AuPairWorld's tools

It is possible to contact au pairs or host families in a protected environment using the AuPairWorld Messenger. Your own contact details are not visible to others at any time while you’re using the Messenger. The AuPairWorld Messenger is accessed by logged-in users from their dashboard or personal area on the AuPairWorld website. Using the Messenger, you can send the au pair or host family pre-written texts (so-called Ice Breakers) even before a Premium Membership has been purchased. Au pairs and host families with a Premium Membership can exchange written messages, voice messages, photos and videos as they wish. You decide yourself when and with whom you exchange data.

Yes, with the Ice Breaker function in Messenger, you have the option of sending a pre-written message, which makes it easier for you to make initial contact. Ice Breakers can also be sent by host families who have not yet purchased a Premium Membership.

Host families must purchase a Premium Membership in order to be able to write personal messages to au-pairs and read the messages that au pairs have sent to them. Au pairs can always write and read messages without restrictions. Host families who have not yet purchased a Premium Membership can send and receive Ice Breakers (pre-written texts to show initial interest).

Messages are not translated. You can choose which language you write in. Au pairs and host families can decide together what language is most effective for their initial communication.

The pre-written texts of the Ice Breakers are automatically displayed in the language that is shown in your profile.

If the text of the message is in bold print, then you have not read it yet. Your messages are shown in your Dashboard under Messages and in the Messenger itself.  

You can delete a chat by clicking on the arrow on the left in the list of all your chats. Please note: After this has been done, the chat history cannot be restored.

It can happen that you receive a notification of new messages by email, but you cannot find any new messages in your Messenger. This is not a technical error; rather it has two possible causes:

• You have already read these messages in the meantime.

Our system checks at regular intervals whether you have received new messages. If this is the case, you will receive an email notification. However, the system does not take into account whether you have logged into your profile in the meantime or not. This means that you may sometimes receive a notification email after you have read the message(s) that the email is telling you about. In this case, you will not see any messages that are displayed as new.

• Your conversation partner has deactivated his or her profile in the meantime.

A conversation partner has sent you a new message and you are notified about this by email. If your conversation partner then deactivates his or her profile before you look in your Messenger, the conversation will no longer be displayed there.

In the AuPairWorld Messenger, you can only see conversations with au pairs or host families who have logged in within the last 14 days. The reason for this is as follows: Many customers have complained in the past that there are too many old messages lying around in their inboxes from conversation partners who have not been looking for a long time. So, in order to free the inbox from old and irrelevant conversations, conversations will be hidden if the au pair or host family in question has not logged in during the last 14 days. If you don't like this change, please feel free to give us your feedback.

You can easily take the first step towards a host family or au pair with a pre-written “Ice Breaker” and show your interest without having to formulate a message yourself. After that, the ice is broken and you can move ahead with the communication.

Yes, within the chat you can see at the top under the user’s name if the au-pair or host family is currently online and might read your message soon. You can also see when your chat partner was last online.

Yes, as soon as the person you are chatting with has read your message, the two ticks will turn green.

In the Messenger, you can see if you have received new messages from the message symbol (an orange dot) at the top of the screen. You can also see in your Dashboard which messages you have received recently.

If you want to end a conversation, you can indicate that to the au pair or host family using predefined texts that are available for this purpose. You then have the option to delete the chat.

This is probably the result of pre-existing cache and cookie settings in your browser. To fix the problem, log out of your profile, delete your cookies and browsing history and log in again. After a short reload, your migrated messages should be displayed.

Please note: Previous messages will only be migrated and shown if:

• Your messaging partner is still active
• The previous messages are not older than 60 days

We are very sorry if you are having problems making use of our Messenger. Here are some tips that may help to solve your problems and allow full use of the system:

1. Clear the cookies and cache in your internet browser:

• Open the Settings in your browser.
• Locate the option for saved cookies and cache.  
• Delete all cookies and clear the browser cache. 

• Restart your browser and check if the problem with the Messenger has been solved. 

   

  How to delete cookies on different internet browsers:

  Anleitung für Chrome: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop

  Anleitung für Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-clear-firefox-cache

  Anleitung für Edge: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge/learning-center/how-to-manage-and-clear-your-cache-and-cookies?form=MA13I2

  Anleitung für Safari: https://support.apple.com/en-mide/105082

   

  2. Try using the Incognito or Private mode in your internet browser:

• Open a window in your current browser in Incognito or Private mode. This will make it so that temporary data is not saved is not saved, which may prevent conflicts with other saved data so that problems loading the Messenger do not occur. 

• Check if the problem still occurs in Incognito mode.

  
  3. Try using a different browser / different device / different network:

• If you have several internet browsers installed, try using a different one. Your Messenger problem may be related to the specific browser that you have been using. 
• Check if you can avoid the problem by using another computer or mobile device. 
• Check if the problem occurs only in your local network (WLAN) or also using mobile data via your smartphone.  

• Also make sure that you are not using the Messenger via a VPN connection (from an office or company network). With a VPN it can be that certain accesses are blocked which prevents the Messenger from functioning correctly.  

   

If none of these steps have helped with solving the problem and you continue to encounter errors in using the Messenger, there are two further steps you can take: : 

• Check in the AuPairWorld Idea Community, to see if your problem has already been identified and registered. In the Idea Community, you can vote for prioritizing bug fixing for different issues. This helps us to identify and solve the most urgent problems that users are having.
• Report your problem or defect to us: Report the problem to the AuPairWorld Idea Community as described above. 
• Contact our Support-Team if you have an urgent problem. 

  • Describe the problem in as much detail as possible. Include the steps you have taken to help us understand the error and reproduce it. Include screenshots or error messages to help with analysing the error and specify which browser and device you are using when the error occurs. 

     

    Thank you for your patience and we hope that your problems using the Messenger have been solved.

AuPairWorld is the world's leading au pair agency on the Internet. With AuPairWorld, you have the opportunity to find an au pair or host family directly and independently. In our section "How to use AuPairWorld" you get an overview of how you can use the platform as an au pair or host family to organize an au pair stay.  

• Becoming a host family – find out how
• Becoming an au pair – find out how
• About AuPairWorld

AuPairWorld does not provide this kind of support. However, our highly experienced team will gladly help you by phone or email should any difficulties arise during the au pair stay. You can reach us from anywhere in the world. Moreover, we provide many answers to questions concerning the au pair placement on our website.  

We have found that a frank and open-minded conversation generally helps resolve most misunderstandings and conflicts between au pairs and host families. In this context, it is also a good idea for au pairs to ask their friends and family for advice. Thanks to email, Skype and phone service, au pairs can nowadays easily get in touch with their loved ones. While abroad, they can stay in touch with their friends and relatives without difficulty and turn to them if they need help in resolving problems that they encounter. Our team is certainly always gladly at your disposal by phone or email, should you need our help. We offer support in six different languages.

The EasyFind is a feature only offered to registered users on AuPairWorld. It displays profiles of active au pairs or families who correspond to the search criteria of the respective user. Using EasyFind, au pairs and host families have the opportunity to list their search results according to relevance, registration date or last logins. The EasyFind is thus a key tool that helps users find and contact a matching au pair or host family easily and quickly.

The Daily Update is an email that you will receive each time there are new registrations that match your search criteria.

In order to receive the Daily Update, you need to have logged in within the last 14 days and your profile has to be active. In addition, your preferred start date must be in the future.

If you do not wish to receive the Daily Update, you can uncheck the corresponding box in your profile settings.

You can select the language that will be used in any emails and notifications that you receive from AuPairWorld as well as the default language for the website as a whole in your profile settings.