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Choose how people can sign up

The sign-up strategy controls who can start registration and whether an admin must review new accounts. Choose the strategy that matches how your community recruits and verifies members. Admins can still invite or create members with every strategy.

Compare the strategies

StrategyWho can registerAdmin action
Anyone can sign upAnyone who reaches the registration area. When payments are enabled, the person must choose an available plan.No approval is required.
By invitation onlyPeople invited or added by an admin. The public sign-up area is disabled.Send an invitation or create the member.
Approval basedAnyone who reaches the registration area.Accept or reject each request, unless its confirmed email domain is configured for automatic approval.

Approval based is unavailable when payments are enabled. If you plan to connect Stripe, change to Anyone can sign up or By invitation only first.

Change the sign-up strategy

  1. Select Manage > Community > Sign-up Strategies.
  2. Open Sign Up Strategy and choose an option.
  3. For Approval based, optionally enter one or more approved email domains. A person with a matching domain is automatically approved after confirming their email address.
  4. Select Save Changes.

The new strategy applies to future registration attempts. Existing members and pending invitations remain in the member-management areas.

You can also reach this setting through Manage > Settings > Authentications > Sign Up Strategy.

Review approval-based registrations

  1. Select Manage > Community > Members.
  2. Filter or find the account that is waiting for approval.
  3. Open the member account.
  4. Select Accept or Reject.

Rejecting a request deletes the applicant's personal data. Accepting activates the account according to its permissions and community setup.

Handle suspicious or spam registrations

  • Use Approval based when you want to inspect public registrations before admitting people.
  • Add trusted organization domains only when everyone with an address on that domain may be admitted automatically.
  • Use By invitation only when registration should be limited to people contacted by an admin.
  • For an account waiting for approval, open it and select Reject.
  • For an already active suspicious account, change its status to Banned to block sign-in. Review any plan, payment, booking, and data-retention needs before deleting the account.

coapp does not label an account as spam automatically in these controls. Base the decision on the registration details and your community's membership rules.