Badges are a simple, powerful way to recognize, reward, and gamify your community. Whether it’s for power users, helpful contributors, or affiliate members, badges help your best people stand out — across posts, comments, and DMs.

Want a full breakdown of how Access Groups work? Check out our Access Groups Overview →

How Badges Work in Heartbeat

Badges are powered by Access Groups — which act like member segments or smart lists. Once you’ve created an access group, you can toggle on the badge visibility setting. This adds the badge next to the member's name across the community.

Step-by-Step: Create a Badge

1. Go to Settings → Access Groups

2. Click Create Group

3. Name your badge group (e.g. “Power Users” or “Cool Kids”)

4. Choose a badge color
   (Custom colors allowed)

5. Decide how members are added:

   • Automated (e.g. # of posts, comments, logins, event attendance)

   • Joinable (members can opt in/out)

   • Admin-controlled (you choose who gets in)

6. Toggle on Badge under Visibility

7. Click Create