Are you looking for the perfect allowance and chore app for young kids? As moms, we did the same thing. And here’s what we found.
Is it Worth Making Kids Do Chores?
It is undeniable that it takes more effort to get your kids to do chores than simply doing the chores yourself. A child can spend a good hour whining, crying, and complaining about the 3-second task of moving a pair of shoes 10 feet from the living room to the shoe rack.
Fortunately, it’s the 21st Century and tech has come to our rescue. There are new and improved ways to cajole our angels into cleaning their rooms, doing their homework, and maybe, just maybe, even doing the dishes.
Why Chores Are Good for Kids
Why oh why do we make our kids do chores?
The simple answer is that we won’t always be there to move the shoes onto the shoe rack, do the dishes or fold the laundry.
We are raising our children into adults, not adult-sized children. The longer answer involves a sense of purpose, ownership, work ethic, and responsibility.
“It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings.”
~ Ann Landers
Kids not only need to be contributing members of the household, but they also need to feel the pride of being contributing members of the household.
When Are Habits Ingrained?
Habits in children take root very early. According to this PBS News Hour article, money habits are set by age 7. This Psychology Today article says that chore habits are established by age 9. This means those first years are critical to developing those good feelings in kids that they get when they set a goal and accomplish it.
Once your kids associate those good feelings with the desired action, they are much more likely to form a good habit. Lifelong habits can be formed in childhood, so it is worth all of the effort to develop good ones early.
Top 16 Allowance and Chores Apps for Kids
We have reviewed the top chore apps in the App Store based on the following five mom-approved criteria:
1. Easy to Use: It can’t take more time to input the chores than actually do them.
2. Fun for Kids: If it’s not fun kids won’t do it.
3. Cost: It needs to be less expensive than just hiring a maid.
4. Financial Literacy: The ability to pay kids for chores plus give them a financial literacy education.
5. Mental Wellness: chores are an excellent opportunity to build kids’ self-esteem
1. My First Nest Egg
allowance and chore app.
App Store Rating: 5/5
Overview
A financial literacy tool used by parents and kids that motivates kids to complete chores, save money, learn, and give within the My First Nest Egg community.
The app can be used by both parents and children, allowing both to understand the chore expectations and how they are saving and earning their money. The app uses a novel way to assign chores. My First Nest Egg replaces the usual checklist with a gamified puzzle experience. Each task is a piece of a puzzle, which comes together to build a prize or allowance.
You can use a preloaded picture or import your own. Kids can earn an allowance or more tangible prizes.
For example, if your child wants to earn a doll, the app will let you take a picture of the doll and break it into pieces. Each task the child completes is a piece of the puzzle, and you can give the child the doll when the puzzle is complete.
Easy to Use
Instructions lead you through the creation of children’s accounts and tasks. The interface is easy to use and understand. There are quick buttons to add money, puzzle pieces, and acts of kindness.
Fun for Kids
Earning puzzles makes it fun for kids to complete their tasks. Kids can view the app on a View Only Mode that allows them to interact with the app without being able to add money. In addition, there is a community page parents can opt their kids into. This page lets kids access three leaderboards that reset monthly: achievements (puzzle pieces), acts of kindness, and savings (instances of saving, not amounts).
Cost
14 days free then, then $.99/month or $9.99/year for the first 10k users.
Financial Literacy
With the puzzle feature of the app, kids understand that completing tasks and receiving puzzle pieces leads to more money in their accounts.
Kids can view their account and see how much they’ve spent, saved, and given.
There is an option for automatic savings or monthly interest payments on savings.
In addition, there is robust financial literacy education built in. The Financial Education element includes daily quizzes that walk kids through a proprietary curriculum developed in line with the standards promoted by the Council for Economic Education and the JumpStart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy.
Mental Wellness
This app was created in consultation with child psychologists to promote mental wellness. When kids earn puzzle pieces they feel good about themselves and receive instant positive reinforcement. Kids also learn to delay gratification for the reward until they have completed the entire puzzle. The Acts of Kindness tracker also promotes mental wellness because generous kids are more likely to be happy kids, but they don’t always have money to give.
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2. Chorsee
App Store Rating: 4.5/5
Overview: Chorsee is a Family Chart and Money Tracker. This app allows you to create a household and assign chores to family members within your household.
Chores can be assigned with different schedules (daily, weekly, etc).
Once chores are organized and assigned, parents can choose an incentive for family members to complete their chores. Incentive options include allowance, points, or no reward.
A detailed history of completed chores and earned allowance (or points) are available under Balance History. Balances are adjustable by parents.
Easy to Use: Straightforward, clear step-by-step instructions and no ads or games.
Fun for Kids: Kids can view their account and parents can use device-based permissions to monitor what aspects of the app are available to the kids. They can mark the chores they have completed and view their rewards. Beyond marking off completed chores, there are few other features the kids can interact with.
Cost: $19.99/yr ($1.67/month with one week free) Lifetime $59.99
Financial Literacy: The app teaches financial planning and responsibility by allowing children to view their chores and what they earned when they completed it.
Mental Wellness: No elements of mental wellness.
3. Homey
App Store Rating: 4.0/5
Overview: An app focused on assigning chores and responsibilities to family members and differentiating between the two. Chores can be differentiated between daily, weekly, and monthly chores. The feature of jars allows kids to put the money they earned away into savings. You can connect the app to your bank accounts to send money safely, track IOUs, and mark cash payouts.
Easy to Use: Colorful graphics guide the user through the features of the app and help you create a schedule for each family member so they can complete their set percentage of daily responsibilities and earn rewards or allowance.
Fun for Kids: Fun graphics but no game features. Kids view their responsibilities based on where in the house the chores are to be done, and each chore has a graphic.
Cost: $4.99/month or $49.99/year. Subscribing to the app allows you unlimited family members, unlimited savings jars, custom permissions, completion confirmation, and access to connecting bank accounts.
Financial Literacy: This app encourages kids to set short and long-term goals. It also teaches them how to manage their money whether they save, spend, or donate it.
The reports feature allows you to keep a record of everyone’s duties and money earned. Kids learn about money by completing their chores and working towards their goals.
Mental Wellness: No elements of mental wellness.
4. Privilege Points
chore reminder with specific instructions.
App Store Rating: 4.6/5
Overview: This app helps you manage and define chores for your kids to complete around the house. It also encourages good behaviors and gives kids credit for their actions.
The reward system allows parents to decide how kids earn points, which leads to privileges.
The penalty feature can be used to correct bad behavior and take points away. A section for house rules is available to set household expectations that everyone included in the household can view.
Easy to Use: Pop-up instructions lead users through the app to set up a family. Assigning chores and tasks are intuitive and easy to use. Both kids and parents have easy access to tasks, privileges, and penalties.
Fun for Kids: Kids can request points and privileges and allow them the agency to earn. They can also personalize their account by adding a profile picture.
Cost: Basic: $11.99/year $1.99/month; Premium:$18.99/year $3.99/month.
Financial Literacy: The element of kids requesting responsibilities allows them to learn that completing jobs and responsibilities leads to rewards. There are no money-specific elements of the app.
Mental Wellness: No elements of mental wellness.
5. Greenlight
App Store Rating: 4.8/5
Overview: A banking app that teaches kids to earn, save, and invest. The debit card is designed for kids and managed by their parents. In-app chore lists allow users to automate allowance based on chores kids complete.
You can link allowance to chores or set up a direct deposit. Parents can also set store-specific spending & ATM limits.
The app allows for kids and parents to set savings goals (they can earn up to 2% on savings) and view stocks and ETFs to learn about investments.
Easy to Use: Easy to keep track of multiple kids’ balances on their debit cards and easy for kids themselves to check their balances and savings.
Fun for Kids: Kids can view their chores, mark them as completed, and view the history of their spending, savings, and investments.
Cost: A basic Greenlight subscription plan (includes debit card and education app plus 1% on savings) costs $4.99/month.
Greenlight + Invest (includes debit card, education app, 1% on Savings, and investing for kids and parents) costs $7.98/month.
Greenlight Max (includes Black Card, educational app, 1% Cash Back, 2% on Savings, protection plans, and more) costs $9.98/mo.
Financial Literacy: The app teaches kids to set goals and save through savings goals and savings boosts features. It also teaches them to invest and manage their money.
Mental Wellness: No elements of mental wellness.
6. GoHenry
App Store Rating: 4.7/5
Overview: This kids’ debit card & financial learning app allows kids (6-18) to learn how to manage money and apply their knowledge in the real world.
Kids receive a GoHenry debit card that the parent controls.
Parents and kids can both use the savings, goal setting, spending, and transaction information. Parents can set tasks and weekly transfers of kids’ allowance.
Easy to Use: Interface is easily accessible to children as it has clear instructions for when one gets allowance, how to earn money, how to give, how much money is available for spending on your card, and how much you have spent in the past.
You can link your child’s debit card to a parent account and set up their allowance transfers.
Fun for Kids: The money missions allow kids to learn about money in an interactive, fun way. 45+ designs for debit cards allow kids to personalize their cards.
Cost: $3.99/month per kid.
Financial Literacy: Money missions teach kids basic financial literacy, saving habits, jobs, earnings, investing, and credit within the app.
Mental Wellness: No mental wellness elements.
7. FamZoo
App Store Rating: 4.6/5
Overview: A virtual family bank and prepaid debit card that allows parents to manage kids’ finances and kids to learn financial responsibility.
Parents can control their kid’s access to the app’s features. The app also allows parents to give money to their kids through prepaid cards that are linked to the app and reinforce good money habits.
The app and debit card are secure and include elements like savings goal tracking, chore review, automated family billing, expert help/advice, and more.
Easy to Use: The interface looks like a normal bank account, which could be confusing for younger users.
Fun for Kids: There are no kid-friendly or fun elements, besides the ability to pick your avatar.
Kids have the ability to view their chores, complete them, earn money, and decide where their money will go (donations, spending, saving).
Cost:
$5.99/month or varied pay-in-advance fees:
prepay $4.33/month for 6 months, prepay $3.33/month for 12 months,
prepay $2.50/month for 24 months.
All options include 1 month free trial.
Financial Literacy: Ability to use more complex financial features (ex: budgets & loans) to teach kids financial literacy as they grow up.
Mental Wellness: No elements of mental wellness.
8. Chores and Allowance Bot
App Store Rating: 4.5/5
Overview: An app to track a family’s chores, allowances, and savings goals. It teaches kids about earning money through work and good behavior.
Scheduling on the in-app calendar makes it easy to create and assign chores to multiple kids whether they are daily, weekly, or monthly chores.
Rewards for completing chores can be allowance, rewards, or up-for-grabs.
Chores that give rewards involve paying a specific reward every time a chore is completed.
Up-for-grabs chores pay in rewards as well, but can only be completed by one child on the day they’re assigned.
Parents can set reminders outside the app to send to their kids to remind them of chores.
Easy to Use: The app is well organized and provides instruction, help, and the ability to control what your kid can edit/view within the app.
Parents can send reminders to their children easily about uncompleted chores, which will pop-up without the app being open.
Fun for Kids: Personalization through avatars and photos of chores to help kids understand their tasks.
The interface also resembles a video game. There are up to 16 avatars to choose from or you can upload a photo to personalize the app.
Cost: Premium features start at $4.99/month.
Premium features include: A Chore Chart that shows current, past, and future chores, Up-For-Grab chores, unlimited additional accounts and goals for children, creating child passcodes to allow children to protect their account, changing their own photo/avatar, spending money, and managing their allowance and savings accounts.
Financial Literacy: Kids learn the difference between savings and spending accounts, and the correlation between completing chores and earning money/rewards.
Mental Wellness: No elements of mental wellness.
9. S’MoresUp
App Store Rating: 4.3/5
Overview: A household management app that organizes, assigns, and schedules chores for family members. Enter the chores that need to be completed and the app will remind your children for you to complete their tasks. Advanced scheduling and management options allow parents to simplify their chore management and keep the family informed of appointments, events, and responsibilities. Allowance management allows children to learn how to manage money and spend/save wisely and it incentivizes kids. The family networking element allows you to safely and securely stay in touch with extended family and fellow parents through the community Family Campfires feature.
Easy to Use: Parents can enter chores and the app assigns, reminds, and rewards family members for you. App features like chore progress, rewards, savings goals, and the ability to take away chores and rewards are easily accessible on the front page.
Fun for Kids: The family networking/Family Campfires element allows kids to practice and experience social media and practice good behavior. The graphics are also kid-friendly and allow children to pick their own avatars/profile picture.
Cost: The standard free subscription includes family management, unlimited family members & devices, advanced chore scheduling, and the ability to turn off the Community feature. Premium features available for $6.99/month or $69.99/year. Premium adds advanced chore types, advanced chore management, advanced rewards management, and free updates on top of what the standard plan offers.
Financial Literacy: The allowance management feature teaches kids about money management and smart spending and saving through the chore-reward management system. Once kids are old enough, the app allows them to manage their own responsibilities.
Mental Wellness: The Family Campfires element allows families to safely and securely connect with extended family members, which creates a community for parents to get advice and share tips. This feature also gives children a safe environment to practice and learn online etiquette.
10. Kiddie Kredit
App Store Rating: 4.1/5
Overview: An app that allows you to assign kids chores to complete for rewards. The app measures good behavior and allows your kid to take accountability and learn responsibility as they can see their progress on their chores and responsibilities. Tracking rewards and completion of chores encourages positive habits for kids. Kids can keep track of their daily habits and behaviors in order to develop good habits and features by dragging items into a treasure chest that will add up to rewards. Kids set daily, weekly, and monthly goals to complete.
Easy to Use: The app keeps it simple with the four elements (MyFamily, Progress, Calendar, and Community) easily accessible on the home page. Synced calendar keeps family members on the same page. The drag and drop feature makes it easy for kids to mark their completed chores by dragging them to their treasure chest.
Fun for Kids: Kids engage with the app as they track their tasks and drag completed tasks to their treasure chest in order to earn rewards. There are also point-earning games and the ability to complete daily streaks that will help kids hit achievement goals and rewards. Kids can view their chores, avatar, points, goals, habits, and rewards. Once habits and chores are completed they can be put in a treasure chest and points can be earned.
Cost: Free
Financial Literacy: Goal setting in the app teaches kids the importance of goal-setting and the correlation between completion of tasks and earning rewards.
Mental Wellness: Kids track their daily habits and behaviors to earn points, which reinforces healthy habits and behaviors. The Family Purpose element allows a home to create a shared vision of their values & rules. FamJam community is also available through connecting with the FamJam Intentional Parenting page on Facebook, which you can find through the app.
11. FamJam
App Store Rating: 4.2/5
Overview: An app that educates your kids on the credit system. Completing chores lets kids earn Bamboo Bucks which can be redeemed for rewards. Parents can customize tasks and assign priority levels to chores and choose rewards. Kids’ progress and the amount of their Bamboo Bucks are available to both kids and parents to view with real-time updates on their daily progress and goal completion.
Easy to Use: Pre-made chores and rewards makes it easy to assign kids their tasks and motivate them with the possible rewards. Pop-up instructions make it easy to create one’s family account.
Fun for Kids: Kids earn Bamboo Bucks when they complete chores and/or goals, which can be redeemed for rewards.
Cost: Free. Once V2 launches, premium features will be added with a monthly subscription.
Financial Literacy: Kids learn how to manage their credit score by tracking their chores and results through the “Kredit Score” feature, which teaches children that a higher score means access to rewards. The Kredit Score mirrors how the FICO scoring model works in the US. More educational elements are coming soon. Weekly Credit Trivia provides financial literacy facts.
Mental Wellness: Kids learn how to develop healthy habits and the importance of doing so through the activity and reward system. The app prioritizes educating those with limited access to capital about credit responsibility in order to support economic inclusion and equality.
12. Dragon Family
App Store Rating: 4.4/5
Overview: The app organizes chores through assigned to-do lists. Daily and weekly tasks are available and easily trackable so parents and kids can see their daily/weekly progress and earn points for their completed chores. Once a chore is completed, kids earn Dragon coins, which they can put toward rewards that they or the parents choose. The reward system also teaches financial responsibility and provides kids with a sense of accomplishment once they complete a chore.
Easy to Use: Provides ideas for rewards and chores. It allows you to easily reward, penalize, and track your kid’s allowance. The home screen includes easy access to the main elements of the app: To-Dos, goals, events, and Dragon Coins.
Fun for Kids: Kids can view their progress and add their interests and goals that they can work toward by completing their chores and earning Dragon coins. Graphics for chores and rewards make it more exciting and motivating for kid users. Individual to-do lists are available for each child to view and mark as completed.
Cost: Premium is $39.99, which gives users unlimited access to chores, quizzes, etc.
Financial Literacy: Teaches kids organization skills, responsibility, and basic financial responsibility through the reward system.
Mental Wellness: No elements of mental wellness.
13. Our Home
App Store Rating: 4.2/5
Overview: Organize your home with chores and rewards for each family member. Features including shared family calendar and grocery list allow the family to stay involved and view each family member’s progress.
Easy to Use: Instructions included & intuitive to use.
Fun for Kids: Fun graphics and rewards, but no specific kid-friendly features or games.
Cost: Free
Financial Literacy: No elements of financial literacy.
Mental Wellness: No elements of mental wellness.
14. Habit Hub
App Store Rating: 4.7/5
Overview: Build habits through reminders and creating calendars and organizing your family’s daily life.
Easy to Use: Color coding and interactive calendars makes it easy to organize habits.
Fun for Kids: No kid friendly or fun elements.
Cost: Free
Financial Literacy: No element of financial literacy.
Mental Wellness: No element of mental wellness.
15. Chore Sticks
App Store Rating: 3.6/5
Overview: Teaches kids responsibility through helping with chores. Customize the chore wheel with pre-chosen chores or your own customized chores. Your kid spins the wheel and completes the task on the stick that is chosen for them.
Easy to Use: Pre-made chores and chore wheels make it easy for parent and kid to use.
Fun for Kids: The method of assigning chores for kid is exciting, and as chores are completed stars are added to their star chart, which allows them to track their progress
Cost: Free
Financial Literacy: No elements of financial literacy.
Mental Wellness: No elements of mental wellness.
16. Happy Chore
App Store Rating: 3.7/5
Overview: Motivate your family to complete chores in order to receive points and exchange them for rewards.
Easy to Use: Many chores are available already to assign and there is the ability to add your own custom chores and rewards.
Fun for Kids: The rewards element makes the app motivating and fun for kids.
Cost: $0.99 for no ads
Financial Literacy: No elements of financial literacy.
Mental Wellness: No elements of mental wellness.
Conclusion
There are many options when it comes to chore apps for families. We recommend you commit to trying an app for a set amount of time and if it isn’t working for you, try another one.