Members' guide · Getting started
Finding a community near you
From the global community, find a community near you and ask to join it, be told when one starts near you, or start one yourself.
Why a local community
The global community is where people from everywhere meet. A local community is where neighbours trade: it has its own Beans, trades and Commons. On the global community you can see how those work, in an example community marked 🏘️ Local community, but nothing there earns or spends Beans. So a post there says in its description what the person would like in return: free, a swap, or ask them. See "Beans and the global community".
The global community is one community among many. Your own community runs on its own server and never needs it: the global community only helps you find it.
No community near you yet? You can start one: see "Nothing near you", below.
Communities near you
On the global community, the Find your community card on Home shows the communities nearest you. For your first 30 days it stays near the top of Home and can't be removed or moved; after that you can remove it like any other card. In the web app, each community on the card is a link to its own page. If it doesn't know where you are, tap Share my area, or or type your town and pick your town. The steps below are for the phone app.
Not in the global community yet? Tap the bean at the top left and, under Your communities, tap Global community, then join it with the account you have: see "More than one community". With no account yet, tap Explore BeanPool worldwide on the app's first screen: see "Joining BeanPool".
- Tap Communities near you to see the whole list.
- Communities are listed nearest first when the app knows where you are. If it doesn't, tap Use my location, or search by name. Rather not share your location? Tap or type your town, start typing, and pick your town from the list: only a rough point is kept, and change picks another.
- Communities at about the same distance from you are shuffled, so no one community is always at the top.
- Each one shows how far away it is and how many members it has, when the community has said.
A community that hasn't published its address is listed, but it can't be asked from here yet.
Asking to join
- Tap Ask to join on a community.
- Check your name, and write a few words about yourself, up to 280 characters: where you live, what you would like to share or learn.
- Tap Send.
Your request goes straight to that community, not through the global community, with your name, your words and your picture. Only its members see it. Where the community lets only its admins invite, only its owners and admins see it. A member there can let you in: they tap Invite, and an invite is made that only your account can use.
While you wait, the community's card says You asked to join. No answer yet. Communities usually answer within a few days. You can have one request open with each community, and each community takes only a few requests a day from one internet connection.
If nobody answers within 30 days, the card says No answer came. You can ask again.
If a community can't take your request, the card shows its own words, for example that too many requests came from your network today, or that it isn't taking requests to join right now.
When they say yes
The card says A member invited you. Tap Join with the community's name.
- Your account comes with you: the same key and the same 12 words. Your name comes too. If someone there already has it, a number is added, such as "Sarah2". You can change it in the next step.
- Your posts, chats and trades stay in each community. On the new one you start fresh.
- Next you check your name and photo for the new community.
- A sign-in that protects your account is kept by each community. The app asks you to protect your account in the new community too: tap Protect it, or Later, and do it any time in Settings.
You stay a member of the global community, and can switch between them: see "More than one community".
Nothing near you
- Tell me when one starts here: you get a notification when a community starts near where you are. Only the area is kept, about 10 km across, never where you are exactly. You can watch up to 3 places, and stop watching one with Stop.
- Start a community: every community has its own small server, looked after by someone local. It takes a spare computer at home or a few dollars a month, and about half an hour: see "Beans and the global community". The app shows three ways to run one: a spare computer at home, a small rented server, or asking for help. Fill in the name, the place and how people can reach you, and tap Copy my community's details to paste them into your new server's settings. How people can reach you stays off the public directory unless you turn it on there.
If you are a member of a local community
People can ask to join your community from the global community. Tap Talk, then People, then Invites: requests are listed under Wants to join, with their name, their words and where they came from. Requests are answered in the phone app: the web app doesn't list them.
- Invite: makes an invite that only their account can use. Their app finds it by itself, and they join with one tap.
- Not now: they are not told. They keep seeing "no answer yet", and can't ask again for 30 days.
Any member can answer, whatever their trust badge, unless the community chose that only its admins invite (Known, under Who may invite in the community server's Settings). Then only its owners and admins see the requests and answer them. A community's admins can turn requests to join off.
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.
- HomeWhat Home is, which cards it shows on the phone and in the web app, how to add, move or remove them, picking what you're into, and privacy when you sign out.
- More than one communityBelong to several communities with one account, switch between them, follow your community to a new address, and see what the global community shows you.
- Beans and the global communityWhat the global community is for, one community among many, and what you see there: the 🏘️ Local community marker, the example community Example Valley, why Beans wait there, and how to start or find a local community.
- Finding things near youShow only posts within a distance of you, or of any place you choose.
- Getting your account backRestore your account on a new phone, and protect it with a sign-in account.
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 149.