Where is my external participant?
Once you’ve invited your participants (scouts) and launched your mission, your next step is ensuring they get started. Use the Manage page to track their progress.
If external participants get stuck, it’s usually somewhere in the Invited status stage. When a scout is listed as Invited, click their individual message bubble to determine whether or not their unique link is visible.

If their unique link is visible, this means they have not yet created an account (to do that, they need to click the “Claim Your Spot” button in the system email they received). In this situation, their contact (whether that’s you, or a third-party recruiter) should send them their unique link via your original method of contact (not through the dscout platform), as dscout’s emails may be going to their spam or promotion inboxes (our emails come from participate@dscout.com). The unique link will allow scouts to create their account just the same way the dscout system email would.
If their unique link is not visible, but they are still showing as Invited, this means that they have created their account but have not yet accepted the mission in the dscout app. There are a few places they could be stuck:
- Created account on desktop without realizing they need to download the dscout app
- Unable to find the dscout app
- Downloaded app but forgot to log in/forgot password
- Downloaded app and can’t find mission
In the case where participants are listed as Invited for 24-48 hours, it’s recommended to reach out to them (via dscout OR via another method) to determine where exactly they are stuck.
If the participant does not have the Invited marker next to their name, this means they have accepted the mission; that is, they have successfully created an account, downloaded the app, logged in, and accepted the mission. They just need to get started with their first entry! In this case you can send them messages through the message icon on the Manage page to prompt them to get started.