Getting started

On iPhone JARVIS is an App Store app. On Android it is a web app you add to your home screen from Chrome. On a computer or tablet you open jarvis.kids in the browser.

Without notifications you never hear about your kids' requests, so do not skip installing and allowing notifications.

1. 1

   iPhone: download JARVIS from the App Store and sign in. Search the App Store for JARVIS, or use this link.

2. 2

   iPhone: when the app asks about notifications, tap Allow. Nothing else to install, the App Store keeps the app up to date.

3. 3

   Android: open jarvis.kids in Chrome and sign in.

4. 4

   Android: tap the menu (three dots in the top right) and pick “Add to Home screen”. Chrome creates a JARVIS icon on your home screen that looks like any other app.

5. 5

   Android: open JARVIS from the home screen icon. Notifications are offered only after the first launch from the icon. Just tap Allow. An ordinary browser tab gets no notifications.

• Opened jarvis.kids in Safari on iPhone?

  A bar at the top links to the App Store. The web version added to the home screen from Safari works too, but new versions do not reach it reliably. The App Store app is the safer choice.

• Tablet and computer

  JARVIS works there too, with the same account and the same data. The phone is still the main thing: that is where your notifications arrive and where you approve most often.

Notifications were never offered?

On iPhone turn them on in the iPhone Settings → Notifications → JARVIS. On Android you most likely opened the app in the browser instead of from the home screen icon: close the browser and tap the JARVIS icon. On the web you can then send yourself a test notification in Settings → Notifications to check everything arrives.

You add the second parent with a single use invite link. You then both see the same family (same rules, same balances, same Approvals) and whoever is around approves the request.

Send it however feels natural at home: copy it into any message, send it with one tap over WhatsApp, or enter your partner's e-mail and JARVIS sends the invite itself.

When your partner opens the link, they see who is inviting them and how long the link is valid. If they have no account yet, they create one right there; if they already have one, they just sign in and join.

You invite another adult the same way, a grandparent for example: in Settings → Family click “Invite an adult” and pick who you are inviting. A parent or partner gets “Full access” (everything except deleting the family), a grandparent and everyone else “View only”. With “Change” next to the email you pick another option, or “Choose what they can do”: approve what kids send, change rules, give extra coins and deductions, change kid profiles. Every adult in the family sees activity and balances.

• The invite is a link, not a code.

• You can issue the link during the first setup right after sign-up, or anytime later in Settings → Family.

• It is valid for 24 hours and works once.

• When it expires, you simply issue a new one. Nothing breaks.

• JARVIS works with one parent too

  You can add the second one anytime later, maybe once they see it working at home.

• An account that already belongs to another family cannot join. The app tells your partner exactly what is going on when they open the invite.

The link expired or does not work?

An invite is valid for 24 hours and works once. If somebody used it in the meantime, it is spent. Issue a new one in Settings → Family, nothing breaks.

Your partner already has an account in another family?

One account always belongs to exactly one family, so they cannot join with it. The app says so when they open the invite. Have them open it from an account that is in no family, or create a new one.

You fill in the basics in the form and JARVIS gets the kid ready to sign in. A few things worth knowing:

In the form you enter a name (the only required field), optionally a year of birth, and you pick an avatar.

This step hands your kid nothing yet, it only creates them in the family. You give them access from their own device in step 04.

• JARVIS greets a kid by name. In the kid app it says hello with their name, “Hi, Adam!”. The greeting is built automatically from what you enter.

• The username is generated for you, but feel free to edit it. It is used for the backup sign-in with a username and a PIN.

• The PIN has 4 or 6 digits (we recommend 6). On the web you set it in Settings → Security, in the iPhone app in Settings → Security → Kid PINs.

• Deductions only start after your kid's first sign in. Until your kid opens the app, skipped chores take nothing off.

It takes a few taps and you go through it together with your kid at their device.

1. 1

   Get JARVIS ready on your kid's device. On an iPhone or iPad install JARVIS from the App Store. On Android follow step 01. If the app is not installed yet, scanning the QR code offers the download; after installing, scan the code again.

2. 2

   On your side, open Add device. On the web: Settings → Family → the kid → Devices → “Add”. In the iPhone app: Settings → Family → the kid → Devices → “Add device”, or “Connect a device” on the kid's card on Home.

3. 3

   Scan the QR code with the camera on your kid's device. The code is valid for 5 minutes and only once. Your kid's phone offers to open the link, one tap connects the device to the family.

4. 4

   The sign in method sets itself. In the App Store app your kid signs in by tapping their picture, with no further check. In the web app they use a fingerprint or Face ID when the device supports it, otherwise a tap on the picture too.

5. 5

   Done. The other parents get a “New kid device” notification. That is a safeguard: if a device you do not know about ever joins the family, you will hear about it, and you can remove it in Settings → Family.

• Backup sign-in: username + PIN

  It works always and everywhere, handy when a fingerprint or Face ID is being difficult, or when your kid is at grandma's. You set the username and the PIN in the previous step.

The QR code expired?

It is only valid for 5 minutes, a safety measure rather than a fault. Generate a new one, you can issue as many codes as you need.

The camera will not read the code?

Next to the QR code the dialog also has a link to copy. Send it to your kid's device in a message, opening the link does exactly what the scan does.

Your kid signs in by tapping their picture, not with a fingerprint?

That is expected. The App Store app and devices without a fingerprint reader or Face ID use the tap on the picture. The backup sign in with username and PIN always works too.

Rules are the heart of JARVIS. You reorder the items in each kind by dragging them.

The details are on the How it works page: task frequencies, streaks and bonuses, the nightly chore check, monthly potential. To start, this is enough: tasks add coins, rewards and goals spend them, chores keep the basics in place.

• Use the templates by age

  In the iPhone app they are under Rules → Templates, on the web on the “Ready made templates” card in Rules. Importing adds items to what you already have, and each pack can be imported only once.

• Start small

  Three chores, four to six tasks, a few rewards and one big goal you pick together with your kid. Better a few things set up well than ten that get ignored.

• Handle one offs with a manual coin adjustment

  Helping with a move or a great school report has no rule of its own. You add the coins by hand with “Extra coins” on the kid's page, on the web and in the iPhone app. You pick what they are for, a note is optional.

Approvals is your decision centre. What you find there:

JARVIS handles chores by itself: after midnight it checks the unfinished ones and around 7:05 sends you one summary of the deductions. The detail is on the How it works page.

The day by day view is the Calendar (in the web navigation, a tab in the iPhone app). It shows a week or a month and, for each day, how the kids are doing with chores and tasks. A filter picks one kid or all of them. Tap an item on a day to approve or reject it right there, turn on “No deduction today” for a chore, or edit the rule.

• Finished tasks. Requests to add coins for work done.

• Finished chores. Sent chore reports waiting for review.

• Rewards. Your kid picked a reward in the Shop and is waiting for your OK.

• Kid proposals. Your kid proposed a new reward or goal. You set the price when you approve the proposal.

• Hand over. Approved rewards waiting for you to actually hand them over.

• When your kid sends something, you get a “Tap to approve” notification. It takes you straight to the right item in Approvals.

• On the web you have 6 seconds to Undo after approving or rejecting. One tap takes a mistake back and nothing gets recorded. In the iPhone app the approval confirmation offers Undo and the item goes back to Approvals. Later you can do it in the record's detail with “Undo approval”.

• Quick replies

  Save the rejection reasons you write often as quick replies: on the web and in the iPhone app in Settings → Family → Quick replies.

• Bulk approving on a computer

  Select several items at once and confirm with A (approve), X (reject) or Esc (clear the selection). Items waiting longer than 12 hours get a label, so nobody gets forgotten.

• A reason for declining is required and your kid reads it on the record in their History. So write it the way you would say it to their face: “You already reported this today”, “Not without a photo”.

Notifications about requests do not arrive?

Go back to step 01. On iPhone check that JARVIS is allowed to send notifications. On Android JARVIS has to be opened from the home screen icon. On the web you can send yourself a test notification in Settings → Notifications.

Approvals is empty, but your kid says they did it?

Your kid may have forgotten to tap it in the app, and without that no request exists. When something happened outside the app, add the coins by hand (see step 05).

You sign in with your e-mail: a link, a password, Face ID / Touch ID or Apple. In most cases the e-mail is what gets you back in.

• Forgotten password. Click “Forgot password” on the sign-in page and we send you a link for a new one.

• Face ID / Touch ID stopped working. Sign in with the e-mail link and add your fingerprint or Face ID again in Settings → Security.

• Lost your e-mail. Write to us with the support form. We first check the account is yours, then change the e-mail.

• Each parent has their own access. The other parent signs in on their own and keeps access even if you lose yours.

• We also send a notice about the change to the old address. If you get it and did not ask for the change, write to us right away.

Why was I signed out everywhere after the e-mail change?

Anyone with access to your old mailbox could have set a password or their own sign-in. That is why only signing in through the new address works after the change.

The other parent cannot get in either?

Each parent has their own access. Have them fill in the support form with the address they want to use, the steps are the same.

The questions parents ask most at the start. If yours is not here, write to hey@jarvis.kids.

Does JARVIS work on Android?

Yes. On Android JARVIS is a web app: open jarvis.kids in Chrome, pick “Add to Home screen” in the menu and from then on open the app from the icon. Notifications only work from the home screen app. On iPhone JARVIS is an App Store app.

The second parent disagrees or cannot be bothered. What now?

Start on your own. JARVIS works fully with one parent. The only thing you miss is shared approving.

The invite can be issued anytime later. What often works best is showing the result after a few weeks and coming back to the conversation then.

My kid has no phone of their own.

No problem. Connect a shared device (the family tablet or your old phone). Your kid taps their picture and is in their app, no password, no fingerprint.

What if my kid changes the time on their phone?

Nothing happens. JARVIS takes the time from the server, not from the phone's clock. Only the time zone follows the phone: when you travel with your kid to another time zone, their day closes by local time.

My kid refuses chores because “there is nothing in them”.

An expected phase, usually the first week or two. Your kid is testing whether the system holds. A short family chat helps: chores are not a shop, JARVIS only makes them visible.

Agree on three chores (no more) and explain why they carry a deduction. When your kid understands the logic, it does not read as a punishment.

Does it cost anything?

JARVIS is free right now. We run it as a family project. If it helps you and you want to give something back, write to hey@jarvis.kids.

Where do I find help and news in the app?

On the web in the account menu under Help and “What's new”. In the iPhone app in Settings → Help and news.

Does JARVIS have widgets?

On iPhone, yes. The parent widget shows what is waiting in Approvals and how the kids are doing with chores. The kid widget shows the balance, today's chores and the main goal. Widgets only display things, a tap opens the app.

What are levels and badges?

The level grows with every approved chore and task and never goes down. Badges are collected in nine series with tiers I to VI. Neither gives coins, they reward effort. More in Badges and levels.

How do I end the whole thing and delete my data?

In Settings → Privacy. First download your data (“Download JSON” on the web, “Download your data” in the iPhone app), then tap “Delete account”. Deleting cannot be undone.

The account export does not include your family's encrypted content yet, you can ask for it at hey@jarvis.kids. You download or delete a single kid's data in that kid's settings.