Set up your profile and who can see it

Every account has a public profile at treader.ca/u/your-handle: your photo and banner, a short bio, a few links, the trips you publish, your places and your moments. Open yours from your avatar in the top bar, or from Profile in a phone's bottom bar, and tap Edit profile. Settings, under Account, has the same button.

What you can set

Edit profile is one sheet of rows. Name, username, bio, home base and links each open in their own pane: tap Done there to come back to the list, and tap Done at the top of the list to save everything. Cancel leaves without saving.

• Photo: tap Change photo. Treader shrinks it on your device before it uploads.
• Banner: the wide photo across the top. Chips on it add or change the banner, Reposition it and remove it. In Reposition, drag the photo, or use the arrow keys, to choose which part shows, then tap Apply, and Done to save. A new banner starts centred. With no banner, your profile shows a gradient in your accent colour. The banner is also the picture a chat app shows when someone shares your profile link.
• Name: up to 40 characters, the name people see.
• Username: your @handle, 3 to 20 lowercase letters, numbers or underscores. It is your profile link, and the editor checks whether it is free as you type. A few words, such as admin, support and treader, are reserved, and a handle can change twice a week. Sign-up picked one for you from your name or email.
• Bio: up to 160 characters, and the line a shared profile link shows.
• Home base: a city or region, up to 60 characters, shown on your profile. It is separate from the home country in Settings.
• Links: up to 5, each a label and a full https:// address.
• Accent colour: ten named swatches. The colour rings your photo and washes the banner when there is no photo. It is separate from the accent you pick for the app in Settings.
• Travel preferences: a row that reads back your Scout picks. With no unsaved edits, tap it to open Settings, under Scout & prefs. Set your Scout preferences walks through them.

Your own profile also shows a Finish your profile card, to you alone, listing up to three of the six things still missing: a handle, a photo, a bio, a banner, a home base and a first post. Dismiss it and it stays away.

Public or private

The Public profile switch, in Edit profile and in Settings under Privacy, decides who can open your profile. On, anyone can open it and follow you. A visitor who is not signed in sees your header and a sign-in card over a blurred copy of the rest, and a signed-in visitor sees your Moments, Trips, Collections and Places.

Off, your profile is private:

• Other people see your photo, name and @handle, and a lock card that reads This account is private.
• Your banner, bio, home base and links are hidden, and so are the Trips, Followers and Following counts and everything under Moments, Trips, Collections and Places.
• A new follow becomes a request. Answer it in Activity, with Confirm or Delete, or in the Requests list on the Friends tab of Messages, with Approve or Decline.
• The lists of who follows you and who you follow are visible only to you.
• A trip you have published still opens from its own link, with no name on it.

Moments, trips and places

In the app your profile opens on Moments. Trips lists the trips you have published, Collections your public spot collections and Places your public spots. Each moment carries its own audience, Everyone, Followers or Only me, set when you post it. The square + beside Share profile posts a moment, and Share profile copies your link or opens your phone's share sheet. Share a trip publicly covers publishing a trip, and Mark spots and post moments covers the other two.

Followers and following

Three counts sit beside your photo: Trips, Followers and Following. Tap Followers or Following for the list. Each person has a follow button, and Follow back appears for a follower you do not follow yet. People who follow each other are friends, and friends can message each other. Someone who follows you wears a Follows you tag beside their handle on their profile. Friends, messages and trip chat covers messaging, and Find travellers and places worth following covers finding people.

When your name shows on a trip you publish

A published trip opens at treader.ca/t/your-trip for anyone. Its page says Planned by, with your photo, name and @handle linking to your profile, only while your profile is public and has a handle. A private profile gets no name on its trips.

Search engines add one rule. If you let them list your published trips (Settings, under Privacy, Show public trips in search engines, which is off until you turn it on), your name stays off those pages unless Show in search engines is also on for your profile. Listing a trip does not list you.

Common questions

How do I make my Treader profile private?

Open Edit profile and switch off Public profile, or switch it off in Settings under Privacy. Other people then see only your photo, name and handle, and new followers need your approval.

How do I change my Treader username?

Open Edit profile, tap Username and type a new handle of 3 to 20 lowercase letters, numbers or underscores. A handle can change twice a week, and your old profile link stops working, so share the new one.

Can people see my name on a trip I share?

Only if your profile is public and has a handle. The trip page then says Planned by with your name and handle. A private profile has no name on its trips, and if you list your trips in search engines your name appears only when your profile is listed too.

How do I move my banner photo?

In Edit profile, tap the Reposition chip on the banner, drag the photo or use the arrow keys, tap Apply, then tap Done to save.