Common questions, answered honestly

FriendsWithTools puts first names on tools. Add friends you actually know, see what they can lend, and borrow with a return date attached. Add your own tools so they can borrow back. Groups are an optional layer for a street, a congregation, or a makerspace. Nothing is public and no money changes hands.

No. Joining is free and open. The invite-only part is what matters: nobody sees your tools unless you've accepted them as a friend or joined a group together. You bring your people; strangers never appear.

Yes. Creating a group, adding tools, borrowing, lending, and messaging are all free for everyone. The free plan includes up to three groups, which covers most people starting out. Paid plans add unlimited groups and features for larger or more active groups (calendar sync, maintenance tracking, advanced reservations).

No. FriendsWithTools is for sharing between friends and groups you're invited into. You don't buy, sell, or rent anything, money never changes hands, and there are no ratings or public listings.

No. You can use FriendsWithTools entirely from the web. The mobile app makes things faster on the go: push notifications when borrow requests come in, photo capture when adding tools, browse on the way to the hardware store. It's available for iOS and Android at friendswithtools.io/get-the-app.

Turn on Nearby. FriendsWithTools suggests neighbors who've opted in too. You see a name and an approximate area, never an address, and nobody's tools are visible until you're friends. Send a request, and when they accept, your shelves open to each other. Starting a group for your street or building works too.

Find the tool on a friend's shelf, send a request with a return date, and coordinate pickup in the message thread once they approve. Return it, mark it returned, done.

That's between borrower and owner, same as it would be without the app. The norm in most groups: if you break it, you fix it or replace it. The tool's message thread keeps whatever you agreed in writing.

Every borrow has an expected return date you both agree on. If a tool is overdue, the app reminds the borrower. Beyond that, FriendsWithTools is built for people who already trust each other. If someone habitually ignores returns, you can unfriend or remove them. Trust is the whole foundation; we don't override it.

No. You can borrow even if you haven't added any tools. That said, sharing works best when most people contribute something. Even one or two tools you're willing to lend helps everyone.

Only friends you've accepted and members of groups you've joined. Your tools are never public, never on a marketplace, never indexed by search engines. Personal accounts have no public pages at all.

A group is a private, invite-only space you create or get invited to, useful when the crowd is bigger than a friendship: a block, a shop, a congregation. Members see the group's tools; nobody else does.

Your email, the tools you choose to share, your borrow activity within your groups, and basic analytics (how often you use the app, what device, etc.). We don't sell your data. The details, in plain language, are in our privacy policy.

NextDoor (and similar neighborhood apps) are public broadcast platforms. Anyone in your area can see your post asking for a tool, and anyone can respond. FriendsWithTools is the opposite: only people you've accepted or invited can see your tools or your activity. See our compare page for a fuller breakdown.

Sign up for free, then create a new group from your dashboard. Give it a name (e.g. 'South Park Hill Tools'), choose whether new members need approval, and invite your first members by email or shareable link.

There's no rule, but groups of 8–25 households tend to work well: big enough that someone usually has the tool you need, small enough that everyone still knows everyone. The free plan already covers up to three groups (neighborhood + workplace + extended family); paid plans lift that to unlimited.

Yes. The free plan includes up to three groups, which is plenty to start: your neighborhood, your family, maybe your coworking space or congregation. Premium members can be in as many as they like. Each group's tools stay separate.

FriendsWithTools works anywhere in the US. You can start with friends and neighbors from day one. Some cities have dedicated landing pages where we're helping the first groups form; see the full list (and request your city) on the cities page.