The week kept falling apart at 6:45 PM.
Two kids, two jobs, one shared Google Calendar that nobody really checked. Sticky notes on the fridge. A whiteboard that was always a week behind. The pediatrician appointment that someone definitely told someone else about. The judo class that started fifteen minutes ago.
We looked for the right app. Skylight wanted us to buy a touchscreen and a $79/year subscription. Hearth wanted $699 plus $9 a month. Cozi had added limits to its free tier. Google Calendar was free, but it didn't do chores, didn't give the kids a view of their own, and never turned the week into something you could read from across the kitchen.
So we started building the app we wanted. Google Calendar underneath, $12 a month billed annually, no hardware. The iPad in the kitchen and every iPhone in the house looking at the same week, plus chores that don't need nagging and an assistant you can just ask. Our own week stopped falling apart. Then we started hearing the same story from other parents, so we're finishing it properly and shipping it.
Four commitments. We mean these.
Four things we've decided not to do. The easy path on each is exactly what makes most family apps exhausting to live with.
No hardware required.
The wall displays are nice objects. They also cost $700 before you've scheduled anything. HomeHQ is a $12/month app, billed annually (or $14.99 monthly), and it runs on the iPad and iPhone already in your house. Nothing to buy, mount, or return. We take no affiliate money for recommending hardware, because we don't recommend any.
One simple price.
No free tier that quietly claws features back a year later. We watched that happen to families elsewhere and decided not to build the machinery for it. One price, everything included. If we ever change pricing, whoever is already subscribed keeps the rate they signed up at.
Built on Google Calendar.
HomeHQ reads and writes the Google Calendar your family already shares, so the kitchen iPad and every iPhone are looking at the same week. Nothing gets copied into a calendar you can't leave. The app is iPhone and iPad today, with a native Android app coming. The calendar stays in your Google account, and it stays yours if you stop paying us.
No ads. We never sell your data.
Your calendar, chores and household settings move through your Google account and our own backend, and that is the whole list of places they go. No ads, no selling or sharing your data, no advertising profiles built out of your family's week. You can disconnect Google whenever you want.
A small team. A long horizon.
HomeHQ is built by a small team in Vancouver and online. We’re bootstrapped, so there are no investors waiting on a growth chart, and nothing pushing us to bolt on features nobody asked for or raise the price once you’re locked in. No small company can honestly promise you a decade. What we can do is keep HomeHQ cheap to run and boring to maintain, so sticking around is the easy option rather than the brave one. That’s the version of a long horizon we control.
Questions, ideas, or feedback? Email us at admin@home-hq.com. We read everything; we usually reply within a day.