Best chore apps for kids

Crystal Barrow

I remember when I was growing up, we did family chores. Any time that we wanted to get money, other than birthday and Christmas money, I would ask my mom for an extra hard chore that would help her and see if I could get some money.  I decided, with my mom’s agreement, that I wanted a weekly allowance.  As a child, I really enjoyed making things so I made a chore chart for myself with money amounts for designated chores.  Mom had to give final approval concerning the chart.  We live in a more technologically focused world now with many kids already possessing phones at a young age.  I am researching different chore apps for my daughter since she has started to show some interest in earning her own money to be able to buy different items that she wants.  Below is a run down of a few apps that we have tried to use recently.    

These different apps are based off of IOS and the apple app store.  

Chores and Allowance Bot

• You can have a passcode which will only allow you to make changes to the chores.
• You can pick how often the allowance is paid either daily, weekly, or by a specific date.
• There is one log-in for everyone in the family.You can set up to 4 chore reminders per day.
• Notifications and reminders can be customized for each device.
• Allowance payments can be automatically approved when all required chores are done. 
• Children will take a photo to show proof of chore completion. 
• It will remind you when payments need to be approved.
• You can assign chores to multiple children.
• It will notify the parent when the chore is done.
• Different currency icons are available. 
• You can set the order of each chore.
• It notifies the parents when the child spends money.
• The child will be notified when they receive a reward, deduction, or allowance hold.
• Allows you to create as many accounts and goals as you want for each child.
• Automatic transfers can be set to stop once a savings goal has been met. 
• Images can be added. 
• Graphic views let you see past and future savings.
• Up for grab chores - let any child choose to do them.

** Need premium access for certain features.  I was easily able to add a chore. 

Rooster Money

• You can add a referral code.
• You can customize by what your child calls you.
• You can choose the specific reason you are using the app whether it is for reward charts which they suggest for 4 and older, virtual tracking which they suggest for 6 and older, and chore charts for all ages.
• You add your child and input their name, birthday, gender and a photo if you like.
• You choose if your child will be rewarded for their chores in money or stars. 
• You can set up regular allowances that will be dispensed to them either weekly, fortnightly, or monthly.  Or you can choose not to have a regular allowance. They as well include a guide on the general amount that you could provide as an allowance based on age if you decide to do a regular allowance but are not sure how much to put in. 
• If you choose to set an allowance, you can determine the percentage that goes to spend, give and save. 
• In the child's profile you can manage their money by pots.  There is a spend, give and save pot in the child's profile.
• You can Boost (add money), remove, transfer and pull a statement to see the financial history of the pot. 
• In the give pot there is a give to charity feature.  
• You can add additional pots to their profile.
• On the home screen you can quickly add and remove money from your children's accounts. With the + and - feature next the child's name. 
• You are able to add a parent to the account and switch between users.
• You or your child can add specific goals and the amount they need to save to reach it. 
• There is a chat feature if you have any questions

*** Need premium access to add chores. When you give a boost you can write the chore the child did or the reason you are giving them the money. 

Homey

• You can create a family.
• You can assign chores by picking from a prepopulated chores list or you can add your own customer chores.
• You can adjust the due date, recurrence, value and add an image.
• You can transfer the allowance by connecting to a bank account and send money to your children.
• You can track IOUs that mark cash payouts that may have happened. You can set short and long term goals. 
• Manage money for savings, spending and donating.
• You can distribute the money in percentages to savings, spending, and donating when the child receives funds.
• You can sign up and set up your individual account and then create a household account with a different password.
• You can add family members with their name, email (optional), their status (child, teen, or parent), and their birthday.
• You can enable daily goals to help kids unlock daily privileges you set for them.
• You can add an allowance that is paid on a weekly basis when all their responsibilities have been done.
• You can apply the strictness you will have for their daily goals and allowance.
• You can add responsibilities to specific family members, which are chores that need to be completed on a set schedule.  Completion of responsibilities can unlock daily reward or work toward weekly allowance.
• You can add jobs that are more challenging chores that are above and beyond the regular responsibilities.  Can be assigned to a specific family member or free for all. You can filter chores by specific users.
• You can see reports that track the progress of the family members and see when chores have been completed or if they have been missed.  You can see daily and weekly views. 
• You can approve or deny chores. 
• In the wallet section, you can add or delete family members cards. 
• In the wallet section, you can see the family members' available funds in their different jars.
• You can chat with your family members in a household group chat.

Sweepy

• Add chores based on room.
• When you select a room, there is a pre populated list of possible chores that may need taking care of.
• When you select the chore, you can add in the amount of times it needs to be done by either hour, day, week, month or yearly.
• It tells you how difficult the pre populated chore may be.
• You can add custom tasks.  When creating a custom task, it asks for the frequency. If it is seasonal, the current state how dirty or clean it is, the amount of effort and any notes you may have.
• You can set a reminder for the different rooms.

OurHome

• You can create a family by naming your family and creating a password.
• You can create your own profile including your name, email, age, or role.
• You can choose several task categories such as communal, bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, meals, shopping, garden, pets, maintenance, behavior, communication, responsibility, creativity, study, spirituality, health, exercise and routine. 
• Depending on what you select, there will be further categories that populate.
• You can add additional family members. The app will ask if they should notify the new member by email or text. You can add either a username or email for additional members.  You can have multiple admin.
• You can add multiple tasks and a certain amount of points will populate as well as the estimated amount of time to complete the task.
• You can change the points and time duration. 
• You can assign the task to a specific family member, rotate between various members or split it between the members.
• You can set a due date for the task, if they are to be repeated, reminders, and a late penalty.
• The person that takes the task can upload a picture once the task is done.You can choose the category the task will go to.
• You can add additional notes.You can customize the task after you save it as well as skip, nudge the participants and delete it.
• When you create a customized task, you or the other family member can press complete when it is finished.
• In the rewards section, you can add rewards or pocket money if you want your child to have a goal to work toward. 
• They can turn their points in the rewards to pocket money.
• In the family section, you can see the amount of points that each person in the family has. 
• On the calendar tab, you can see if there are chores on different days of the month.
• If you picked groceries, you can add what groceries you would need.  
• You can add in the quantity you would need for each specific item. 

Depending on what you and your family are looking for, there are several different apps out there that can fit your family's unique needs.  These were a few apps that I had come across and had tried out that worked well for my family in some ways and then didn't work in other ways.  Please take a look at these different apps and let me know if you decided to use one of them for your family.