# 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.

Section: Getting started · Updated: 2026-10-12
URL: https://commonyard.app/guides/get-started/

CommonYard runs in your phone's browser or on a computer at [commonyard.app](https://commonyard.app/). There is nothing to download, and it is free.

## Steps

1. Go to **commonyard.app** in Chrome, Safari or any other browser.
2. The first time, a short tour shows you around. Tap through it, or tap **Skip**.
3. Look around. You can read the Yard before you have an account.
4. When you want to take part — vote in a poll, sign a petition, join a yard — just tap. CommonYard asks you to join right then, and keeps what you tapped.
5. Tap **JOIN COMMONYARD** and join with **Google**, **Apple** or your **phone number**. If you already have an account, tap **I ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT** instead.
6. You come straight back to where you were, and what you tapped is counted.

![A sheet over a poll that says "Join to count your vote", with the buttons Join CommonYard and I already have an account](https://commonyard.app/guides/img/join-sheet.webp "Tap a choice before you have an account and CommonYard keeps it while you join.")

## Finding your way around

![The top of HOME: You and a card saying Your poll got busy, then YOUR YARDS with one round shape per yard — Hilltop College biggest, then Accra Runners, Grace Chapel and Osu Book Club, each with how many are here and how many members — Explore and New yard among them, and Swipe up for your feed at the bottom](https://commonyard.app/guides/img/home.webp "HOME opens on your yards. The busier, the bigger.")

- **At the top** is the bar: the CommonYard logo, once you've joined, your **streak** (a flame and how many days), then **Search** and the bell. Tap the streak to open **YOU**. See [Points, streaks and your figures](/guides/points-and-streaks/).
- **Once you have joined, HOME opens on your yards**, one round shape for each, under **YOUR YARDS**. The busier a yard is today, the bigger it is. Each shows its name, how many are here now (by the green dot) and how many members it has. **Tap a yard** to go into it.
- Above them, beside your picture, small cards show what happened to your things, like *Your poll got busy*: new votes or replies, a yard you joined this week. Tap one to go to it.
- In more yards than fit? Tap the **+** and a number for a list of all your yards. **Explore** finds a yard to join, and **Start a yard** (or **New yard**, when it is small) makes one. See [Find and join a yard](/guides/find-and-join-a-yard/).
- **Swipe up for your feed.** The yards fold into a row of small tiles under the top bar, and the posts come up under them. The first tile is **CommonYard**, the whole Yard. Tap a tile, or swipe sideways on the posts, to change yard. The small arrow beside the yard's name takes you **Back to all your yards**.
- **A yard you run** — as its owner, an admin or a mod — has a small gear beside its name when you are reading it. Tap the gear for **Manage yard**. See [Run your yard](/guides/run-your-yard/).
- **At the top of the posts**, **Your next move** is one thing to do now, picked for you; tap **Something else** for another. **Happening now** lists the games that are on or about to start, with **Join**, **Remind me** or **Play**.
- **Then come the posts**, newest first. When you vote, answer or take a side on one, the next thing to do moves up right under it, marked **NEXT UP**. At the end of a yard's posts, **NEXT YARD** takes you to the next one.
- **The bar at the bottom** has **HOME** (the CommonYard logo), **CHAT** (the speech bubble, for your chats), **GAMES** (the game pad) and **YOU** (your picture). The round **+** beside it is for making something.
- **Search** (the magnifying glass) and your **notifications** (the bell) are at the top right. A number on the bell is how many are new.
- Tap the CommonYard logo at the top to jump back to the top of the page.
- Inside a yard, **CHAT** puts that yard's chat at the top, and the bar adds **PRACTICE** in a school yard, or **FAITH** in a faith yard. See [Chat in your yard](/guides/chat-in-your-yard/).

## Good to know

- On a new phone or computer, sign in the same way you joined: the same Google account, Apple ID or phone number.
- If you tap a choice and then close the join sheet with **Not now — keep scrolling**, nothing is counted until you join.
- A yard you're in but can't find? Tap the **+** and a number beside your yards on HOME for all of them, or search for its name.

> Tip: put CommonYard on your home screen so it opens like an app. See [Put CommonYard on your home screen](/guides/add-to-home-screen/).