A household is the shared space where your family's calendar, tasks, meals, and lists live. Setting one up takes a few minutes on the website or in the app. By the end of this guide you'll have everyone in it, and you'll know which of them can sign in.
Joining someone else's household? Don't sign up on your own first. Use the invite you were sent, as described in Joining with an invite, because joining always creates a new account.
Create your household
Choose Get started on the welcome screen. Poppycal walks you through the setup one screen at a time, and you'll create your account partway through, once your family is in.
- Set up your household. Enter a household name, like "The Johnsons", and your ZIP code, which Poppycal uses to show the right weather. Both are required, and Continue stays unavailable until the ZIP code has five digits.
- Add your family. You're first on the list. Add your kids, your pets, and anyone else who'll be on the calendar, up to 20 people. Each person gets a color and an avatar, and you can change both later.
- Who's in on what? Pick who shows up on Routines, Chores, and Rewards, which start out turned on. Below those, under "Only if it fits your family", are Homeschool and Kid Dashboard. Tap a person to add or remove them.
- Save your family. Create your account with your email and a password of at least 12 characters. If you're already signed in, Poppycal skips this screen.
- Bring your calendars along. Connect Google, Outlook, or Apple now, or choose I'll set this up later. If you haven't opened the verification email Poppycal just sent, you'll see "Verify your email first" here instead, and skipping is the easy option.
- Never miss a moment. Choose Turn on notifications or Skip for now. The daily morning briefing goes out at 7:30 by default, and quiet hours, 10 pm to 7 am, start out on.
- Start your free trial. The trial is 14 days and doesn't need a credit card. Pick Annual ($39.99 a year) or Monthly ($4.99 a month) for when it ends. Nothing is charged at this step.
- You're all set. Choose Open Poppycal.
About the household name. The name you enter in step 1 is the one on invites and the join screen, and it stays as you typed it. Later, Settings > General has a Family Name, which is the name in the greeting at the top of the screen. Changing that one doesn't change the name on invites.
Add or change family members
In Poppycal, each person in the household is a profile. Open Family from the sidebar to see them all under Your Family. Choose Add Profile to add someone, or choose a profile card to change it.
| Field | Required | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Yes | A first name is all you need. Save won't do anything until there's one in here. |
| Avatar | No | Letter (the first letter of the name), Character (with a skin tone option), or Photo (an image up to 5 MB). |
| Color | No | New profiles start out sky blue. This color marks the person's events and tasks everywhere in Poppycal. |
| Show on | No | Switches for Routines, Chores, Rewards, Homeschool, and Kid Dashboard. |
| Can nudge siblings | No | Lets this profile send a nudge to the other kids. |
Choose Save Profile when you're done. To remove someone, open their profile and choose Delete Profile, which permanently removes the profile and its data. A profile linked to someone's login can't be deleted on its own.
Profiles and logins
A profile is a person on the calendar. It doesn't need an email or a password, which is why kids and pets are usually profiles and nothing more. A login is for another adult who'll help run the household from their own phone or computer, and you add one by inviting them.
Invite another adult
Only an owner can invite people. Open Family and scroll to Sharing & Access. There are two ways to do it:
- Invite Code: choose Copy and send the code however you like. It doesn't expire. If you choose Regenerate, the old code stops working, including in any invite emails you've already sent.
- Invite by Email: type their address and choose Send. They get an email with a button to join. Sending needs your email to be verified.
Joining with an invite
- Choose the Join button in the invite email, or choose Have an invite code? Join a household on Poppycal's welcome screen and enter the code.
- If the household already has a profile for you, choose it under Select your profile. Otherwise choose I'm new, create my profile.
- Enter your name, email, and a password, then choose Create Account & Join.
If that email already has a Poppycal account, you'll see "An account with this email already exists. Try logging in instead." Joining only works with a new account, so use a different email address or contact support.
Owners and members
| Owner | Member | |
|---|---|---|
| Calendar, tasks, meals, lists | Yes | Yes |
| Settings and connected calendars | Yes | Yes |
| Invite people and change roles | Yes | No |
| Remove people | Yes | No |
| Billing | Yes | No |
Whoever creates the household is its owner, and a household can have more than one. To change someone's role or remove them, choose the ⋮ menu next to their name under People with access. Someone you remove loses access straight away, and their profile stays on the calendar.
What to do next
- Add your first event. Tap any day on the calendar.
- Set up chores. Add daily routines, assign them, and turn on star rewards if you want them.
- Connect your calendars. See Connect Google, Apple, or Outlook to Poppycal.
- Put it on the wall. Open Poppycal on a tablet, turn on Kid-Safe Mode, and hang it where everyone can see it.