Getting started
Your account, how to sign in, your profile and what you are told about.
Creating an account
Go to Join, enter an email address and pick a username. We email you a link; opening it lets you choose a password and signs you in. That is the whole sign-up: no phone number, no card, no questions. You must be at least 16. The first 500 members get a numbered Founding member badge on their profile.
Afterwards you can tell us what you do (student, researcher, teacher…) and your year of birth. Both are optional, shown to nobody, and used only so the site knows which parts are for adults.
Ways to sign in
Password, or any of these — all free, all optional, and you can add or remove them in Sign-in & security:
- Passkey — your phone's or computer's own unlock (face, fingerprint, PIN). Nothing to remember and nothing to phish.
- Email code — a six-digit code sent to your address; it works only in the browser that asked for it.
- Another account — Google, Apple, Microsoft, LinkedIn, GitHub, Discord. We receive your name and verified email address, nothing else, and we never post anywhere on your behalf.
You stay signed in until you sign out. Your account lists every device you are signed in on and lets you sign any of them out. When you sign in on a new device while another is still signed in, you are told on screen, in your notifications and by email.
Your profile
Your public profile shows your username, display name, a short bio if you write one, a photo if you add one, and badges earned from real activity. Everything else — email, year of birth, what you do, where you live — is private unless a feature you turn on needs it, and each feature says so where you turn it on. To travel, host or use friend matching you complete a travel profile (gender, age range, what you do, languages, city); other members see your age range, never your year of birth.
Being told about things
- Notifications on the site (the bell): replies, offers, plans, matches, moderation notes.
- Device notifications — your browser can show them even when the site is closed; turn them on from the bar at the bottom of any page or in Email & alerts. Five new things arrive as one notification, never a stream.
- Newsletter — at most one email a day or a week, with only what is new in the sections you chose. No new content, no email.
- Travel updates — at most one email a day, only when something near you changed; counts and dates, no names or texts.
Every one of these can be switched off in Email & alerts, and every email has an unsubscribe link that works with one click.
Inviting people
Your account has a permanent invite link (Account › Invite friends). You see how many people joined through it; the site does not tell you who, and there is no reward for inviting — it is for bringing the friends you actually want here.
More: all help topics · travel and hosting · community guidelines · contact.