Kid Pickup 1.5 is on its way. It will arrive as a free update through the App Store for everyone on iPhone once Apple has reviewed it. If your phone updates apps by itself, it will turn up without you doing anything.

The big change is a new first screen. In 1.5 the app will open on Home: one private feed for your family, with today's pickups at the top. The calendar will be one tap away. Here's what's coming.

Home: a private feed for your family

Home sits under your family's name and avatar. It's for the day's back-and-forth: "Running ten minutes late." "Look who scored." A photo of the art project that came home on the bus.

  • Anyone in the family can post an update, with a photo if they like. That includes grandparents, the sitter and everyone else you've invited.
  • Everyone in the family sees it, and nobody outside it does. There are no public profiles, no followers and no public links. It's private to your family.
  • React to a post with an emoji, or tap Comment to answer it. When someone posts, the app sends a notification to the rest of the family. A comment sends one to the person who posted.
  • A parent or guardian can post as one of the children. The post shows the child's name and avatar, with the adult's name underneath. Children don't have accounts; the grown-up who posts is the one behind it.

Today's pickups, at the top

The top of Home shows today's pickups and who has each one. A pickup nobody has taken yet says OPEN. Anything starting in the next hour is listed above them, so the one that matters right now is the first thing you see.

What happens to a pickup shows up in the feed too: added, claimed, called off and the rest. They're the same updates that sit behind the bell, in one place with everything else.

Type it, and Home offers to add it

Type something that sounds like a pickup, like "Can someone pick up Leo from swim Thursday at 4:30?", and Home offers to add it to the calendar. Tap it and the pickup form opens, filled in from what you wrote. Nothing is saved until you check it and tap Create. There's also a Pickup button for when you know that's what you want.

Keeping it kind

Tap the three dots on a post or comment to report it. Reports come to us. You can delete your own posts and comments, and a parent or guardian can delete any of them in the family. A short list of words is blocked automatically. Removing someone from your family stops them seeing or posting in its feed.

Where photos go

People ask, so here it is:

  • A photo is shrunk on your phone before it uploads, which also removes the location your camera stored in it.
  • Photos are kept in private storage and shown only to your family, through links that expire within the hour. Nothing is public by URL.
  • Deleting your account deletes your posts and photos. If you own the family, it deletes the whole family's.

The privacy policy has the details.

Getting around

  • The bottom bar: Home, Calendar, Family, Chat and Events, plus buttons for a new pickup and for the assistant. The assistant is still part of Premium.
  • Dashboard becomes Calendar.
  • Calendar's Week view is a list of that week's pickups, a day at a time.
  • Every tab has the same header, Chat included: your avatar on the left, the bell on the right.

And the rest

  • Email notifications, if you want them. Switch on Email Notifications in Settings and the app sends an email as well when you're asked to do a pickup, or when one still needs someone. It's off unless you turn it on, and nothing is sent until you've confirmed your address.
  • In Chat, a reaction sits on the corner of the message it answers.
  • The Family screen opens with your family's avatar and name.
  • On a pickup's card, whoever has it is shown in the top right corner.
  • Avatars sit in the middle of their circles.
  • In dark mode, Chat's header is dark too.
  • The tab you're on has a bigger, clearer highlight.

Getting it

1.5 isn't out yet. When Apple releases it, it will arrive as a free update through the App Store. Home will be on every plan, the free trial included, and prices aren't changing. Your family, your pickups and your settings will carry straight over.

Questions before then? Tell us. It comes straight to the person who built it.