You only have to create one account with Bookclubs to have all of your club information at your fingertips either on a desktop or on our mobile app! The app contains all of the club functionality of the site, with the added convenience of being available on your phone or tablet. In this tutorial we will be going over how to download and navigate the Bookclubs app on your phone so you can access your Bookclubs account at all times.
The first step is to go to your phone’s app store and search for ‘Bookclubs;’ you should see the ‘Bookclubs: Book Club Organizer’ option appear. Go ahead and download the app. The app will appear on your phone’s home page once downloaded.
Once you have the app downloaded, open it up. If you're asked if Bookclubs can send you notifications, be sure to click "Allow" so that you are notified whenever there's new information for your book club (you can adjust your settings within the app to specify which types of notifications you'd like to receive).
The first time you open up the app, you will be presented with the options to create a new account, or, if you are an existing user, you can click "sign in".
If you already have an account, you will just enter your existing email address and password. If you are creating a new account, you'll be prompted to enter your email address, and select a user name and password. You can also use your existing Facebook, Google, or Apple account to sign up.
If this is your first time signing into Bookclubs, you'll be asked what you'd like to do first, with three options: create a new book club, join a book club, or set up your profile and bookshelves. If you are ready to start a club, just enter the club's name and get going with inviting members, setting up a meeting or creating a poll. If you want to join a club, you'll be asked if you have an invitiation link to join a club, or if you'd like to find a new club to join by browsing our public book club directory.
Once you have already have an account and are set up, when you sign in your app will open up to your Home page. From here, you can view upcoming activity across any clubs you belong to on Bookclubs, create a new club, browse clubs to join, and view Bookclubs' book recommendations.
To access any clubs you are a member of, click on "My Clubs" on your app's navigation bar. This is where you can go switch between multiple clubs if you are signed up with more than one club. Click into the club you want to visit and you'll see all the tabs for your club:
- "About", where you can see (or edit, if you're a club admin) club info, the club membership list, and club photos and documents (a Bookclubs Premium feature).
- "Books," where you can see your club's digital bookshelves, including "Currently Reading," "Books We've Read," and "Books We Want to Read"
- "Meetings" where you can see upcoming and past club meetings
- "Messages" where you can view or post to your club message board
- "Polls" where you can create or vote in a poll
From your club's pages, click the back arrow in the upper left hand corner to return to your club list and the navigation bar.
From the navigation bar you can click on "My Books" to see your personal digital bookshelves ("Currently reading," "Favorite Books," "Books I've Read," and "Books I Want to Read" as well as your own personalized book recommendations.
Clicking on "My Profile" will allow you to edit your profile, update your privacy settings, set your email and notification preferences, and more.
The "More" button on the navigation bar will open up options to search books on Bookclubs, browse book clubs, view discussion guides, or get help.
If you click on the notifications button on the upper right corner, you will find the notifications page. This is where any new Bookclubs notifications will appear. The icon will appear red when you have new, unread notifications. You can click on "Mark all as read" to clear your notifications.
Next to the notifications button is the DMs button, where you can find existing conversations or start a new chat with your fellow club members. DMs are a feature for Bookclubs Premium, Pro and Pro Plus clubs.
If you find yourself running into any strange issues or glitches in the app, be sure to check that you have the latest version of the app updated in the app store! This will help avoid any technical issues. Once you're updated, try closing and reopening the app 1-2 times to ensure that any updates have been pushed to the app. If you continue to have issues, please reach out to our help desk.