Second Household
2 homes, 1 child, 1 system that works in both
Reward Study lets separated co-parents run 2 independent households for the same child. Each home keeps its own tasks, its own rewards and its own balance, and neither parent can see or change what happens in the other one.
- No shared Apple family required. Sharing works by invite.
- Paid once. Nothing renews and nothing bills monthly.
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 Second Household is set up
Second Household gives the same child a place in 2 separate households. 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.
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.
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 Parent Lock with Face ID, Touch ID or a PIN gets you back out.
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, 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
Second Household is a $4.99 one-time add-on, and it requires Reward Study Pro, which is a $9.99 one-time purchase. The total is $14.99, paid once.
There is no subscription and nothing renews. Every comparable app in this category bills monthly, so it is worth being clear that this is a single payment and then nothing further, ever.
Both purchases are handled by Apple and shared through Family Sharing where Apple supports it, so a parent who buys Pro can restore it on their own devices at no extra cost.
One practical note. Each parent needs their own copy of Pro and the add-on on their own Apple Account, since purchases follow the Apple Account rather than the child. One parent's purchase does not carry over to the other parent's household.
Getting started
Install the app, create your household and add your child with a name and an age band. Pick 3 or 4 tasks from the catalog that reflect how your home actually runs, and put 1 reward in the shop.
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.