Xtra Hands is here: a calmer household, one chore at a time

Xtra Hands is live on the App Store and Google Play. It's a family chore & allowance app, and after a long stretch of building and testing, it's finally ready for your household.

Here's what it does, and why we made it.

Why we built it

We tried everything. A whiteboard nobody looked at. A spreadsheet nobody updated. I worked through the family chore apps already out there, and none of them fit. Some were gimmicks, and the rest were missing the one or two things my household actually needed.

So I built my own. The first version only ran on our home wifi, which solved a few problems and quietly created others, but it proved the idea. And it kept coming back to the same two things I wanted to fix more than anything: deciding whose turn it was, and having to remind everyone, every single day.

Xtra Hands is that idea, finished. Not a wall of checkboxes. A system that knows the schedule, nudges the right person at the right time, and keeps the allowance honest without anyone having to argue about it. The goal was never "more app." It was a calmer household.

What's inside

Chores that know their own schedule

Set a chore once (daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly) and it shows up when it should. The ones that matter carry forward until they're done; the ones that don't, expire. No stale list to clean up every week.

Rotations that answer "whose turn is it?"

Hand a chore to the whole household and let it rotate. The answer is decided before anyone asks, so the dishes stop being a negotiation.

Reminders that do the nagging for you

Push notifications remind the person responsible for each chore, on their own schedule. You stop repeating yourself. They stop tuning you out.

An allowance ledger that stays honest

Choose who earns for chores. Earnings post automatically as chores get approved, parents handle payouts, and you can add monthly expenses on top. Balances are always right there. No shoebox of IOUs, no "I think you owe me."

Works on whatever you've got

A shared kitchen tablet with quick switching (a tap for PIN-less members, a PIN for everyone else), personal phones, or no device at all. Parents can still check chores off for anyone who isn't carrying a phone.

Away mode for real life

Someone's at a friend's, on a trip, or just having an off week? Mark them away and their chores simply don't happen. No guilt trip, no catch-up queue waiting when they get back.

Simple, fair pricing

Plans scale with how many people actually do chores, from Solo up to Crew (five or more, unlimited). Co-parents are always free. Every household tier starts with a 30-day trial, and you can cancel anytime. No ads, ever.

Get started

Install Xtra Hands on iOS or Android, set up your household in a few minutes, and start your trial. Your household, chores, and ledger will be right where you left them, on every device.

This is just 1.0. We're already building what's next, and we'd love to hear what would make Xtra Hands more useful for your household.

The Xtra Hands team