Two households, one set of kids

Plenty of kids have more than one home. Week on, week off. Weekends at Dad’s. Every afternoon at Nana’s until someone finishes work. A paper chart on one fridge doesn’t survive that, and “Mum said I’d get paid for the lawn” is hard to check from the other side of town.

Quiddo lets several adults share the same kids. Everyone sees the same balances and the same jobs, anyone can approve and pay, and the kids don’t need to know or care which house the money came from.

You’ll need: a family already set up with your kids in it. If you’re starting from scratch, get pocket money going first with Weekly pocket money, with jobs that have to get done.

What you’re setting up

Piece	What it does
One shared family	Holds the kids, their buckets, jobs and pocket money.
Co-parents	Everyone else who looks after the kids, with the same day-to-day powers as you.
Parent names	What the kids call each of you, so they know who approved what.
Devices in each house	The kids’ own phones work anywhere; each house can have its own family screen.
Billing	One subscription for the family, paid by one person.

1. Use one family, not two

It’s tempting to set up a family per house. Don’t, unless the two houses really do run completely separate money.

Kids belong to one family. Two families means two copies of each kid, with two separate sets of balances, jobs and savings goals. The money your kid earned at Mum’s wouldn’t show up at Dad’s, and their phone can only be linked to one of them.

One shared family keeps a single balance per kid, whoever pays in.

When two families does make sense

If a grandparent wants to run their own “Nana bank”, with money that’s genuinely separate from the household’s, a second family is the right tool. You can belong to both and switch between them (see step 8).

2. Invite the other parent

There are two ways in. In person is quicker.

1. On your phone, open the Family tab and scroll to Invite a parent. Tap Share QR Code.

   

2. A QR code and a six-character code appear, valid for 10 minutes.

   

3. On their phone, they install Quiddo, tap Have a code? Enter it here on the sign-in screen, and scan the QR code (or type the code).

4. They enter their name, email and a password (or their existing login if they already use Quiddo) and tap Join Family.

   

Not in the same room? The family admin can type their email under Invite a parent and tap Invite instead. The invitation lasts 7 days. If they already use Quiddo, a banner saying who invited them appears on their Money tab, with Accept and ✕ (decline).

Codes are short-lived on purpose

A join code lasts 10 minutes, and making a new one cancels the old one. That’s why it’s worth doing in person. An email invitation stays valid for 7 days.

You’ll need a verified email

Inviting someone needs a verified email address on your account. If you see the Unverified badge at the top of the app, tap it and sort that out first.

Only the admin sees the email form

If you’re a co-parent rather than the family admin, Invite a parent shows a note (“Only a family admin can send email invites”) and the Share QR Code button, without the email box. The QR code works for any parent.

3. Tell the kids who’s who

Each adult can set What kids call you: Mum, Dad, Nana, Steve, whatever fits. It shows up next to things you do, so your kid’s history reads “Approved Make bed · Dad” rather than an email address.

1. Tap your avatar at the top right, then Profile settings, then Edit Profile.

2. Fill in What kids call you and tap Save.

   

Ask every adult in the family to do this. It stops a lot of “who said I could have that?“

4. Decide who does what

There are two kinds of parent in a family:

• The family admin (usually whoever set it up).
• Co-parents (everyone who joined).

Day to day, there’s no difference. Anyone can approve jobs, release or withhold pocket money, add money, log spends, and set up kids, jobs and goals. The admin can also:

• change the family’s name, time zone and currency
• send and cancel email invitations
• change other parents’ roles, or remove them
• delete the family

Known issue: Role change has no confirmation

Tapping someone’s role badge in the members list switches them between admin and member straight away, with no confirmation, and more than one person can end up as admin. Check before you tap.

One time zone per family

Pocket money comes out at the release time in the family’s time zone, wherever each parent lives. If the two houses are in different states, pick the time zone the kids mostly live in.

5. Devices in both houses

Your kid’s own phone or tablet follows them around. Once linked (from their edit screen, under Device linking) it signs in as them anywhere. There’s nothing to set up at the second house.

A family screen can live in each house. Link a tablet at Mum’s and another at Dad’s; both show the same kids and the same jobs. A family can have more than one screen connected. See Put it on the kitchen bench.

6. Everyone picks their own notifications

Each adult chooses which notifications they get, under Profile settings › Notifications: tasks waiting for approval, pocket money released or held, savings goals reached, and family updates.

A setup that works for a lot of families: whoever has the kids this week keeps task notifications on, since they’re the one who can check the lawn actually got mowed.

Notifications are per person, not per family

Your notification settings apply to every family you’re in. They’re not per house.

7. Grandparents and other helpers

Grandparents, step-parents and regular babysitters join the same way as a co-parent. It’s worth knowing what that means before you invite them.

There’s no view-only role

Everyone who joins a family can do everything a parent can day to day, including approving jobs and logging spends. If you want a grandparent to see the kids’ progress without touching the money, the honest answer for now is: trust them, or show them on your phone.

8. When you’re in more than one family

If you’re in two families (your household plus a separate “Nana bank”, say), switch between them with the button next to the family name on the Family tab, or from the menu under your avatar. You stay on the same kind of screen when you switch.

You can be admin of up to three families, and a co-parent in as many as you like.

Known issue: Edit opens the wrong family

In Manage families, tapping Edit on a family that isn’t the one you’re currently in opens the current one instead. Tap View first to switch, then edit.

9. Who pays

One subscription covers the family, paid by one person, the billing owner. Everyone else uses it for free. If the billing owner has more than one family, their subscription covers them all.

To hand billing over to another parent:

1. The billing owner opens Billing (from the menu under their avatar) and finds Billing ownership.

2. They select the other parent and tap Transfer billing, then Send invitation.

   

3. The other parent opens the invitation from their email and accepts. If they don’t have a subscription yet, they’re asked to start one first.

Transfers need a subscription on the other end

The person taking over billing needs their own active subscription (or trial) to accept. The invitation lasts 7 days.

10. When someone leaves

Relationships change, and so do babysitters. The family admin can remove a parent from the members list. They keep read-only access for 30 days so nobody loses sight of the kids overnight, and they get an email letting them know.

Known issue: Co-parents can’t leave a family

A co-parent can’t remove themselves from a family in the mobile app. Ask the family admin to remove you.

A fortnight in two houses

When	Where the kids are	What happens
Week 1	Mum’s	Mum approves jobs each evening. Dad’s phone stays quiet.
Friday	Mum’s	Pocket money comes out as usual.
Week 2, Monday	Dad’s	Same kids, same balances, same jobs. Dad approves.
Wednesday	Nana’s after school	Nana approves “Homework done” and is listed as Nana in the history.
Week 2, Friday	Dad’s	Pocket money comes out as usual. Nobody had to ask whose turn it was.

Where to go next

• A family screen for each house: A morning routine that runs itself.
• The pocket money setup everyone will share: Weekly pocket money, with jobs that have to get done.