HOME
Have your say
The Yard, or the yard you are in. Your yards along the top, then posts, polls, petitions and games.
Free to join
CommonYard — Find your people. Play, talk, and take part.
CommonYard is a social app where people do things together. Vote in a poll, take a side, sign a petition, swipe through pictures, play a game, or start a yard for your school, your church or mosque, or your friends.
Works in your phone’s browser. No download needed. How to get started →
The app
One bar at the bottom of the screen
Three doors and a +. Your yards are the round tiles at the top of HOME; search and notifications are at the top right. Inside a yard, the bar adds CHAT for its chat room.
GAMES
Play
Games you play alone, hosted rounds, team games between yards and friends, and the hall of fame.
YOU
Your profile
Your points and streak, what you saved, your people, your posts, your yards and your settings.
+
Make something
Words, pictures or a video — with a poll, a side to take, a swipey or a petition if you want one.
Take part
One tap to have your say
A post can ask for one thing — a vote, a side, a signature, a swipe. You do it right there on the card, and you see where everyone else landed.
POLL
Vote in a poll
Pick one choice. The choices fill up like a bar chart as people vote, and the card says when the poll closes.
How polls work →
OPINIONTake a side
Hot takes, confessions, predictions and debates: pick your side, then see how the Yard split.
How sides work →
PETITIONSign a petition
Choose your side, then press and hold until it fills. Your signature stays private.
How signing works →
SWIPEYSwipe through pictures
Judge a run of pictures one at a time, left or right.
How swipeys work →
GAMESPlay a game
Penalty Flick, Hot Potato, trivia and more on your own, or live rounds with others.
How games work →
POSTPost your own
Pictures, a video or just words. Add a poll, a side, a petition or a swipey if you want one.
How to post →
Yards
A yard for your people
A yard is a community inside CommonYard. Make one for your school, your church or mosque, your family, your football crew or your neighbourhood. Share its link, and whoever takes it can join.
A school yard adds Practice for school work. A religious yard adds the devotional, the prayer wall and the week.
- Choose who gets inAnyone with the link, admin approval, or nobody new for now.
- Posts that stay in the yardA post made in a yard stays there. Anyone can look inside a public yard; a private yard is for its members.
- A voice for the people who run itA notice at the top, announcements, and events with reminders.
- Tools to keep it kindThe people who run a yard can take posts down and take people out.
News
What’s new in the Yard
Also new: a yard's week instead of a leaderboard, and Show me as here
Smaller changes from the last two days — a yard's games page shows what the yard did together and ranks nobody, you can hide that you're here, yard names are shorter, and your own posts nag you less.
HOME opens on your yards
HOME now opens on your yards, one round shape for each, bigger when more is going on. Swipe up for your feed, and the yards fold into a row of tiles at the top.
CHAT on every bar, and see who's typing in your yard's chat
CHAT now sits on the bar everywhere in CommonYard and opens all your chats in one place. In a yard's chat you can see who is typing and who has seen your message, and forward a message to another chat.
Guides
New here? Start with these
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Explore
More about CommonYard
What is CommonYard?
CommonYard is a free social app where people vote in polls, take sides, sign petitions, play games and run yards for their school, faith group or friends. Here is how it works.
Press kit
For writers and journalists — what CommonYard is in a sentence and a paragraph, the key facts, how to write the name, the logo, the founder and how to reach us.
Polls
Ask a question with two to four choices, in words or pictures, and choose when it closes. People vote with one tap and watch the result fill in. Free.
Petitions
Start a petition that names who should act. People choose a side, then press and hold to sign — and nobody can see who signed. Free.
Games
Play on your own for a hall of fame, join live rounds with other people, or take on another yard in Troll War. Free, in your phone’s browser.
Yards
Make a yard for your school, church, mosque, family or friends. Choose who gets in, post a notice, set up events with reminders, chat, and keep it kind. Free.
For schools
A school yard gives a class, a hall or a whole school its own posts, polls, chat and events — plus Practice, a bank of past and practice questions to revise with. Free.
For faith groups
A faith yard gives your church, mosque or fellowship a devotional, a prayer wall, the week’s service times, announcements, events with reminders and a chat room. Free.
University of Ghana past questions
Past and practice questions for 24 University of Ghana (Legon) courses, free in any school yard.
RateYourSociety
RateYourSociety lives in CommonYard
RateYourSociety is Ghana’s public-opinion platform, started in June 2023. Its home is now CommonYard, and one account works for both.
RYS keeps its own page, Ghana’s Mood, at rateyoursociety.com.
Questions
Common questions
What is CommonYard?
CommonYard is a free social app. People vote in polls, take sides on opinions, sign petitions, swipe through pictures, play games, and chat — and they do it in yards, communities for their school, their faith group, their friends or anyone. Its line is: Find your people. Play, talk, and take part. See What is CommonYard? for the longer answer.
Is CommonYard free?
Yes. Joining and taking part are free. The points you earn are credits for taking part, not cash.
Do I need to download an app?
No. CommonYard runs in your phone’s browser or on a computer at commonyard.app. You can put it on your home screen so it opens like an app.
How do I join?
Open commonyard.app and look around. When you tap to vote, sign or join a yard, CommonYard asks you to join and keeps your pick while you do. You can join with Google, Apple or your phone number. On a new phone, sign in the same way you joined.
What is a yard?
A yard is a community inside CommonYard — for a school, a church or mosque, a family, a team, or anything people share. Anyone can make one. A yard has its own posts, chat, events and the people who run it.
What can I do on CommonYard?
Vote in polls, take a side on an opinion, sign petitions, swipe through a swipey, react and reply, take a shot at a troll, post your own pictures, videos or words — in parts as a series, or anonymously as an opinion — play games alone or with others, and chat in your yards. Every one of those is a tap or two on the card in front of you. See the guides for each one.
How is RateYourSociety connected to CommonYard?
RateYourSociety (RYS) is Ghana’s public-opinion platform, started in June 2023 by the same founder. It now lives inside CommonYard, and one account works for both. RYS keeps its own page, Ghana’s Mood, at rateyoursociety.com.
Who made CommonYard?
Ronald Dumeloo, a product builder. He also created RateYourSociety.
Who made it
Built by Ronald Dumeloo
Ronald Dumeloo is the product builder who created CommonYard and RateYourSociety. He built CommonYard around one idea: taking part should be easy to start and worth coming back to.