Getting started

Go to Sign up. You are offered the ways in that are actually switched on, and nothing else: a button for a provider that is not connected would send you to an error page, so it is not shown.

• Email and password. Your name, email and a password. We send a confirmation email; open it and the account is live.
• Google. One tap, and you come back signed in. Apple is wired the same way and appears when it is enabled.

An account is free and takes about a minute. You need one to book, to hold money, to message an agent and to post in a place, because all four of those have to belong to somebody.

You must be at least 18 to hold an account.

Sign in takes the same two routes. If you signed up with Google, keep using Google: it is the same account either way, keyed on your email address.

Forgotten your password? Use Forgot password and we email a reset link. A link that has expired or has already been used says so in plain words on the sign-in screen rather than dropping you on an empty form.

If you tap something that needs an account while signed out, you are sent to sign in with a line saying why, and back to where you were going once you are in.

Your account is where your details live and where everything you have on the platform is linked from: bookings, saved places, reviews, wallet, inbox and notifications.

• Your details. First name, surname, a nickname if you want one, phone number and a photograph.
• Where you are. A state and a local government, chosen from the real list of 36 states, the Federal Capital Territory and all 774 local governments. This is what lets Around open the right door for you.
• What you do. An occupation, from a fixed list.
• What you came for. Interests, set in Settings, which shape what Home puts in front of you.

A handle is your address on Vallo. Claim one and your public page lives at /u/your-handle: your name, your area, your occupation, any standing you have earned, and tabs for what you have posted, replied to and shared. An agent gets a Properties tab and a Reviews tab instead.

Handles are lowercase letters, digits and underscores, three to twenty characters, starting with a letter. A handle nobody has taken is not a dead page: it says the address is free and offers it to you.

What appears there is your choice. Settings has a switch called Hide my activity that keeps your reviews and recent stays off the public page.

• Appearance. Dark or light. Dark is the default and the phone does not override it.
• Language. English, Yorùbá, Hausa or Igbo, remembered on your device.
• Notifications. Four switches: bookings, messages, wallet, and ideas and offers. Marketing is off until you turn it on.
• Privacy. Hide my activity, and Data saver for lighter images on a slow connection.
• Security. Change your password and sign out.
• Your data. Ask for a copy, or delete the account. See Your data and your rights.

Preferences kept on your device stay on your device. Account preferences are stored against your row and protected with row level security, so only you can read or change them.