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Towncrier
Help for residents

How to use Towncrier

Follow your town, get its notices on your phone, and read everything it publishes, in the app or on the web. There is no account and nothing to sign up for.

Start here

Who this guide is for. Anyone who wants to keep up with what their town is doing: meetings, public hearings, road closures, bids, elections and other notices. You don’t need to work for a town, and you don’t need an account.

What Towncrier is. An app and a website where your town posts its notices, so you can actually find them. Every notice is written and published by the town named on it. Towncrier doesn’t write notices or change them. (Towncrier often says “municipality”. That just means your town, village or city government.)

No account. Towncrier never asks for your name, email address or phone number, and there is nowhere to type them. There’s nothing to sign up for and nothing to sign in to. Nothing in the app or on the website asks you to pay.

What you can do

  • Find your town and follow it, so its notices come to you.
  • Get a notification on your phone when your town posts something new (never overnight).
  • Choose which kinds of notices you hear about.
  • Read the whole notice, with dates, places, photos and attached files.
  • Share a notice with anyone, even if they don’t have the app.
  • Let your town know when something looks wrong with a notice.
  • Read everything a town has published on the web, including its archive, documents, and hours and contact details.
  • Delete everything Towncrier holds about your phone, whenever you like.

Finding your way around the app

Along the bottom of the app are four tabs. A tab is a button that switches screens.

  • “Your feed”: the newest notices from the towns you follow.
  • “Find a town”: search for a town and follow it.
  • “Town staff”: sign-in for town employees. You never need it.
  • “Settings”: notifications, the kinds of notices you hear about, and deleting your data.

You can also read every town’s notices in a web browser, with no app at all. See Towncrier on the web.

Towncrier is not an emergency notification system. Do not rely on it for life safety.

Get the app and open it

There’s no sign-up. The app is ready to use the moment it opens.

  1. Install Towncrier from the App Store (iPhone) or Google Play (Android), then open it.
  2. For a few seconds you’ll see a spinning wheel and the words “Starting Towncrier…”.
  3. The app opens on “Your feed”. Nothing asks for your name, email, phone number or a password.
  4. Tap “Find a town” at the bottom to find your town.

On a brand-new install, “Your feed” says Follow a town on the “Find a town” tab and its notices will show up here. That’s your cue to find your town.

The app never asks for your location, camera, microphone or contacts. The only thing it ever asks is whether it may send you notifications, and it only asks after you follow your first town.

If something goes wrong

  • The start screen stays up. The app waits up to about 6 seconds. If your connection is slow, it opens anyway and finishes setting up in the background. You can still read notices.
  • “This device could not be registered. Check your connection and try again.” You opened the app for the very first time with no signal. Following, muting, reporting and notifications need the app to finish setting up first. Get online and try again; the app retries on its own.
  • “Towncrier could not load this”. It goes on: “Something went wrong inside the app. This is a fault at our end, not a sign that your municipality has published nothing.” Tap “Try again”, or close the app and open it again.

Find your town

  1. Tap “Find a town” at the bottom of the screen.
  2. With the search box empty, you’ll see every town that’s listed: for example “Village of Example, NY”, with “Example County · pop. 1,200” under it and a “Follow” button.
  3. To narrow the list, tap the box that says “Town, ZIP, county or state” and start typing. The list updates as you type, and towns whose names start with what you typed come first.
  4. Tap a town’s name to see its notices, or tap “Follow” to follow it.
  5. To refresh the list, pull it down with your finger and let go.

Type your ZIP code in full, all 5 digits. Part of a ZIP code won’t match. You can type a state as its two-letter code, like NY. This screen finds towns; it doesn’t search the words inside notices. To search a town’s notices, use its page on the web.

If something goes wrong

  • “Nothing matches…” followed by what you typed. Check the spelling, or try your ZIP code or county instead.
  • “No towns are publishing here yet.” No towns are listed right now.
  • “Towns could not be loaded.” “This is a connection problem, not an empty directory.” Reconnect, then pull the list down.
  • “This list could not be refreshed”. What you see may be out of date. Pull down once you’re back online.
  • Your town isn’t there. A town only appears after it has joined Towncrier, been checked, and chosen to be listed. If you’d like your town on Towncrier, ask your town clerk’s office.
Towncrier’s Find a town screen with “Exam” typed in the search box and one match: the Village of Example, NY, in Example County, with a Follow button.
Demo data: the fictional Village of Example.

Follow a town

Following tells the app you want a town’s notices. They show up in “Your feed”, and if you allow it, your phone lets you know when the town posts something new. You can follow as many towns as you like.

  1. On “Find a town”, find your town.
  2. Tap “Follow”. The button says “Working…” for a moment.
  3. The first time you follow a town, your phone asks whether Towncrier may send you notifications. Tap “Allow” to be told about new notices, or “Don’t Allow” if you’d rather just read them in the app.
  4. The button changes to “Following”.

The town’s current notices appear in “Your feed”, and the town gets its own card in “Settings”. Your town never sees who follows it. It only sees counts.

You follow towns from the “Find a town” list. There’s no Follow button on a town’s own screen.

If something goes wrong

  • A red note says “Notifications are turned off for Towncrier. You can turn them on in Settings.” You tapped “Don’t Allow”. You still follow the town, and its notices are still in your feed. The easy way back is the “Turn on notifications” button in the app’s Settings tab (see Turn on notifications).
  • “You already follow that town.” Nothing to do. The button shows “Following”.
  • “No connection. Check your network and try again.” or “That town could not be followed just now. Please try again.” The follow wasn’t saved. Get online and tap “Follow” again.
  • “Notifications could not be turned on for this device. Reinstalling the app clears the old registration.” This is rare. Delete the app, install it again, and follow your town again. If you want the old record gone too, use “Delete everything on this device” in Settings first.
An iPhone asking whether Towncrier may send notifications, with Don’t Allow and Allow buttons, shown after tapping Follow on the Village of Example.
Demo data: the fictional Village of Example.

Turn on notifications

Notifications tell you as soon as your town posts something new, so you don’t have to keep checking. If you said no when your phone first asked, this is how to change your mind.

  1. Open the “Settings” tab (the last one at the bottom).
  2. Tap “Turn on notifications” at the top.
  3. If your phone asks, tap “Allow”.
  4. If you said no before, a box titled “Notifications are off” appears. Tap “Open iPhone Settings” (on Android, “Open Settings”), switch notifications on for Towncrier, then come back to the app.

Under the button you’ll see “Notifications are on.” From now on, whenever a town you follow publishes a notice of a kind you haven’t switched off, your phone lets you know.

Quiet hours and other things to know

  • The notice comes first. A notification is a courtesy heads-up about a notice that’s already public on the town’s page.
  • Quiet hours. Towncrier never sends notifications between 9 PM and 7 AM in the town’s own time zone. Anything published overnight is sent at 7 AM.
  • Several at once become one. If a town posts several notices together, you get a single notification, like “3 new notices”.
  • A daily limit for each town. Each town can send notifications for up to 8 notices in 24 hours. Anything beyond that is still published; it just doesn’t buzz your phone.
  • Old news doesn’t buzz. A notice dated more than a day in the past is published without a notification.
  • Reports can pause a town. If 12 different phones report the same notice within 6 hours, that town’s notifications pause until the town looks into it. The notice itself stays published.
  • On Android, Towncrier’s notifications are listed under “Town notices” in your phone’s notification settings.
  • To switch them off, turn notifications off for Towncrier in your phone’s own Settings app.

If something goes wrong

  • “This device is not registered yet…” Get online, then close the app and open it again.
  • “Notifications could not be turned on…” Wait a moment, then try again. If it keeps happening, close the app fully and open it again.
Towncrier settings reading “Notifications are on.” under the Turn on notifications button, with all ten notice categories switched on for the Village of Example.
Demo data: the fictional Village of Example.

When a notification arrives

  1. For one new notice, the notification shows the town and the kind of notice, then the title. For example: “Village of Example — Roads” and “Main Street closed Thursday”.
  2. If several notices come at once, you get one notification, like “3 new notices”. If they come from more than one of your towns, it says “2 of your towns”.
  3. If a town withdraws a notice you were told about, you get a correction, like “Correction — Village of Example”, saying the notice has been withdrawn by the municipality.
  4. Tap the notification to open it.

A notification about one notice opens that notice. One about several notices opens the town’s list. A correction opens the withdrawn notice.

If something goes wrong

  • Nothing arrived overnight. That’s quiet hours. The notice was public right away, and the notification comes at 7 AM.
  • You didn’t get a notification for a notice you can see. It may be a kind of notice you’ve switched off, or the town may have reached its daily limit.
  • Tapping it opened a web page instead of the app. It’s the same notice.
An iPhone lock screen showing a Towncrier notification: “Village of Example — Roads” and “Main Street closed Thursday”.
Demo data: the fictional Village of Example.

Read your feed

“Your feed” is one list of the current notices from every town you follow, newest first.

  1. Tap “Your feed” (the first tab).
  2. Each card shows the town, the notice title, a colored tag for the kind of notice (like “Roads”), and how long ago it was published. Some cards also say “Time sensitive”, or “Passed” when the date is over.
  3. Tap a card to read the whole notice.
  4. Pull the list down to refresh.

“Your feed” shows current notices only. To see everything a town has ever posted, tap its name on “Find a town”, or open its “Notice archive” on the web.

If something goes wrong

  • “Nothing current from the towns you follow.” Your towns have nothing current right now.
  • “Your towns have current notices, but they are all in categories you have muted. Settings has the list.” See Choose what you hear about.
  • “Some notices could not be loaded”. The list may be incomplete, so don’t treat it as a complete record. Reconnect and pull down.
  • Rare: “This device was signed out and re-registered”. Follow your towns again on “Find a town”.
Towncrier feed showing four notices from the Village of Example: a public hearing on a proposed sidewalk district, a request for bids on winter sand and salt, a street closed for paving, and a village board meeting.
Demo data: the fictional Village of Example.

Read a notice

  1. Tap a notice anywhere in the app.
  2. At the top is the kind of notice, like “Public hearings”. You may also see “Time sensitive”, or “This has passed” once its date is over.
  3. Next come the town and state, the title, and “Published” with the date and time. Times are always in the town’s own time zone.
  4. If the notice has a date or place, a box shows “When:” and “Where:”.
  5. Then the full text, any photos and files, and, if the town entered it, a line such as “The legal notice of record was published in The Example Gazette on September 11, 2026.” That line is the town telling you where its official notice was published.
  6. At the bottom is who posted it, then “Share this notice” and the red “Report this notice” link.

If the town changed the notice after publishing it, a red line says “This notice was updated after it was published on” followed by the date.

If something goes wrong

  • “This notice is not published, or it was withdrawn by the municipality.” The town withdrew it, it isn’t published yet, or the link was wrong. For details, contact the town clerk’s office.
  • “This notice could not be loaded”. This is a connection problem, not a withdrawal. Reconnect and tap “Try again”.
  • “Part of this notice could not be loaded…” Don’t treat what you see as the complete notice. Open it again when you have a good connection.
  • “Posted by the municipality”. The town didn’t put a person’s name on this notice. It still comes from the town.
A public hearing notice from the Village of Example in Towncrier: its category, title, publication date, when and where the hearing is held, the text, where the legal notice of record ran, who posted it, a Share this notice button and a Report this notice link.
Demo data: the fictional Village of Example.

Open photos and attached files

  1. Open the notice.
  2. Photos show right inside the notice. If you use a screen reader, it reads out the town’s own description of the photo.
  3. Other files show as a box with the file name and size, like “Detour-map.pdf” and “240 KB”. Tap the box. (On the website, click the file name.)
  4. The file opens in your phone’s viewer or your browser. To keep a copy, use your phone’s or browser’s own share or save options.

The file size is shown so you can decide before opening a big file on mobile data.

If something goes wrong

  • A photo seems to be missing. A photo that can’t load is left out rather than shown as a broken box. Try again later with a better connection.
  • On the website: “Any documents attached to this notice could not be loaded.” Reload the page. The notice may have attachments that aren’t shown.
A road closure notice from the Village of Example with a photo of a Road Closed barrier and an attached detour map, a PDF of 240 KB.
Demo data: the fictional Village of Example.

Browse everything a town has posted

Here you can see all of one town’s notices, current and past, whether or not you follow it.

  1. On “Find a town”, tap the town’s name (not the Follow button).
  2. Scroll the list. Each row shows the title, the kind of notice, “Passed” if its date is over, and when it was published.
  3. Tap a row to read the notice. Pull down to refresh.

A town’s hours, documents and archive are on its web page, not in the app. See Towncrier on the web.

If something goes wrong

  • “This town has not posted any notices yet.” There’s nothing to show yet.
  • “These notices could not be loaded”. Reconnect and pull down.
  • “No such town here”. You opened a link to a town that isn’t on Towncrier.
  • “Showing the most recent 2,000 notices.” This only happens for very busy towns. Try the town’s “Notice archive” on the web, or ask the clerk’s office.
Every notice from the Village of Example in the app, newest first, including a July board meeting marked Passed.
Demo data: the fictional Village of Example.

Choose what you hear about

You can mute (switch off) any kind of notice, like Jobs or Events. A muted kind stops sending you notifications and stays out of “Your feed”. Everything is switched on to start with.

  1. Open “Settings”.
  2. Find the town’s card, like “Village of Example, NY”. Under “Tell me about:” there’s a switch for each kind of notice.
  3. Switch a kind off to stop hearing about it. Switch it back on to hear about it again.
  4. There’s no Save button. Each change is saved as soon as you flip the switch.

The ten kinds of notice:

  • Meetings
  • Public hearings
  • Legal notices
  • Roads
  • Services
  • Bids & RFPs
  • Elections
  • Events
  • Announcements
  • Jobs

Each town you follow has its own switches, so you could hear about everything from your own town and only meetings from the next town over. Muted kinds can still be read on the town’s screen and on its web page.

If something goes wrong

  • “That change could not be saved. Check your connection and try again.” The switch flips back to what’s really saved. Reconnect and try again.
  • A card is headed “A town you follow”. The app couldn’t look up that town’s name. You can still switch kinds on or off, or stop following it.
Towncrier settings for the Village of Example with Events and Jobs switched off and the other notice categories switched on.
Demo data: the fictional Village of Example.

Share a notice

Send a notice to a neighbor, a family member or a community group. They don’t need the app.

  1. Open the notice and tap “Share this notice”.
  2. Your phone’s share sheet opens: its list of ways to send something, like Messages, Mail or Copy. The message includes the notice’s title and town, like “Main Street closed Thursday — Village of Example, NY”, and the notice’s web link.
  3. Pick how you want to send it.

The person gets an ordinary web link to the notice. If they have the app, it opens in the app. If not, it opens in their web browser.

If something goes wrong

  • “This notice has no public link yet”. The town hasn’t switched on its public notices page, so a link wouldn’t open for anyone. You can ask the town clerk’s office about it.
  • “Could not open the share sheet”. The box shows the notice’s link underneath. Copy it by hand and send it yourself.

Report a problem with a notice

Use this to let the town know something is wrong with a notice. The town sees how many reports a notice got. It never sees who sent them.

  1. Open the notice and tap the red “Report this notice” link at the bottom.
  2. A box explains: “Tell the municipality something is wrong with it. Reports pause notifications from a town when several people report the same thing — they never remove a published notice.”
  3. Tap “Report” to send it, or “Cancel”.

A box says “Thank you” and “Reported. Your town sees this against the notice next time they open Towncrier.”

Reporting doesn’t send the town a message, and it doesn’t remove the notice. Only the town can change a notice, so to get something corrected, contact the town clerk’s office. Reporting is only in the app.

If something goes wrong

  • “You have already reported this notice.” You can report each notice once from each phone.
  • “No connection. Check your network and try again.” Reconnect and try again.
  • “That report could not be sent. Please try again.” Wait a moment and try again.
The Report this notice box, which explains that reports pause notifications when several people report the same thing and never remove a published notice, with Cancel and Report buttons.
Demo data: the fictional Village of Example.

Stop following a town

This stops a town’s notices coming to your feed and your phone. There are two ways to do it.

  1. On “Find a town”, tap “Following” on the town’s card. It changes back to “Follow”.
  2. Or open “Settings”, scroll to the town’s card and tap the red “Stop following this town” at the bottom of it.

There’s no “are you sure?” step. It happens as soon as you tap. If you tap by mistake, just follow the town again.

You can still tap the town’s name on “Find a town” and read everything it has published.

If something goes wrong

  • “That town could not be unfollowed…” or “No connection. Check your network and try again.” Nothing changed. Reconnect and try again.

Delete everything on this device

This removes everything Towncrier holds about your phone: the towns you follow, the kinds you muted, your notification token and the record of which notices you opened. You don’t have an account, so this is everything.

  1. Open “Settings” and scroll to the bottom.
  2. Tap the red “Delete everything on this device”.
  3. Read the box: “The towns you follow and everything recorded about what you have read will be deleted. This cannot be undone. Nothing you have read is shared with your town either way.”
  4. Tap “Delete”, or “Cancel” to keep everything.

You’ll see “Deleted. This device now follows nothing.” It happens immediately. You can follow a town again whenever you like.

Uninstalling the app does not do this. Deleting the app takes it off your phone but leaves the record with Towncrier. Use the button first.

The Delete your data page explains what is deleted, what is kept, and for how long.

If something goes wrong

  • “Nothing was deleted. Check your connection and try again.” Nothing changed. Reconnect and try again.
  • Rare: “An earlier registration could not be reached from here”. Email support@gettowncrier.com and ask for the earlier registration to be removed.
  • On the website there’s no delete button. The website keeps its own anonymous record in your browser. Clearing your browser’s saved data for the Towncrier web app stops that record from being used again.
Towncrier settings for the Village of Example: a button to turn on notifications, a switch for each of the ten notice categories, and a control to delete everything on this device.
Demo data: the fictional Village of Example.

Your privacy

The privacy policy says exactly what Towncrier holds about you, and what your town can and can’t see. In the app, open “Settings”, scroll down and tap “Read the privacy policy”.

  • You don’t have an account.
  • The app holds an anonymous identifier for your device (a random number that isn’t linked to you), a notification token (only if you turned notifications on), which towns you follow and which kinds you muted, and which notices you opened.
  • Your town sees counts, like how many phones opened a notice. It never sees a list of who.
  • There are no ads, no tracking tools and no location.

When you have no internet

The app never shows an empty list as if nothing was published when it simply couldn’t check. Screens that couldn’t load show a red message and keep anything that was already on screen. When you’re back online, pull the list down or tap “Try again”. Nothing you had is lost.

Notices aren’t saved on your phone for reading offline, so open the ones you need while you’re connected.

  1. Tap the link someone sent you by text, email or social media.
  2. If you have the Towncrier app, a notice link opens the notice in the app, and a town link opens that town’s screen.
  3. If you don’t have the app, the same link opens in your web browser. You don’t need the app or an account.

Some pages always open in your browser, because the app doesn’t have a screen for them: the home page, the Support, Privacy, Delete your data and Sources pages, and a town’s archive, documents and hours pages.

If something goes wrong

  • A withdrawn or unknown notice. The app says “This notice is not published, or it was withdrawn by the municipality.” The web says “Notice not found”.
  • A town that isn’t on Towncrier. You’ll see “No such town here”.
  • An older Towncrier link. Links that start with an earlier Towncrier web address still work. On the web they forward to the current address.
  • A link to a web-only page doesn’t open on an Android phone. Copy the link and paste it into your web browser instead.
A Village of Example public hearing notice opened in a phone’s web browser without the app: its title, when and where, the text, an attached budget file and where the legal notice of record ran.
Demo data: the fictional Village of Example.

The “Town staff” tab

This tab is for clerks and other town employees who post notices. If you tap it, you’ll see a sign-in form that says “For clerks and municipal officers. If you just want to read your town’s notices, you do not need to sign in — use the other tabs.”

You never need it, and you can’t make an account there. Nothing in this guide needs an account. Staff accounts are set up by each town.

Towncrier on the web

You can read every town’s notices in a web browser, on a computer or a phone, at https://app.gettowncrier.com. You don’t need the app or an account. The web pages also have things the app doesn’t: a search inside a town’s notices, the notice archive, town documents, and hours and contact details.

Every page has three links at the top: “Towncrier” (back to the home page), “Towns” and “Clerk sign in”. Clerk sign in is for town staff, so you can ignore it.

Find your town on the website

  1. Open Towncrier on the web, or click “Towns” at the top of any page.
  2. Under “Towns on Towncrier”, click your town, like “Village of Example, NY”. The county and population are shown under each name.

There’s no search box on that list. The app’s “Find a town” tab can search by name, ZIP code, county or state.

A town’s page on the web

  1. At the top are the town’s seal (if it has one), its name, and a line like “Example County, NY · pop. 1,200 · official website”. The “official website” link goes to the town’s own site.
  2. Under that are three buttons: “Hours & contact”, “Documents” and “Notice archive”.
  3. To search, type in the box that says “Search Village of Example’s notices” (it shows your town’s name). Results update as you type.
  4. To see one kind of notice, open the “All categories” menu and pick one, like “Roads”.
  5. Click a notice’s title to read it.

Your search words and category are kept in the page’s web address, so you can bookmark a filtered view or send it to someone. The page shows up to 50 notices at a time; for older ones, use “Notice archive”.

Some towns show their Towncrier page at their own web address, like notices.villageofexample.gov. There, the links at the top read “Town info”, “Documents”, “Archive” and “Clerk sign in”. Everything else works the same way.

If something goes wrong

  • “Nothing matches that.” Try fewer or different words, or set the menu back to “All categories”.
  • “No such town here”. The address is wrong, the town isn’t on Towncrier, or it hasn’t switched on its public page. Click “See the towns on Towncrier”.
  • “This page could not be loaded”. That is a connection problem, not a sign that your town has published nothing. Click “Try again”.
The Village of Example’s page on the Towncrier website in a phone’s browser, with Hours & contact, Documents and Notice archive buttons, a search box, a category menu and a road closure notice.
Demo data: the fictional Village of Example.

A notice’s web page

This is the page that opens from a shared link when you don’t have the app. It shows a link back to the town, the title, the kind of notice, “Published” with the date and time (in the town’s time zone), the “When:” and “Where:” box, the text, any photos, and file links with their sizes. If the town entered it, a line says where the legal notice of record was published. If the notice was changed after publishing, a line says so, and the version first published is kept in the town’s record.

To share it, look under “Share this notice”: click “X”, “LinkedIn” or “Facebook” (each opens that site in a new tab), or click “Copy link”, which changes to “Copied” for two seconds. If your browser won’t let the page copy, it shows the link so you can copy it yourself. There’s no report button on the web; reporting is only in the app.

The notice archive

On the town’s page, click “Notice archive”. It lists everything the town has published on Towncrier, grouped by year, oldest kept as long as the newest. Click a title to open it. The archive is on the web only. For a very long record, the page may say it shows the most recent 5,000 notices; ask the clerk’s office for the rest.

Town documents

On the town’s page, click “Documents”. Many towns post their codes and local laws, budget, audits, agendas and minutes here, grouped under headings such as “Code, local laws and resolutions”, “Adopted budget”, “Independent audit report”, “Meeting agenda”, “Meeting minutes”, “Map or plan” and “Form or application”. Older versions sit under a line like “1 earlier version” and are tagged “Superseded”, which means a newer version replaced them.

Hours and contact

On the town’s page, click “Hours & contact” (on a town’s own web address it’s called “Town info”). It has whichever sections the town filled in: office hours and meeting times, how to reach the town, offices and departments, and elected and appointed officials. It’s the place to find the clerk’s office when you have a question about a notice. On a phone, tap a phone number to call it, or an email address to write to it.

Where these notices come from

The Where these notices come from page explains who publishes what you read, and lists every town on Towncrier with its official website and, if the town has one on file, its newspaper of record.

Support and deleting your data

The Support page answers the most common problems: not getting notifications, a town that isn’t listed, and deleting what’s held about you. The Delete your data page explains how to delete everything (the deleting itself happens in the app) and what is kept, and for how long.

Pages that don’t load

If a web address doesn’t exist, you’ll see “Nothing here” with a link to find your town. If a page fails to load, you’ll see “This page did not load” with “Try again” and “Find a town” buttons. It’s a fault at Towncrier’s end, not a sign that your town has published nothing, and your town holds the same record at its clerk’s office.

Ask Billy on this website

Every page of this website has an “Ask Billy” button. Billy is Towncrier’s assistant. You can ask it general questions about Towncrier at any time: what it is, how it works for residents and towns, getting the app, following a town, notifications and quiet hours, deleting your data, how a town joins, and the published prices.

  1. Click “Ask Billy”. A panel opens with a greeting: “Hi! I’m Billy. I can answer questions about Towncrier — what it is, how it works for residents and towns, and how to get started.”
  2. Tap a suggested question (“What is Towncrier?”, “How do I follow my town?”, “How does my town join?” or “What does it cost?”), or type your own in the box that says “Ask a question”.
  3. Click “Send”, or press Enter. The answer appears in the chat.
  4. Ask a follow-up if you like. To close the chat, use its close button or press the Esc key.

Good to know

  • It’s an AI assistant, not a person. Its answers can be wrong. The note under the box says so: “AI assistant — answers can be wrong. We don’t store your questions; they’re sent to Anthropic to write an answer.”
  • It never asks for personal information. You don’t need to share your name, email, phone number or address.
  • Nothing you type is stored by Towncrier. Your questions are sent to Anthropic so it can write an answer. The conversation lives only in that web page, and it’s gone when you close or reload the page.
  • It can’t see notices or make changes. It can’t look up a town’s notices, sign you up, change your settings or delete your data.
  • It isn’t for emergencies. Towncrier is not an emergency notification system. Do not rely on it for life safety.
  • Questions about a specific notice go to the town that posted it.
  • Accounts, sign-in, billing and anything it can’t answer go to a person: email support@gettowncrier.com.

Limits

  • 6 questions per chat. After the sixth, the chat says “Looks like you need a person.” and offers “Start a new chat”, which clears the conversation.
  • 12 questions per visitor per hour. After that, it says “You’ve asked a lot of questions in the last hour. Please try again later.”
  • A usage limit for each calendar month. If it’s reached early, the chat says “The assistant is taking a break until the 1st.” and points you to a person.
  • Questions of up to 800 characters. The box stops taking text once you reach 800 characters.

If the chat says it took too long, is busy, couldn’t be reached or is switched off, wait a moment and try again, or email support@gettowncrier.com. That address always reaches a person.

Frequently asked questions

More answers are on the FAQ page.

Do I need an account?

No. You never sign up or sign in. The app asks just one thing, whether it may send you notifications, and only after you follow a town.

Does it cost anything to read notices?

Nothing in the app or on the website asks you to pay, and there’s nothing to buy.

How do I find my town?

In the app, tap “Find a town” and type your town’s name, your 5-digit ZIP code, your county or your state. On the web, open Towncrier on the web and pick your town under “Towns on Towncrier”.

My town isn’t listed. Why?

A town only appears after it joins Towncrier, is checked, and chooses to be listed. If you’d like your town on Towncrier, ask your town clerk’s office, or send them the page for municipalities.

Can I follow more than one town?

Yes. Follow as many as you like. “Your feed” mixes them together, newest first.

How do I get told when my town posts something?

Follow the town on “Find a town” and tap “Allow” when your phone asks about notifications. If you said no, go to “Settings” in the app, tap “Turn on notifications”, then “Open iPhone Settings” (or “Open Settings” on Android), and switch notifications on.

Why didn’t I get a notification last night?

Towncrier never sends notifications between 9 PM and 7 AM in the town’s own time zone. The notice was public right away, and the notification arrives at 7 AM.

I got one notification that says “3 new notices”. Where are they?

When a town publishes several notices at once, they’re rolled into one notification. Tap it to open the town’s list, or check “Your feed”.

I’m not getting notifications at all. What should I check?

Three things: the town’s button on “Find a town” says “Following”; that kind of notice is switched on under “Tell me about:” in “Settings”; and notifications are allowed for Towncrier in your phone’s own Settings app.

Can I stop hearing about some kinds of notices?

Yes. In “Settings”, under each town’s “Tell me about:”, switch off kinds like “Jobs” or “Events”. They stop notifying you and leave your feed, but you can still read them on the town’s screen.

Why isn’t an older notice in “Your feed”?

“Your feed” shows current notices only. To see everything a town has published, tap its name on “Find a town”, or use “Notice archive” on the town’s web page.

Is a meeting time shown in my time or the town’s time?

Always the town’s own time zone, even if your phone is set to somewhere else.

How do I open an attached agenda or map?

Photos show inside the notice. For other files, tap the box with the file name and size. It opens in your phone’s viewer or browser.

How do I share a notice with a neighbor who doesn’t have the app?

Tap “Share this notice” in the app, or “Copy link” on the notice’s web page, and send the link. It opens as an ordinary web page for anyone.

A notice looks wrong. Who fixes it?

Only the town that published it can change it, so contact the clerk’s office. You can also tap “Report this notice” in the app. The town sees how many reports a notice got, never who sent them.

Does reporting a notice take it down?

No. Reports never remove a published notice. If many people report the same notice in a short time, the town’s notifications pause until the town looks into it.

The app says a notice “could not be loaded”. Was it withdrawn?

No. “Could not be loaded” means a connection problem on your end. A withdrawn notice says “This notice is not published, or it was withdrawn by the municipality.”

Does my town know which notices I read, or that I follow it?

No. Towns see only counts, like how many phones opened a notice. They never see a list of who follows them or who read what.

What does Towncrier know about me?

Very little: an anonymous identifier for your phone, a notification token if you turned notifications on, which towns you follow and which kinds you muted, and which notices you opened. No name, email, phone number or location. The privacy policy has the details.

Does the app use my location?

No. The app never asks for your location, camera, microphone or contacts.

How do I delete my data?

In the app, open “Settings”, scroll to the bottom, tap “Delete everything on this device” and confirm with “Delete”. It happens immediately.

Does uninstalling the app delete my data?

No. Uninstalling on its own leaves the record with Towncrier. Use “Delete everything on this device” first.

Can I rely on Towncrier in an emergency?

No. Towncrier is not an emergency notification system. Do not rely on it for life safety. Notifications are never sent overnight, and there’s no emergency category.

Do I need the app, or can I use the website?

Either works. Towncrier on the web shows every town’s notices, plus search, the archive, documents, and hours and contact details. The app adds following, notifications and your feed.

What is the “Town staff” tab?

It’s the sign-in for clerks and other town employees who post notices. Residents never need it.

Is Billy a real person?

No. Billy is an AI assistant on this website, and its answers can be wrong. For a person, email support@gettowncrier.com.

Who do I contact about the app itself?

Email support@gettowncrier.com, or see the Support page.

Getting help

  • About the app or the website (notifications, following, deleting your data, links that don’t open): email support@gettowncrier.com. A person will answer.
  • About what a notice says (a date, a place, a correction): contact the town that published it. Its contact details are on its “Hours & contact” page.
  • For a quick general question: try Ask Billy on any page of this website.
  • For common problems: see the Support page.

When you email, it helps to say which town and which notice (the title or the link), what you tapped, and the exact message you saw. You never need to send a password. Towncrier doesn’t have one for you.

For residents

Get the app

Follow your town and Towncrier tells you when it posts something.

Read on the web: find your town

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