A little more
clarity.

Two kinds of people. Households keeping track of work by nannies, housekeepers, gardeners, caregivers, tutors, and other staff use the Household profile. People who do that work in other people’s homes use the Staff GIG profile to log hours for each client and see what they’re owed.

Household Pay is available now on Google Play for Android 7.0 or later. Coming soon for iPhone and iPad running iOS/iPadOS 26 or later. Check the Download & availability page for updates.

Yes. Open More (•••) → Practice tutorial to rehearse adding a person, logging a shift, recording a payment, and opening a receipt or invoice in your current profile. Practice data stays on screen only: it is never saved to your ledger, synced, exported, or shared, and it disappears when you exit. New installs are offered the practice after choosing a profile.

No Household Pay account is required. Adding staff or clients, logging hours, and recording payments work offline with records on your device. Optional cloud sync requires an internet connection and your Apple Account on iOS or Google Account on Android. Sending exports through another service may also require a connection.

Household is for the person who hires help: people are your staff, payments are money you pay out, and Overview shows your total pending payments. Staff GIG is for the person doing the work: people are your clients, payments are money you receive, and Overview shows what’s owed to you. Pay math, the punch clock, receipts, reports, and reminders work the same way in both.

Yes. You choose a profile the first time you open the app. To change, open More → Profile and confirm. Both ledgers stay saved on your device, so you can switch back and forth as often as you like. Returning users keep their saved profile and records. Installations upgrading from before profile support use Household without repeating onboarding.

No. Lists, reports, badges, reminders, exports, and backups only show the profile you’re using. Deleting a client in Staff GIG never touches your Household staff, and the reverse. A running punch clock stays in the profile it started in.

No. There are no logins for the people you work with or employ, and two installs can’t be linked. Share a receipt, invoice, or statement from your phone, and they read it like any image, PDF, or message.

On iPhone and iPad, iCloud sync covers both profiles, and each keeps its own ledger. On Android, Google Drive sync is available in the Household profile only; in Staff GIG, save an encrypted backup to keep a copy. Read the sync guide.

No. Invoices and statements are clear records of your hours and payments. They don’t calculate tax or include tax IDs, and Household Pay doesn’t prepare 1099s or other tax forms.

Granny Nanny accompanies the Household profile. In Staff GIG, Maya and Jack the Carpenter welcome you together; Maya accompanies hours, and Jack accompanies payments and reports. Their soft, static illustrations stay separate from fields and financial cards. Shared documents keep their existing format.

Yes. Choose Continue without Sparky during onboarding, or open More → Sparky companion at any time. He is off unless you enable him. The switch controls his overview card and brief save celebrations in both profiles; it does not change the other character illustrations or the app icon. No sounds, chores, streaks or pet care are required.

No. Pay using your usual method, then record the amount, date, method, and shifts covered. Payment-method names are labels for your records; they do not connect the app to your bank or transfer funds.

It tracks hours, rates, tips, wages, and payments, and can apply optional overtime and premium-day rules that you set up for each person. It does not calculate payroll taxes or deductions, decide which overtime rules the law requires, or file payroll returns. Check the amounts you record and get professional advice for obligations that apply to your household.

Yes. Open More → Currency. The initial currency follows your device’s region, with USD as a fallback. One selected currency applies to the whole app, including both profiles. Changing it relabels existing amounts without exchange-rate conversion; it does not maintain separate balances in different currencies.

Recording a payment marks the linked shifts paid. Deleting that payment returns its linked shifts to unpaid status. These statuses describe your ledger; they do not verify an external bank transfer.

Records are stored on your device. If you enable sync, copies also go to your private iCloud database on iOS or private Google Drive app storage on Android. Device backups and any files you choose to share can hold additional copies. See Privacy for details.

The app does not give staff or clients their own login or automatically send them your ledger. You can choose to share a receipt, invoice, statement, or export. Review the contents and recipient; anyone who can access your device, cloud account, or shared files may be able to read the records.

No. More → Export data (Export my work in Staff GIG) exports everything in the profile you’re using—its staff or clients, shifts, payments, and reminders—but never the other profile. The PDF is for reading and printing; the ZIP contains CSV files for spreadsheets. Neither is an in-app restore file, and neither is password-protected by Household Pay.

Deleting a staff member or client also deletes their linked shifts and payments. Marking someone inactive preserves their history. Deleting local data or uninstalling the app does not remove previously shared files, device backups, or every cloud copy. Follow the deletion guide for each location.

Yes. Open More → Privacy and turn off Share usage data. When it’s on, the app sends anonymous app events and crash reports to help fix problems. They never include names, phone numbers, notes, amounts, or other records you enter. See Privacy for details.

There is no automatic sync between platforms. iOS uses iCloud for your Apple devices; Android uses your Google Drive app storage. See cloud sync for setup, restore, and disconnect instructions.

More → Backup & restore creates a passphrase-encrypted archive of the profile you’re using that the app can restore. A PDF or CSV export is a readable copy for use outside the app. Restoring an encrypted backup replaces that profile’s records; it does not merge them, and it never touches the other profile. A backup can only be restored into the profile it came from. Keep a current backup before replacing data.

No. The app does not store the passphrase, and we cannot recover it or open an encrypted backup without it. If your records are still available in the app, create another backup with a new passphrase and keep it somewhere safe.

Do not rely on reinstalling alone. Recovery depends on a saved encrypted backup, an available cloud copy, or your device’s backup settings. Export or back up important records before deleting the app, and read Changing devices.