lose your phone, it brings back this account, not a new one. See "Getting your account back". A sign-in you linked to your account before keeps working. If you join with 12 words and no sign-in keeps a copy of your account, the app shows the Your account has one way back card, as for anyone who joins with 12 words (see "Joining a community").

If the app says This sign-in already joined the global community with a different BeanPool account, that sign-in has its own account there. Use a different sign-in: one sign-in account makes one account in the global community.

On a new phone with no account yet, use Explore BeanPool worldwide on the first screen instead. See "Joining BeanPool".

Switching

• Tap the bean at the top left. The BeanPool sheet opens, with Your communities near the top.
• Tap the one you want.

You can also switch in Settings, under System, then Advanced / Subsystem. Your communities are listed there. The one you are using is marked as active. Tap Switch to Town on another one to move to it.

Forgetting a community on this phone

• In Advanced / Subsystem, tap Forget on a community you are not using right now. This removes it and its saved data from this phone.
• In the BeanPool sheet, under Your communities, pressing and holding a community and tapping Remove only takes it off the list. Its data stays on the phone.

Neither deletes your account there, and your other communities are not affected.

To delete your account in one community, open it and use Permanently Delete Account in Settings. The phone keeps your key for your other communities. See "Leaving or deleting your account".

Visiting as a guest

If you add a community without an invite, you are a guest there. A Join button shows at the top, next to the bean. A guest sees very little until they register with an invite. In the global community, which has no invites, a guest joins with a sign-in instead: see "Joining the global community from your account" above.

Related

• Joining BeanPoolTwo ways in: a community, with an invite from a member, or the global community when it is open, with 12 secret words or one sign-in. Asking a community to let you in, and how to invite someone else.
• Finding a community near youFrom the global community, find a community near you and ask to join it, be told when one starts near you, or start one yourself.
• Leaving or deleting your accountSign out of this phone, or delete your account for good, and what happens to your beans.
• Your 12 wordsThe 12 words are the key to your account. Why they matter, where to find them, how to keep them safe, and adding a sign-in as a second way back.
• QuestionsShort answers to the questions members ask most.
• The top barThe bean, the small icons that show when something needs you, and the buttons at the top right.

The same guide is in the BeanPool app, and works there without a connection: open Settings, then "Help & how it works" under BeanPool. Every other rule, guide and manual is in the Help Centre. Guide version 112.