For residents
Buurtmaat is for residents only. You join with the letter delivered to your address. Here you can read how it works, what you can do as a volunteer and what residents often ask.
The app
Buurtmaat brings everything about your village or neighbourhood together, on your phone or on the computer. These are real screens from the app, with the made-up demo village Heidebeek.
You read posts from neighbours, news and polls from your own village or neighbourhood. Messages from the municipality, the village council or the neighbourhood council are at the top, with the Official badge. So you never miss a road closure or a warning.
Ask for help with shopping, a small job or a lift to the GP. Or offer help yourself, for example with a tablet or in the garden. Neighbours respond, and you see who wants to help.
Reply to a help request with a private message and make arrangements together. Only the two of you can read the conversation. In the app's notification list you can see comments, private messages and bookings, even if you have push notifications turned off.
Give away things you no longer use, sell them to your neighbours, or look for something on the market. In the sharing cupboard, neighbours lend each other a ladder, a trailer or a pressure washer: you choose a period and the owner approves your booking.
See what's on: drinks in the village hall, a walking group or a pruning day. Join with one tap. Or organise something yourself and ask who wants to join.
Volunteers from your village or neighbourhood who help if you don't have a smartphone or find the app difficult.
You get in with the code from the letter delivered to your address. What you post is not public on the internet.
The app is available in ten languages. Write in your own language; with the translation package, your neighbours read it in theirs.
There are no adverts, there are no like counters and we don't track you.
How it works
As soon as the municipality, a welfare organisation, housing association, village council, neighbourhood council or residents' association starts Buurtmaat in your village or neighbourhood, every address gets a letter with a personal code and a QR code.
Open Buurtmaat and enter the code. Or scan the QR code with your phone's camera. With one letter, up to five people at the same address can join.
Read what's going on, ask for or offer help and sign up for activities. On your phone or on the computer.
If you haven't received a letter yet, use the postcode check to see whether Buurtmaat is already active in your village or neighbourhood.
Postcode check
Enter your postcode to see whether Buurtmaat is already active in your village or neighbourhood. We only store your postcode if you send us a message.
Enter the code from the letter or scan the QR code with your phone. With one letter, up to five people at the same address can join.
I have a codeVolunteers
Residents who want to do something extra for their neighbours can become a neighbourhood buddy, moderator or ambassador. All three roles are voluntary: you decide whether and how much time you put in.
Frequently asked questions
Then come to the drop-in session at the village hall or community centre. They will help you there.
With the letter for your address, up to five people can create an account.
A neighbourhood buddy is a neighbour who helps as a volunteer: posts a help request for people without a smartphone, helps look for a helper and explains the app. It is informal help, not a replacement for professional care. A village or neighbourhood doesn't have to have neighbourhood buddies: it's possible if there are volunteers.
An ambassador makes Buurtmaat known in the village or neighbourhood. Ambassadors talk about it, hand out leaflets and help new residents get started. In the app they see, per street, which house numbers have not joined yet, without names.
A moderator is a resident who volunteers to help keep Buurtmaat pleasant in the village or neighbourhood. A moderator decides on reports from neighbours and on posts held back by the automatic check, approves polls and can close comments. The administrator chooses who is a moderator. AnchorWorks helps with serious cases. Anyone who reports something stays anonymous, also to the moderator.
Yes. You open Buurtmaat in the browser on your phone or computer. Want it as an app? Then add Buurtmaat to your home screen with a few taps.
No. There are no adverts, there are no like counters and there is no tracking.
Yes. Buurtmaat is available in ten languages: Dutch, English, Turkish, Arabic, Polish, German, French, Spanish, Chinese and Italian. You choose your language in the app under More › My profile. You can also write in your own language. If your village or neighbourhood has the translation package, a neighbour who reads another language taps Translate. Only the text then goes to the language model that translates it, never your name, your address or your account. Are there neighbours' names, addresses, phone numbers or email addresses in the text? Buurtmaat replaces them first, and puts them back after translating. The original always stays visible: tap Show original. You can read more in the privacy statement.
Report it: you stay anonymous. Moderators from your village or neighbourhood look at the report. What your neighbours post publicly is also checked automatically before you see it; anything clearly serious, such as a threat or a scam, then stays hidden. AnchorWorks also keeps an eye on serious cases in all villages and neighbourhoods. If you no longer want to see someone, you can block that person.