What do parents ask about PapaTime?

PapaTime is an iPad parental-control app where children earn tokens by doing chores and spend them on their own screen time, inside the bedtime and daily limits parents set. Parents control everything from a Telegram bot in plain English.

Telegram is a messenger most parents already have open. The bot understands plain English (text or voice). No new app to install, no new credentials, no notification fatigue. The plumbing lives in Cloud Functions; the bot is just the surface.

Each chore has a token reward parents set (e.g., +5 for making the bed, +10 for homework). When the child completes a chore on the iPad and a parent approves it from Telegram, tokens credit instantly. The child then spends tokens to buy screen-time sessions in 15- or 30-minute blocks. Unused minutes refund as tokens at midnight.

PapaTime classifies apps in three tiers: time-limited (games, social — locked unless a session is active), lockdown (apps blocked at bedtime), and always-allowed (emergency contacts, e-readers, calculator — never blocked). Parents pick the apps for each tier once during setup.

Outside the daily window you set, the iPad shows a gentle 'Rest time' screen instead of being available. Always-allowed apps remain accessible. You can override bedtime for one night with a single Telegram message.

Yes for active sessions. Tokens are stored locally and time enforcement runs in an iOS extension that does not need network access during a session. Parent control changes from Telegram require connectivity to sync; once synced they apply offline.

Day-one beta supports one child per parent. Multi-child support is a near-term roadmap item — the bot will prompt the parent to specify which child for each command.

Yes — it is free during the private beta. Beta access is invitation-only; join the waitlist to be considered. Pricing for general availability has not been announced.

Not yet. PapaTime is iPad-only on day one because it relies on Apple's FamilyControls and DeviceActivity frameworks, which do not exist on Android. An Android version is not on the immediate roadmap.

Email hello@papatime.app from the address on the waitlist; we delete your record within 7 days. Once the iPad app launches, in-app account deletion will be available — Apple App Store guidelines require it.

All data lives in Google Cloud Firestore (Firebase) under the PapaTime project. We do not sell data, do not run ads, and do not share data with third parties beyond strictly-necessary processors (Telegram for the bot interface, Apple for the App Store).