Share text and optional photos with Community from the compose sheet on Explore or Saved, or the inline editor on My Posts. This article covers writing, photos, anonymous posting, and what happens when you tap Post—not browsing feeds (see Exploring posts).
Open the compose sheet
01
Explore
Open Community and stay on Explore or switch to Saved. On either sub-tab, tap the add-post icon in the header row beside the Community title.
02
Create Post
A sheet opens with Cancel on the left, Create Post centered, and Post on the right. The Post button stays disabled until your draft passes validation.
03
Cancel
Tap Cancel to close the sheet when you have no draft. If you typed text, added photos, or changed the Anonymous toggle from your Settings default, a confirmation appears first.
Write your post
01
Have something to share?
Tap the text area and type your message. The placeholder reads Have something to share?
02
0/1000
A character counter below the editor shows your count out of 1,000. The counter turns orange past 800 characters and red if you exceed the limit.
03
Post
Post enables only when trimmed text is between 1 and 1,000 characters. Photos alone do not enable Post—you need at least one character of text.
04
Posting...
After you tap Post and all gates pass, a Posting... message appears while the app saves your post.
Add photos (optional)
01
Add Image
Tap Add Image below the text editor to open the photo picker. You can attach up to four images per post.
02
Add Image
Selected photos appear as thumbnails under the editor. Tap the remove control on a thumbnail to drop that photo before you publish.
03
Post images
After you publish, photos appear in the post card grid on Explore—see Exploring posts for how readers view them.
Post anonymously or with your name
01
Anonymous
In the compose sheet, use the Anonymous toggle in the header row beside your avatar. When on, the post shows as Anonymous User in feeds.
02
Anonymous
On My Posts, the same toggle appears in the footer row when the inline composer is expanded.
03
Community profile settings
A new composer starts with the Anonymous default from Settings → Community. Change that default in Community profile settings.
Compose on My Posts
01
My Posts
Tap My Posts in the sub-tab row. An inline composer sits at the top of the feed—no header add-post icon on this sub-tab.
02
Have something to share?
Tap the inline editor to expand it. Cancel and Post appear in a footer row while the composer is open; your published posts list below when the editor is collapsed.
03
Cancel
Cancel or Post collapses the inline composer. Switching to another sub-tab also collapses it—see My Posts for editing or deleting posts you already published.
Cancel or discard a draft
01
Cancel
Tap Cancel in the sheet header or My Posts footer. With no draft changes, the composer closes immediately.
02
Discard Changes?
When text, photos, or an Anonymous toggle change is unsaved, an alert titled Discard Changes? offers Keep Editing or Discard Changes.
03
Keep Editing
Keep Editing returns you to the draft. On the compose sheet, swipe-to-dismiss is blocked while unsaved changes exist.
Before your post publishes
01
Community rules
If you have not accepted the current Community rules version, tapping Post opens the Community rules acceptance sheet first. Accept to continue toward publish—see the Community rules article for full policy text.
02
Couldn't post
When your draft matches a bundled prohibited phrase, an alert titled Couldn't post appears—review Community Guidelines, edit your text, and tap Post again.
03
Explore
After a successful Post from the sheet, the compose sheet closes and the active feed refreshes. From My Posts, the composer collapses and your new post appears in the list.
🔒Published post text and photos sync to the CloudKit Public Database so other members can read them. Your display name or Anonymous User label comes from your community profile—the Anonymous toggle applies per post. Reactions and bookmarks stay private to your Apple ID through iCloud.
Need to change a post after it publishes? See My Posts for edit and delete. Community rules and Community profile settings cover acceptance, reporting, and how your name appears in feeds.