About Swirl Help Topics
- Language support: in what languages is Swirl Connect available?
- Signup vs. Quick Signup
- Costs: what does it cost to use Swirl Connect?
- Compatibility: will Swirl Connect work on my phone?
- New features: what additional features can I expect in the future?
- Do I need a phone to use Swirl Connect?
- Swirl Forum: Before You Begin
Language support: in what languages is Swirl Connect available?
Swirl Connect is currently available in English, French, German, and Spanish. We're always looking for volunteers to translate it into other languages, so let us know if you'd like to help out.
The My Swirl web site is only available in English at the moment. We hope to address this soon.
Signup vs. Quick Signup
Most of the Quick Signup vs. Signup discussion was moved to our wiki. You can register for an account using our regular signup or our Quick Signup option. Our Quick Signup option requires far less information, but at the expense of functionality. If you choose Quick Signup, you can always modify your account at any time to enable any missing features. Our recommendation is to use Quick Signup if you don't think the missing functionality will affect your experience using Swirl. Here are the limitations of Quick Signup:
- We might have trouble locating you accurately or at all, which means we might not be able to show you what's near you. However, when you check-in to a placemark, we can pinpoint you provided that you choose the "startup at last known location" setting.
- Because we don't know what kind of phone you're using, we can't choose the correct build for you. So you'll need to select your build manually, or use your phone's WAP browser to connect to our download site where we can auto-detect your phone model.
- Your friends will not be able to use the Quick Talk feature to quickly place calls to you. In private alpha testing, this feature was almost entirely undiscovered anyway and may be removed in a future release.
- Because we don't know your phone number, we can't "push" messages to you. This means that instant messages to your phone, location-based alerts, and friend status and activity alerts cannot be automatically sent to you. You can manually retrieve them however.
Costs: what does it cost to use Swirl Connect?
Swirl Connect is free to download and use, so the only charge will be the rate your carrier charges you for data access. These charges will vary by carrier. Some carriers charge a per KB transfer rate, while others charge a flat fee for up to so many KB or MB of data transfer.
We've attempted to minimize these data charges in many ways, including compression, relays, our own messaging framework, smart polling and synchronization, and the list goes on. Even still, when you use Swirl regularly, these data transfer charges can add up, so we recommend that you use one of your carrier's data plans, rather than pay for these charges piece by piece.
Compatibility: will Swirl Connect work on my phone?
The easiest way to find out is to go to the Device Support section, select your phone manufacturer, and view the list of supported handsets for that manufacturer. Selecting a phone model will enable you to view support status, test status, and any known issues.
Swirl Connect uses many advanced features like multimedia messaging, wireless messaging, Bluetooth, and location-based services, but we've also taken care to make Swirl work with devices that don't have all of these advanced features available.
You might also be interested in reading these related FAQ's on what to do if your phone is not on our device support list, and the minimum phone requirements for using Swirl Connect.
Do I need a phone to use Swirl Connect?
No, but Swirl Connect is intended to be used on both your PC and your mobile phone. Swirl Connect is a crossover application, meaning it supports real time interaction among web and mobile users, so web-to-web, mobile-to-mobile, web-to-mobile, and mobile-to-web interaction are all possible.
First and foremost, Swirl Connect is mobile social software, keeping you connected with people and places while you're on the move. It also has a browser-based control panel that 1) helps manage your mobile experience, 2) archives your mobile activity, 3) serves as a standalone people and place finder. Without a mobile phone, you're limited to using Swirl as a people and place finder via your web browser of choice.
So no, you'd don't need a mobile phone to use Swirl Connect. In fact, a few of our alpha testers reported that they would use Swirl as a standalone application even if there weren't a mobile component. But we recommend that you use both to get the most out of the service.