Frequently Asked Questions

It is important to us that no one is left without help or the opportunity to help. Commu is a platform that makes it easy for individuals to request, give and exchange help in their local area and remotely. Commu helps you build your digital safety net, meet new people, volunteer and get to know people in your area.

We also want to make everyday life easier for organisations by enabling them to recruit volunteers and offer and ask for help through Commu. With Commu, you lower the threshold for getting involved in your organisation. Would you like your association to join Commu? Email us at company@commuapp.fi

Any suggestions for improvement are important and valuable in improving the service.

In Commu you can offer your help and ask for help. We chose colors to differentiate the types of ways to offer and ask for help and to make it easier to understand the map view.

I want to give help

Green

You can give your help. For example, are you great at baking, repairing furniture, do you like carrying boxes, can you decorate, are you a good listener? Give time, leverage your skills, and help the people and communities around you.

You can also offer your help for a compensation. Sometimes the task is worth a compensation, for example task might be quite heavy or causes expenses for you. Currently, payment transactions do not pass through Commu, so you have to take care of any taxes and pension contributions yourself.

We recommend using Commu to request, provide and exchange assistance free of charge.

I'm asking for help

Pink

You can ask for help. In everyday life, the need for help can come quickly, so we have not limited what kind of help you can ask for in Commu. You can ask for help to fill official forms, assemble furniture, go shopping or when you need a jogging partner or someone to talk to.

You can ask for help and pay compensation. For example, if you have a bigger task ahead such as weeding the garden or something that you know will cause costs for the helper, you can ask for help for money. Currently, payment transactions do not pass through Commu, so you have to take care of any taxes and pension contributions yourself.

We recommend using Commu to request, provide and exchange assistance free of charge.

Every feedback and comment is valuable for us. You can send us a direct message though the app (you can find our notices on the map Commu-Sami, Commu-Ronnie ja Commu-Karo) or you can email us company@commuapp.fi

You need to verify your email first. You received a confirmation link in your email when you registered. If you can't find it or it's been a long time since you registered, you can send an email to yourself in the Settings section. Email verification is a way of strengthening the security of our users. This makes it harder for users such as bots and fake emails to use Commu.

You can send an email confirmation link in the Settings section in menu. There is a button under the Email -heading which you can click to resend the confirmation link to your email. Then go to your email and follow the instructions.

Confirming a phone number strengthens trust between users. This is an alternative way to authenticate when strong electronic authentication is not possible. In this case, we recommend confirming the phone number if at all possible!

Your phone number will not be visible to other users.

We want to provide our users with the safest way to request and give help on the market, which is why we have implemented the best authentication method on the market. The authentication is done through the Signicat service provider, which is already used for authentication in interfaces such as banks. Signicat is a regulatory verified operator and has also obtained the EU QTSP certification.

Here's how to do strong authentication in Commu (available in Finland):

1. Log in to Commu.
2. You can find the strong authentication option on the Commu homepage under the Action Centre section.
3. The strong authentication is done through the Signicat service. Signicat is a regulatory verified operator and has also obtained the EU QTSP certification. The alternatives to strong authentication are bank authentication or a mobile verification.
4. Once authenticated, your profile will be marked "Authenticated" and your trustworthiness is now 100/100! No one will see your bank details or your personal information.
5. Tip: you can also check other users' profiles to see if they have done strong authentication. If you want to check their trustworthiness before meeting them, you can ask them to do a strong authentication via Commu.

In case of problems, for example if you lose your internet connection while authenticating, try again. If the strong authentication fails, please contact ronnie@commuapp.fi.

The need for food aid and acute assistance has been steadily increasing in Commu. To make it as safe as possible to ask for and give help, including food aid, we have now made some changes to Commu.

How to ask for and give food aid in Commu:

• If you request food aid, you will need to verify your identity on Commu with either a bank ID or a Mobile Certificate. You can use either a bank account or a mobile phone to authenticate yourself.
• You can request food assistance two (2) times per month. You may have up to two (2) active food assistance requests at the same time.
• Food Aid requests are created in their own "Food Aid" topic. If you would like to help people in your area with food aid, you will find the announcements in the "Food aid" theme in the future.
  
  
  

Thank you to all our users who have provided feedback. With these changes, we aim to make it safer to ask for food aid and acute help, for both those asking for help and those giving it.

If you have any questions about the changes or want to give feedback, you can find us on Commu under the names Commu-Karo, Commu-Sami and Commu-Ronnie. You can also reach us by phone and email at https://commuapp.fi/ota-yhteytta/

We want to provide our users with the safest way on the market to ask for and give help.

The information users provide is encrypted from end to end, and Commu also keeps it sensitive information encrypted in its own database. We use message-level encryption, SSL security and JWK RSA pair (2048-bit security). Commu does not sell any personal data to third parties, nor does it sell any personally identifiable information.

Strong authentication is provided through the Signicat service provider, which is already used for authentication at interfaces such as banks. Signicat is a verified operator according to regulatory requirements and has also obtained the EU QTSP certification. If you are unable to authenticate with a bank ID or mobile certificate, you can still improve your trust by using SMS authentication.

We aim to make it easier to ask for and give help through Commu. The threshold for contacting us is lower if you have a clear face photo on your profile. So it would be great if you could add your profile picture!

You can add a profile picture and an introduction text about yourself in the "Settings" section of the menu. We recommend adding a profile picture and introduction text, as they inspire confidence!

Unlike other social media, no one can find you when you sign in to Commu. You can take your time to get to know the map of your local area and how Commu works, no one will find you by name or email.

When you create your own notice on the map, your notice will appear on the Commu map. At that time, people interested in your notice can view it, as well as your public profile, and contact you via Commu chat by clicking the "Contact" button. Users can view your public profile (profile picture and introduction text) which you have added in the Settings section.

Users will not see your phone number, email or location. 

Commu asks for your location so you can see and create notices near you. Letting Commu use your location makes your user experience better as you don’t have to mark where you are; with one glance you can see who offers and needs help in your nearby area.

When location is enabled, Commu records your position rounded to the nearest kilometre. This information is used, for example, to inform you about new announcements and news.

Your home city and country is asked because the notifications and news that come to you are based on your home country. The hometown is used as a default location when the location is not available. This significantly improves the user experience.

The trustworthiness of users is improved by their actions in Commu. Factors that affect reliability include:

• The profile picture is set.
• The profile profile is set (the user has told about themselves)
• An email has been verified.
• A phone number has been verified.
• The user has recommendations.
• User has verified their identity via bank identification o mobile verification. This option is currently only available in Finland. Verifying your identity is the only way to get 100/100 points in the User Reliability Meter.

You can check your own trustworthiness under My Profile. You can also check the trustworthiness of other users by clicking on their profile picture.

We will send our users an email if they have not read your message on Commu within 24 hours.

In Commu, you can give or request peer support for almost any situation or experience in your life, within the limits of our Terms of Use and Community Guidelines.

If the discussion raises doubts about your own or another person's acute wellbeing changes, it's best not to go too deep and if you need help you can always ask for it, for example on the Tuntuu.fi -page. Sometimes, when providing peer support, it is worth simply encouraging people to seek help from the public sector and, if necessary, to be supportive in lowering the threshold for leaving home.

When providing peer support, remember to feel your own resilience and resources to help others. Be empathetic to yourself and take the conversation as deep as you feel it needs to go.

On the Tuntuu.fi website you will find good chats for asking yourself and others for tips. Local crisis and health centres can guide you to the help you need. In emergencies, always call 112. Do not hesitate to ask for help.

In conversations, especially peer-to-peer ones, it is good to be aware that they can be emotional. Old things may come back to you. It is always a good idea to end the conversation with good, everyday things that make you feel good. Return to the present moment and turn your thoughts to the future, to pleasant things and factors.

Wonderful! You can confirm a help transaction by clicking on the "Got help?" button in the bottom right corner of the user-to-user chat view.

Please note that the button is only visible if you have requested help.

If you have given help, you will see a "Recommend" button. Ask the person you helped to confirm the help transaction and invite them to click on the "Did you get help?" button. When the user does this, you will receive a request to confirm the help in the My Stats section. When you confirm the helping happened, both users will receive a note in their My Stats that the help has taken place.

Get recommendations by asking or giving help in Commu! You can recommend another user by clicking on the pink heart in the chat view, next to their profile picture. While recommending a user, you can also leave a written, public compliment if you wish.

Not at the moment, but we are working with NGO's and organisations to develop opportunities to train volunteers and bring in volunteers and support staff who have already been trained, as well as experience experts.

We are also in the near future introducing voluntary bank authentication, which would allow me to decide, for example, that I only want messages from people who are bank authenticated. This makes Commu even more safe.

Peer support is a voluntary, reciprocal exchange of experiences, where people in similar life situations support each other. Sharing common experiences increases mutual understanding. Peer support helps people to better understand the past and commit to the present, and also gives them a sense of hope for the future.

Sharing experiences among peers, in a respectful atmosphere, eases anxiety and removes fear. The support and sharing of peers who have experienced the same problems often goes a long way to easing the situation.

Private users are on Commu as individuals, in the same way that you would approach new people on Facebook or over a cup of coffee, for example.

If you contact organisations through Commu, they are bound by their own policies.

You can use Commu as anonymously as you like. It all depends on how much information you enter in your own profile in the Settings -menu. No one will find you in Commu unless you create a notice on the map asking for or giving help. Only then will you appear on the map and be contacted. If you are connected to another user via a notification and chat, they will see what you have written and added to your profile in the Settings section.

Currently, Commu users have access to the chat feature. It is currently not possible to make calls through Commu.

This section only applies if money is given from helping.

In case you plan to utilize someone for a longer period of time and you want to make agreements with this person, this would be considered an employment. Please read instruction from here and please also note that Commu is not a freelancer platform, so we cannot provide comprehensive assistance within this subject.

However, in most cases employment is not the case and income would instead be considered trade income, which makes things a lot simpler. Further instructions here

The Ukraine Crisis button appears in the top right corner of the Commu map view, below the What's New button. Pressing the Ukraine Crisis button will filter the app to show only notifications related to Ukraine, when someone is asking for help or giving help. You can turn the filter on and off whenever you want. We built the Ukraine Crisis filter to make it easier for refugees arriving in Finland to meet local helpers.

Nice! We are always up for a chat and open to new cooperation opportunities. You can send us a direct message though the app (you can find our notices on the map Commu-Sami, Commu-Ronnie ja Commu-Karo) or you can email us company@commuapp.fi. We will get back to you as soon as possible.

If you want to give feedback, ask about testing or just chat with us, we are available through our social media channels Instagram and Facebook and also through email (company@commuapp.fi). Karo, Sami and Ronnie are here to help you, we would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions! You can also find us inside the application.

Every feedback and comment is valuable for us. You can send us a direct message though the app (you can find our notices on the map Commu-Sami, Commu-Ronnie ja Commu-Karo) or you can email us company@commuapp.fi. Thank you for your patience!

We are still in early stage on our journey. We have decided to concentrate our resources to specific areas.

It is the user's responsibility to ensure that the notices created in the Commu are up to date. Please remember to delete or update your notification!

When you create a notification, you can also set a date when the notice will be deleted. You can also delete a notice when you confirm that a helping has been made, by pressing the Confirm Help button in the chat.

Commu will also automatically delete outdated notices from inactive users. The user will always be notified before the deletion takes place.

We are sorry to see you go. You can delete your account and data inside Commu at Settings > Data. Hope to see you again soon!

An image should be included when it provides more information about the notice, or otherwise provides relevant information about the notice. For example, if you're asking for help with a dog, a picture of the dog will work well. If you're asking for help with a conversation, for example, a picture won't be much use.