Introducing our new messaging and application experience

We're always looking for new ways to enhance your TrustedHousesitters experience, and now, we've got some new and improved inbox and application features to share with you! Designed to make it easier than ever for pet parents and sitters to message each other and organize sits, here’s everything you need to know...

What’s new for all members? 

• Brand new inbox layout
• Previously, members were finding it difficult to find the conversation thread and to load past conversations - this is now clearly signposted
• We’ve made some fixes so that the correct times are shown on messages sent for all timezones
• You can now archive lapsed or inactive members 
• On the web inbox, you can now send image messages (aligned with our app) 
• Favorites page for sitter and sits

We've also made some backend tweaks which will make it much easier for us to make new improvements in the future.

What’s new for pet parents:

• We’ve added a new assignment page that shows the active dates of your upcoming sits, including the sitters who are active and have applied, as well as the sitters who you have declined or who have withdrawn their application
• We’ve made it clearer when you have multiple dates live
• We can now display when your listing is active or when it has been paused, and we’ve made it clearer how to unpause the listing if you would like to receive more sitter applications 
• Invites now can’t be sent without a message
• Invites won’t be able to be sent to sitters who already have a confirmed sit 
• We’ve also made it easier for pet parents to add private dates and directly invite a previous sitter, all without the sit going live on their profile for other sitters to see

What’s new for sitters:

• If a pet parent adjusts their dates and already has a sitter confirmed, we’ve now made it clearer that the sitter has to confirm the new date change, and then confirm the sit
• This also gives the sitter the option to withdraw their application, if they can no longer make the amended dates
• If a pet parent edits their dates after applicants have applied, the sitter will be alerted that these dates have changed. If they’re not available for these new dates, they will also have the option to withdraw their application
• For sitters, your ‘Favorites’ is now on a separate page, making it easier to view. These can also be sorted by listings currently ‘Looking for a sitter’

Anything else? 

As we introduce these new features, we’ve decided not to include inbox labels within the new inbox. Inbox labels had very low usage, and many of our members mentioned that they would prefer we prioritize other features instead. We are sorry to any members who did like the inbox label feature, however, we really hope you’ll enjoy using our new and improved inbox features moving forward!

Thank you to our amazing members

Finally, a huge shout-out to all of our members who took part in our Beta testing group. Because of your detailed feedback, we’ve been able to create something that’s far more user-friendly for our members. Thank you!