Sign a shared tablet in for the kids

This is for the grown-up whose younger kids share a tablet, or an old phone, and cannot type a family code, a username and a PIN. It covers signing the device in, what the kids see, switching between kids, signing out, and what signs the device out on its own. A kid who signs in on their own device is covered in Sign in as a kid with a PIN.

Sign the device in

To set the tablet up:

1. On the grown-up sign-in screen, tap “Kids on this device”. It sits under “I am a kid”.
2. On “Kids on this device”, type your own address in the email field and your “Password”. The screen says: “Sign in with your own email and password. This device will show all your kids and stay signed in.”
3. Tap “Sign this device in”.

The device opens straight into your first kid’s jars, kids in alphabetical order. It stays signed in: nobody types anything again, and there is no PIN on this device. Your password is never stored on it. This works in the browser as well as in the phone app, and it replaces whoever was signed in on that browser or app before.

If you have not added a kid yet, the screen says “Add a kid first, then sign this device in.” A wrong password shows the same message as on the ordinary sign-in screen. If your address is still unconfirmed more than 7 days after sign-up, the screen asks you to confirm your email first. Too many goes in a minute pause the screen with “Too many attempts. Wait a minute and try again.”

What the kids see

Every kid screen carries a strip of chips at the top, one per kid, with their color and name; the kid on screen has the filled chip. A kid taps their own chip and lands on their jars. Whatever screen was open closes, so a half-typed ask never carries over to a sibling. While the switch is in flight the chips are dimmed, and a connection problem shows in red under the strip while the device stays on the current kid. With only one kid in the family there is no strip.

Everything else is the ordinary kid side: the same Jars, Chores and Goals tabs, the same asks and paydays, and Settings behind the avatar in the top corner, where “My color” and “Look” still work. Any kid on the tablet can open any sibling’s tab; there is no per-kid lock on a shared device yet, so it suits kids who share the device anyway.

The tablet gets no notifications. Pushes go to the kids’ own phones, and a shared device never registers for them.

Kids added or removed later

The strip refreshes each time a chip is tapped or the device is signed in again. A kid added on another device appears at the next tap, and a removed kid’s chip stays until then; tapping it says “That could not be found.” A family with one kid has no strip, so a second kid appears after signing out and back in.

Sign out

On a shared device the kid Settings screen has no plain sign-out button. “Hold to sign out” must be pressed for two seconds: the label changes to “Keep holding…” and a fill runs across the button. Letting go early cancels it and nothing happens. The line under it reads “Ask a grown-up before signing out.”, and “Not your family?” is not shown. Signing out lands on the ordinary sign-in screen; to bring the kids back, tap “Kids on this device” and sign in again.

What signs the device out on its own

Some changes end the tablet’s session. The device then shows “Kids on this device” with the banner “Ask a grown-up to sign the tablet in again.” and your address already filled in:

• You reset the PIN of the kid who is on screen. A sibling’s PIN reset changes nothing on the tablet.
• You reset your own password. That signs out every device you signed in for the kids.
• The kid on screen is removed from the family.
• Your own account is removed, or your address stays unconfirmed past the 7-day grace.

The tablet notices at its next refresh: when it is opened again, when a chip is tapped, or within 15 minutes. There is no button in the grown-up app today to sign a shared tablet out from afar; resetting your password is the way to do it. Signing out on your own phone only ends that phone’s session.