Help & how-to

Everything you need to know to get started. Tap any section below to expand.

First time here? Start with Linking parent and kid accounts to get the family set up, then check Coins & Plus to understand how earning works.

Linking parent and kid accounts

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.

For parents

Create a child account from scratch

Sign up first as a parent. During sign-up choose I'm a parent and enter your birthday (must be 18+).
Once signed in, open the Profile tab and scroll to the Family section.
Click + Add a child, fill in their name, birthday, username, and password.
Hand the username and password to your kid so they can sign in.

For parents

Link an existing kid account

If your kid already has a Penny Note account, either:

Ask them to go to Profile › Connect with a parent › Send a request, type your Penny Note username, and submit. You'll see the request from your Parent home tab and can Approve or Deny it.
Or generate a link code from Parent home, give the code to your kid, and have them paste it under Profile › Connect with a parent › Enter a code.

For kids

If your parent set up your account

Just sign in with the username and password your parent gave you. You're already linked.

For kids

If you made your account first

Open Profile and scroll to Connect with a parent.
If your parent gave you a code, paste it under Enter a code.
Otherwise pick Send a request, type your parent's Penny Note username, and submit. They'll approve from their side.

Heads up: kids under 13 can't create an account on their own — Penny Note asks them to have a parent set it up first. This keeps us compliant with kids' privacy law (COPPA) in the US.

What can a parent see about their kid?

Their todos, journal entries, habits, moods, and study activity
Their friends list and messages exchanged with friends
Their coin balance, shop purchases, and pet care
Their job applications, shifts, promotions, and pay

Parents can read all of this but cannot change it. The kid owns their data.

Removing a link

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 & Plus subscription

How coins are earned

Coins reward healthy daily habits:

Daily journal entry — 10 coins (once per day)
Completing a todo — 5 each, up to 30/day
Marking a habit done — 5 each, up to 30/day
Winning a game — 10 each, up to 30/day
Working a job shift — 10 (or more for higher tiers), up to 60/day
Logging a book in the Reading Log — 8 each, up to ~3/day
Finishing the Daily Challenge — 25 bonus coins/day
Completing a parent-assigned chore — whatever coins the parent set (up to 10/chore)
Logging in — 3 coins/day
Homework, savings deposit, study quiz — 5 each, daily-capped

Daily caps mean a kid can't grind a single activity forever — total daily earnings are around 100–200 coins for an active user.

What coins buy

Avatars (regular and themed characters)
Hats and accessories that layer over your avatar
Pets — cats, dogs, birds, dragons, and more
Avatar Studio items (Plus only) — full character mix-and-match

What Plus unlocks

The free tier covers the full core app. Plus adds:

Avatar Studio — custom skin, hair, clothes, glasses, and accessories instead of preset characters
Plus-only games — Air Hockey, Pool, Baseball, Slither, Brick Buster, Pinball
Themed and rare pets in the shop

Parents subscribe to Plus from the upgrade prompt or the pricing card. Kids on a linked family account inherit Plus from their parent.

Chores & allowance

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.

For parents

Assigning a chore

Open your child from Parent home, then the Chores tab.
Type the chore, set a reward, choose how often it repeats (one time, daily, or weekly), and click Assign chore.
When your kid marks it done, an Approve button appears. Approving pays the reward.

Two kinds of reward

🪙 Game coins — in-app coins (max 10 per chore) that your kid spends in the Shop. These are virtual and always available.
💵 Real allowance money — an actual dollar amount you choose to pay.

Important — how real-money allowance works. The dollar amount is real money that you (the parent) agree to pay your child. Penny Note never processes, holds, or transfers any money — it only keeps a running tally of what you owe so you can hand it over and mark it paid. Because of this, real-money allowance is off by default: you must turn it on in the Chores tab and confirm you understand and accept responsibility for paying. Until you opt in, only game coins are available. You can turn it off again any time.

Marking allowance paid

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.

For kids

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.

Friends & messaging

Sending a friend request

Tap the mail icon at the top of the app and switch to the Friends tab.
Type your friend's Penny Note username and submit.
They'll see the request in their own mail modal and can Accept or Decline.

Kids approve their own friend requests — parents don't have to confirm each one. They do see every friend their kid adds, though.

Friend DMs vs parent↔kid messages

The mail icon has two tabs:

Chats — messages between you and your parent or kid. This thread only appears once you're linked.
Friends — DMs with accepted friends. Each friend is a separate conversation.

Parent oversight of friend chats

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.

Pets, shop & Avatar Studio

Adopting a pet

Open Shop › Pets, pick one, and tap Buy. You can own multiple pets and switch the active one from the home screen.

Caring for your pet

Pets have two stats — hunger and happiness — that slowly decay over time. Use the buttons on the home screen:

Feed — refills hunger
Play — boosts happiness

The mood emoji shows how the pet is feeling. Keep both stats above 50 for a happy pet.

Shop tabs

Avatars — replace your profile picture with a preset character
Hats — layer a hat on top of your avatar
Pets — adopt new pets
Avatar Studio (Plus) — full custom character with mix-and-match parts

Jobs & games

The Jobs loop

Real-world life-skill practice in a simple cycle:

Apply — pick a job from the Jobs tab and fill out the application. Three starter jobs at launch: Lemonade Stand, Pet Sitter, and Newspaper Delivery.
Work a daily shift — complete the shift each day to earn coins.
Get promoted — consistent work moves you up tiers with higher pay.
Don't ghost the job — skip too many days and you can get fired. You can re-apply but you start over.

Parents can see all job activity from their parent-home view.

Free games

Tic-Tac-Toe, Treasure Hunt, Snowman, Frog Run, Pinball, and Study Quiz are free for everyone.

Plus games

Air Hockey, Pool, Baseball, Slither, Brick Buster, and Pinball are part of the Plus subscription.

Privacy, safety & the PIN lock

App lock (PIN)

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.

Exporting your data

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.

What we collect (and don't)

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).

Deleting an account

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.

Troubleshooting

I forgot my password

Email support@penny-note.com with your username. Parents can reset a kid's password directly from Profile › Family › (kid) › Reset password.

I'm signed in but my data is missing

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.

The app is locked and I forgot my PIN

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.

My coins didn't go up after doing something

You may have hit the daily cap for that activity. Caps reset every day at midnight in your local timezone.

Still stuck?

Tap the mail icon and send feedback — we read every message and reply in-app. Or email support@penny-note.com.