Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
The Home Screen features six sections.
Leading lists all Groups that the User has either created or is authorized to lead.
Following lists all Groups that the User is actively following.
Trending NOW! features trending topics and the Groups and Alerts that have mentioned the topic in question.
The Public section shows all available Public and Premium Groups, ranked in order of relevance, popularity and proximity to the User.
Emergency Groups collects Auto-Follow Groups that are not being followed by the User.
Auto-Following shows all local emergency Groups that the User is automatically following due to their location.
Please note that certain categories may not be accessible depending on your subscription level.
The accessible sections of the Home Screen are directly related to your Know NOW! subscription level. Here’s the breakdown of each:
Know NOW! Professional: Every section is accessible.
Know NOW! Plus: Every section is accessible with the exception of the Leading section. NOTE: If a Know NOW! Plus User is invited to lead a Group, they will be able to access that Group in the Leading section.
Know NOW! Primary: The only section available is the Following section. NOTE: If a Know NOW! Primary User is invited to lead a Group, they will be able to access that Group in the Leading section.
There are numerous ways to follow a Public Group and all are very simple.
Firstly, a User can click any Group Avatar and select the “Follow” button on the Group Details Tab.
The Map Screen also allows Users to follow Groups. All they have to do is press a Group Avatar and press the orange “Follow” button on the right-hand side of the Group Preview.
Finally, Users can also follow Groups directly from the Search Screen by pressing the orange “Follow” button to the right of any featured Groups.
For Premium Groups, all of these methods also apply but the User will be asked to pay the monthly Following Rate before becoming a Group Follower.
For Private Groups, the User has to be invited by the Owner or Leader of that Group. Invitations appear behind a padlock icon in the header of the App. To follow the Group, the User just has to press Accept on the relevant invitation and follow the on-screen prompts.
Regardless of Know NOW! subscription level, all Users are allowed to follow unlimited Groups.
To create a Group, navigate to the Leading section of the Home Screen, select the Create Group tile. From here, you are required to enter a Group Name and Group Type (Public, Private or Premium). The next three sections (Upload Group Avatar, Group Description and Group Location) are optional (Premium Groups also feature a required field called Following Rate, which is how much it costs per month for a User to follow the Group).
Once you’re happy with your selections, pressing Create Group will bring you to a final optional screen that asks to you to select that best describe your Group in order to make it easier for Followers to find. You can select up to three and press Submit or just press Skip. This will then bring you to the Details Tab of your new Group.
While Know NOW! Primary Users are limited to creating three Groups, Know NOW! Plus and Professional Users can create unlimited Groups.
For Know NOW Primary Users, these Groups may be any combination of Public, Private or Premium, e.g., one Public/one Private/one Premium, three Premium, etc.
As soon as a User follows a Group, the assorted buttons that previously said “Follow” will now say “Unfollow”. Pressing the “Unfollow” button will remove the User from that Group’s Followers.
NOTE: If a User elects to unfollow a Private Group, they will need to be re-invited to the Group if they wish to follow it again in the future.
All Group Followers can privately message the Group Owner at any time by pressing the paper airplane icon next to the Group Owner name on the Details Tab. This will bring the User to the Messages Screen where they can compose new messages or review older message chains relating specifically to the Group in question.
NOTE: Group Owners can turn off the Messages feature if they so desire.
Every Alert includes three buttons that allow the User to interact with it. The first button is the Heart button which allows the User to “heart” or like the Alert. The Speech Bubble button will bring the User to the Alert Chat for that particular Alert, where they can chat with other Followers about the Alert. Finally, the Arrow button allows the User to share the Alert via email, social media or other channels.
The first item in the Media Tab of every Group is the Group Locations Map, which features every Alert sent by that Group that has included location pins or polygons. Clicking any of these pins or polygons will open an Alert Preview from which the User can navigate to the full Alert. The Group Locations Map can also feature permanent locations that are independent of any Alert. These permanent items will be colored orange whereas Alert-specific locations will be colored based on Group Type (blue for Public, yellow for Private, purple for Premium and green/red for Auto-Follow).
NOTE 1: Clicking the View Group Locations Map button will open the Group Locations Map in the right-hand panel of the Media Tab. However, if the User wants to see a full-screen version of the Group Locations Map, they can click the orange Go to Map button in the top right-hand corner of the screen.
NOTE 2: Every Group Locations Map will focus on Alerts from that Group with all pins and polygons being fully colored. However, all Alerts from the User’s other followed Groups will also appear but these locations will just be outlined in the appropriate Group color. Clicking any of these outlines locations will bring the User to the Group Locations Map of that particular Group.
If you are in the Following view of a Group that you also own or lead, clicking the blue star in the header will allow you to quickly switch to the Leading view. When in Leading mode, this blue star becomes orange and allows you to switch back to the Following view.
The Envelope icon will appear in the header of the Web Portal when you have pending invitations that have not yet been accepted or declined. These invitations could be to follow a Private Group, lead a Group, join another User’s Contacts list or have ownership of another User’s Group transferred to you. Clicking the Envelope will open a list of all outstanding invitations, which the User can either Accept or Decline.
To change your Group Avatar, navigate to the Leading view of your Group and click anywhere on the Description box. This will open the Description Screen. The left-hand panel features the current Group Avatar beneath the Group Type. From here, just click the Upload Group Avatar button and follow the on-screen instructions.
After creating a Group, you can edit the Group Name, Group Handle, Group Description, Group Location and Group Categories at any time by navigating to the Leading view of that Group and clicking anywhere on the Description box. This will bring you to the Description Screen where you can edit your desired item.
If you are in the Leading view of a Group that you also follow, clicking the orange star in the header will allow you to quickly switch to the Following view. When in Following mode, this orange star becomes blue and allows you to switch back to the Leading view.
Solid blue stars next to a Username indicate that that User is a Follower of the Group. In the case of Private Groups, faded blue stars denote a User who has been invited to follow the Group but has not yet accepted the invitation.
Any Follower of a Public or Premium Group can be blocked at any time by navigating to the Followers section of the Details Tab and clicking the grey icon next to the Username that you wish to block. This will open a confirmation modal informing you that the Follower in question will not be able to see or interact with the Group. Clicking the orange Block button will then block the Follower and move their Username to the Blocked section at the bottom of the Followers Screen.
To unblock a Follower, simply click the red icon next to their name and select Unblock from the resulting modal.
To remove a Follower from a Private Group, simply navigate to the Followers section on the Details Tab of your Private Group and then click the trash can icon next to the Username that you wish to remove. This will open a confirmation modal informing you that the Follower will need to be re-invited to the Group if you ever want them to follow the Group again in future.
There are two ways to begin the process of inviting Followers to a Private Group. Firstly, pressing the blue plus icon in the top right-hand corner of the Followers section on the Details Tab will bring you directly to the Invite Followers Screen.
Alternatively, there is an orange Invite Followers button in the top right-hand corner of the Followers Screen. The Followers Screen can be accessed by clicking anywhere on the Followers section of the Details Tab.
Once you have landed on the Invite Followers Screen, you can either select one of your existing Contacts from the alphabetical list or you can type in the Search bar to invite a non-Contact. Once you have found your desired User, click their Username and follow the on-screen instructions.
Know NOW! Professional Users can invite Leaders to their Groups and there are two ways to begin the process. Firstly, pressing the orange plus icon in the top right-hand corner of the Leaders section of the Details Tab will bring you directly to the Invite Leaders Screen.
Alternatively, there is an orange Invite Leaders button in the top right-hand corner of the Leaders Screen at all times. The Leaders Screen can be accessed by clicking anywhere on the Leaders section of the Details Tab.
Once you have landed on the Invite Leaders Screen, you can either select one of your existing Contacts from the alphabetical list or you can type in the Search bar to invite a non-Contact. Once you have found your desired User, click their Username and follow the on-screen instructions.
To remove a Leader from a Group, simply navigate to the Leaders section of the Details Tab and then click the trash can icon next to the Username that you wish to remove. This will open a confirmation modal where you can press Remove or Cancel.
To access Messages sent to your Group, just navigate to the Messages section of the Details Tab. The number next to the word “Messages” refers to the number of unread Messages and clicking anywhere in this section will open the Messages Screen.
There are two ways to get to the Create Alert Screen. The first way is to go to the Leading view of the relevant Group and press the Alerts Tab. While on the Alerts Tab, you can navigate to the orange Create Alert button in the top right-hand corner of the screen. Clicking this will bring you to the Create Alert Screen.
Alternatively, if you click the arrow on the right-hand side of the Leading section on the Home Screen, this will bring you to an alternate view of all of your Leading Groups, with each having an orange Create Alert button.
Once you land on the Create Alert Screen, there are three distinct sections.
Firstly, there is the Create Alert panel which contains (in order):
- Templates dropdown (if you want to use a previously created Template)
- Alert Priority dropdown (Non-Critical or Critical, exclusively for Auto-Follow Groups and required to send an Alert)
- Alert Subject field (optional, up to 26 characters)
- Alert Message field (optional, up to 280 characters)
- ExPoint field (optional, up to 10 individual ExPoints, which are topic markers that allow Alerts and Groups to trend in the Trending NOW! section of the Home Screen).
The second panel is titled Media and contains the five-button Media Navigation, which allows the Sender to add (in order) Locations, Photo/Video, Audio, Documents and Web Links to the Alert. This section is also optional.
NOTE: While all sections thus far are optional by themselves, every Alert requires that the Sender include either an Alert Subject, Alert Message or Alert Media.
Finally, there is the Schedule panel, which allows the Sender to enter both a Send Date and an Expiration Date. The Send Date defaults to “Now” but can be scheduled up to 364 days into the future. The Expiration Date defaults to five days from the Send Date but can be extended up to 30 days after the Send Date.
Once you have entered all of your desired information, clicking the Preview Alert button will allow you to see the exact Alert that your Followers will receive, to which you can click Send or Cancel.
If the Sender wants to add Locations to an Alert, they must first click the Locations button, which is the first of the five buttons in the Media Navigation. This will bring them to the Alert Locations Map. There are three main ways to add Locations to the map.
Firstly, the Sender can type the address or coordinates of the Location they want to add into the Search Map bar at the top of the screen. Pressing enter/return on their desired address or selecting one from the suggestion list will drop an Alert Pin at that location. This will then open the Pin Information box where the Sender must enter a Location Name and also has the option of entering a radius around the Pin. When the Sender is happy with the Pin Information, pressing Save will add the Pin to the Locations List. The Sender then has the option of adding another Alert Pin by typing in the Search Map bar again or pressing the Save to Alert button in the Locations List to return to the Create Alert Screen.
The second method of adding a Location to the map is to press the Pin button (the third of the five buttons) from the Map Navigation on the right-hand side of the screen. This will generate an Alert Pin which the Sender can drop by pressing on their desired Location on the Map. This will then open the Pin Information box as mentioned above with the Save button adding the Location to the Locations List.
Finally, the Sender can add multi-point shapes to the map using the Polygon button, which is the fourth of the five buttons on the Map Navigation. This will open the Polygon Information box which will contain a field for the Polygon name as well as a field to enter coordinates for the first Pin in the Polygon. Coordinates can be entered manually in the field or by clicking anywhere on the map. Additional Pin lines can be added either by pressing enter on the Pin 1 field or by clicking elsewhere on the map. Pins can also be clicked and dragged into new positions. Once the Sender is happy with their polygon, they can then press Save to add the Polygon to the Locations List. NOTE: A Polygon required a minimum of three Pins.
If the Sender wants to return to the Create Alert Screen without saving any Locations, they can press the X in the top right-hand corner of the screen.
If a User wants to save a scheduled, active or expired Alert for future use, all they have to do is navigate to the Leading view of the Alert Tab and click the Save button on the Alert that they wish to save. Clicking this button will automatically add the Alert in question to the Saved section of the Alerts Tab. To re-send a Saved Alert, the User just needs to press the orange Resend button on the relevant Alert. This will re-populate the Create Alert Screen with the Saved Alert, allowing the User to send it as is or to edit it before sending.
For Alerts that have been scheduled to be sent in the future, the Group Owner or Leader can reschedule the Alert by pressing the orange Calendar button next to the relevant under the Extend column of the Alerts Tab. Clicking this button will open a modal where the Send Date and Expiration Date can be edited.
For active or scheduled Alerts, the Group Owner or Leader can change the Expiration Date by pressing the orange Calendar button next to the relevant Alert under the Extend column of the Alerts Tab. Clicking this button will open a modal where both the Send Date and Expiration Date can be edited.
To access Alert Chat as a Group Owner or Leader, simply press the number under the Chats column of the relevant Alert on the Alerts Tab.
To delete an Alert, whether it’s Scheduled, Active, Expired or Saved, the Group Owner or Leader just needs to click the trash can next to the relevant Alert under the Alerts Tab. This will then open a modal informing the Owner or Leader that deleting an Alert is a terminal action to which they can press Delete or Cancel.
All Alerts that hit their Expiration Date will automatically be moved to the Expired section, where they will reside for 30 days. Expired Alerts can be Saved, Resent or Deleted using the relevant buttons positioned to the right of the Alert in question.
If the Group Owner/Leader wants to add Locations to the Media Tab, they must first press the Locations button, which is the first of the five buttons in the Media Navigation. This will bring them to the Group Locations Map. There are two main ways to add Locations to the map.
Firstly, the Owner/Leader can type the address or coordinates of the Location they want to add into the Search Map bar at the top of the screen. Pressing enter/return on their desired address or selecting one from the suggestion list will drop a Group Pin at that location. This will then open the Pin Information box where the Owner/Leader must enter a Location Name and also has the option of entering a radius around the Pin. When the Owner/Leader is happy with the Pin Information, pressing Save will add the Pin to the Group Locations Map.
The second method of adding a Location to the map is to press the Pin button (the third of the five buttons) from the Map Navigation on the right-hand side of the screen. This will generate a Group Pin which the Owner/Leader can drop by pressing on their desired Location on the Map. This will then open the Pin Information box as mentioned above with the Save button adding the Location to the map.
Finally, the Owner/Leader can add multi-point shapes to the map using the Polygon button, which is the fourth of the five buttons on the Map Navigation. This will open the Polygon Information box which will contain a field for the Polygon name as well as a field to enter coordinates for the first Pin in the Polygon. Coordinates can be entered manually in the field or by clicking anywhere on the map. Additional Pin lines can be added either by pressing enter on the Pin 1 field or by clicking elsewhere on the map. Pins can also be clicked and dragged into new positions. Once the Owner/Leader is happy with their Polygon, they can then press Save to add the Polygon to the map. NOTE: A Polygon required a minimum of three Pins.
If the Owner/Leader wants to return to the Media Tab without saving any Locations, they can press the X in the top right-hand corner of the screen.
The @name under every Group Name is the Group Handle, which is a unique Group identifier assigned to every Group. Since there are many examples where the same Group Name might need to be used (i.e., Taylor Family Group), the Group Handle allows multiple identical Group Names to be used while maintaining distinct identities for each of them. Group Handles can be used in two ways, namely to search for a Group or to link directly to a Group from an Alert. Group Handles are generated automatically upon Group creation and can be edited at any time under the Details Tab of the relevant Group. NOTE: Group Handles must be unique.
The ability to create Alert Templates is exclusive to Know NOW! Professional Users and follows a similar format to creating an Alert. First, the Group Owner/Leader must navigate to the Alerts Tab of the relevant Group and select the blue Templates button in the top right-hand corner of the screen. This will bring them to the Templates Screen, which shows all previously created Templates, with various icons to indicate what Media is attached to them. Each Template also features Edit and Delete buttons.
Clicking the orange Create Template button in the top right-hand corner of the Templates Screen will bring the Owner/Leader to the Create Template Screen. The first panel, namely Create Template, contains a Template dropdown (should they want to use an existing Template as a basis for a new Template) as well as Subject, Message and ExPoint sections. The second panel, namely Media, allows the Owner/Leader to add their desired Locations, Photos, Videos, Audio, Documents and Web Links using the relevant buttons. Finally, the Preview section allows the Owner/Leader to see a live version of what their Template would look like as an actual Alert.
When the Owner/Leader is happy with the content of their Template, clicking the Save Template button will save the Template to the Templates Screen, thereby making it available from the Templates dropdown for future Alerts.
To change the email address or phone number associated with your account, navigate to the User Menu in the top right-hand corner of the screen and select Settings from the resulting menu. This will bring you to the Setting Screen. The first panel of the Settings Screen is the Account section. Here, clicking the existing Email or Phone Number will allow you to edit it, along with allowing you to set one of them as your primary contact method.
To change the password on your account, navigate to the User Menu in the top right-hand corner of the screen and select Settings from the resulting menu. This will bring you to the Settings Screen. The first panel of the Settings Scree is the Account section. Here, clicking Change Password will bring you to a new screen that requires you to enter your old password along with your desired password. If you are successful with the password change, you will be automatically logged out of Know NOW! with the new password being required to log back in.
Each individual tier of Know NOW! membership levels offers differing amounts of Media Storage, with Know NOW! Professional offering 250GB. However, if a Professional User wants to add Media Storage, they can navigate to the User Menu in the top right-hand corner of the screen and select Settings from the resulting menu. Under the Account panel of the Settings Screen, they will see a section called Group Media Storage with an orange plus button. Pressing this plus button will open the Know NOW! Professional Expansion Pack Screen, which allows Professional Users to add an additional 50GB of Media Storage plus an additional 5 Group Leader invitations for an extra $4.95 per month. The User can add as many Expansion Packs as they want, with their monthly subscription fee being adjusted accordingly.
Know NOW! memberships come in three levels: Primary, Plus and Professional. You can change from one to another at any time in two ways.
Firstly, you can navigate to the User Menu in the top right-hand corner of the screen and select Settings from the resulting menu. Next, you can scroll to the bottom of the Plan panel and click the orange Change Plan button. This will bring you to the Upgrade Options Screen where you can see the features and benefits of each membership level, as well as buttons to upgrade or downgrade accordingly.
Alternatively, you can just select Upgrade Options from the previously mentioned User Menu.
Know NOW! requires Users to have at least one saved payment method in order to subscribe to Know NOW! Plus or Professional, as well as to follow Premium Groups. In order to manage payment methods, navigate to the User Menu in the top right-hand corner of the screen and select Settings from the resulting menu. On the right-hand side of the Setting Screen, you will see the Payment Methods panel. Whether you have zero or ten payment methods saved to your account, the last item in this panel will always be the Add Payment Method button. Clicking this button will open the Add Payment Method screen and as soon as you save, this Payment Method will become your default Payment Method, something illustrated with a green checkmark in the Payment Methods panel.
You can change your default Payment Method at any time simply by clicking any other saved Payment Method on the list.
The Inbox on the User Menu is simply a store of system-generated messages from Know NOW!. Whenever you have a message in your Inbox, an orange dot will appear on the User Menu in the top right-hand corner of the screen with that dot disappearing as soon as everything is read. These messages are read-only and will inform you of a variety of things like invitations being declined, being removed as a Leader or Follower of a Group, upcoming change in Following Rate or that a Group Owner has responded to your private message.
The Contacts section allows Users to verify other Know NOW! Users without adding them to a Group as a Leader or Follower. This feature is particularly useful if a User has numerous people that they easily want to add to a Group later.
To invite Contacts, you must first navigate to the User Menu in the top right-hand corner of the screen and select Contacts from the resulting menu. This will open the Contacts Screen, which shows all of your current, expired and blocked Contacts. To invite a new Contact, simply press the orange Invite Contacts button at the top of the Contacts Screen. This will bring you to the Invite Contacts Screen where you can search the entirety of the Know NOW! App for the User you wish to invite. Once you have found your desired User, simply press their Username and follow the on-screen instructions to invite them to your Contacts list. NOTE: Inviting a Contact is a reciprocal act, i.e., if another User accepts your invitation, you will be added to each other’s Contacts lists.
To edit your Group Interest Categories that you selected when you created your Account, navigate to the User Menu in the top right-hand corner of the screen and select Settings from the resulting menu. This will bring you to the Settings Screen. Under the Account panel, you will see the Edit Group Categories button, the clicking of which will bring you to the Edit Group Categories Screen where you can select or de-select your desired Group Categories before pressing Save or Cancel.