Members and roles in a Padelio community — how to invite, approve, and moderate
Last updated 2026-05-10
Invite by name search (existing Padelio user) or by sharing a referral link (any approved member can generate one). Private communities — and any community with Require approval on — route joiners into a PENDING queue for the Owner or an Admin to approve. Promote trusted members to Admin so they can approve, invite, and block without bothering the Owner.
Inviting
There are two real ways to add a member to a community:
1. Direct invite (Owner or Admin only)
From the Members tab, tap Invite by name and type the user's name. Pick them from the suggestions and tap Send invite. They get a notification and can accept it from there or from the community page. The invite creates a CommunityMember row with status INVITED, which the recipient turns into APPROVED by accepting.
This path requires the recipient to already have a Padelio account. Email-based invites for new users aren't supported on communities (unlike crews).
2. Referral link (any approved member)
From the community page, tap Share to copy a referral link of the form app.padelio.org/community/<id>?ref=<code>. The ref is a per-user referral code — each member generates their own. Anyone who opens the link and signs in is routed to the community's join screen.
Whether they join immediately or land in the PENDING queue depends on the community's privacy and approval settings — see below.
Padelio doesn't generate community-specific QR codes in-app. To share via QR, generate a QR for the referral URL using any QR generator. (The crew, tournament, and league surfaces have built-in QR codes; communities do not.)
Self-discovery (public communities only)
If the community is Public, it shows up in the Browse tab when users search. Anyone who finds it can tap Join. Public + auto-approve means immediate membership; public + require approval means PENDING queue.
Join flow and approval
A community has two independent toggles that combine to define the join experience:
isPublic | requiresApproval | Result for a new joiner |
|---|---|---|
| true | false | Auto-approve. Anyone joins immediately via Browse or referral link |
| true | true | Listed in Browse. Joiners go to PENDING queue |
| false | false | Hidden from Browse. Referral link auto-approves |
| false | true | Hidden from Browse. Referral link routes to PENDING queue |
The default at create time is Private + Require approval (the schema's isPublic defaults to false and requiresApproval defaults to true). Toggle either from settings any time.
Pending joiners appear in the Members tab under a Pending section. Approve them with one tap; reject sends a polite "request declined" message. Blocked users never reach the queue again.
Roles
Communities have three roles in the CommunityMemberRole enum: OWNER, ADMIN, MEMBER. (No Moderator role — that name is from older drafts of the help center.)
Owner
The creator. There's exactly one. Owner-only powers:
- Edit the community's settings (name, description, cover image, privacy, approval requirement).
- Promote a member to Admin / demote an Admin back to Member.
- Delete the community.
Plus everything an Admin can do.
Padelio doesn't have a transfer-ownership flow for communities today. Ownership stays with the original creator until the community is deleted.
Admin
Promoted by the Owner. Permissions:
- Approve or reject pending join requests.
- Invite users directly by name.
- Block / unblock disruptive members.
- Remove members from the community.
Admins cannot edit the community's settings (name, description, privacy, cover image), promote other Admins, or delete the community.
Member
The default for everyone who joins. Permissions:
- See the community page, members list, and events feed.
- Generate a personal referral link to invite others.
- Join community-linked tournaments and leagues.
- RSVP to community events.
Removing and blocking
From any member's row in the Members tab:
- Remove — drops them from the community. They can rejoin if the community is public, or if someone re-invites them, or via a referral link (subject to approval rules).
- Block — drops them and prevents rejoining. The user moves into the Blocked list with status BLOCKED. Reversible: from the Blocked list, tap Unblock to clear the status (they'd then need to rejoin like any new member).
The Owner and any Admin can remove or block members. Admins cannot block other Admins; the Owner is the only role that can demote or remove an Admin.
Where to go next
- Settings (privacy, approval, linked events): communities/settings.
- Just landed in a community? See getting-started/joining-a-community from the joining side.
FAQ
- Can a community member invite others?
- Yes — any approved member can generate a referral link to share. Direct invites (sending a notification to a specific Padelio user by name) are restricted to Owner and Admin roles only. There's no per-community toggle for this; the rule is hardcoded.
- What's the difference between an Admin and the Owner?
- Communities have three roles — Owner, Admin, Member. Admins can approve / reject join requests, invite users directly, and block / unblock disruptive members. Admins cannot edit the community's settings (name, description, privacy, cover image), promote others to Admin, transfer ownership, or delete the community — those are Owner-only.
- Can I block a disruptive member?
- Yes. From the member's row, choose **Block**. Blocked users are removed from the community and can't rejoin (referral links bounce them). You can unblock them any time from the **Blocked** list — they'd then need to rejoin like a new member.
- Is there a Moderator role?
- No. Older help content referenced a "Moderator" role, but the actual role enum has Owner, Admin, Member only. The role you'd promote a trusted helper to is **Admin**.
See something off? Suggest a fix — emails support@padelio.org with the article and a prefilled subject.