A chore app for kids that parents actually stick with

Rooted Family Chores turns the household chore list into something kids can see, finish, and get credit for — without a parent standing over them. Assign chores, approve the work, and let points turn into rewards your family chose together. Start with a 7-day free trial on iPhone and Android.

What a kids’ chore app needs to get right

Most chore apps fail for the same reasons a paper chore chart does. The list isn’t where the kid is, the “done” claim can’t be checked, and the reward is too far away to feel real. These are the four things worth checking before you commit a family to one:

• Kids can use it independently. If a parent has to unlock the phone and tap through, it becomes another chore for you.
• Parents approve before points land. Self-reported completion without review teaches the wrong lesson fast.
• Rewards are concrete. Points mean nothing until a kid can point at what they’re buying with them.
• Both parents see the same thing. A chore tracker that lives on one adult’s phone just moves the mental load, it doesn’t share it.

How Rooted Family Chores works

1. Set up your household in a few minutes

Create a parent account, add a profile for each child, and pick an avatar. Kids don’t need their own email address or phone number — profiles are created and managed by the parent, and there’s no public profile or messaging of any kind. Details are on our child safety page.

2. Assign chores with point values

Add each chore, pick who it belongs to, set whether it repeats daily or weekly, and give it a point value. Weighting matters more than people expect: making a bed and cleaning the bathroom shouldn’t be worth the same, and kids notice immediately when they are. If you’re not sure what to assign at what age, start from our chore chart by age.

3. Kids work their own quest board

Each child sees only their own list, presented as quests with points and XP. Finishing chores levels them up and builds a streak, so the reason to keep going comes from the board rather than from being asked again. Kids can pick a companion avatar and one of eight themes — unicorn, space, ocean, sports and more — in light or dark mode, which sounds cosmetic but is a large part of why they keep opening it.

4. You approve, then points become rewards

Completed chores land in a shared approval queue. Approve to award the points, or send one back if the job needs another pass. Points can be redeemed for small rewards you define — screen time, movie-night pick, an ice cream trip — or saved toward a bigger wishlist item you approved, with a progress ring showing how close they are.

Chore app vs. paper chore chart

Does a chore app really change anything?

It changes what the argument is about. The usual shift families notice after moving off paper is fewer “I already did that” disputes, because completion is timestamped, and fewer reminders, because a kid can check the list without asking. What an app won’t do is make a child want to clean the bathroom. What it does is make the deal explicit — this much work, this many points, that reward — and hold both sides to it.

What it costs

Rooted Family Chores is a subscription, and every subscription starts with a 7-day free trial — enough to set up your household, run a full week of chores, and see whether it sticks before you pay anything. The subscription covers the whole household rather than each child, so a fourth kid never costs more than the first. Current pricing is shown in the App Store and Google Play listings.

Next: Age-appropriate chores by age · Common questions · Support