Getting started
Everything from signing up to your first approved chore, and what the app can do once the setup is behind you.
Open pocketpal.kids in a browser — phone, tablet or computer. There is nothing to download.
Setup is four screens in a row, and the app walks you through them.
Step 1. Sign up
The “Create a family 🏠” screen. An email and a password of eight characters or more. An adult signs up, and there is one account per family.
Step 2. Add your children
The “Add your children 👨👩👧👦” screen. Name, emoji or avatar, age. Up to six children.
Step 3. Pick the currency and the rate
The “Set up the wallet 💰” screen.
Family currency is required. Choose the one you actually hand money over in — dollars, pounds, euros, tenge, som; there are 18 in the list. You can change it later, but balances are not converted: the old balance stays as a separate wallet in the old currency.
Annual interest rate is a slider from 1 to 1000%, with the daily equivalent underneath: 100% a year is 0.274% a day, which on a balance of 1,000 is +3 a day. Interest is added daily, on whatever is in the wallet. On the free plan the rate is fixed at 10% a year; on a subscription you set your own, separately for each currency.
Which number to put there is a separate piece with a calculator.
Step 4. Set up chores
The “Chores for children 📋” screen. There is a ready-made list with prices, the prices are editable, and your own chore is added with a button:
| Reward | Chores |
|---|---|
| 1 | make the bed, put away toys, take out the rubbish, feed the pet, water the plants |
| 2 | wash the dishes, empty the dishwasher, read for 30 minutes, tidy the bedroom, walk the dog, fold the laundry |
| 3 | vacuum, do homework, help with cooking, go to the shop |
The figures are in the currency you chose, and the app labels it right on the screen.
Step 5. Connect your child
After the chores you get a screen with the family code; later the code sits in settings, on the “Family code” line.
Your child opens the same address, taps “👶 Join as a child” and enters the code. No email or password of their own is needed.
One phone for two children: turn on “Several children on one device” in settings — each picks their own PIN and sees only their own wallet. A PIN is reset with your email and password.
Step 6. The first chore
Your child marks a chore as done — the status becomes “Sent for approval ⏳”, and nothing has been paid yet.
On your side a “Waiting” block appears: “✓ Approve” or “✕ Decline”. A decline can carry a reason — “needs finishing”, “not done well”, or your own wording. Once approved, the reward lands in your child's wallet, and from that day it earns interest.
Step 7. Add the icon to the home screen
Start with your child's phone — after step 5 it is already in your hands.
iPhone. Open pocketpal.kids in Safari, tap the share button at the bottom of the screen and choose “Add to Home Screen”. Safari never offers this by itself.
Android. In Chrome, open the menu in the top right and choose “Install app” or “Add to Home screen”.
Then do the same on your own phone.
Without the icon the app lives in a browser tab, and a tab gets closed. On iPhone there is a second reason: notifications only work once the icon is on the home screen.
What else is there
Cash withdrawals. Your child taps “Withdraw”, you confirm and hand the money over; they confirm receipt, and only then does the balance go down.
Buying things with your child's money. Your child asks for a delivery, a subscription or a toy online — you pay with your own card and press “Record a purchase” in the app: who it is for, the amount, what it was (“pizza delivery”, “Spotify subscription”, “Lego”). The app shows the available balance and refuses to send an amount larger than it, with a “How your child will see this” preview alongside. The money leaves the wallet only after your child confirms the purchase on their side. Photos of receipts come with a subscription.
Goals. Your child sets these up: “My goals” → “+ New”, a name (“New bike”) and an amount. From then on they can see how much is saved and how much is left; how long the goal will take is what the calculator works out; when it is reached the goal is marked “Reached!”. Up to three photos per goal come with a subscription.
Email reports. Settings → “✉️ Email reports”: “Weekly summary” and “Monthly summary”. Both are on from the start and switch off individually; the setting is personal, so the second parent chooses their own. Which day the week starts on is set in “Date and week”. A subscription attaches a full PDF statement to the email; the email itself is free.
The second parent. Invited from settings, and approves chores and purchases exactly as you do.
One thing is worth saying to your child straight away: the money in the app is real. You are holding it, but it belongs to them, and they can ask for it in cash at any point.