Chore Pad Review

I suppose that paper chore charts are just a hassle—or at least, that's what Chore Pad wants you to believe. Chore Pad brings the simple chore chart, gold stars and all, to the iPhone's screen, but with the benefits of digitization (i.e., no need to rewrite it every week!). Is it faithful to its concept? Certainly. But, amazingly enough, some things are suited best for the real world, and Chore Pad doesn't bring a ton of new features to the table.

As far as functionality, Chore Pad has everything you need in a chore chart app. The app supports multiple users (great for if you're a parent juggling multiple kids, I guess), and you can create custom chore lists for each of them. Chores are pulled from the "Chore Chest" and stored in a user's list. When creating chores, you can assign frequencies (every Monday; every other month; etc) and star values. You can also enter rewards, which can eventually be redeemed in exchange for those gold stars.

Once you have the app set up, the intention is for you to log on every day, mark off chores as you do them, and slowly accumulate both gold stars and check marks (which are rewarded for completing any chore). Tilting into landscape view lets you see a week's worth of chores and edit past dates. The app eventually awards you trophies for lots of chores completed.

While the interface is generally good, not everything works perfectly. For example, I couldn't find a way to remove chores from my list (from the Chore Chest, yes, but not my list). Settings are tucked into the Settings app without any warning. Other than that, however, interface issues are minimal.

So that's Chore Pad: simple and to the point. My main reservation is that entering data into an iPhone can easily become a distraction, and the app really doesn't add enough to the traditional "chore chart" to really impress me. A to-do app will often do just as well. Still, Chore Pad does what it promises, and if you need a specific chores app, it's a fine candidate.