Questions & Answers

Yes. Everything in OurFamilyGrid itself is free, with no adverts and no limits on family members. That includes the bigger features like Health, Travel and the Password Vault. The only paid things are optional sister apps for big one-off jobs (see Paid add-ons).

No. Your data is never sold, rented or shown to advertisers, and there are no tracking or analytics scripts on the site. The server and domains cost about £200 a year, paid by Tim (who built it), helped by donations and the optional add-ons. The full details are in the privacy policy.

Tim Jollie, a chef and developer in the UK, who built it for his own family and opened it up to others. Email hello@ourfamilygrid.com and he'll read it himself.

On one server in Manchester, UK. All connections use HTTPS, passwords are hashed, and sensitive things like bank transaction descriptions are encrypted. A few optional features use named outside services, only when you use them. They're all listed in the privacy policy.

Yes. Set your household's country and currency in Household settings. A few features use UK services (MOT and tax checks, the Monzo bank feed) and only appear for UK households. Everything else works anywhere.

Go to Household → Invite. You'll get a link to send by WhatsApp, text or email. When they sign up with it, they join your household straight away and you get a notification.

Each account has a role. Owner runs the household and sees everything. Adult sees everything except household settings and members. Teen gets day-to-day family things but no money, documents or passwords. Child gets tasks, shopping, rewards and games, mostly view only. Guest (a carer or relative) gets the calendar, shopping and meals. Owners can change roles under Household.

Yes. Documents can be marked private so only you see them, and anything in your own profile stays yours. Most other things, like lists, the calendar and meals, are shared with your household by design.

Go to Activities & Lifts (under Everyday) and add each thing your children do every week: the days and times, where it is, who goes, the kit to pack, and who usually does drop-off and pick-up. The evening before, the person on the run gets a reminder with the kit to pack, and they get another 45 minutes before. Grown-ups are warned if nobody's on a run. Everything shows in your calendar too, and you can change a single day (not on, someone else driving, finishing early) without touching the rest.

Yes. Open the activity and choose Share the lifts. You get a private link to send to the other parents, for example in the class WhatsApp group. They add their family, then tap I'll do it on the runs they can do. Anyone can ask for a swap on their own run, and a bar shows how many runs each family has done, so it stays fair. As the organiser, you can put any family on a run, or let Share out empty runs in turns fill the gaps evenly.

No. They just need the link, plus their name and their children's first names. Their phone remembers them, and they get their own link to use on another phone. If they make a free account, they can connect the rota to it, so their runs show in their own calendar with reminders. They can also send you a Friend Families request, which you can accept or ignore.

Only what the rota needs: first names, the activity's days, times, place and kit, who's doing each run, and any day you've marked as not on, with its note. They don't see your activity notes, who in your house is driving, or anything else in your account. The page is hidden from search engines. Anyone with the link can see it, so if it gets passed around, use New link (families already on the rota keep their own links) or Stop sharing. You can also remove a family.

Go to Profile → Download my data. You'll get a zip file with everything you've added, your household's shared records, and your photos and documents.

Go to Profile → Delete My Account. Your account and everything tied to it is removed, including files. If you're the last person in your household, the whole household goes too. You can also email us and we'll do it for you.

Use Forgot password on the sign-in page and we'll email you a reset link.

The vault is encrypted with a key that only your household's passwords (or one of your recovery codes) can unlock, so even we can't read it. Keep your recovery codes somewhere safe: if everyone forgets their password and the codes are lost, the vault can't be recovered. How vault encryption works.

Go to Profile and scroll to Notifications. You can switch email, browser push and in-app notifications on or off for each type.

Yes, for Android. Sign in and go to Get the App in the menu to download it. On iPhone, open the website in Safari and use Share → Add to Home Screen.

Optional sister apps for bigger jobs: OurProjectGrid for DIY, repairs and home maintenance, and OurEventsGrid for weddings and big occasions. They use your OurFamilyGrid login. Nothing in OurFamilyGrid itself is locked behind them.

Each starts with a 30-day free trial, with no card needed. After that it's £2.99 a month or £29.99 a year ($3.99 / $39.99 in the US). If you subscribe during the trial, your first payment still waits until the trial ends.

Account → Add-ons shows each app and where you stand: trial days left, subscribed, or free. Account → Payments shows your subscriptions and receipts.

Go to Account → Payments → Manage billing. That opens Stripe's secure page, where you can change your card, switch between monthly and yearly, or cancel. You keep access until the end of the time you've paid for.

Yes, in full, if you ask within 14 days of your first payment. Email hello@ourfamilygrid.com. Full details are in the add-on terms.

A small UK business selling online services to people in the EU has to register for VAT there from the very first sale, which isn't workable for a £2.99 app yet. Your free OurFamilyGrid features aren't affected. If you'd like an add-on, email us. If enough people ask, we'll set up EU billing.

OurHealthGrid, OurProjectGrid and OurEventsGrid are run by the same person, on the same server, under the same privacy policy. Each only reads what it needs. How the shared login works.

Signed in, use Help & Support in the menu to open a ticket or report a bug, and see what's planned on the Roadmap. Or just email hello@ourfamilygrid.com.