Help

Most of Auralar explains itself, and the bits that do not are below. If your question is not here, write to us — and tell us it was not here, because that is how this page gets better.

Getting started

We're still putting the finishing touches on Auralar, so new households can't be created just yet. If you already have an account, sign in as usual.

It takes about five minutes and there is no app to download: Auralar runs in the browser, and installs to the home screen if you want it to (see below). Apps for Android and for iPhone and iPad are on the way. The account belongs to the household — everybody uses the same one, from whatever screens they have.

Putting a screen on the wall

Any tablet, any old phone, any spare monitor with something behind it. Open the calendar on it, sign in, and:

• Use Add to Home Screen so it opens without browser bars. On iPhone and iPad that is the share button, then Add to Home Screen; on Android it is the browser menu, then Install or Add to Home screen.
• In Settings › This screen, pick a wall style and a look, and turn on Fill the screen.
• Leave Stay unlocked on this device off on the wall panel. The wall shows the day and lets anybody tick things off without a PIN anyway; that setting is for a parent’s own phone or tablet (see People and PINs).
• Set Back to the wall after so the screen returns to the day by itself after somebody has finished poking at it.
• In the tablet’s own settings, turn off auto-lock and leave it on charge.

Every screen is set up separately. The tablet in the kitchen can be light and full-screen while a teenager’s phone is dark.

People and PINs

People are not accounts. Each one is a name and a colour, added in Settings › People, and they do not need an email address or a password of their own.

A PIN protects changing the calendar, not using it. Ticking things off never asks for anything — that is the point of a wall panel. Adding, editing or deleting asks for a PIN if one has been set.

Typing a PIN unlocks editing on that screen only. It never unlocks any other screen in the house, and once that screen locks again — when it goes back to the wall — the next change asks for a PIN again.

Stay unlocked on this device, in Settings › This screen, is for a screen that belongs to one person — a parent’s own phone, say. That screen stops asking for their PIN and stops drifting back to the wall. Do not turn it on for the wall panel, or anybody walking past could change the calendar.

Forgotten a PIN? Anybody who can sign in with the household password can change it in Settings › People.

Chores & one-offs, rooms and repeats

There are three kinds of thing: events (an appointment), chores (they repeat, and are worth points) and one-offs (something to get done once, with no points). They are kept apart so the day reads properly. Something done once is a one-off; something that comes round again is a chore.

• Rooms are yours to name — kitchen, bathroom, the shed — and a chore can belong to one. Set them up in Settings › Chores and rooms.
• Repeats: every day, certain weekdays, or a date each month. Set it once.
• Anyone is a valid owner. A chore or one-off nobody is assigned to can be done by whoever gets to it.
• Several people can share a chore or a one-off. Together means one tick by any of them does it for all of them. A chore can also take turns: each day shows only whose turn it is, and the turn moves on in the order you picked the names.
• Anything not done rolls over and says how many days late it is, rather than quietly disappearing.

Points, the month’s reward and achievements

Each chore is worth points, based on how hard it is: easy, normal or hard. A normal chore is worth whatever you set in Settings › Chores and rooms (10 to begin with), and the other two are worked out from it: easy is half of it, hard is half as much again — 5, 10 and 15 points with the usual 10. One-offs and events carry no points.

The whole house plays together for one reward a month — a takeaway, a film night — set in Settings › The month. Every chore anybody ticks off counts towards it, and the house gets it by reaching its goal: a percentage, which you choose, of all the chore points that were on the board that month. When the house gets there, the wall celebrates.

There is no contest between the people in the house. Everybody is pulling towards the same thing.

The month freezes on its last night and goes into the record. Nothing is recalculated afterwards.

Achievements are separate from the month: badges anybody can earn, such as the first thing ticked off or seven days running, and a few are hidden until somebody finds one. They show who earned them; they are not a ranking. A chore done together counts once for the month and towards everybody’s achievements.

Adding another screen

You can sign in with the household email and password on any screen. If you would rather not type the password onto a shared or borrowed device, use Settings › This screen › Add another screen on a phone that is already signed in. It gives you a six-character code, good for ten minutes, that lets the other screen in.

Premium, and paying

The calendar, chores and one-offs, the people, the points and the family month are free forever: no price, now or later. Premium is the paid add-on for the extras — see what it costs.

• A guest wi‑fi code visitors can scan off the wall
• More than one household on one account

The first month of Premium is free the first time you subscribe, and Premium’s price steps down the longer you stay subscribed.

Everything to do with your subscription is in Settings › Auralar Premium: which price step you are on, when the next payment is, changing the card, and cancelling. Cancelling takes two taps and leaves Premium on until the end of the period you have paid for.

The details are in the terms of sale.

When something is wrong

The wall screen has gone blank or stale

Pull down to refresh, or close and reopen it. The wall re-reads the server every minute; if the wifi has dropped it will show what it last knew and catch up when the connection returns.

I never got the confirmation or reset email

Check the spam folder first — it comes from noreply@auralar.co. A reset link lasts an hour and can be used once. If it still has not arrived, tell us and we can see whether it was sent.

Two-step sign-in and I have lost the phone

Use one of the recovery codes you were given when you turned it on. If those are gone too, write to us from the email address on the account.

Something is plainly broken

Use Settings › Report a problem. It sends us what you write along with the version and the screen you were on, which is usually half the answer — and it goes to a person.