What is a quick event in Kid Pickup?

An event saved without a day: what it is, who it’s for, where and what time. Tap +, choose Quick event, tap the one you want and tap the day, and it goes on the calendar like any other event. Set one up from the Quick event list, or turn on Save as a quick event when you fill in New Event.

My partner and I each made a family in Kid Pickup. How do we get onto one?

One of you invites the other as a parent. From 2.3, whoever joins is offered to bring their own family across: kids, events, places, quick events and the people they invited. A child with the same first name on both sides becomes one child. The offer is also in Settings, under Your other family.

Does my Kid Pickup plan move when I join my partner’s family?

If you pay for a plan in the family you bring over and the family you joined has none, the plan moves with you. If they already have one, nothing moves, and the app tells you that you are paying for two and where to cancel one.

Is Kid Pickup 2.3 free?

Yes. It’s a free update on the App Store for everyone who has Kid Pickup.

What’s New in Kid Pickup 2.3: Quick Events

Q: What’s new in Kid Pickup 2.3?

Quick events, which save an event you add again and again so it goes on the calendar in two taps. Ask them to invite me, for someone whose family is already on Kid Pickup. An offer to bring your own family’s kids, events and places across after you join another. No more swapping places when two people invite each other. And Support for Parents in Settings.

Quick answer: Kid Pickup 2.3 is a free iPhone update, out since November 11. Quick events save the things you add every week, like Thursday’s soccer pick-up, so adding one is a tap on the event and a tap on the day. If two parents each set up a family, one can now ask to be invited, or bring their kids, events and places across after joining. Settings also links to parent help lines.

Kid Pickup 2.3 came out on November 11, a free update for everyone on iPhone. It does two things. It makes the events you add every week take two taps, and it sorts out what happens when both parents sign up on the same night and each start a family.

Here's what changed.

Quick events

Most of a family's calendar is the same handful of things: Thursday's soccer pick-up, Monday's swim drop-off, the school run. Until now, each one meant filling in the whole New Event form again.

A quick event is that form, saved. Set one up once: what it is, who it's for, where and what time. After that, tap +, choose Quick event, tap the one you want and tap the day. It goes straight on the calendar. Tuesday and Thursday are two taps.

The list offers the next two weeks as days to tap. For another day, a different time, or something that repeats, a link under the days opens the usual form with everything filled in.

Already filling in New Event? Turn on Save as a quick event, just above Create, and it's ready for next time.

An event added this way is an ordinary event. If it's a pick-up or a drop-off, it goes on the calendar open, the family gets a notification, and anyone can say "I'll do it", exactly as if you'd typed it out. Parents and guardians who can add events can set up and use quick events; grandparents and sitters don't see the list.

When you both set up a family

It happens a lot. Two parents download Kid Pickup the same evening, each names a family, each adds the kids. Then one invites the other, and half of what they entered is sitting in a family nobody else can see. 2.3 deals with that in three places.

Before it happens. On the screen where you name your family, there's now Ask them to invite me. If someone in your family is already on Kid Pickup, tap it and send them the message it writes. It tells them where the invite button is and which address to use. You join their family, and there's no second one to tidy up.

After it happens. If you set up your own family and then join someone else's as a parent or guardian, Kid Pickup offers to bring yours across: your kids, events, places, quick events, and the people you invited. A child with the same first name on both sides becomes one child, not two. A place or a contact that's already there isn't doubled. You'll see the offer right after you accept the invitation, and it stays in Settings, as Your other family, for as long as there's something to bring. "Not now" changes nothing.

If you're paying for a plan in the family you're bringing over, and the family you joined doesn't have one, the plan comes with you. If they already have a plan, nothing moves, and the screen tells you you're paying for two and where to cancel one.

Posts and chat messages stay where they were written. They belong to the conversation they were part of.

If you invited each other. Sometimes both people send an invitation. Before 2.3, whoever accepted second was moved into the other's family, so you swapped places and were still apart. Now the second person is told you're already together, and nobody moves.

Support for parents

Settings → Support for Parents opens our list of parent groups, help lines and crisis lines for moms and dads in Canada, the US, the UK and Australia. It's there for the weeks when the calendar isn't the hard part.

Getting it

Open the App Store, tap your profile picture, and find Kid Pickup under available updates. Everyone in the family updates on their own phone, in their own time. Quick events and the offer to bring a family over need 2.3 on the phone you're using.

If you're new here: Kid Pickup is a shared calendar for the people who get your kids where they need to be. Every pickup gets a name, and grandparents and sitters say "I'll do it" with one tap. One subscription covers your whole circle, and grandparents and sitters never pay.

The updates before this one, 2.1 and 2.2, brought photos in chat and fewer notifications for helpers. 2.0 brought in Google Calendar, a Home Screen widget, Who's free? and the browser version. All of that is still here.