Help

How to set up, how to do things, and what to do when something isn’t working.

Getting started

1. Get started on your phone. Go to fridgeboard.me on your phone and tap Try it free. It asks who lives with you and what you’d like on the screen.
2. Open FridgeBoard on the iPad or tablet. In the web browser, go to fridgeboard.me, tap Open, then Use this as the shared screen. It shows you how to add it to the Home Screen.
3. Open it from the Home Screen. Tap the FridgeBoard icon. The screen shows a QR code.
4. Scan the code with your phone. In the phone app, tap Connect a screen and scan it. Your board appears on the screen.

Get this screen ready

Do these on the screen itself, so it stays on and stays in FridgeBoard. The screen shows these steps once it’s connected, and again from its ☰ menu.

iPad

1. Keep the screen on. Settings › Display & Brightness › Auto-Lock › Never. FridgeBoard’s sleep screen takes over at night. On older iPads, Auto-Lock is under Settings › General.
2. Stay in FridgeBoard. Settings › Accessibility › Guided Access: turn it on and set a passcode. Then, in FridgeBoard, triple-click the Home button (or the top button on iPads without one) and tap Start. To leave, triple-click again and type the passcode. On older iPads, Guided Access is under Settings › General › Accessibility.
3. Keep it charging. Leave it plugged in, with a 10W or stronger charger. A small phone charger can’t keep up.
4. Set the brightness. Open Control Centre (swipe down from the top right corner, or up from the bottom on older iPads) and drag brightness to about halfway.

Android tablet

1. Keep the screen on. Settings › Display › Screen timeout: pick the longest.
2. Stay in FridgeBoard. Settings › Security › App pinning (or Screen pinning): turn it on. Then open your recent apps, tap FridgeBoard’s icon and tap Pin.
3. Keep it charging. Leave it plugged in, with a 10W or stronger charger.
4. Set the brightness. Swipe down from the top and drag brightness to about halfway.

If an iPad or tablet battery ever swells or the case starts to lift, unplug it and stop using it.

How do I…

Add people and pets

On the phone, tap ☰, then People and pets, then +.

Add chores and give them coins

On the phone, open Chores and tap +. Choose who it’s for and how often. To earn coins for it, set its coins when you add or edit it. On the screen, giving a chore coins needs the household PIN, so children can’t give themselves coins.

Set up treats to spend coins on

On the phone, tap ☰, then Rewards. Add treats to the shop and a shared goal if you like. On the screen, a treat is bought from the Rewards tab, and an adult types the household PIN to allow it.

Add a calendar

On the phone, go to Settings › Calendars. Google and Outlook connect with a sign-in. For iCloud, paste your calendar’s share link. A household can have up to 20 calendars, school and club links included.

Plan meals from your calendar

If you already put meals in a calendar, FridgeBoard can use them. On the phone, go to Meals › Use calendar events as meals and switch it on. An event called Dinner: Tacos (or Dinner - Tacos) becomes that day’s dinner, made by whoever the event is for. Breakfast, Lunch and Snack work the same way, and you can change the words. To bring the recipe too, write Ingredients in the event’s notes with a line for each one underneath, and Method if you like. A meal you plan in FridgeBoard always comes first, and your calendar is never changed.

Set or change the household PIN

On the phone, go to Settings › Household PIN. It’s four numbers, for the grown-ups. The same page lets you choose what the screen asks for it.

Invite another adult or a helper

On the phone, go to Settings › Household › Adults, kids and helpers. A helper, like a sitter or cleaner, only sees the parts you choose.

Put the household on a teenager’s phone

On your phone, tap ☰, then People and pets, open the child’s card and type their email address. They get an invite by email and sign in with that address on their own phone and see just their own chores, jobs and routines to tick off, plus the lists, the calendar and the meals. They can’t change settings, give coins or buy treats. Treats are still bought on the shared screen. To make them an adult later, change their card from Child to Adult; it keeps their chores, coins and history, and the person who made the household can change it back. Your own phones and tablets join by signing in with your own email. Only shared screens use a QR code.

Change what’s on the screen

On the screen, hold anywhere on Home, or tap ☰ then Arrange Home. Drag cards to move them, drag a corner to resize, and tap + Add for more cards. On the phone, go to Settings › Shared screens › Colours, tabs and layout.

Put two cards in one spot

Cards can share a spot, so you only see one at a time and tap a name to switch. On the screen, tap ☰ then Arrange Home, tap ⋯ on a card, then Stack and pick the card to share with. Add more the same way. A few cards, like person cards and clocks, stay on their own.

Share one person card between two people

Two people can have one card, each with their own part of it. On the screen, tap ☰ then Arrange Home, tap ⋯ on one of their cards, and under People on this card tap Add beside the other person. Their own card comes off Home. Drag the names to change which part comes first, and tap Take off to give someone their own card again. Chores they do together show once, under Together. Tap + on the card to pick who a new job is for.

Set a timer

On the screen, tap the stopwatch at the left end of the bar, then tap 1, 2, 5 or 10 minutes. Tap more than once to add time.

Change the sleep screen and night mode

On the screen, tap ☰, then Sleep screen to pick a clock face, your photos or live scores. To have it sleep while nobody’s home, tap + Add set times there and pick the days and times. To set the hours it dims and sleeps at night, go to Settings › Shared screens › Night mode on the phone.

Pause routines and chores while you’re away

Turn on Holiday mode: on the phone in Settings › Household, or on the screen from ☰.

Connect another screen

On the phone, go to Settings › Shared screens and tap +. Three shared screens are included, and phones don’t count towards them. Extra screens are US$10 each plus tax, A$16 in Australia with GST included, or the price in your own currency where there is one. The phone shows it before you pay.

Move to a new iPad

On the phone, go to Settings › Shared screens, tap the old one, then Disconnect this screen. Then set up the new iPad the same way as the first one. Everything on your board stays.

Link Home Assistant

If your home runs Home Assistant, sensors and buttons can tick things off, your lights and sensors can go on the shared screen, and your automations can work both ways. See FridgeBoard and Home Assistant.

Something’s not working

The address bar shows at the top

It’s been opened in Safari. Close Safari and open FridgeBoard from its icon on the Home Screen. If there’s no icon, open fridgeboard.me/board in Safari and follow the steps it shows.

The phone won’t scan the QR code

In the phone app, tap Type its code instead and type the code shown under the QR. If the screen shows Show a new code, the old one ran out: tap it for a new one.

The screen says “Reconnecting… Check the Wi-Fi”

The screen can’t reach FridgeBoard. Check the iPad is on your Wi-Fi in Settings › Wi-Fi. Tap the screen to try again straight away. If it stays like that, close FridgeBoard and open it again.

My old iPad won’t connect to our Wi-Fi

All is not lost. This happens a lot with older iPads and newer routers, and it can nearly always be fixed without buying anything. Newer Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 7 and mesh systems) still works with older devices, but some routers come with the older way of joining switched off. Try these in order:

1. Join it again. On the iPad, go to Settings › Wi-Fi, tap your network, tap Forget This Network, then join it again and type the password carefully. Restarting the router and the iPad can help too.
2. Turn on the older security setting. Open your router’s app or settings page and find the Wi-Fi security setting. If it says WPA3 only, change it to WPA2/WPA3 or WPA2. Some routers call this compatibility mode or legacy devices. Your other devices will keep working.
3. Make a guest network for the iPad. Most routers can make a second network. Set it to WPA2 and join the iPad to that one. Your main Wi-Fi stays as it is.

Still stuck? Email us your router’s brand and model, and we’ll help you find the right setting.

The screen keeps turning off

Set Auto-Lock to Never (see Get this screen ready). FridgeBoard has its own sleep screen for the night.

Timers and alarms make no sound

iPads switch the sound off when the screen locks, and only a tap turns it back on, so when the screen asks, tap Turn sound on. If it keeps asking, tap Other choices: the screen can show the sleep screen instead, so the tap that wakes it turns the sound on, or stop asking. Check the side switch isn’t on mute and the volume is up. To choose the sounds, tap ☰, then Sounds.

The screen shows an Update button

There’s a new version of FridgeBoard. Tap Update when it suits you. Shared screens never update by themselves, so a timer or alarm is never cut off. After the update, the screen shows what’s new.

A calendar isn’t showing

On the phone, go to Settings › Calendars. If an account shows a problem, tap Connect again and sign in.

The kids keep leaving FridgeBoard

Turn on Guided Access on an iPad, or App pinning on Android (see Get this screen ready).

The screen asks for a PIN I don’t know

An adult can change it on the phone, in Settings › Household PIN.

I can’t move cards on the screen

Home may be locked. On the screen, tap ☰, then Unlock Home, and type the household PIN. You can also turn this off on the phone, in Settings › Household PIN.

Still stuck?

Tell us what happened. On the phone, tap ☰, then Help and feedback, or on the screen tap ☰, then Settings, then Send feedback. You can also email hello@fridgeboard.me. We read every message and reply by email.

You can also ask in the FridgeBoard community on Facebook, where other households share their setups and new things are posted first.