How to use CircleNest

Quick guide

A calmer family network — here's how it fits together

New? Start with the 5 steps below. Already using it? Pick the role that fits you.

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5-minute quick start

1. Set up your householdAdd your home, your kids (with month + year of birth), and invite your partner or co-parent. You can label them as partner, spouse, legal guardian, or other — the label is just for friendlier copy across the app.
2. Connect a few trusted familiesSearch by name or email, or share an invite link. Trusted families can be added to circles and invited to plans.
3. Create or join a CircleCircles are small groups of trusted families — a class, a team, neighbors. Chat and plan inside the circle.
4. Plan something simpleA playdate, a pickup, a birthday. Invite a circle or specific families. RSVPs are private, and a silent decline is fine.
5. Use chat the way that fitsFamily chat, circle chat, 1:1 with a trusted family adult, or a private note-to-self. Teens get their own self-chat too.

Pick what describes you

Feature index

CirclesSmall trusted groups — class, team, neighborhood. Chat and plan inside.PlansPlaydates, pickups, birthdays. Either co-parent can RSVP for the household. FYI-share to a co-parent's household or trusted family. Duplicate to next week in one tap.CarpoolSeat claims, status updates, private ride ledger. Built to avoid favor-debt feelings.MessagesFamily chat, circle chat, 1:1 with trusted adults, voice notes, notes-to-self, and Us 💛 for couples.

MomentsAdults-only photo posts (up to 4 photos) shared with your trusted families. Default 7-day expiry, extendable once to 14 days. No notifications, no streaks, no read receipts.

VibesA 24-hour ambient status with 6 reactions. Defaults to your circles; switch to trusted families in Settings → Audience defaults. Adults only.

Free to meetMark your household free for an afternoon or a weekend. Only your trusted families see it — no pings, just expires when the window ends.

Organizer mode for circlesTurn a circle into a team/class group: announcements, paste-roster, per-kid yes/no on events, co-organizer. Hidden by default — toggle on in circle settings.TimelinesSave chat moments to your private timeline. Combine with kids' timelines you have authority for.Smart SuggestionsQuiet AI nudges from your own notes-to-self (and, if your household opts in, family chat) to save milestone moments. Dismissable; the Us 💛 thread is not scanned.

YearbooksOne-tap PDF of a year's timeline entries. Household yearbooks are built on demand and returned to your device. Per-kid yearbooks are stored privately and only the kid's parents can download them.

Future lettersWrite a note to a kid today; it unlocks on a month you choose — a 16th birthday, a graduation — up to 50 years out.

Love tapsSend a kid a tiny heart from your household chat. No text, no counts, no streaks.

Kid controls & allowancesPer-kid tier, region, chat capabilities, circle visibility, PIN (5 wrong tries locks the device for 15 minutes), device binding. Per-feature allowance restrictions for any single capability.Household notesShared sticky notes for everyone in the house. WiFi, vet, school dates, anything you want findable.

Kid artKids draw in kid mode and send to family. You decide what to save to the kid's timeline. Unsaved art clears after 90 days; teens (13+) can re-view their own recent drawings (last 30 days) inside Kid Mode.

Pets in your householdAdd the pets that live with you so co-parents, caregivers, and trusted adults know who needs feeding or walking. Pet entries are descriptive only — no logins, no separate data.

FYI plans on your calendarShare a plan as 'FYI' with your co-parent's household or a trusted family so it shows on their calendar for context. FYI copies are read-only, muted, hideable, and auto-cleanup if the connection ends.

Household-binding RSVPsWhen a kid is invited, parents and co-parents share one RSVP — either of you can reply on the household's behalf. The latest reply wins and is mirrored to the other adult(s).

Parent peekOpen a read-only view of a kid's day — upcoming plans, open jobs, pending requests. Private surfaces (chats, drawings, notes-to-self, PIN) are never shown.

Archive a kid profilePauses everything for that kid — invites, requests, caregiver and trusted-adult access, scheduled future letters — without deleting anything. Unarchive any time to resume.

Legacy contacts & memorializationNominate a trusted adult to step in if something happens to you. They can request memorialization, pause your scheduled future letters, and help hand off kid profiles to a co-parent. No login-level access to your private content.