Put Equal House on a kitchen screen

The Family Wall is a full-screen, read-mostly view designed to be looked at from across a room: today’s events, who is doing what, and where the household stands.

1. More → Family Wall.
2. Leave it on a spare tablet, propped where everyone passes.

What it shows

Today’s agenda, the people in the household and the fairness picture — large enough to read while making toast.

When nothing is left on today’s list, it says why: That’s today done or All done for today once everything due today has been ticked off, and Nothing on today when there was nothing to do.

Bric on the wall

Bric sits in the top corner, next to the cross. By day he looks happy, and from 19:30 until 06:00 he looks sleepy.

On a day when the household finishes everything due today, and there were at least three things, he cheers once. The wall checks every five minutes, so it can come a few minutes after the last tick. It happens once a day at most, never while he’s sleepy, and never with a sound or a vibration. If today was already done when the wall was opened, he just looks happy.

He never shows a name, a number or any words, and he doesn’t react to the fairness score or to any one person’s tick. If Bric reactions is switched off in More → Settings → Celebrations on that device, he stays still.

Why a wall screen at all

Because the household members least likely to open an app are usually the ones a shared plan most needs to reach. A screen nobody has to open works differently from one everybody has to remember.

Getting out

The wall has a cross, top right. It is a view of the app rather than a mode you get locked into.

A note on old tablets

This is a good use for the tablet in a drawer. If you set one up for the wall and also want children signing in on it, see how children sign in — the device needs approving either way.