Guides
How to do things on CommonYard
Short, plain how-tos. Each one says where to tap and what happens next.
Getting started
Get started on CommonYard
Open CommonYard in your browser, look around, and join when you want to take part. It's free and there's nothing to download.
Put CommonYard on your home screen
Add CommonYard to your phone's home screen so it has its own icon and opens full screen, like an app.
Turn on notifications
Say yes when CommonYard asks after you join a yard, then choose what you hear about — replies, yards, games, points — and keep the nights quiet.
Search CommonYard
Find posts, polls, petitions, games and yards by name, topic or creator. Results show their pictures, and you don't need the exact words.
Taking part
Vote in a poll
Tap a choice to vote. The choices fill in to show how everyone voted, and the card says when the poll closes.
Take a side
An opinion post asks where you stand — on a hot take, a confession, a prediction or a debate. Tap your side, then see how everyone split.
Sign a petition
Pick Agree or Disagree under "Sign as", then press and hold the Sign here bar until it fills. Your signature is private.
Swipe through a swipey
A swipey is a run of pictures you judge one at a time, left or right. The post says what left and right mean — then you see how your picks compare with everyone's.
React and reply
Give a post an emoji, reply in its thread, and use the three-dot menu to save, report or hide it.
Take a shot at a troll
A troll post is a roast with rules. Read the rules, take your shot, and laugh at the ones that land — the funniest shot is crowned when it closes.
Watch clips
Tap a video to watch it full screen, then swipe up for the next. Press and hold a clip for more — save, share, copy the link, full screen, auto scroll, speed, or not interested.
Posting
Make a post
Tap +, write what you want to say, add a picture or a video if you like, ask people to do something if you want, and post.
Make a poll
Ask a question with two to four choices, in words or pictures, and choose when the poll closes.
Weigh in — hot takes, confessions, predictions and more
Post something people take a side on, in one of seven forms — hot take, confession, question, pick a side, prediction, story time or debate — under your name or anonymously.
Post anonymously
Post an opinion — a confession, a hot take, a question — without your name. Other people see Anonymous and a mask; you still see it's yours, and still hear about replies.
Start a petition
Write what should change, say who has to act, pick how many names you're aiming for, and let people sign by pressing and holding.
Start a troll
Put yourself — or a school, a team, a business or an event everybody knows — up for a friendly roast. You set what's off limits, the heat, how many shots each person gets and how long it stays open.
Post to several yards at once
Tick every yard a post should go to — and the whole Yard if you like. It's one post, seen in each of them.
Post a series, and follow one
Post something in parts — a story, a weekly review, a diary — as a series. Followers can ask to be reminded a day and an hour before the next part lands.
Edit or take down your post
Change the words of your post, or take it down, from its three-dot menu or from What you made. Here's what can and can't be changed.
What you made — edit or delete anything you posted
One page holds everything you made — posts, polls, petitions, opinions, swipeys, games and series — with Edit and Delete on each, and the controls for your games.
Yards
Find and join a yard
Tap Explore beside your yards on HOME, look inside an open yard before you join, then tap Join — or ask to join when a yard needs approval.
Make a yard
Start a yard for your school, faith group or anyone — tap Start a yard on HOME, pick its starting shape, name it, choose who can join, and share the link.
Run your yard
For owners and admins — Manage yard holds the link and who can join, members and admins, join requests, events, the pinned notice, the chat's rules, sub yards and what was taken down.
Chat in your yard
Every yard has a chat room. Tap CHAT on the bar to send words, photos, videos or voice notes, see who is typing and who has seen it, forward messages, mention people, and search what was said.
Practise school work in a school yard
Every school yard has Practice — questions by level, course and topic, timed or untimed, from 5 to 50 at a time — and a shelf of study materials from the yard's admins.
Share and download study materials
In a school yard, admins put slides, notes and past papers on the shelf under Practice, and every member can download them. PDF, PowerPoint, Word, Excel or text, up to 50 MB each.
Sub yards
A sub yard is a smaller yard inside a yard — a hall, a class, a department, the choir — with its own chat and admins. Join one from the yard's page, or make one if you run the yard.
Games
Play games on CommonYard
Tap GAMES for four doors — solo games, hosted rounds, team games and the hall of fame — plus your own challenges and the games you're playing.
Play Troll War
Two sides trade their best comebacks in the arena, and the crowd's reactions decide who wins. Challenge a friend by username, or take on another yard.
Play Guess the Number
Each of you locks in a secret number, then you take turns calling the other's. Every call comes back higher or lower. Play a friend, another yard, or the house.
Make a game
Make a quiz, a word scramble or another round for your friends or your yard. Pick a time and it starts by itself — or take the controls and run it yourself.
Your yard's games and ladder
Inside a yard, GAMES is that yard's own — what's on now and coming up, what the yard did together this week, challenges against other yards, games members made, and what the yard has already played.
Play Sasabonsam
Everybody hides in the yard. Every round Sasabonsam searches one place, and anyone hiding there is taken. The last one hiding sees the sunrise. Play with anyone, or yard against yard.
Your account
Your profile and interests
Tap YOU for your profile — your photo and username, your posts, yards and points, your streak and level, what you saved, your people, what you made, and the interests that steer what reaches you.
Change your photo and username
Tap your picture on your profile to change your photo, and the pencil beside your username to pick a new one. CommonYard checks the name is free as you type.
Points, streaks and your figures
How points are earned, how a streak and its freezes work, what your level means, and what impact and contribution count.
Bring your friends in
Share a yard, a post or a challenge. Whoever comes in through your link becomes one of Your people.
Add your birthday
Tell CommonYard your birthday and the day itself brings a greeting on your home, a birthday card with confetti, and a note that morning. It stays private.
Log out, or delete your account
Log out from Settings at the bottom of your account page. Deleting your account removes it and its data for good — CommonYard asks you first.
Safety
Find your people. Play, talk, and take part.
Open CommonYard