If you are looking for a way to be aware of what is happening in your living area and get in touch with your neighbors, try out the verified social network for neighborhoods called Nextdoor. Is Nextdoor app safe, and how can you register in it without compromising such data as your private phone number? Let’s explore it further in the article.
What is Nextdoor?
Nextdoor is a social network for neighbors that allows you to share news of the neighborhood, publish announcements about lost and found pets, recommend already tested real estate agents and maintenance, and more. Moreover, local businessmen use the platform to advertise their businesses for purchasing their products and services.
The eponymous company was launched in 2008 in San Francisco. Originally, there should be a very different service with the similar name “Neighborly”, a Fanbase, crowdsourcing almanac of professional sportsmen and sportsmen from colleges.
Though, in 2015, the beta version of Nextdoor, the app for neighbors was launched. Before the official release date, it already had over 100 neighborhoods being active. To date, the app is used in over 11 countries with a user base of more than 280 neighborhoods.
What is Nextdoor in Terms of Functionality?
According to the service’s founder Nirav Tolia, the service started with an idea that today neighbors hardly know each other and communicate. While these are the neighbors that can help you if you just moved to a new neighborhood.
Initially the app was made for safety reasons: people used it to keep neighborhoods’ citizens informed about relevant news and local crimes as well reporting about racoons terrorizing trash cans in the living areas. But later it got some added functionality. Today people often leverage the app to transfer an old sofa or other furniture to new owners. This is relevant, for example, when moving. Or to provide repair tools for temporary use. Moreover, today the app also serves as a marketplace where you can buy to their neighborhood fellows and sell products and services from various companies. If you are a local entrepreneur looking to offer your products on the platform, you can also register for a Nextdoor account as a seller.
Another point on joining the platform is that here you can find like-minded people to make new friends or take up together such activities as fitness, parenting, hobbies, and more.
Among categories, on Nextdoor, you can find the following ones:
- Classifieds
- Crime & Security
- General
- Lost & Found
- Free Items
- Recommendations
People usually post on Nextdoor about:
- Neighborhood maintenance issues.
- Recommendations for home care or maintenance.
- Homeowner concerns.
- Items for sale.
- Childcare options.
- Real estate recommendations.
To use Nextdoor, you need to register an account and then go through verification. The thing is that the service carefully ensures that users are who they really are and do not disturb the community atmosphere.
Is Nextdoor App Safe?
According to the privacy policy, the Nextdoor’s community is completely safe and secure, since every neighbor must confirm their address in the neighborhood as well as providing their name though it can be displayed differently in the app. To verify their identity, the app offers two options that are by phone number or by geolocation.
Answering to “Is Nextdoor app safe?”, we also need to say that to make your time in the app as convenient as possible, the developers also allow you to set up restrictions on who can view your posts, search for you and write you to direct messages. Moreover, the website is encrypted by the HTTPS Internet Protocol that seriously complicates for hackers to steal user data.
When it comes to Nextdoor account verification, the app offers two options that are by phone number or geolocation. If you prefer the first one but are not ready to disclose your private phone number to the service, you can always consider using a disposable phone number for that purpose.
Virtual Phone Number for Nextdoor Account
Using not a real phone number but a temporary virtual one may be helpful for registration in a number of situations when you:
- Do not have a phone number of the required country.
- Need to register anonymously without the app to be able to track you, just like if you need to create an anonymous Nextdoor account.
- Need to access a platform that is restricted in your living area or asks only for local phone numbers.
- Want to create numerous accounts for advertising purposes, and more.
Similar to cellular numbers, the SMStoProxy temporary virtual numbers are able to receive SMS messages, though they operate through the specialized virtual equipment. Among other advantages, when purchasing a virtual number, you can keep your identity private without the need to submit any real documents and disclosing neither geolocation, nor the device you are using.
SMStoProxy has been providing disposable virtual numbers for 190+ countries to pass verifications in 3000+ global and local services. The price is also very affordable, starting at $0.14 per number.
So, how to get a one-time use phone number for Nextdoor from SMStoProxy? Here are the quick instructions:
- Sign up for smstoproxy.com platform using email or social media.
- Deposit some funds via a bank transfer, Payeer, AliPay or other available payment methods.
- Open “Receive SMS” in the left menu, select the service (Nextdoor) and the required country (US). Click “Buy”.
- Go to the bottom of the page and copy the number. Enter it to the Nextdoor’s form.
- Get back to SMStoProxy and request an OTP by clicking “Receive SMS” near the number.
- Apply the code to complete verification of the Nextdoor account.
