Support

Last updated 14 September 2026

Email chorelockapp@gmail.com and a real person will answer. It helps if you say which app (parent or child), which phone, and what you expected to happen.

Email support

Setting up

How do I connect my child's phone?

In the parent app, open the child's profile and tap Pair a device. You will get a linking code and a QR code. On the child's phone, install the ChoreLock child app and either scan the QR code or type the code in. Then pick which child that phone belongs to.

A child profile can only be claimed once. If the phone you want is showing as already set up, a parent needs to unpair it first — profile screen, Unpair device.

Can both parents use it?

Yes. A family supports two parent devices. The second parent installs the parent app and joins using the same family linking code. Both see the same chores and both get approval notifications.

Which permissions does the child app need, and why?

More than most apps, because blocking an app on Android genuinely requires it. The child app will walk through them during setup:

• Usage access — so it can tell which app is open and enforce the limit.
• Display over other apps — so it can show the lock screen.
• Notification access — only so that locking an app also pauses whatever it was playing. ChoreLock does not read notifications; see the privacy policy.
• Notifications — so the child sees why an app is locked.

If a limit is not being enforced, a missing permission is the first thing to check. Each is granted on its own separate Settings screen, and it is easy to complete one and miss another.

When something is not working

A locked app is not being blocked

1. On the child's phone, confirm Usage access and Display over other apps are both still granted. Some phones revoke these when an app is unused for a while.
2. Check the app is actually in the child's locked list, and that a lock window covers the current time.
3. Confirm the child's phone is online. A rule the parent has just changed reaches the phone over the internet.

"Battery optimisation" keeps stopping it

Some manufacturers — Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, OnePlus and Huawei are the usual ones — aggressively close background apps. If limits stop applying after the phone has been idle, exclude ChoreLock from battery optimisation on the child's phone: Settings → Apps → ChoreLock → Battery → Unrestricted (the exact wording varies by phone).

I got an alert saying the child app stopped running

That alert means the child's phone was being used while the ChoreLock child app was not running — usually because it was force-stopped from the Settings app or from the recent-apps screen, and occasionally because the phone's battery saver closed it.

Opening the child app again clears the alert. If it keeps happening, apply the battery optimisation change above.

I am not getting approval notifications

1. Check notifications are allowed for the parent app.
2. Open the parent app once while online — the push registration refreshes on launch.
3. If you have two parent phones, note that both are notified, so check whether the other parent has already handled it. The Approvals tab shows what was handled today and by whom.

A chore keeps reappearing after I approve it

Recurring chores come back on their schedule — a daily chore approved this morning is due again tomorrow. If a chore is reappearing the same day, check whether it is set to repeat more than once a day on the chore's edit screen.

I forgot my parent PIN

The PIN is stored only on your own phone, as a salted hash — we cannot look it up or reset it for you, because we never receive it. Reinstalling the parent app and re-joining your family with the linking code lets you set a new one.

Privacy and data

What exactly do you collect about my child?

It is set out in full, per platform, in the privacy policy. The short answer: what the parent sets up, what the child completes, and on Android the app list and screen-time minutes needed to enforce limits. No location, no contacts, no messages, no notification contents, and no advertising or tracking of any kind.

How do I delete everything?

See Deleting your data.

Still stuck?

Email chorelockapp@gmail.com. Tell us what happened and what you expected instead, and we will get back to you.