Frequently asked questions

Using BeWelcome (other questions)

Is there a BeWelcome app?

We currently have an Android app, which you can download from the Play Store or directly here. At the moment, we do not have an app for iOS/iPhone.

BeWelcome has been focusing the volunteer resources on producing a single site version, which is user-friendly on all devices and which adapts to varying screen sizes. This eliminates the need to maintain separate versions for web, Android and iOS and lets members use the same version across all their devices, without installing an app.

Another way to access BeWelcome is by adding a shortcut to your home screen through the menu of your web browser:

Firefox: Page | Add as shortcut
Opera: Add to | Home screen
Chrome: Add to the home screen
iOS Safari: Tap on “Share” icon | Add to home screen

I found a bug or mistake on the site: what should I do?

You can either post a message in the Bugs group, or contact our support through the contact form. Tell us the problem and we will try to find a solution. If there is an error message, please copy that into the bug report. Thanks for helping us improve the site!

I have an idea or suggestion to improve BeWelcome. How can I share it with you?

The best way is to create a topic in the Feature requests group, in order to submit your idea to the community and get reactions from other people. If the idea is widely supported, it may become reality in a future site update. However, please be aware that we can’t always implement all suggestions, even when we wish to, because of limited development resources.

Alternatively, you can contact our Support Team to share your idea.

How can I change which notifications I receive from BeWelcome?

For newsletters and notifications from local events, you can set your notification parameters on the "My preferences" page, "website" tab.

For subscriptions to groups or forum threads, you can change your settings on the "Subscriptions" page (accessible from the Discussions page).

Notifications for incoming personal messages and hosting requests are always active. There is no option to turn them off, as we consider it an essential part of using BeWelcome. If you don't wish to receive such messages, please consider changing your status to "not hosting" or temporarily deactivating your profile.

Notifications will always be sent to your email address, we presently don't have app notifications. If you don't receive mail notifications, it may be because there is a problem with your email provider sorting out our mails as spam. You can try adding bewelcome.org to the list of authorized domains in your anti-spam parameters, or contact your email provider.

I have lost my username or password. What can I do?

If you forget your username, don’t worry: you can also log in using your email address.

If you forget your password, you can reset it using this link: https://www.bewelcome.org/resetpassword. A message with a reset link will then be sent to your email address. By clicking the link you will be able to change your password.

How is my data used on BeWelcome, and what are my rights?

BeWelcome conforms to the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the French Digital Republic Act (DRA). These give you various rights over your personal data. These rights are set out in detail in our Data Rights and Privacy policies: https://www.bewelcome.org/datarights & https://www.bewelcome.org/privacy. These documents will also tell you how to obtain a copy of your data, how to delete your data from BeWelcome etc.

BeWelcome is a project of BeVolunteer (see FAQ – Who runs BeWelcome?). BeVolunteer (BV) is a voluntary, not-for-profit association, and it is against the BV Statutes to make any commercial use of your personal data.

If BeWelcome is opensource, where can I find the code?

The software operating the BeWelcome site is called Rox. The source code is available on Github: please have a look if you’d like to contribute.