Need a hand?

It should come back on its own. Your purchase belongs to the Apple Account or Google account that bought it, not to the device, so signing in with that account and opening Chore Stars restores it automatically.

If it hasn't: open Settings (the gear, then Face ID, Touch ID, your fingerprint or the maths question), tap Add child, and choose Already paid? Restore purchase. Make sure the device is online and signed in to the same account you paid with.

An unlock bought on an iPhone or iPad doesn't carry over to an Android phone, or the other way round — Apple and Google each keep their own purchases.

That depends on your device's own backup. Chore Stars keeps everything on your device and nowhere else — there are no accounts and no copy on our side, which is exactly why nothing about your family can leak — so a backup is the only thing that can bring it back:

• On Android, if backup to Google Drive is switched on, reinstalling usually brings everything back.
• On iPhone and iPad, deleting the app deletes its data. It comes back only if you restore the device, or set up a new one, from an iCloud backup made before it was deleted.

Without a backup it can't be recovered. Your purchase is unaffected either way and comes back as described above.

• Check notifications are allowed. On iPhone and iPad: Settings → Notifications → Chore Stars. On Android: Settings → Apps → Chore Stars → Notifications. If they are switched off, Chore Stars shows a warning in its own Settings.
• On iPhone and iPad, a Focus such as Sleep or Do Not Disturb silences reminders while it is on.
• On Android, reminders can arrive a few minutes late, because Android batches alarms to save battery — treat them as a nudge rather than an alarm clock.
• Battery-saver and "deep sleep" settings on some Android phones — Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei and OnePlus are the usual culprits — can delay or block reminders. Allowing Chore Stars to run in the background fixes it.

Settings → Add child. The free version covers one child and one reward goal; the one-off unlock lifts both limits for good.

Settings → Grown-up Lock, and pick Easy, Medium or Hard. It is set per child and suggested from their age, so raise it as they get older and start solving it themselves.

No. The only purchase sits inside Settings, behind the grown-up lock. On top of that, every App Store purchase on iPhone and iPad needs Face ID, Touch ID or your password. On Android, Google Play can ask for a password or fingerprint before any purchase — worth switching on if a child uses the phone.

Settings → Reset all or Start over erases every child, chore and sticker immediately. Uninstalling removes it from the device too, though your device's own backup may still hold a copy. There is nothing to ask us to delete, because we never had it.

Refunds are handled by the store you bought from, not by us. On iPhone and iPad, request one from Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com. On Android, within 48 hours of buying you can request one yourself from your Google Play order history. If you get stuck, email us and we'll help.

Yes. Nothing you type into Chore Stars is ever sent to us — no accounts, no analytics, no advertising, no third-party services. See the privacy policy for the detail.

iPhone and iPad, and Android phones and tablets. On a tablet the chores, the sticker chart and the reward all sit on one screen.