A [Status Community](./about-status-communities.md) is a place where you can connect and communicate with people who share your interests. Communities are ideal for those with a passion or hobby, study groups, gaming communities, professional network groups, or creators looking to generate income from their content without intermediaries.
As a community owner, you can create open communities or [restrict community access using tokens](./set-up-a-private-community.md), control [membership approval](../set-up-your-community-s-approval-options.md) and organize discussion groups in [channels](./create-a-channel.md). Owners have complete control over their community and are responsible for maintaining its rules.
| **Community history service** | Status Communities store up to 30 days of chat history by default. When this option is checked, community members can see messages older than 30 days. |
| **Request to join required** | Community owners must manually approve each join request if this setting is checked. This option applies to [open and private](./about-status-communities.md) communities. |
| **Any member can pin a message** | Any community member can [pin messages](../messaging-and-web3-browser/pin-a-message.md) when this setting is checked. If the setting is unchecked, only the community owner can pin messages. |
The Community history service uses the [BitTorrent peer-to-peer network :octicons-tab-external-16:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent) to store and retrieve community messages older than 30 days. Status uses a decentralized network and does not store this information.
1. In the **Community introduction and rules**, introduce your community to new members and describe the community guidelines.
1. In the **Leaving community message**, write the message sent to members leaving your community.
1. Click **Create community** if you haven't already.
## Customize your community
After you create a community, you can customize its settings at any time.
=== "Desktop"
1. From the navigation sidebar, click your community.
1. On top of the channel sidebar, click your community logo.
1. Click :desktop-overview: **Overview**.
1. Expand the window and click **Edit Community**.
1. Edit your community look-and-feel, [additional settings](#configure-additional-settings) or [community rules](#describe-your-community-and-its-rules).
