How to create your community in Apoing — Step-by-step guide

If you want to manage your facility bookings with intuitive calendars, this guide walks you through every step to create your community in Apoing and get everything set up.

Step 1: Sign up for Apoing

Go to www.apoing.com (or download the app) and click Sign Up. Enter your name, your email and the password you want to use. You'll receive an email to activate your account; if you don't see it, check your spam folder. If you try to log in before activating it, Apoing will let you know and send the activation email again.

As a new user, when you log in you'll be presented with two options: Create a community or Find an existing community. This guide covers the first option.

Step 2: Create the community

The community creation process is divided into 4 sections:

Section 1: Basic information

Only the name and the town/city are required; you can fill in the rest (address, postcode, website…) whenever you like. The town helps members find your community when they search for it and places it on the map.

Here you also choose whether the community will be public or private:

• Public community: Has its own URL where administrators can post updates and new users can register and request to join directly from that page.
• Private community: Has a private feed visible only to registered members. Users must search for the community in Apoing's directory to request membership.

Section 2: Access settings

Configure how users can join the community. There are 3 options:

• Open: any Apoing user can join without prior approval and start making bookings.
• By request: anyone can send a join request; they'll only be added if an admin approves it using the Pending button on the community card in My communities.
• By invitation: only users who receive an email invitation can join.

Note: In all three modes, it is always possible to send email invitations. Pending invitations that haven't been accepted yet appear in your profile menu, accessible via your avatar in the top navigation bar. If the community is public, its page will show a join button only for communities configured as "Open" or "By request".

Section 3: Identification

You can configure whether users must provide an identification code when joining. The available formats are:

• Membership number
• Block – Floor – Door number
• Street/Number – Floor/Letter

This code serves two important purposes:

1. Identify bookings on the calendar: Instead of an email address, this code is displayed on the booking grid, making the system transparent for the whole community.
2. Share booking limits between users with the same code: If two accounts — for example, two people in the same household — share exactly the same code, they are bound by the same booking limits. This means that if the community allows 2 weekly bookings per household, having two accounts does not grant 4 bookings. Codes can only be modified by administrators or users with a user-management role.

Note: If identification is not enabled, the Apoing-assigned user code will appear on the booking calendar instead.

Section 4: Credits

Optionally, you can manage bookings through a credit system. Users will need credits to make bookings. The cost per booking is configured in each calendar, and user credits are managed from the Users button on the community card.

Note: Don't worry if any details aren't correct when creating the community — you can edit everything at any time.

The "Getting started" guide

When you save the community you'll go straight to its dashboard, where the Getting started card lists everything needed to get it ready: create the first calendar, review the booking rules, publish the usage rules, add a photo, invite your members and make the first booking. Each step takes you to the right screen and ticks itself off as soon as you complete it. You can hide the card at any time, and it also appears in the app (community administration section).

The following steps explain each one in detail.

Step 3: Create the calendars

This is one of the most important steps. Go to My communities in the top menu and click the Calendar management button on your community card. Then click "+ New Calendar". You can create as many calendars as you have facilities.

The calendar creation form is divided into the following sections:

Section 1: Main calendar information

• Activity type: Determines the booking rules for this calendar (see Step 4). A default type is created when you set up the community.
• Name: The name users will see when booking. Use a clear, descriptive name: "Padel Court 1", "Multipurpose Room", "Swimming Pool", etc.
• Enabled: If not enabled, the calendar won't appear in the community and no bookings can be made.

Section 2: Calendar schedule

Define the time slots available for booking. You have two options:

• Simple schedule: Select the days of the week, the time range, and the duration of each slot. Perfect for facilities with a regular, uniform timetable.
• Advanced schedule: For irregular timetables or slots of different lengths. Also allows you to configure different booking penalties and credit costs by time slot or day of the week.

Section 3: Maintenance period

Set a date range during which the calendar will not be available for bookings. Useful for temporary closures, refurbishments or periods of inactivity.

Section 4: Credit configuration

If your community uses the credit system, configure the booking cost here. With the advanced schedule, you can assign a different cost per time slot or day of the week.

Step 4: Configure booking rules

The booking conditions for each calendar are determined by its activity type. From My communities, click the Booking conditions button on your community card to create and edit activity types and control:

• Maximum number of weekly bookings per user or booking code
• Maximum number of simultaneous open bookings per user
• Minimum and maximum advance notice required to book
• Capacity control (for facilities with multi-user access such as pools)
• Booking penalties for high-frequency users
• Special booking interval for weekends and public holidays

If several calendars should share the same conditions — for example, all padel courts in the community — simply assign them the same activity type.

Note: A default activity type is created when you set up the community. Review and adjust its conditions before activating your calendars.

Step 5: Manage your users

The final step is to add your community members. From My communities, click the Users button on your community card to:

• View and edit user details
• Assign or modify booking codes
• Change each user's role (admin, user manager, surveys…)
• Temporarily enable or disable users
• Send email invitations
• Make bookings on behalf of a user
• Manage each user's credits

To review pending join requests, use the Pending button on the community card. Sent invitations that haven't been accepted yet appear in your profile menu (avatar in the top bar).

To add a large number of users at once, see the bulk user import guide.

Names in bookings (privacy): by default, each booking in the calendar shows the booking code (for example usr100493), not the real name, to protect members' privacy. You have two ways to make bookings easier to recognize:

• Customize each member's booking code (for example, with their name or an alias) from Users. That code is visible to everyone.
• Enable the "Admins see names in bookings" option in the community settings (Edit community): with it on, administrators see each person's real name in the calendar, while other members keep seeing only the code.

Tip: If you configure the community as public, you'll have a dedicated URL where users can request access directly — the quickest way to onboard new members.

With these steps complete, your community is fully set up and you'll have total control over your facility bookings.