Chores first. Then screens.
Helpfl Family keeps the apps you choose locked until the chore is done. Your child taps their phone to a tag on the dishwasher, or snaps a photo, and their apps open right back up. You approve it, and they earn the points.
iPhone and iPad · iOS 18 or later · Free for one child
A sticker chart is easy to ignore. A locked game isn’t.
How it works
Set it up once. The routine takes it from there.
Stick a tag
Put a cheap NFC sticker where the chore happens: the dishwasher, the leash hook, the laundry basket. Register it from your iPhone in about a minute.
Make the chore
Choose who, which days, and how many points it’s worth. Optionally, pick the apps that stay locked until it’s done.
They tap, apps unlock
Your child taps their phone to the tag, or takes a photo of the finished chore on an iPad. The lock lifts on the spot.
You approve
From the notification, the app or your Apple Watch. Points land, allowance adds up, and the reward they’re saving for gets closer.
What you control
Your house, your rules. The app just keeps them.
Recurring chores and one-offs
Every day, chosen weekdays, every other week, set dates each month or every few days, with a deadline or a lock time. Children can take turns. Start from a catalog of common chores or write your own.
Points, allowance and a store
Stock a rewards store with treats for one child or family goals everyone saves toward. Allowance is a running tally you pay out however you like.
Real Screen Time blocking
Built on Apple’s own Screen Time, so a locked app is really locked. With a Screen Time passcode set, it can’t be switched off in Settings.
Photo proof for iPad
No NFC reader? Set the chore to photo proof. Your child photographs the finished job with the in-app camera, so every photo is from today.
Approve from anywhere
Approve or send back straight from the notification, or from the Apple Watch app. A photo chore waits until you’ve seen the photo.
Reminders that aren’t you
Your child gets a morning rundown of the day’s chores and a nudge before anything locks, so you don’t have to be the one asking.
Points buy real rewards.
Stock the store with what your family actually wants: a later bedtime, choosing the takeout, a movie night everyone chips in for. Your child sees exactly how close they are.
No NFC? Snap a photo.
iPads have no tag reader, so a chore can ask for a photo instead, taken with the in-app camera. You see it before you approve, and only on the day it was taken.
See who’s keeping up.
Completion rates, streaks, points and allowance for each child, over a week, a month or a season, and the chores that keep slipping.
Approve from your wrist.
The Apple Watch app shows what’s waiting and how each child’s day is going. Tap Approve and the points land. A photo chore waits until the photo has loaded.
Built for children
So it collects as little as it can.
No ads, no analytics, no tracking
Not in the app, for parents or children, and not on this website either.
Children don’t make accounts
No email, no password, no birthday. Their device joins with a code from yours, and they go by whatever name you give them.
Proof photos expire the same day
You can see a photo only on the day it was taken. Then it’s deleted from our servers, whether or not anyone looked.
We never see their apps
Which apps get locked stays on your child’s device, handled by Apple’s Screen Time. We can’t see what they use or for how long.
A parent says yes first
No child profile exists until a parent has consented to what’s collected, and you can review or delete it any time.
The money stays with you
Allowance is a record, not a wallet. The app never holds, sends or receives money.
The details are in the privacy policy, in plain language.
Pricing
Free for one child. Premium for the whole crew.
Free
$0
No subscription needed.
One parent, one child, and everything they need.
- Unlimited chores and one-off tasks
- NFC tags and photo proof
- App blocking until the chore is done, and unlocking apps for a while when you say so
- Points, allowance and the rewards store
- Approvals from notifications and Apple Watch
Premium
$10/ month
Or $96 a year, just $8 a month. Try it free for 1 week monthly or 2 weeks yearly.
One subscription covers every parent in the family.
- Unlimited children, each with their own chores and rewards
- A co-parent who can assign and approve too
- Insights: completion trends, streaks and the chores that keep slipping
- Vacation mode: pause all of a child’s chores, or just a few, for a trip or a busy week, planned ahead if you like, and it all picks back up by itself
Monthly or yearly, billed through your Apple Account. Prices shown are in US dollars; the App Store sets local prices elsewhere. Free trials are for new subscribers. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends. See the Terms of Use.
Questions
What parents ask first.
What devices does it work on?
iPhone and iPad with iOS 18 or later, for parents and children alike. Tags are scanned with an iPhone; iPads don’t have an NFC reader, so on an iPad chores use photo proof instead. A child who uses both a phone and an iPad pairs each with the same code. The Apple Watch app is for parents and is optional.
Where do I get NFC tags?
Any standard NFC sticker works (NTAG213, 215 or 216). They have no battery and a pack of ten costs a few dollars. The app links to a pack, and so do we: NFC tags on Amazon Amazon affiliate link — we may earn a commission.
Can my child just turn the blocking off?
Not if you set a Screen Time passcode on their device. The app’s setup walks you through it, and its own settings sit behind a parent PIN. Without the passcode, iOS lets anyone switch Screen Time controls off, so don’t skip that step.
What happens when I mark a chore “not done”?
The points don’t land. The apps stay open for the rest of the day, though: the app doesn’t re-lock after a scan, because that’s a conversation between you and your child, not a punishment for software to hand out. Tomorrow’s chore locks as usual.
Is the allowance real money?
No. It’s a tally of what you owe. Pay your child however you like (cash, a transfer, a jar on the counter) and mark it paid in the app. The app never holds, sends or receives money.
What about holidays and sick days?
With Premium, Vacation mode pauses a child’s chores, reminders and app blocking until the day they’re back, and you can plan it ahead. Or pause just some chores: no dishes on Saturday, the rest as normal. Nothing paused counts as missed, their streak is safe, and everything picks back up by itself. For an afternoon off, Unlock apps (free) lifts app blocking for a few hours while chores stay due.
Is there an Android version?
No. App blocking is built on Apple’s Screen Time, which has no Android equivalent that works the same way.
What do you store about my child?
A display name you choose, a built-in avatar, and their chore and reward activity, so the family’s devices stay in sync. No email, birthday or location. The privacy policy lists everything, and how to delete it.
More answers on the support page.
Chores first. Then screens.
Free for one child, on iPhone and iPad. Questions? Email [email protected].
