Questions, answered.

Never. Tyknit is the ledger, not the bank: contributions settle on your circle’s own rails — M-Pesa, UPI, Pix, SEPA, bank transfer, cards through Paystack, even cash at the table — straight into the account the circle controls. Tyknit records each payment when the provider or the treasurer confirms it, and the ledger is append-only, so a mistake is corrected by a reversing entry that everyone can see, never by deletion.

Only through a member’s vouch — there are no invite links. Joining a Tyknit circle takes five steps: a member nominates you, a second member independently endorses you, the circle vets you against its own constitution, the members vote by secret ballot, and you serve a probation period. The sponsor’s own standing is staked on you for a year, which is why a Tyknit circle stays tight-knit at any size.

No. Tyknit signs you in with your phone number and an SMS code, the way WhatsApp does, because that is what every member of a chama or stokvel already has. Email is optional and only used for receipts and account recovery if you choose to add it.

Standing is a member’s tier — probationary, member, or pillar — earned from what they actually do inside Tyknit: contributions kept, promises honoured, vouches that held. It is never a public score and never a leaderboard; officers see it when admitting members and approving asks, and it travels with you between circles through your Passport.

Belonging is free forever. Joining a circle, participating, asking for help, receiving help, introductions, vouching and chat are never charged. A circle — never an individual member — can pay a small monthly plan for extra infrastructure such as treasury reports, automated reminders, SMS and document storage; founding circles are on Tyknit free while the product is shaped around them. On provider-settled contributions Tyknit keeps at most 0.75%, and 0% on medical, bereavement and emergency campaigns.

A Tyknit fundraiser — education, medical, bereavement or charity — is opened by a member who stakes their standing on it, so every campaign has a real person answerable for it. Contributions land on the circle’s own rails and post to the ledger, and the campaign page shows ledger-verified progress that anyone with the link can check. Compassion campaigns carry no platform fee.

Yes. Tyknit keeps one ledger no matter which rail a member pays on, so a cousin in London can settle by SEPA or bank transfer, a member in Nairobi by M-Pesa, and one in São Paulo by Pix, and all three appear in the same treasury in the circle’s home currency. Tyknit never moves the money itself; licensed partners do, and the ledger records what landed.

Yes on Android: Tyknit is on Google Play, and the listing is linked from the top of every page on tyknit.net. Tyknit also runs in any browser at app.tyknit.net and installs to your home screen as a web app, so nobody is blocked waiting for a download. The iPhone app is still in preparation; your account and circles carry over between all three unchanged.