2 homes, 1 child, 1 system that works in both.

The problem

The problem most chore apps create

Most family apps assume one household. One parent sets everything up, everyone else joins, and the whole arrangement sits inside a single shared account. That works until the child spends Monday to Wednesday at one address and the rest of the week at another.

At that point you get 1 of 2 bad outcomes. Either the app is shared between both parents, which means each of you can see and edit the other's tasks, rewards and notes. Or one parent uses it and the other does not, so the child gets a system in one home and nothing in the other.

Neither is workable. The first requires a level of shared administration that many separated parents do not want, and the second means the routine collapses every time the child changes address.

How it works

How the 2 households are set up

Each parent creates their own household on their own Apple Account, and the same child has a place in both. Think of them as 2 completely independent setups that happen to involve the same person.

Each household has its own task list, so bedtime routines in one home have nothing to do with homework rules in the other. Each has its own reward shop with its own prices, so one parent can offer screen time while the other offers a trip to the pool. Each keeps its own credit balance, and credits earned in one home stay in that home.

What one parent sets up is invisible to the other. There is no shared view, no combined ledger and no notification crossing between the 2 homes.

Sharing

Why the sharing method matters

This is the part that separates Reward Study from most of the alternatives, and it is worth understanding before you commit to anything.

A household is shared by invite link, using Apple's CloudKit sharing. The parent generates a link, the child opens it on their own device, and they join that household. Nothing else is required.

In particular, the child does not need to be inside anyone's Apple Family Sharing group for this to work, and the 2 parents do not need any Apple relationship with each other at all. Apps that rely on Family Sharing for their data model cannot offer this, because Family Sharing assumes a single family organiser and a single group. A child can only belong to one Apple family at a time.

The practical result is that each parent runs their own household on their own Apple Account, invites the child to it, and never has to coordinate an account with the other parent.

The child's view

What the child sees

The child sees whichever household they are currently in. Their tasks for today, their balance, their streak and the rewards available to them in that home.

Switching between households is a single action, so a child arriving at the other parent's house opens the app and sees that home's list. Nothing carries over, which is the point. Credits earned by tidying one bedroom do not quietly become spending power somewhere else.

If the child has no device of their own, kid mode on the parent's phone does the same job. Hand it over, the app switches to the child's view, and the parent lock with Face ID, Touch ID or a PIN gets you back out.

The limits

What it does not do

Being straight about the limits is more useful than overselling, particularly for something this personal.

Reward Study is not a co-parenting communication tool. It carries no messaging, no shared calendar, no expense splitting and no document storage. If you need those, a dedicated co-parenting platform will serve you better and the 2 can sit alongside each other.

It does not mediate or enforce anything between the 2 homes. It has no opinion about how either household should be run, and it will not flag inconsistencies between them.

It also holds no money. The optional credit to currency display shows a child what their balance is worth, and any actual money that changes hands is arranged by you, outside the app.

Privacy

Privacy, since this matters more here than usual

Reward Study runs without a back end. There is no company server holding your household data, and none of it reaches the developer. Everything lives in your own private iCloud under your own Apple Account.

For separated parents this has a specific consequence worth stating plainly. Because each household is a separate CloudKit share, and because sharing happens only with the people you personally invite, the other parent has no route to your household data. Not through the app, not through a shared account, and not through a support request to the developer, because there is nothing on the developer's side to hand over.

The full privacy policy covers this in detail.

What it costs

One Pro per home, and no add on

Every Apple Account comes with one household of its own, included. In the setup on this page each parent owns one household on their own Apple Account, so it needs no add on at all. What each parent needs is Reward Study Pro for the home they run. From version 1.3 Pro is a subscription, $39.99 a year with a 14-day free trial or $2.99 a week, and it renews until you cancel it in your App Store subscription settings.

The Second Household add on is for something else. It lets one Apple Account own a second household of its own, with its own children, tasks, rewards and ledger, switched from the Dashboard. That is for a parent who runs both homes' ledgers from one account, or anyone who wants a second separate household. It is a $4.99 one-time purchase that never renews, and Pro covers every household you own.

Purchases are handled by Apple. Pro is shared with your Apple Family Sharing group, and every purchase can be restored on your own devices at no extra cost.

One practical note. Each parent needs their own Pro on their own Apple Account, since purchases follow the Apple Account rather than the child. One parent's Pro does not reach the other parent's household. Being invited into a household costs nothing, so the child's device needs no purchase in either home.

Getting started

1. 1

   Install the app, create your household and add your child with a name and an age band. Setup ends on the choice of plan, and the yearly plan starts with a 14-day free trial. Pick 3 or 4 tasks from the catalog that reflect how your home actually runs, and put 1 reward in the shop.

2. 2

   If your child has a device, generate an invite link and send it to them. If not, use kid mode and hand your phone over. Either way the routine starts the same evening, and the other household can be set up whenever the other parent is ready.