Saved activities and alerts
Two different jobs, both about things you have not booked yet. Saving keeps track of something you have already found. A location alert tells you about something that does not exist yet.
Save an activity
Click the heart. It sits in the top-right of every activity card, and in the header of the activity's own page. Click it again to unsave.
Saved activities collect on one page, Saved & watchlist, reached from your account menu. Saving needs an account — click the heart while signed out and Famlo asks you to sign in first, then puts you back where you were.
The page opens with a line that sums up the whole feature: activities you're keeping an eye on, and sold-out ones act as a waitlist — we'll notify you the moment a spot opens.
What the saved page shows
Two sections, one under the other. There are no tabs.
Saved activities lists each saved activity with a thumbnail, the organization, the date and time, the price, and a badge saying where you stand:
| Badge | What it means |
|---|---|
| You're registered | You have a confirmed booking |
| You're on the waitlist | The activity is full |
| This activity has ended | It has already started or finished |
| Only N spots left | Five or fewer places remain |
| Spots open | Places are available |
Beside the badge, a recurring activity says how often it repeats.
Each row carries an action to match its badge. You're registered and You're on the waitlist offer View activity. Spots open and Only N spots left offer Register. An ended activity offers nothing.
Saved organizations sits underneath, and appears only when you have organizations saved. It lists each one with its type, and a heart to remove it.
To keep track of an organization, use Follow on its listing. That is what tells Famlo you want to hear when it posts something new. See Finding and joining organizations.
Saving a full activity is joining the waitlist
Famlo calls this a waitlist, because that is the word families use for it. But it does not work the way a queue works, and the difference is worth knowing before you rely on it.
On a full activity the button reads Join the waitlist. Pressing it saves the activity; that is the whole mechanism. Underneath, the page says how many families are already waiting, or "This event is full — be the first on the waitlist." Once you are on, the button reads You're on the waitlist.
When a place frees up, everyone who saved that activity is notified at the same moment, and whoever registers first takes it. The notification says so plainly: everyone waiting was just alerted, first to register gets it.
Nobody holds a position on the waitlist. There is no queue, no ordering, no seat held for you, and joining earlier does not put you ahead of anyone. You are not promoted into a place — you are told a place exists, at the same time as everyone else, and you have to go and register for it.
To leave the waitlist, unsave the activity.
The one alert saved items send
A saved activity sends exactly one kind of notification: a place opened up. It arrives in your notifications and by email, titled "A spot opened in" and the activity's name, and it links to the activity page rather than straight to checkout so you can see what you are claiming.
Famlo will not send it if you already hold a booking for that activity, and it will not send it twice while an earlier one is still unread — so a run of cancellations does not bury you.
There is no alert for an activity filling up, no countdown of places remaining, and no reminder about a saved activity you never booked.
Remove a saved item
Removing is the only thing you can do to a saved item. There is nothing to rename, reorder or file away.
- On the saved page, click the filled heart at the right-hand end of the row.
- Anywhere else, click the filled heart on the card or on the activity page.
Either removes it immediately, with no confirmation step.
Saved items are not tidied up for you. An activity that has already happened stays on the page, badged This activity has ended, until you remove it yourself.
Location alerts
A location alert watches an area for you. When a new activity is published that matches, Famlo tells you.
Open Location alerts from your account menu. You have to be signed in — there is no way to set one up without an account.
Create an alert
- Go to Location alerts.
- Under New alert, choose a State. This is the only required field.
- Narrow it if you want to. Everything below is optional:
- City (optional) — must match the activity's city
- Category (optional) — or leave it on Any category
- Type (optional) — Class, Field trip, Meetup, Workshop, Drop-in, Co-op or Camp, or leave it on Any type
- Min age (optional) and Max age (optional) — the alert fires when your age range overlaps the activity's
- Keywords (optional) — matched against the activity's title and description, for example robotics or chess
- Click Save alert.
Leave a field blank and it matches everything. A state-only alert catches every new activity in that state.
Your alerts
Saved alerts are listed under Your alerts, each summarised in a line like "New activities in Austin, TX · Science". Underneath, each shows No matches yet or the date of the last match.
Remove is the only thing you can do to an existing alert. There is no way to edit one, so to change an alert, remove it and create a replacement. Removing asks you to confirm.
What you get, and when
When a newly published activity matches, you get a notification in Famlo and an email. Both link to the activity.
You are notified once per activity, however many of your alerts it matched, and republishing the same activity never re-notifies you. If you own the organization that published it, you are not alerted about your own activity.
There is no radius. Matching is by state, and by city if you set one — not by distance from a point. There is also no expiry date, no pausing, and no way to watch a particular organization. Follow an organization on its listing if that is what you want.
Saved items or location alerts?
| Use it for | |
|---|---|
| Saved & watchlist | An activity you have already found. Keeps it to hand, and puts you on the waitlist if it is full. |
| Location alerts | Activities that do not exist yet. Tells you when something new is published in an area. |
Most families end up using both.
Troubleshooting
I saved a full activity — where do I stand? Nowhere in particular, and that is by design. You are on the list, you will be told the instant a place opens, and so will everyone else on it. Be quick.
I got a spot-opened alert and the activity was full again by the time I clicked. Somebody registered first. The alert goes to everyone at once. Saving it again keeps you in for next time.
I am not getting spot-opened emails. Check Email is ticked for the relevant category under notification settings, and look in your spam folder.
My location alert has never matched anything. Check the summary line under Your alerts. Narrow filters — a city plus a category plus an age range plus keywords — can be strict enough that almost nothing qualifies. Remove it and create a wider one.
I want to change an alert's city. You cannot edit an alert. Remove it and create a new one.
Past activities are cluttering my saved page. Remove them with the heart. Nothing is cleared out automatically.
The heart does nothing. Saving requires an account. Sign in and try again.
What next
- Finding activities — where the heart appears
- Registering and checking out — claiming a place when one opens
- Notification settings — which channels these alerts use
- Finding and joining organizations — following an organization instead