We've got just the thing for you: our Quick Start Guide will have you set up to Give, Receive and build connections within minutes.

We're actively working to debug login, password reset, and invalid token issues - For right now, if you have ANY problem getting into the app, send us an email and we will do everything we can to personally get you logged in and active. You can reach us at [email protected] and then watch your inbox (and spam folder) for our reply.

Having issues logging in? We are aware of this issue that affects users trying to login with email and password. We are working on a fix.

In the interim, here is a workaround:

1. Hard close the app (swipe it away to fully close it) and then reopen the app
2. Attempt to login again with email and password
3. If unsuccessful, and the app does not take you to the feed, repeat steps 1 and 2.

The reason for repeating the steps again is that in this bug, the app has actually successfully logged you in but is 'stuck' on the login/landing screen instead of sending you through to the active Give-Ask-Gratitude feed. Repetition is sometimes just the thing it needs to sort itself out.

Again, we apologize for this issue and are working on deploying a fix very soon.
Thanks for your patience.

You can easily share your address and specific pick-up directions with people you want to give a gift to. If you do this once, the app will save your pick-up location and your specific pick-up information so it will auto-populate, with a useful map, in a private message every time you give a gift away.

• Under your Give post, click on the comment from the person you’d like to give to.
• Tap on the 3 dots on the right side of their comment.
• Tap on “Send a private message”
• You’ll be taken to a new private message screen
• Type in a message if you’d like to say something personal to them, such as “Thanks!” or “I hope you enjoy this!” - but don’t add your address yet!
• Tap “Yes” under “Gift to this person” so that the “Yes” box turns green
• Tap on “Add pickup information”
• Follow the prompts to add your address. It will show up on a map so you can confirm your location.
• Then you’ll be prompted to add other pick-up information such as “Check the basket by my front door” or “see the giving bench in the lobby for a bag with your name on it”
• You can check the box that offers to save this information for next time so it will auto-populate each time you give something away (don’t worry, you’ll be able to edit this information if you need to in the future)
• Finally, click to send your private message. Your recipient will get this in their BuyNothing inbox. Your address will be a hyperlink they can click on to it opens in their phone as either Google or Apple Maps, providing directions to help then pick their gift up easily.

Are you seeing people with profile names such as "Twiddling Tiger," "Slimy Ostrich," and "Grizzled Otter"? These are an Apple ID digital artifact from people's Apple ID account settings, that show up as default profile names when neighbors with Apple ID accounts/iPhones set up a BN app account using their Apple sign-in.

Often, your neighbor doesn’t even realize this has happened; other times, they see it but don't know how or why to change their profile settings to their actual name. Sometimes people think we're doing this in the BN app and they get a bit upset because they think the BN app has assigned this animal name to them.

We encourage you to use a name that your neighbors will recognize. Your real-life neighbors are looking for your BN posts, and everyone is much more likely to connect with people they recognize when it comes to Gives and Asks and building community.

Having issues with adding photos? This typically has to do with the phone settings.

APPLE USERS

1. open the BuyNothing app
2. go to your phone home screen
3. go to your phone Settings
4. Select Privacy
5. Select Photos

Make sure Buy Nothing is in the list and the setting should be set to "All Photos".
If not, change it to All Photos.

ANDROID USERS

1. Open your phone's settings.
2. Tap Apps.
3. Scroll down and tap BuyNothing.

From here you can change your camera/photo library settings and notifications.

If you see the Get Started screen, it is because no one close by has posted yet. Because the app is so new, it will likely take some time for others to join. It could be that others are joining all around you but no one has posted yet!

Here's how to get started building your community in the app:

1. Download the app (links below)
2. Share the link to the app with friends and neighbors (share from within the app on the Settings screen "Share" option)
3. Post something in the app, perhaps an ASK post asking people if they have joined.

Sharing with at least 6 people around you will likely get the activity moving and encourage others to start sharing. 

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/buynothing/id1557679959
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sharething.app&hl=en_US&gl=US

To change your profile photo, follow these steps:

1. Tap Me in the bottom menu to get to your profile
2. On your Profile, tap the Edit Profile button
3. On the Edit Profile screen, tap Change Photo
4. You can use the Camera to take a photo, or select a photo from your Photo Library
5. After selecting the photo, tap Update button at the top right of the Edit Profile screen
6. NOTE: Sometimes the update can take a little while!

In general, we ask that you keep your content available, even after your gifts have been given, your requests fulfilled, and your gratitude seen. Each interaction is a valuable addition to our shared narrative. We have learned that a shared narrative built on an archive of content helps new and longtime participants build a shared local gift economy vocabulary, and this shared vocabulary, complete with old stories of gifts long given, is a cornerstone of a sustainable local gift economy. Please do not delete your content, but allow it to remain as part of your gift economy’s story.

If you made your post in error and you'd like to delete it, you can take the following steps:

1. Tap Me in the bottom menu to get to your profile
2. On your Profile Page, find the post you'd like to delete
3. Tap the Edit button on the post and you can delete the post but it will not fully disappear.
4. Write something witty that you'd like to have others see, perhaps explaining that you've deleted the post as best you can until we introduce that feature.

To private message someone, follow these steps:

1. Click on their profile photo wherever you are in the app.
2. Click on the “Private message” button to message them.

Or, if you are in the Home Feed and have posted a Gift, or Ask, or Gratitude, follow these steps:

1. Click on anyone’s comment on your post and that will take you to a Private Message screen for inputting your message.
2. For a Gift post, you will have two options: You can choose to just message them (so you will keep the “Not yet”) bar green) or you can opt to give them your gift and click on “Yes” at the “Gift to this person” prompt. You can then input your pickup location and instructions and save them for future use!

For the time being, we have only developed the app for mobile. But our web app (available for your computer or laptop) will be ready as soon as we can build it.

For the time being, our broadest Community Setting, "Rural", is < 20 miles. But we have a workaround: If your neighbors live further away than this, we suggest you input a central location near you, under "Change my Location" in the Settings. This will enable you to be "seen" by other neighbors who also have chosen that central area as their location. You'll still be able to input your actual address as a "Pickup Location" in the app. For example, you could input the center of the closest town to you as your location, and encourage your neighbors to do the same. Then, you will all "see" each other. 

Please review our Community Commitment, which serves as our 'rules.' And our Community Guidelines are the more detailed fine print of those rules, providing you with best practices and standards for BuyingNothing.