Choose and Switch Communities

Overview

OuterSpatial is organized by community. Your selected community controls the places, events, challenges, alerts, articles, organizations, saved items, and offline content you see in the mobile app.

You can choose a community during onboarding and switch later when you want to explore a different area.

Choose a Community During Onboarding

When you first set up the app, choose a community from the community list. The app may use your location to sort nearby communities first when location access is available.

On Android, tap a community, then tap Continue.

If the list cannot load, check your connection and try again.

Open the Community List

On iOS, open the Communities screen from the community selector in the app. This may appear from Home, Explore, or another community-aware area depending on where you are in the app.

On Android, open the community selector or the Communities screen from the app header, Home, Explore, or a community prompt when available.

Search and Sort Communities

Use Search communities... or Search for a community... to find a community by name.

Use Sort By to change the community list order. Sort options can include:

• Your Location.
• Alphabetical.
• Sponsored.
• OuterSpatial.
• Offline.

Location sorting depends on device location access. Offline sorting shows communities with content available on your device.

Switch Communities

1. Open the community list.
2. Tap the community you want to open.
3. Confirm the switch when the app asks.

After you confirm, the app reloads around the selected community. You may briefly see a loading screen while the app prepares that community's content.

What Changes When You Switch

Switching communities changes the content available throughout the app. This can affect:

• Home content.
• Explore results.
• Events and challenges.
• Alerts, articles, and bulletin board items.
• Organizations and places.
• Saved places and organizations.
• Offline maps and downloaded content.

Saved items are still tied to your account, but saved lists only show items available in the current community.

When the App Suggests a Community Switch

If you open or search for a place outside the current community, the app may ask whether you want to switch to a community that contains that place. Confirm the switch when you want to view that community's full content.

Troubleshooting

If you cannot find or switch communities:

1. Check your internet connection.
2. Try searching by the community name.
3. Use Alphabetical sorting if location access is unavailable.
4. Use Offline sorting if you need a community already available on your device.
5. Update OuterSpatial from the App Store or Google Play.

If you still cannot access the community you need, contact Visitor Success at visitors@outerspatial.com.