Everything you need to know to get started. Tap any section below to expand.
Penny Note works best with a parent account linked to one or more kid accounts. The parent gets a read-only window into their kid's activity and can message them in-app. Kids own their own data — parents don't post, edit, or delete on their behalf.
Create a child account from scratch
Link an existing kid account
If your kid already has a Penny Note account, either:
If your parent set up your account
Just sign in with the username and password your parent gave you. You're already linked.
If you made your account first
Parents can read all of this but cannot change it. The kid owns their data.
Either side can remove the link from Profile › Family. The kid keeps their account and all data; the parent just loses the read-only view.
Coins reward healthy daily habits:
Daily caps mean a kid can't grind a single activity forever — total daily earnings are around 100–200 coins for an active user.
The free tier covers the full core app. Plus adds:
One Family Plan subscription covers up to 6 seats — a parent plus their linked kids. Once a parent subscribes to Family, all their linked kids automatically get Plus benefits without needing a per-kid subscription. Manage seats from Profile › Family. Kids that join later (via link code or invite) get auto-claimed into an open seat.
Solo Plus is available for individual accounts; Family Plan is the better value if you're linking two or more kids.
Parents can assign chores to a linked kid. The kid sees them under Money › My Chores, taps Mark done when finished, and the parent approves it — which pays out the reward.
Assigning a chore
Each approved dollar chore adds to a To pay tally in the Chores tab. When you actually give your kid the money (cash, transfer, piggy bank—however you like), click Mark paid so the tally stays accurate. This is purely a tracker for your own records.
Your chores show up under Money › My Chores. Do the chore in real life, then tap Mark done. Once your parent approves it, your reward arrives — coins land in your balance right away; allowance money is paid by your parent.
Kids approve their own friend requests — parents don't have to confirm each one. They do see every friend their kid adds, though.
The mail icon has two tabs:
Parents have a read-only view of their kid's friend list and all friend messages. Kids see a clear note in the chat that says "Your parent can read these messages." — we want kids to know who's watching.
Open Shop › Pets, pick one, and tap Buy. You can own multiple pets and switch the active one from the home screen.
Pets have two stats — hunger and happiness — that slowly decay over time. Use the buttons on the home screen:
The mood emoji shows how the pet is feeling. Keep both stats above 50 for a happy pet.
Once you have a pet, take it into Games › Pet Battle for turn-based battles. Modes include vs Computer (three CPU difficulties), vs Friend (live multiplayer — invite someone from your friends list), and Quick Match. Battle grows your pet's XP and level, and stronger pets unlock harder league opponents.
Real-world life-skill practice in a simple cycle:
Parents can see all job activity from their parent-home view.
Games marked vs Friend live use the friends system — add someone as a friend from the Friends menu, then send an invite from the game's mode picker. Live matches are turn-based (Connect 4, Trivia, Pool, Pet Battle) or async stroke-play (Mini Golf), depending on the game.
Log your mood each day from the Journal. Consecutive days build a streak, which you can see on the Stats page. The Longest streak stat drives the 7-day, 30-day, and 100-day achievement badges.
Missed a day? A Streak Saver backfills the gap so a long streak doesn't reset from a single skipped check-in. You buy them from the Stats page for 50 coins each and can stockpile as many as you like.
When there's a recoverable gap (yesterday wasn't logged, but you had a 3-day-or-longer streak going), a yellow rescue banner shows up on the Stats page with a one-tap "Use saver" button. You can use one Streak Saver per 7 days — enough to protect the occasional slip, not enough to fake an inactive month.
Under Profile › Achievements you'll find badges you earn as you use the app: mood streaks (7, 30, 100 days), coins earned, pet collection, jobs held, books read, chores completed, and more. Free tier gets a taste of several achievements; Plus unlocks the full set.
A Vision goal is something you want to save up for. Give it a name, a target amount, and optionally a product link (Amazon, Etsy, wherever). The app shows a preview of the product on your Vision board.
As you earn coins from chores, jobs, games, and daily activity, you can allocate some of them to any Vision goal. Coins go into an escrow bucket for that goal — you can see how close you are, and when you hit the target the app celebrates.
Vision goals are separate from the coin balance you spend on pets, hats, or Streak Savers. Think of coins as your "wallet" and Vision goals as your "savings jar."
Set a PIN under Profile › App lock. Once set, the lock icon in the header instantly locks the app. Anyone who picks up your device needs the PIN to unlock.
Under Profile › Data, hit Export all data. You get a JSON file with every todo, journal entry, mood, habit, pet, friend, message — everything you've ever created in Penny Note.
Full details in the Privacy Policy. Short version: we store the data you create and your account info. We don't show ads, sell data, or share with third parties beyond Google (for sign-in) and Stripe (for payments).
Email support@penny-note.com from the account's email address and we'll delete the account and all its data within 30 days. Parents can request deletion of their kid's account the same way.
On the sign-in page, click Forgot password? under the Log in button. Type in your username or the email on your account, and we'll email a temporary password. Sign in with the temp; the app will require you to set a new password before continuing.
Kids without their own email should ask their parent — parents can reset a linked kid's password from Profile › Family › (open kid) › 🔑 Reset password. The temp password gets emailed to the parent's inbox.
Rate limit: one reset per account per minute so someone can't spam your inbox. Google sign-in accounts don't use this — reset those from Google.
Make sure you're signed into the right account — open the Profile tab and check the username at the bottom. If you have multiple Penny Note accounts you may have signed into the wrong one.
From the lock screen, tap the sign-out link below the PIN input and sign back in — that clears the PIN. Set a new one if you'd like under Profile.
You may have hit the daily cap for that activity. Caps reset every day at midnight in your local timezone.
Tap the mail icon and send feedback — we read every message and reply in-app. Or email support@penny-note.com.