How can we help? 👋
Prefer to email us? Get in touch at support@howbout.app
To change or remove your profile picture on Howbout:
To change your name:
To change your password:
Can't remember your password? The easiest way to reset your password is to log out and log back in again. When you're logging in, you can choose 'Forgot my password' to reset it.
To switch between 12-hour and 24-hour time:
To change the week start day on your calendar (e.g. from Mon to Sat / Sun):
Don't miss out on invites and chats...
To enable notification permissions:
Still not getting notifications? Check your phone's settings:
iOS
Android
Want to see your existing plans in Howbout? You'll need to sync your other calendars…
To enable calendar permissions:
Once you've made this change in your phone's settings, don't forget to return to your Howbout calendar menu and turn on the calendars you want to view and share.
You can sync your contacts to see which of your friends are already on Howbout 🙌
To enable contact permissions:
Friends not on Howbout yet? You can invite them easily with a quick link.
To stop blocked time showing on your Home page:
To log out of Howbout:
We’ll be sad to see you go, but if you need to delete your account:
👋 Before you go! Help us be better next time by letting us know why Howbout didn't work for you at feedback@howbout.app!
Prefer a video tutorial? Click here
To see your friend's calendar:
Interested in having your events stay multlicoloured with friends' calendars turned on? Shoot us a feature request at features@howbout.app so we know it's important to you!
Prefer a video tutorial? Click here
To change which calendars you're sharing or using for your availability:
Prefer a video tutorial? Click here
Howbout syncs with any calendar integrated with your phone's native calendar. As long your calendar is showing in your phone’s native calendar app, you can use it with Howbout 😊
To import calendars into Howbout:
View - to turn it on so that you see it on your own Howbout calendar:
Share - to share the imported calendars with friends or set your availability:
Firstly, check that you've correctly imported your calendars into Howbout. If so, follow the below instructions:
The availability statuses (busy / maybe busy / free) of events imported from an external calendar are set by the external calendar they originate from. The status cannot be changed within Howbout unless the events are converted to Howbout events first.
If the external calendar doesn't give Howbout a busy / free status, the status will default to 'maybe busy' to avoid incorrectly marking you as busy / free.
Still doesn't seem right? Check that you've correctly imported your calendars into Howbout.
Sometimes it can take a few minutes for Howbout to catch up with your updated calendar. To speed things up, you can refresh it:
Still experiencing the problem? Check that your phone's native calendar is up-to-date with the changes to your external calendar (as this is where Howbout finds your calendar info).
Prefer a video tutorial? Click here
To export your Howbout calendar into other apps:
First, make sure exporting is enabled:
Next, make sure your Howbout calendars are turned on in your phone's calendar settings:
iOS
Want to add Howbout Plans or Howbout Blocked Time to other calendar apps?
Android
Unfortunately on Android, with most calendars including Google Calendar, your Howbout events will only show up on the mobile app, not other devices, such as PC. If you'd like to see your Howbout calendars on other devices, please email us at features@howbout.app.
To change the colours of your external phone calendars and friends' calendars in Howbout:
While viewing a friend's calendar, all of your own calendars and events will temporarily become one colour to avoid you getting mixed up 😌
To access customisable colours, you need to become a Howbout All Star.
Prefer a video tutorial? Click here
There are three privacy settings when adding friends on Howbout:
Tap here to see how to check who you're sharing your calendar / availability with.
One benefit of creating events directly on Howbout is that you can make any event 'Secret' (so that your friends can't see the name or details) or 'Invisible' (so they see absolutely nothing). This gives you extra privacy even if you're sharing your calendar with them.
Prefer a video tutorial? Click here
On Howbout, every user has their own calendar that they can share with specific friends. We don't offer 'group calendars' where you and your friends share a communal calendar. This way you can also put your personal plans, work schedule and appointments on Howbout without having to share them if you don't want to.
To set up a shared calendar, you and your friends will need to (1) share your calendars with each other, and then (2) turn your friends’ calendars on.
Once you've got your shared calendars set up, consider creating a Howbout group to make planning together even easier.
Want to share your calendar with friends but keep certain events secret / hidden? See how here.
Prefer a video tutorial? Click here
There are three calendar privacy settings when adding friends on Howbout.
When you add a friend, the default setting is 'Availability', which means they can see if you're busy at a certain time / day but can't view your calendar. If you share your 'Calendar' with a friend they can turn on your calendar and see your Howbout events, as well as any external calendars you've chosen to share. One benefit of making events directly on Howbout is you can mark them as secret.
To create events on Howbout, tap the big teal plus (➕) button or head to the calendar, tap on a day / time, then a timeslot and create your event from there.
Want to import an external calendar (e.g. Google Calendar) too? See how here.
Want to create a shared calendar with your friends? See how here.
Adding friends on Howbout is easy:
Not sure if your friends are on Howbout? Select either WhatsApp, iMessage or 'Other app' to send them a quick link to join Howbout and add you as a friend.
Friends already on Howbout? The easiest way to add them is to sync your phone contacts. You can also add friends by entering their phone number or by tapping 'Nearby'.
Howbout groups are the easiest and quickest way to find when your friends are free and see all of your upcoming events together in one place.
To create a group on Howbout:
Friends or group not on Howbout yet? See how to add more members to group here.
Howbout is an app for making plans and finding time with your existing friends, rather than an app to make new friends through.
You find out how to invite your existing friends onto Howbout here.
To add members to your Howbout group:
Adding new group members will automatically invite them to all upcoming group events.
To leave a Howbout group:
Leaving the group will remove you from all group events. If the group creator leaves the group, the first person to have joined the group after its creation will become the group admin.
To change the colour of your group and its events:
Please note that, while viewing a friend's calendar, all of your own calendars and events will temporarily become one colour to avoid you getting mixed up 😌
To access customisable colours, you need to become a Howbout All Star
You can have as many friends as you like on Howbout!
Find out how to add them here.
You can have as many groups as you like on Howbout!
Want to know how to create them? Find out here.
To delete / remove friends:
You can only delete a group if you created it. To delete a group you created:
We're a small team right now, so the app is currently only available in English, but we're going to add new languages in the future 😊
Want your language added first? Let us know at features@howbout.app.
Howbout is a social calendar app where you can plan with friends, find when you’re all free, organise groups, vote on anything, share calendars and keep in touch! 🙌
Here are a few ways to get set up quickly:
You'll find helpful hints throughout the app, including pink pop-ups as you explore. If you've already dismissed them, you can reset them like this:
You'll now see hints appear in pink pop-ups throughout the app!
Absolutely! Howbout is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store 🙌
Howbout 'All Stars' are people with three or more friends on the app. These people have the ability to change colours on their events, groups and their own and their friends' calendars.
Until you've earned All Star status and have three or more friends on Howbout, you won't be able to change these colours within the app. Once you've added your third friend, you'll automatically unlock these customisable colours.
Adding friends on Howbout is easy! Tap here to find out how.
If there’s a feature you’d love to see in Howbout, shoot us an email at features@howbout.app!
You can also access this email in your Howbout app:
1. Head to the Home page by tapping the home icon (🏠) at the bottom of the screen
2. Tap the cog / settings icon (⚙️) at the top right of the screen to access the Settings page
3. Scroll down to the 'Support' section
4. Tap 'Request feature' to open your email app, with our email address filled in
We take privacy extremely seriously at Howbout 🔒
We ask you for your phone number when creating an account to ensure your account is completely secure. Your data is safe with Howbout and is never passed on.
Having a phone number linked to your account also makes planning even easier, as you’ll instantly be notified whenever your friends join Howbout 🙌
Having issues with verifying your phone number? Get in touch as support@howbout.app and we'll help get you sorted 😊
You can view our privacy policy here and our terms & conditions here.
You can access these links in the app as well:
If you can't find your question anywhere on our FAQs, shoot us an email at support@howbout.app
You can also ping us a message directly in the app via the "Welcome to Howbout" event that you were invited to when you first joined Howbout. If you’re new to Howbout, you can find this event on your Howbout calendar. If you've been with us a while, search your past and declined events in your events list.
While we don't have our own widget just yet, we can offer a partial solution by syncing Howbout to your native calendar app, so your plans appear on that widget! Here's how to set this up:
Making plans on Howbout is easy, and can be done in a few different ways:
The big plus (➕) button
Via the calendar
Want to get planning even faster? You can jump straight into a plan directly from a friend's profile page or a Howbout group!
To edit an event (Plan, Idea, or Blocked Time):
If you are the creator of a Howbout event (Plan, Idea or Blocked Time), you have the ability to cancel / delete it.
To cancel / delete an event:
Not the creator of the event? You can still leave the event to remove it from your calendar and chats list.
If the event is from an external calendar, you'll need to delete it from the calendar it originates from.
To change the colours of your events (Plans, Ideas and Blocked Time):
While viewing a friend's calendar, all of your own calendars and events will temporarily become one colour to avoid you getting mixed up 😌
If you set a colour for a group, all of that group's events will automatically be set to that colour, making it super easy to find them on the calendar. Tap here to see how to change your group colours.
To access customisable colours, you need to become a Howbout All Star.
To see all of your upcoming events in a list:
For a shortcut to the list of your upcoming events, just tap the 'View all' button in the 'Up Next' section on the Howbout Home page.
You can add your work schedule to Howbout in different ways:
Want to import an existing work or shift calendar? See how to import external calendars here.
Want to set up your schedule directly in Howbout? See how to use Blocked Time in Howbout here.
If your work schedule follows any sort of pattern, we'd recommend using our 'recurring' feature. Just look for the '🔁 recurring' button when setting the time / date (or after you've tapped a timeslot directly on the calendar). You can then set up a recurring work event to create your schedule.
For example, if you work the same schedule Monday-Thursday but end early on Fridays, you'd set up a recurring event that repeats on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Then, you'd create a separate recurring event every Friday with the early end time.
There are a few ways to make an event (Plan or Blocked Time) last multiple days, depending on how you're creating / edit it.
A) Creating your event via the big plus (➕) button
B) Creating your event via the calendar
C) Changing an existing event to be multi-day
There are a few ways to make an event (Plan or Blocked Time) recurring, depending on how you're creating / edit it.
A) Creating your event via the big plus (➕) button
B) Creating your event via the calendar
C) Changing an existing event to be recurring
For every Howbout event, you can choose how much information can be seen by friends you share your calendar with.
There are three event visibility settings:
You can set event visibility before the event has been created, or after.
To create a secret / invisible event:
For more info on creating an event, tap here.
To make an existing event secret / invisible:
Please note that your chats are never visible to anyone other than those directly involved in the chat itself.
Agreed on a time for your Idea? Now you can convert it into a plan:
Still trying to get a date sorted? Try using a time poll to let everyone vote on when works best.
To create a plan countdown:
Once you have your first countdown set up, you can easily add more to the Home page by tapping the pencil icon (✏️) in the 'Countdowns' section
Blocked time is a great way to keep you and your friends up-to-date on when you're busy. You can see how to add blocked time below:
The big plus (➕) button
Via the calendar
The quickest way to change the time of any existing event (Plan, Idea or Blocked Time):
You can leave any event (Plan, Idea or Blocked Time) you're not interested in or want to remove from your calendar or chats list:
To see all of your upcoming events in a list:
There are a number of different ways to find when your friends are free on Howbout.
To see when everyone in your Howbout group is free:
If you haven't created a Howbout group yet, you can find out how here.
You can also create a time poll so the group can vote on the best time or dates for them.
You can create general polls or time polls on any event, group or friend. Just look for the blue 'Poll' button on any event, group or friend's profile.
You'll see the poll options menu appear:
General poll
You can use general polls to vote on anything plan-related, from locations to activities to dinner cuisine.
Time poll
You can use time polls to vote on the best time or date for your upcoming plan.
To send images, videos or files to your events, groups, or DMs:
You can use this feature to attach tickets and menus to help with planning, or you can share photos and videos during or after your event 😎
To see when a specific friend is free:
You can also create a time poll so your friend can vote on the best time or dates for them.
To view your event, group and DM chats:
Haven't started chatting yet? Any new friends you add will appear in the list here so you can dive straight into chatting and planning 🙌
To delete a chat message or any media you've sent:
You can only delete messages you've sent, not messages other people have sent.