Home

What 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.

What Home is

Home is the first tab, and the screen the app opens on, on the phone and in the web app. It is a dashboard of cards answering what needs you, what is happening around you, and what you could do next. Each card is a few lines and one tap into that part of the app. A card with nothing to say takes no room on the screen.

The phone and the web app show the same cards, with a few differences. This page says "on the phone" or "in the web app" where they differ.

In the web app, on a wide screen, the cards stand side by side in two or three columns (or one if you prefer), in your order: across, then down. Cards that are wide enough (at least 480 px) show listings and posts in tiles rather than rows. Needs you and Your community run across the whole width, and so do the one-time tip and the "fewer cards" note (below): under Needs you, or above the cards when Needs you is not showing. The phone always shows one column.

Getting started

A new member's Home starts nearly empty: one card, Getting started, between Needs you and Your community (on the global community, Find your community stays above it). It says "This is your Home. You choose what goes here. Before you start, take a one-minute look at the other tabs."

Look around starts a short tour. A bar at the bottom of the screen moves the app to each tab in turn and says what it is for, one or two sentences a step, with a caption such as Step 2 of 8 above (the number depends on the app and on your community's tabs). Tap Next to go on, or Skip to stop. The tab behind the bar works as usual: tap anything, or tap another tab and the tour follows you there.
The last step comes back to Home: Add your first cards. Tap a card to put it on Home, or More cards for the whole list. Tap Done. If you picked nothing, Home starts with the usual five (below).
Skip, on the card or the bar, ends the tour. If you have not put a card on Home yourself, it gives you the usual five. If you have (from Add a card, or a pick on the tour's last step), Home keeps the cards you chose.
The tour never starts by itself. If you close the app part way, the card says "Pick up the tour at step 3".
Done or Skip is kept on your account, so the card does not come back on your other phones or browsers. To see the tour again, tap ? at the top and Take the tour again.
If you had set up your Home before the tour existed, nothing changes for you. Getting started is in Add a card, under Getting started, if you want it.

After you tap Skip on the tour, a one-line tip appears under the first card. Tap ✕ to put it away. After Done it does not show.

On the phone it says "This is your Home. Add a card at the bottom, or tap … on a card to move or remove it." It is shown once, and never again, whether or not you tap ✕. Adding or removing a card also puts it away.
In the web app it says the same words. It comes back each time you open Home, until you tap ✕.

Your cards

On the phone and in the web app, your Home is a list of cards you choose. After the tour, the usual five are: First steps, Tips, New in the Market (Near you on the global community), Coming up and From your community. What are you into? and Your way back in come along too, and show only when they have something to say. Needs you is always at the top and Your community always at the bottom.

Add a card, on your community's card at the bottom of Home, opens a list of every card your community can show, in three groups: For you, Around you and Getting started. Tap Add beside a card to put it on Home. It goes to the top, just under Needs you, and Home scrolls up to show it.
A card that is already on Home says On Home instead of Add. Some cards can be added more than once, such as A saved search: they say how many you have, such as "2 of 5 on Home".
A saved search asks for the words to look for before it is added, such as "eggs". You can also choose Offers, Needs or Both, a category, and how far to look: 1, 2, 5, 10 or 25 km. The distance is offered only where your community knows your area, or where you have shared your place; without one, the search looks everywhere.
Sun and moon asks whose place to use before it is added: Your community (the usual choice) or Your area.
Decide asks what it shows before it is added: Summary (the usual choice), All open or My votes.
A Home holds at most 24 cards. When it is full, the list says so, and you remove a card to add another.
Your cards are kept on your account, so they follow you to your other phones and browsers. If your community's server has not been updated yet, they stay on this phone or in this browser, and Edit home says "Your community's server needs an update before your cards follow you to other devices." They are sent again each time you open Home.
If you had already moved or hidden cards before this change, your Home keeps your order, without the cards you had hidden. If you had not, you see Getting started on its own, and the tour's Skip or Done gives you the five, or the cards you picked (above). If you joined more than a week ago, Home also tells you once, under Getting started the first time it opens: "Home now starts with fewer cards. Add a card brings the rest back."

Save a search from the Market

While there are words in the Market's search, a button under it says Save this search to Home. It opens Home with a saved search ready to add: your words, Offers or Needs if you were looking at only one, the category you picked, and the distance you picked (the nearest of 1, 2, 5, 10 or 25 km that covers it). Change anything you like, then tap Add to Home: the card goes to the top. It shows the newest listings that match first; on the worldwide community, the nearest first, as its Market does. If the same search is on Home already, or you have five, Home says so and adds nothing. Under Events and Polls there is no button: a saved search looks for Offers and Needs.

The cards

Home shows only the cards that have something to tell you, in your own order. A card you add goes to the top, under Needs you. These are the cards you can have:

Needs you: only while something is waiting for you: a deal waiting on you (someone asked for your listing, or your Beans are held in trust and waiting for you to release them), unread messages from people, new lines in your groups, a vote you have not cast yet (amber when it closes within two days), an invitation to join a group (tap it to see the invitation and join; in the web app it opens the group, with Accept invitation), and, for owners, admins and moderators, the admin work waiting for them, such as reports to review. On the phone and in the web app these are the same things the small icons at the top of the screen show (the web app has no icon for admin work: it is in this card only). This card stays first and cannot be moved or hidden.
Your way back in: if you joined with 12 words and have no connected sign-in, this card reminds you to keep them safe or add a sign-in. Tap ✕ to put it away. It comes back once after your first post and once after a week, then lives only in Settings: under Account Protection on the phone, and at the top of Settings, headed One way back, in the web app. It does not show where BeanPool's key vault already holds a copy of your key.
Find your community: on the global community only. It shows the communities nearest you and lets you ask to join them (see "Finding a community near you"). On the phone it has Communities near you, Start a community and Tell me when one starts here. In the web app, each community is a link to its own page. If it does not know where you are, tap or type your town and pick your town instead of sharing your location, on the phone and in the web app. The web app's card also has Share my area. Once you have picked a town, the web app's card says "Near" and the town, with change. If the web app's card already has a place, Not here? Type your town does the same. For your first 30 days on the global community it stays at the top, and it cannot be removed or moved. After your first 30 days it stays while a request to join is waiting for an answer or you have a watch for a community near you. When a community no longer holds your request, the card says so; tap Got it and the card can be moved or removed again.
First steps: a short checklist. On a local community: post your first Offer, add a profile photo, pick a few things you like, and, once you have posted an Offer, where invites are on, invite someone. Where only the admins invite, the phone shows that last line only to owners and admins. The web app shows it to every member, and a line not done keeps the card. On the phone the card goes when every line is done. In the web app it also stays for your first 14 days.
Your first week on the global community: a seven-step checklist: choose a name, say roughly where you are, add a picture, look at an example Ledger, post something free or for swap, say hello to someone near you, and tell me when a community starts here or say you'd help start one. Steps are ticked as you do them. It can also say the limits on a new account, such as how many posts and new chats you can make a day at first. The card ends after 14 days or when all steps are done.
Tips: one short tip at a time about how BeanPool works, for members. Tap Next for the next one, or Read more to open the page of this guide it comes from. A new tip also shows on your first visit of a new day. The card goes by itself once you have seen every tip, or at once when you tap Don't show tips again. Adding it again with Add a card starts the tips again from the first one.
What are you into?: lets you star categories you like. Members only. It shows when you have no categories starred yet, or when you tap Tune on the Market card, and it stays on screen while you pick.
Your deals: shows up to 3 open deals: title, with whom, whether it is waiting on you or waiting on them, and when; tapping a deal opens it in the Market. All deals › opens your deals in the Market. Not on the global community: there, Your deals in the Market shows example deals from a local community instead.
Your enterprise: shows the enterprise's name and whether it is ongoing or a project, its balance and keepers, this month's trades and figures in and out, the latest line on its book, and requests waiting to be approved. It is called Your project when the one you keep is a project. Tap a request to open Manage, where you approve it. Not on the global community: there, Commons shows an example enterprise from a local community instead.
Coming up: upcoming events near you, with your RSVP.
New in the Market: the newest listings, with starred categories first. On the global community it is called Near you, and the nearest listings come first. If you typed your town in Find your community, the phone counts from that town. On wide cards (480 px and over in the web app), listings stand in a 2 × 2 grid of tiles with their photo, Offer or Need badge, title, price and distance. Tap Tune to pick your interests, or See all to open the Market. While there are only a few listings, it may show a couple of example listings, marked as examples, if your community has them turned on.
Decide: open Decisions and open polls. On the phone, Decisions open Decide in Commons and polls open Polls in the Market. In the web app, the card shows open counts at the top right, then up to 3 open Decisions (title, when it closes, and whether you voted or Not yet), the question and closing day of the first open poll, and Decide › to open Commons. You choose what it shows: tap … then Settings… (or choose when you add it). Summary is the usual choice: the Decisions closing soonest (up to 3) and the first open poll. All open shows up to 5 open Decisions and the first open poll. My votes shows only the open Decisions you have voted in or proposed (up to 5), each saying whether you voted or Not yet, and no polls, and no open counts at the top right (they would count only your Decisions); when none are yours the card doesn't show, and Edit home says "Nothing to show now". The phone and the web app offer the same three choices. Not on the global community: polls there are in the Market's Polls, and Commons shows an example Decision from a local community.
A saved search: listings that match words you choose. You can have up to five. Its first line is your words and the distance, such as "eggs · within 5 km". Then come up to four listings (in rows or wide tiles, like the Market card), each opening the listing; See more opens the Market with your words already in its search. It finds what the Market's search finds, so "eggs" also finds listings with words that mean much the same. When nothing matches it says so, such as "No eggs within 5 km right now". A search you have just added or changed without a connection says "Shows when your community answers" until your community's server answers. To change the words, tap … then Settings…: the card stays where it is.
Your groups: your groups, enterprises and events, with unread message counts or quiet. In the web app, each also shows the latest message, with who sent it and how long ago (locked messages show 🔒 Message). Tap opens the chat.
Who joined: people who joined this week. On a local community it shows names and faces. On the global community it shows only a count, by area, and no names.
The Pulse: posts shared by neighbours from external channels like YouTube and blogs, with starred categories first. In the web app it shows up to four posts, with their thumbnail, title, who shared it and when; on wide cards (480 px and over), in a 2 × 2 grid of tiles. Tap See all to open the Pulse.
Sun and moon: tonight's moon and today's sunrise and sunset, in one line, such as "🌔 Waxing gibbous, 72% · Sunrise 6:12 · Sunset 17:48". Your phone or browser works it out by itself: the card asks nothing of your community's server. It uses your community's place, rounded to about a kilometre, or your area where your community has no place (on the global community it is always your area). On the global community, the phone can also use where it last was, but only if you have already let the app use your location: it never asks. If you typed your town in Find your community, the phone uses that instead. To use your area even where your community has a place, tap … then Settings… and choose Your area. The times are on your own phone's or computer's clock, so when you travel you see them in your own time. The moon is drawn as it looks from that side of the equator. Where the sun doesn't rise or set today, it says so, such as "Sun up all day" or "No sunset today". If no place is known, the card doesn't show, and Edit home says "Nothing to show now: no place is known." A screen reader reads it in words, such as "Moon waxing gibbous, 72 percent lit. Sunrise 6:12 am. Sunset 5:48 pm."
Your Beans: your balance, room to spend, this month's trades and figures in and out, and your trust badge. For a new member it says "0 Beans · nothing to repay" and how credit opens with your first trade. Not on the global community. There the phone shows an example card instead: what Beans do in a local community, and See an example ledger. It comes once the tour is done or skipped (while Getting started is up, the tour's Ledger step shows the example), and stays until you tap Hide this card, even after First steps has gone.
From your community: announcements and notices from your community's admins.
Grow your community: lets you invite new members after your first Offer, where invites are on. Not on the global community. On the phone, where only the admins invite, it shows only for an owner or admin. In the web app it does not show there at all.
Your community: the last card, titled with your community's name (The global community on the global community). It runs across the full width. On wide screens in the web app, it shows a figure tile for each number your community shares: members, who joined this week, trades this month, Commons pot, listings and upcoming events (with Beans off, no trades or Commons pot; on the global community: members, communities listed and listings); on narrower screens, three lines. It has Add a card and Edit home. This card stays at the bottom and cannot be moved or removed.

On the phone, when your community has moved to a new address, a card above all of these asks whether to use it: see "When your community moves to a new address" in "More than one community".

The "…" menu

Most cards have a … button at the top right. These do not:

Needs you, Getting started and Your community. Getting started has Skip instead.
Your way back in, on the phone. It has its own ✕.
Find your community, during your first 30 days on the global community, and after that while a request to join is waiting for an answer (or its card has not been put away with Got it) or you have a watch for a community near you.

Tap … to:

Settings…: only on a card that has settings, such as A saved search, Decide or Sun and moon. It changes the card where it stands.
Move up: swaps the card with the card above it.
Move down: swaps the card with the card below it.
Remove: takes the card off Home, with its settings. Add a card puts it back. Nothing asks you to confirm. Removing Tips is the same as Don't show tips again.

In the web app, on a wide screen, where the cards stand side by side, the two moves say Move earlier and Move later. They do the same thing: the card swaps with the one before it or after it in your order.

In the web app, Your way back in has a … too, with the two moves and Remove.

A move is greyed out when there is nowhere to go: at the top or bottom of the cards you can move. The first card under Needs you cannot move up, and the last card above Your community cannot move down.

Edit home

At the bottom of Home, on your community's card, tap Edit home.

In the web app, on a screen wide enough (at least 656 px), Edit home shows Columns on a wide screen at the top with three choices: Fill the width (up to three), Two wide, or One. Your choice is saved on your account and follows you to other computers.
＋ Add a card comes next. It opens the same list as Add a card on Home.
Then come the cards on your Home, in your order. Each has up and down arrows and its own … (Settings…, Move up, Move down, Remove). A saved search is listed by its words, and by Offers or Needs when it looks for only one, such as "eggs" or "Needs · eggs", so two searches are two different rows.
A card with nothing to show right now says Nothing to show now. Tips says All tips seen once you have seen every tip, and Sun and moon says Nothing to show now: no place is known. while there is no place to work from.
Tap Reset to defaults to go back to the usual five cards.
There are no switches and no hidden list: a card you removed is in Add a card.
Only the cards your community can show are listed, on the phone and in the web app. For example, the global community's list has no Your Beans or Your deals: there, the Ledger and Your deals show examples from a local community instead.
Needs you always stays at the top, and Your community always stays at the bottom.
Find your community, in your first 30 days on the global community, or after that while a request to join is waiting for an answer (or its card has not been put away with Got it) or you have a watch for a community near you, is not listed. It stays near the top for now.
Your way back in is listed, with its arrows and …, while it is on your Home.

What are you into?

Tap categories you like (Food, Tools, Services, Garden and others) to star them:

Starred categories come first on Home in New in the Market and The Pulse.
Starred categories never hide anything: other listings and posts follow right after.
The stars you pick on Home are the exact same stars used under ★ For You in the Market tab.
Tap Tune on the Market card anytime to change your stars.

On the web lobby

On the global community's website, before you join or sign in, a visitor sees a simpler Home (a local community's website shows its welcome page instead):

A Join card at the top.
Only public cards: a card of communities near you, Coming up, What people post (listings with photos and categories but no member names or faces), and Your community.
Visitors have no … menu, no Edit home, and no private cards like Needs you or Your Beans.

Privacy and signing out

When you sign out of a device (in the web app, Sign Out (Device Only), also labelled Remove from This Device Only), the copies of your Home that device kept are removed from it: its last answer, your layout and your stars. In the web app, Force Clear & Re-Sync and deleting your account clear the same copies.
Your layout and starred categories are also saved on your account at your community. Sign in again, on this device or another, and you get them back. A different account starts with its own layout and stars.
In the web app, signing out in another tab clears Home immediately from the browser.

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.