Joining BeanPool

Two 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.

Two ways in

With an invite, you join a community: the people near you, with its own Beans, trades and Commons. A member of that community invites you.
Without an invite, you can join the global community when it is open: people from everywhere, where you can post, message people and find a community near you. There are no Beans and no community votes there. Beans, credit, the Commons and its Decisions live in local communities. The global community shows you how they work, in an example community. See "Beans and the global community".

No invite, but a community near you? Ask it to let you in. On the phone app's first screen, tap Know a community near you? Ask to join it, type the community's address or scan its code, and send your request: that makes your account, with no invite and nothing from the BeanPool project. Any of its members can let you in, or, in a community where only the admins invite, its admins. You can also join the global community first and find the community there. See "Finding a community near you".

Installing a community server? On the phone app, its claim makes your account: no invite, and nothing from the BeanPool project.

A community that lets anyone join sent you its link? On the phone app, the link opens its door, and joining there makes your account: no invite, and nothing from the BeanPool project.

Either way, your account is a key kept on your phone, with 12 words that bring it back. There is no password.

Joining with an invite

An invite is a link, a QR code or a code. A code looks like INV- followed by letters, or a long code that starts with BP-.

An invite works once.
An invite lasts 30 days. After that, ask for a new one.
If a community has paused joining, it is not taking new members for now. Existing invites cannot be used while joining is paused, and members cannot make new ones. Try again once the community reopens, or ask the admins.

To join:

Install BeanPool and open it. If you tap an invite link first, the app picks up the invite by itself, even straight after installing it from Google Play.
On the first screen, tap Join with an invite. If the invite is on your clipboard, you can tap Paste instead. On Android the button says Been sent an invite? Tap to check your clipboard. In the web app, the button says I'm New Here.
Paste the invite link or code. If you only have a code, also type the community's name or address. The person who invited you can tell you.
Choose the name people will see. It needs at least 2 characters. Keep it short: when you join, names longer than 20 characters are cut short.
Tap Next. The app checks the invite and the name. If someone already has that name, it suggests others. Until it has finished, ← Back to Home and Restore Existing Identity don't work.
In some communities the same screen also shows What this community's admins can see, with an optional I agree box. You join either way. See "What the admins can see".

Joining the global community

You can join in the phone app or in a web browser. In a browser, open global.beanpool.org and tap Join: see "Using BeanPool in a web browser" for the steps. In the phone app:

On the first screen, tap Explore BeanPool worldwide, right under Join with an invite. It is always there. When the global community can't take you right now, a line under it says why: Can't reach the global community right now. Try again, or join with an invite., Not taking new members right now., or This community is in a private preview. Ask its owner for an invite. Tapping it asks again.
The app opens the global community first, so you can look around before you join: Home, the Market and the Map, with each listing's photo, title and rough area, but not who posted it. A card at the top says You're looking around as a visitor. Nothing is saved until you join. Looking makes no account and asks for nothing: no location, no notifications. Talk, people's profiles and Settings need an account, so they open the way in instead, and so do Join to post and Join to message. If you close the app while looking, it opens on the first screen again.
When you are ready, tap Join: at the top, beside the ?, or on the card. ← Back takes you back to looking around.
Choose one of the two ways in. Create an account with 12 secret words is first. It needs no Google, Apple or Facebook account: your 12 words are the only way back in.
Or sign in once with Google, Apple (on an iPhone) or Facebook. That sign-in is also a way back if you lose your phone. BeanPool never sees your password and never posts anything for you.
Choose the name people will see, up to 20 characters, and tap Join. If someone already has that name, the app suggests others.

From the website, on a phone. On beanpool.org/global, Open in the BeanPool app opens the app right at this way in: the two ways above on a phone with no account yet, or Join the global community with the account the phone already has (see "Already have an account?" below). If that account is already a member there, it opens the BeanPool sheet instead, where Global community under Your communities switches to it. If the global community closed that account, the app just opens. On Android, if the app isn't installed, Google Play opens; after installing, the first time you open BeanPool it goes straight to this way in. On an iPhone, the App Store opens; after installing, tap Explore BeanPool worldwide. The link only opens a screen: nobody joins until you tap. When it opens the BeanPool sheet, the sheet checks, as it always does, whether this phone's account is a member of each community it lists. An invite comes first: if you were sent one, the app opens the invite instead, and if you were halfway through joining, it carries on with that.

With 12 words, your phone also does a moment of work to set up the account. It starts as soon as the two ways show (when the website's link opened them, as soon as you tap one), while you read and type your name, so most people never wait for it. It never starts while you are only looking around: only when you tap Join. If you tap Join before it is done, the app says Setting up your account… with a bar, and ← Back still works. When a lot of people are joining from your network, the app says so, with how long it will take on your phone, and you can sign in instead to join at once. A sign-in join is asked for this work only on a very busy network, and the app does it by itself. Choose another way stops the waiting and takes you back to the two ways. If you sign in instead, the 12-words setting up stops to save your battery, and Choose another way starts it again.

If the community says to wait (too many people joining from your network), the app says how long. Tapping Join before then only says it again, with the time left; after the wait, or after a minute if the wait is longer, Join asks again. If your phone's date and time are wrong, the app says Check them in your phone's settings (set them to automatic), then try again. If the community closed your account (you deleted it, or you were removed), the app says This account's place in the global community was closed, so it can't join again. and doesn't offer the door to it again.

If a 12-words join, in the phone app or in a web browser, says the community couldn't accept it because your date and time look wrong, the clock on that phone or computer is more than a few minutes off. Set its date and time to automatic in its settings, then try again. Nothing was saved, and signing in again won't help. The same words appear if adding a sign-in or getting your account back in a browser is refused for the same reason.

If you sign in, the community keeps only a scrambled reference to your sign-in account, never your email. That sign-in also becomes a way back into your account if you lose your phone, so you are not asked to sign in again at Safety Backup. For that, the phone app locks a copy of your account to it at BeanPool's key vault, a small server in Iceland, and Safety Backup says so: tap Who can open it there to see who can open that copy. In a web browser, the global community's server keeps the copy instead. See "Getting your account back". If the copy can't be made just then, you still join, and Safety Backup offers Protect with instead. After joining you don't sign in to open the app: your account is the key on your phone, like any other.

If you join with 12 words, nothing about you reaches the community but your key and your name, and your 12 words are your only way back: nobody can reset them, not BeanPool and not the community. Safety Backup says so, and offers Add a sign-in as a second way back. After joining, a card on Home says Your account has one way back: your 12 words. Check you still have them, or add a sign-in. Tap ✕ to put it away: it comes back once after your first post and once after a week, then stays in Settings, under Account Protection, until you add a sign-in or tap I still have my 12 words. An account made with 12 words also has smaller limits for its first 7 days, and until 3 of its posts have stayed up: 2 posts, 4 photos and 3 new people to message a day, and one report hides its post while it is new. Adding a sign-in, any time, lifts it to the usual new-account limits. You can add one from any phone where you are in your account, not only the one you joined on. If BeanPool's key vault already keeps a copy of your account, the card is not shown, and Settings offers Add a sign-in quietly.

Already have an account? Join the global community with it, not with a second one. Tap the bean at the top left and, under Your communities, tap Global community: it is always there, and when you can join it its second line says Look around first, then join with this account. The app opens the global community as a guest first, so you can look around before you join. Then, or whenever you are visiting it as a guest, tap Join at the top, beside the ?, then Join with 12 words or a sign-in (Join with a sign-in where a community takes sign-ins only). If the app says You're not a member here yet about the global community, tap Join with this account. On a phone, the link beanpool.org/global opens Join the global community with your account too (see "From the website, on a phone", above). You join with your 12 words or sign in once, check your name and tap Join. Your key and your 12 words stay the same, and nothing changes in your other communities. See "More than one community".

Joined already, in a web browser or on another phone? Don't join again on a phone with no account yet: that makes a second account, and two accounts can never be joined into one. Bring the one you have: on the first screen, tap Already a Member? Restore Account, then Recover with 12 Words. Type your 12 words and, under Which community?, tap Global community. If you joined with a sign-in, Recover with Social works too. See "Getting your account back".

The steps

The bar at the top shows Your Name, Your Photo, Safety Backup and How it Works. In a web browser on the global community there is one more, Your Area, after Your Photo. The phone app's first join of the global community has no area step: set it in Settings, under Your area.

Your Photo: choose a photo or one of the ready-made pictures, or skip it and add one later from your profile. With a photo, move it and zoom it until the part you want is in the circle, then tap Done. Some communities ask for a picture before your first post. People trade more easily with a face or a picture they recognise.
After an invite, ← Back on Your Photo takes you back to your name, to change it. It is still the same account: tap Next and you carry on to Your Photo and Safety Backup with the new name. If someone already has it, the app suggests others. On the global community there is no ← Back here: you have already joined.
Your Area (in a web browser on the global community, and in the phone app when you join the global community with an account you already have): Roughly where are you? The global community shows you what's on offer near you: the nearest 500 listings within 250 km. Tap Use my location, or Type a town or suburb. Your area is kept to about 10 km, never your exact spot: your phone or browser rounds it before it is sent. Other members see how far away you are, and a poll you make is shown at your area. Skip for now sends nothing and asks for nothing; you still get in, and you see the newest listings worldwide until you set it. You can change or clear it any time in Settings, under Your area.
Safety Backup: the app shows your 12 words. Write them down on paper and keep them safe. The tickbox I've saved these words (in a web browser, I've written these words down somewhere safe) is there to remind you. Nothing stops you if you skip it, but read "Your 12 words" soon. If you joined the global community with a sign-in in the phone app, this step shows your sign-in protecting your account, and your words are one tap away under Rather write down 12 words?. Under A sign-in you link it says that BeanPool's key vault keeps a locked copy for that sign-in, with Who can open it under it. After an invite, the same heading offers Protect with, and says where the copy goes before you tap it. If you joined the global community with 12 words, it says first that these 12 words are your account, and offers Add a sign-in as a second way back: you can skip that too. In a web browser, it says whether the community's server keeps a copy of your account: on the global community it does, for the sign-in you joined with.
How it Works: a short tour. At the end, a card asks Turn on notifications? with Turn on or Not now, so you hear when someone answers you, messages you, or asks to join. If you skip it, the card stays on Home until you answer, or asks once when you send your first message or request to join. Tap Let's Begin! to start.

If you close the app halfway, it carries on from the same step next time.

If the invite does not work

Already used: each invite works exactly once. Ask for a new one. If it was yours and you are already a member, use Recover an existing account instead.
Expired: invites last 30 days. Ask for a new one.
Not recognised: check you copied all of it, and that the community name or address is right.
Made by a member, and only the admins bring people in now: the community has chosen that only its admins invite, and a ticket a member made without a connection no longer works. Ask an admin for a fresh invite.
Failed to register identity (after you tap Next): usually no connection, or no answer in time. Check your connection and tap Next again. If your first try got through, the app carries on to Your Photo and Safety Backup with the same account.

If joining the global community does not work

Can't reach the global community right now (the line under Explore BeanPool worldwide): check your connection, then tap the button: it asks again. You can still join a community with an invite.
Can't reach the global community: check your connection and tap Try again. You can still join a community with an invite.
The global community didn't answer in time (after you tap Join): your name wasn't checked and nothing was sent. Check your connection and tap Join again, or go back. While the app is checking your name, Choose another way and ← Back to Home still work.
This sign-in already has a BeanPool identity: you joined before, perhaps on another phone. Tap Restore my account, then use your 12 words or the same sign-in.
This sign-in already joined the global community with a different BeanPool account (joining from the account on your phone): that sign-in has its own account there. Tap Use a different sign-in.
This community can't check sign-ins right now: the global community has moved to another server and can't yet tell a returning account from a new one, so for now it takes nobody new this way. Nothing was saved. Try again later.
Too many new accounts from this network: there is a limit on new accounts from one internet connection. Everyone on the same network counts together, so at a campus, an office or a meetup it may be other people joining, not you. Try again later.
Not taking new members right now: join a community with an invite instead.

Inviting someone

Any member can invite people, unless the community has chosen that only its admins do (see below). Your trust badge does not matter.

Tap the invite icon (a person with a plus) at the top right of the screen. This opens Invites.
If you like, write who the invite is for, just for your own records.
Tap Generate Ticket. Without a connection, the button says Generate Offline Ticket, and that works too.
Show them the QR code, or tap Share Invite to send the link and the code.
In the web app, open People, then Invites, and tap Generate New Invite. Then Copy or Share it.
Invites nobody has used yet are listed under Pending, each with Share to send it again.
You can make 20 invites a day, and have 50 that nobody has used yet. An invite nobody uses is deleted after its 30 days, and leaves Pending.

A community's admins can turn invites off for the whole community.

Where only the admins invite. A community can choose that only its owners and admins bring people in. There, if you are not one of them, Invites shows Bring someone here instead of Generate Ticket, and says to ask an admin. On the web app the Tree stays, and so do the codes you made earlier: they still work until they lapse. An owner or admin with no signal can still make a paper ticket, from the last role the community gave them. If the community takes requests to join, Share the link sends its address: the person opens it in the BeanPool app, asks to join, and an admin answers. Being an admin is a job the community gives someone, not a trust badge.

Invite codes you made before the community chose this still work until their 30 days are up.
A ticket you made without a connection doesn't: whoever has it is asked to get a fresh invite from an admin.

The global community has no invites: anyone joins it in the BeanPool app, with 12 secret words or a sign-in. There, the invite icon opens Bring someone here, with Share the link to send the global community's address. There is nothing to generate, and an invite code made for it does not work.

Requests to join

People can ask to join your community from the global community, or from the phone app's first screen with your community's address. When someone has, Invites shows a count, and the requests are listed at the top under Wants to join. Under each request: when they asked, and where they came from, such as from global.beanpool.org, or from the BeanPool app when they asked another way. Requests are answered in the phone app: the web app doesn't list them.

When someone asks to join, owners and admins receive a notification: Someone asked to join your community. A line also appears on Home under Needs you (2 people asked to join). Tapping either opens Invites in the phone app. In a community where any member can invite, members who turned on Requests to join under Notification Preferences are notified too, and if a request waits 3 days with no answer, the count appears on every member's Home screen so someone can welcome them.

Invite makes an invite that only their account can use. Their app finds it by itself, so you don't send them anything, and they join with one tap.
Not now tells them nothing more than "no answer yet".

Any member can answer. In a community where only the admins invite, only its owners and admins see the requests and answer them. See "Finding a community near you".

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 162.