Help & Support

Open the app at twoporchlights.com, tap Sign in / create account, and enter your name, your email and a password of at least 8 characters. Confirm your email from the message we send you, and you're in. A shared space you start is free for 30 days from the day you sign up, and for 60 days from that same day while your co-parent is in it, no credit card needed. Signing up does not notify your co-parent.

1. After you sign in, create your shared space. On the website, setup asks you to invite your co-parent right after your children.
2. Tap Text the invite, Share invite, Email the invite or Copy the invite. Your own phone or email sends a message with a link. The website works this way now; the iPhone app does from version 1.0.14 and the Android app from version 1.0.16, and in those app versions you can also choose your co-parent from your phone's contacts. In an earlier app version, the Invite step comes later in setup and has Share invite, and your co-parent types your invite code to join.
3. They tap the link, create their own free account, confirm their email, and they're in. In the app they can instead tap Join with code and enter your code (Settings → Account).

That's it: you both see the same calendar, expenses, and messages, live. Once they are in, your free trial runs 60 days from the day you signed up instead of 30. Your co-parent doesn't have to pay for the shared space: one subscription covers it for both parents, and either of you can be the one who subscribes. (The one personal extra is the private Tax Center: it is included for the parent who created the space, and a parent who joined from an invite gets their own by adding their own plan.)

Not sure how to ask? Three calm ways to word it. If your co-parent wants to know what they are joining, send them this page.

A shared space for the kids' calendar, the shared expenses and one message thread. Joining is free, with no credit card, and you get your own account. You can leave the shared space later. For what each parent can see, read Who can see what? below.

There is also a page written for the parent who was invited: what you are joining.

The Today tab is your home base and the first thing you see. Up top it shows your day at a glance: whose night it is tonight for each child and the next 7 days of events. Below that is everything you came to do, the month's balance, Quick Add an Expense, your expense list, and Kid Kits, all on one page. If you track mileage, trips waiting for you show there too, under 🚗 Confirm trips (🚗 Trips when Add trips automatically is on).

This replaces the old separate Home tab, so adding expenses and checking your day now live in the same place. Expenses, Calendar, Messages, and the rest are still right there in the tab bar.

The Glance tab, next to Today, is a one-page summary. Where the kids are shows who each child is with today, and the next handoff. Needs you lists what is waiting on you: changes waiting for approval, updates you haven't read, or a last month that hasn't been closed out. Money shows four figures: Running balance, Owed this month, Spent this month and Paid this month. Under those are the events, holidays and birthdays of the next 7 days.

The free trial is counted from the day the parent who created the shared space signed up: 30 days, and 60 days from that same day while the other parent is in the space too. No credit card is needed. When it ends, you'll be asked to pick a plan: $99/year (best value) or $12/month on the website. In the iPhone and Android apps you subscribe yearly or monthly through the App Store or Google Play, at the price shown there. Either parent can subscribe, and one plan covers the shared space for each of you. (A co-parent who joined free only adds their own plan if they want their own private Tax Center.)

If no plan is active, the shared space becomes read-only for you and your co-parent: you can still read, print, and export everything, and nothing is deleted. As soon as either parent subscribes, it reopens for each of you exactly as you left it.

No. Two Porch Lights runs in the browser, so iPhone, Android, tablets, and computers all work, in any combination. Your data syncs live between all of them. The iPhone app is on the App Store, and the Android app is on Google Play.

You don't have to hunt through Settings. When you create a shared space, the app opens Set up your shared space: a few short tiles, one thing at a time.

1. Start from your parenting plan (optional): upload your court order or parenting plan and Two Porch Lights fills in what it finds, so the tiles that follow open ready for you to check. No plan nearby? Tap I don't have it handy.
2. Parents: your name and your co-parent's.
3. Children: each child's name, and a birthday if you'd like it on the calendar.
4. Invite: a link your co-parent taps to join. On a phone, Text the invite opens your messages app with it written. The iPhone app before version 1.0.14 and the Android app before version 1.0.16 have this step after Costs instead, with Share invite.
5. Schedule: pick the pattern you follow (alternating weeks, 2-2-3, every other weekend and more) and who has the kids at the start.
6. Costs: your cost-sharing split and any child support.
7. Alerts: turn on notifications, on devices that support them.
8. First entry (optional): add one thing you paid for this month, or the next exchange or appointment, so your space is not empty when you come back. On the website, if your co-parent has not joined and you have not sent the invite during setup, this last tile offers the invite again, and Finish closes setup whether or not you do either. It is on the website now; the iPhone app has it from version 1.0.14 and the Android app from version 1.0.16.

Parents and Children are needed; every other tile can wait. Everything stays editable later in Settings, and the Getting started list on Today takes you back to anything you skipped. A co-parent who joins with your link or code just confirms which parent they are.

Yes. On the first setup tile, Start from your parenting plan, tap Choose plan PDF. AI reads the plan and fills in what it finds: the parents' names, the children and their birthdays when the plan lists them, the parenting schedule and when it starts, holidays, exchange times, the cost split and child support. If the plan gives each parent's name, it asks which parent you are, so the schedule lands on the right side.

Names, children, the schedule and costs then open on the tiles that follow, already filled in, for you to check or change. Holidays, exchange times and notes about exchanges are filled in right away and have no tile of their own; review or change them any time in Settings → Schedule. A copy of the plan stays on file for your shared space, so either parent can ask it questions later (see Assistant below). You can remove it any time in Settings.

Already set up? Settings → Schedule → 📥 Import court parenting plan reads the plan the same way for the schedule, holidays, split and support, and you choose which items to apply.

Set each parent's percentage under Settings → Cost sharing (e.g. 50/50 or income-based 60/40). Every expense then splits automatically, and the app tracks who owes whom. You can also override the split on any individual expense.

Child support is the recurring payment one parent makes to the other. Set the payer, amount, and frequency, and the app expects it each period and folds it into the running balance.

Direct support obligation is for orders where each parent has a set dollar obligation written in the order: the app accrues the difference between the two amounts each period. Most parents only use one of these; leave the other at zero.

Yes: Settings → 🎨 Appearance. Four designs: Classic (navy & gold), Industrial (light grey & blue), Garden (soft greens with blossoms), and Clear (high contrast). The choice only affects your device, so each parent can pick their own.

Dark mode is in the same place. Choose Off, On, Match this device (follows your phone or computer setting), Set times (for example 9:00 PM to 7:00 AM), or Sunset to sunrise. Sunset and sunrise are worked out from your device's time zone, never your location, so they are close but not exact. Dark mode also only changes your device, and printouts and downloaded files stay light.

Settings → App features has on/off switches for Messages, the Assistant, the Private journal, Kid Kits (the packing checklists on Today), and the parenting Calendar (that one lives in the Parenting Schedule section). Turning a feature off just hides it: nothing is deleted, and you can turn it back on anytime.

On the Today tab, use Quick Add: date, child (or All kids, when you have more than one), category, description, amount, who paid. The app instantly shows each parent's share based on your split. The Expenses tab shows the full month's list.

Tap any expense, in the list on Today or on the Expenses tab (on a computer, click the row or its Details button), and its details open: the amount, date, kids, category, description, who paid, the split with each parent's share in dollars and who owes whom, the note, the receipt, and comments.

A mileage trip also shows the miles, round trip or one way, the IRS rate, where the trip went, and who drove. With approval on, the details say where the expense stands: waiting for your co-parent, a change they proposed, declined, or in the agreed record.

Added by and Last edited by show which parent added the expense and who last changed it, and when. Expenses added before this was introduced show nothing there, and a change made in an older version of the app isn't recorded.

Edit and Delete are at the bottom of the details while the month is open.

In Quick Add, tap the receipt box and take a photo, choose one, or pick a PDF (an emailed receipt, a daycare invoice, a pharmacy printout). AI reads it and fills in the amount, date, store, and category for you. Double-check and tap save. The receipt stays attached to the expense and prints with your monthly statement.

To see a receipt full screen, tap it in the expense's details, or tap the 🧾 button. Pinch, double tap, or use the + and − buttons to zoom, and drag to move around.

PDF receipts: AI reads the first page, and a picture of that page is the receipt's preview. When you're signed in, the whole PDF (up to 10 MB) is kept with the expense too, so you can page through every page in the expense's details, and each page (up to 20) prints with your monthly statement.

Settings → Recurring expenses. Set it up once (description, child, category, amount, who pays), then add it to any month in one tap from the Today tab, no retyping.

At month's end, each parent taps “agrees” on the Expenses tab. When both have agreed, the month locks: no expenses or payments can be added, changed, or deleted for that month. It's your shared "we both signed off" record, and the monthly statement PDF shows the locked status.

Need to fix something later? Both parents agree to reopen the month, make the fix, and lock it again.

Yes, while the month is open: tap the expense to open its details, then tap Edit or Delete. Once a month is locked by both parents, it's read-only until you both reopen it.

On the Payments tab: date, type (Child Support, Reimbursement, or Other), who paid, and the amount. Payments adjust the running balance so "who owes whom" always stays current.

Under Settings → 💸 Settle-up payment links, each parent can save their Venmo username, PayPal.Me name, Cash App $cashtag, phone number (for Apple Cash), and Zelle handle. When a month shows a balance, the Payments tab grows buttons like “Pay Maria $102.50 · Venmo” with the amount pre-filled.

• Venmo / PayPal / Cash App: opens the app with amount ready.
• Apple Cash: opens your Messages thread with the amount written in (Apple only allows Apple Cash inside Messages); tap the Apple Cash button there to send.
• Zelle: copies the amount and recipient to paste into your bank app (Zelle doesn't support direct links).

After paying, record it on the Payments tab so the balance updates. We never touch or hold your money.

Everything for the selected month: each parent's share of shared expenses, expected child support, any direct support obligation, minus payments recorded. One line tells you who owes whom and how much.

Settings → Parenting Schedule. You'll see a 2-week grid: tap each day to switch it between parents until it matches your rotation (week-on/week-off, 2-2-3, every-other-weekend, anything). Set the start date, save, and it repeats all year on the calendar, color-coded by parent.

Yes. In Parenting Schedule, switch to per-child schedules: each child gets their own 2-week grid and their own calendar board. If all kids share one schedule, keep it on "shared" and there's just one calendar.

Each parent has a color (set in Settings → Parenting Schedule), and now each child has one too: the small color dot next to each kid's name in Settings → Children sets it.

Day cells show the parent's color for whose night it is. Event dots and event rows use the child's color, and gold marks an event for more than one kid.

The days the kids switch homes come from your 2-week pattern. In the schedule settings, under 🤝 Exchanges, set each parent's drop-off time. Changeover days appear on the calendar as a split cell: the departing parent on top, the receiving parent below, with the 🤝 drop-off time in the middle. You can also add up to four schedule notes with on/off switches (e.g. "During the school year, parent time switches at the end of the school day").

Yes: tap any calendar day and assign it to either parent. A single-day override always wins over the regular rotation. Tap again to clear it.

Yes: open any event and use the Comments box at the bottom. Both parents see the comments, and the other parent gets a notification when you add one. Events with comments show a small speech-bubble count, and the comments also appear on the day card under that event.

Yes. In + Add Event, or when you open an event:

• Repeat: Weekly or Every other week on the days you tick, or Monthly on the same date. In a month too short for that date, like the 31st, it falls on the month's last day. Under Ends, pick Never, or On a date and the last date.
• Ends on: for one event over several days, like a Friday to Sunday tournament, pick the last day. It shows on each of those days, up to 31 days after the first.

To change or remove one date of a repeating event, open that date on the calendar. When you tap Save or Delete, the app asks This date only or All dates. This date only changes or cancels just that date, and the rest stay as they are. Repeat, Ends on and mileage can only be changed for all dates.

All dates copies only what you changed to every date, and a date you changed on its own keeps its own changes. If you change the dates it falls on (its Date, how often it repeats, the days, or Ends on) from a date after the first, the change starts on that date: the earlier dates stay as they were, and keep their trips and the comments made so far.

On a repeating event, Add to calendar offers All dates (.ics): one calendar file with every date.

Every event has a checkbox for each kid, plus All kids when you have more than one. Tick the kids it's for.

Driving says who takes them: Parent with the kids that day, or either parent by name. The event shows who's driving. New events start with the parent who has the kids that day. To have them start with the parent adding the event instead, turn off The parent with parenting time drives in Settings → Schedule → 🚗 Driving and trips. That switch is on until one of you turns it off, and it's shared, so it's the same for you and your co-parent (with approval on, a change to it waits for your co-parent). You can still change Driving on any event.

For mileage, the driving parent is the one who gets the trip.

On the Calendar tab, tap “Import from an email”. Paste the text of the school newsletter or team schedule, tap Find the dates, and review the list (uncheck anything you don't want). Then tap Add selected to calendar.

AI reads the dates for you; nothing is added to the calendar without your review.

Settings → Holidays: check the ones you observe, choose who has the kids (or alternate by year), and set exchange times. Holidays override the regular schedule and show on the calendar with a ★. Add your own recurring special days too. Kids' birthdays (set under Children) appear every year with an optional exchange time.

Settings → Vacations: pick the date range, which parent has the kids, optional times and a note. It overrides the regular schedule for those days and shows on the calendar with a 🏖️.

An event: on the Calendar, tap + Add Event (or open the event), fill in the place and its address, and check Track mileage for this event. Leave Round trip checked if you drive there and back.

The form shows the miles right away, just under that switch: one way, or round trip when Round trip is on, the amount at the IRS rate for the event's date, and each parent's half. It updates when you change the address, the date or Round trip; for a repeating event it uses the next date. It is only a preview: nothing is added until the trip is confirmed after the event.

Google fills in the address. Type the place in Place / business, like a school, a field or a dentist's office. If the Address box is empty, then when you move on, or tap Find address, the app looks the place up with Google Maps (or TomTom when Google isn't available or finds nothing) and fills in the address it finds, searching near the city and state of your home address. Not the right spot? Tap one of the other matches shown under it, or type the address yourself. An address you typed is never replaced.

Something that repeats, like practice every Tuesday: add it on the Calendar with Repeat (see above) and turn on mileage the same way. Each date of a repeating event is its own trip, and an event over several days has a trip for each day. A cancelled date has no trip. Turning on mileage counts an event's trips from its first date, so dates already past count too, up to 60 days back. A trip dated before the day mileage was turned on is never added automatically: it waits on the Today tab, marked as from before mileage was turned on, for the driver to check. The iPhone and Android apps do this from version 1.0.13; an earlier app version counts a repeating event's trips only from the day mileage was turned on, so until your app has that version, use the website to confirm the earlier dates. On the website, when a date has already passed, the event form also shows a tick box, Also add my trips from before mileage was turned on, when I save. Ticked, saving adds the ones you drove, the way Add on the Today tab does; trips your co-parent drove still wait for them. It starts ticked when you are turning mileage on for a one-day event that does not repeat. When you change the dates it falls on (its Date, how often it repeats, the days, or Ends on), or make an event repeat, its trips count from that day on, even if mileage is turned off and on again later, so a past date never becomes a new trip.

Settings → Schedule → Custom parenting schedule is for parenting time, and activities already added there keep working: one added with its address and Track mileage for this activity checked has its trips too. Activities on the list that have an address have a Mileage: on / Mileage: off button. The activity form has Find address too, which looks up the activity's label.

Miles are figured from your home address, set under Settings → Account → Home address for mileage. If you haven't saved it yet, the event form asks for it right there. So does the Confirm trips card, whose Add button waits until it's saved. It is the starting point for every trip, and it fills in an empty From box for Tax Center mileage too. It stays private to your account: your co-parent never sees it, only where a trip went and the miles. To remove it, tap Clear address on that Settings card. Mileage needs you to be signed in, and map lookups, for miles and addresses together, are limited to 60 an hour for each account.

After each trip, the driving parent (the event's Driving choice) sees it on the Today tab under 🚗 Confirm trips. Unless Add trips automatically is on (see below), nothing is added until they confirm it.

Which parent are you? Trips are listed for the parent who drove, so your phone or computer needs to know which parent you are. If it doesn't, the Confirm trips card asks Which parent are you on this device? Tap I'm and your name. You can also pick yourself under Settings → Parents → On this device, I am, which shows Choose until you do. The card asks in the iPhone app from version 1.0.13 and the Android app from version 1.0.14; in an earlier version, use Settings.

Every trip waiting under 🚗 Confirm trips has three buttons:

• Add: figures the miles and lets you check them before you tap Add expense.
• Didn't happen: skips the trip. It won't be offered again.
• My co-parent drove: moves the trip to your co-parent's list, and they confirm it from their own home address. With Add trips automatically on, it's added for them instead, the next time they open Two Porch Lights, unless it's dated before mileage was turned on.

Each trip, including each date of a repeating event, is confirmed once, and only once, whichever device either of you uses. Trips from the last 60 days are listed. Added one by mistake? Open the expense, tap Delete, and the trip won't come back. A trip that was added automatically has Didn't happen and OK buttons instead (see the next question).

Yes, if you want that. Turn on Add trips automatically in Settings → Schedule → 🚗 Driving and trips. It's off until one of you turns it on, and it's shared, so it's on or off for you and your co-parent alike. With approval on, turning it on or off waits for your co-parent.

When it's on, after each date of a calendar event with Track mileage for this event checked, the trip is added to expenses on its own, split 50/50 at the IRS rate for that date. It's added on the driving parent's phone or computer the next time they open Two Porch Lights, because the miles are figured from that parent's private home address. Every date of a repeating event is its own trip, and a cancelled date has none. Trips from the last 60 days that are still waiting to be confirmed are added too, except trips dated before mileage was turned on. A driver's app from before version 1.0.13 can still add one of those earlier trips on its own for an event that doesn't repeat; Didn't happen takes it back out.

The driver sees those trips on the Today tab under 🚗 Trips. Didn't happen takes the expense back out, and that trip won't be added again. OK keeps it and takes it off the list.

A trip waits for the driver to confirm it instead (Add, Didn't happen or My co-parent drove) when it's dated before mileage was turned on, when they haven't saved a home address, when the miles can't be figured, when its month is locked, or when their co-parent declined it. Nothing is added while your shared space is read-only. With approval on, each trip goes to your co-parent for approval like any other expense. While a change of yours that they declined is still showing under 🤝 Changes awaiting agreement, no trip is added for you automatically until you tap Dismiss on it. Activities in the Custom parenting schedule always wait for the driver to confirm them.

When you tap Add, or when a trip is added automatically, the app figures the driving distance from the driving parent's home address to the event's address, doubled for a round trip, the same way the event form's preview does. When you tap Add, you can change the miles before you add it. The amount is the miles times the IRS standard mileage rate for business use for the date of the trip (for example, $0.725 a mile from January 1 to June 30, 2026, and $0.76 from July 1, 2026). The rate used is noted on the expense.

Mileage expenses are always split 50/50, whatever your usual split, and paid by the parent who drove. A trip for more than one kid is one expense, tagged with each of those kids. When changes need your co-parent's approval, a trip goes to them for approval like any other expense.

Tap any calendar day → 🏠 Log drop-off or 🚗 Log pick-up. One tap creates a shared record of the handoff that both parents can see, stamped with the time from the device that logged it. It's handy when you want to look back at when a handoff happened.

Yes: on the Calendar tab, tap “Add to my calendar” and follow the steps. Your parenting time, exchanges, holidays, birthdays, and events subscribe into Apple, Google, or Outlook and stay current automatically.

Yes, with a Home Screen widget in the iPhone or Android app. Pick a small tile showing whose night it is and the next handoff, or the Parenting calendar, which shows the days ahead, up to the whole month, colored by parent, with a dot on days that have events.

iPhone: long-press your Home Screen, tap Edit, then Add Widget, and search for Two Porch Lights.

Android: long-press an empty spot on your Home Screen, tap Widgets, and find Two Porch Lights. Touch and hold the widget you want, then drag it onto your Home Screen. You can resize the calendar, up to a full month.

On iPhone you can also add one to your Lock Screen. Lock Screen widgets show the schedule only and never show money, since a lock screen is visible without unlocking your phone.

Yes, in the iPhone app from version 1.0.7, on iOS 16.2 or newer. In Settings, scroll to ⏱ Handoff countdown and turn on Show a handoff countdown on my Lock Screen. In the 8 hours before an exchange, your Lock Screen shows the word Handoff and the time, and nothing else: no names, no child and no amount, because a lock screen can be read by anyone holding the phone.

It is off until you turn it on, and it only changes that iPhone. Open the app that day so the countdown can start, and keep Live Activities allowed for Two Porch Lights in your iPhone's Settings. The Android app and the website don't have it.

Messages here can't be edited, unsent, or deleted one by one, by either parent. Each one is time-stamped by our server when it's saved (not by the phone), and you can see when it was delivered to your co-parent's app. Everything stays in one organized thread, no scrolling through months of texts to find what was agreed.

Two things to know: "delivered" means the message reached their app once it loaded the conversation, not that they opened or read it. And if a parent deletes their Two Porch Lights account, the messages they sent are removed from the shared thread; when the last member of a shared space deletes their account, the whole space is deleted.

Write your draft, tap Soften, and AI rewrites it to be calm, brief, and child-focused. You see both versions side by side and choose: Use this version or Keep mine. Nothing sends until you tap Send. It's a tone coach, not a censor.

Yes: tap 📎 Attach when writing a message. School forms, medical bills, schedules: they stay with the message in your shared thread.

Settings → 💬 Message records: download all messages or a date range as a PDF. Every page carries a watermark with the name on your signed-in account, plus the download date and time and page numbers. For messages sent in the app, each row shows when our server saved it and when it was delivered to the other parent's app. Imported messages show their original date and are marked as imported.

Yes: Settings → 📥 Import message history. Download your record from TalkingParents as a PDF, upload it there, confirm who's who, and your history joins the thread in original date order. Imported messages keep the original date from the TalkingParents export file and are clearly labeled as imported.

Days when messages were sent show a 💬 on the calendar. Tap the day to read that day's exchange right there, handy when you're reconstructing "what did we agree that week?"

In the iPhone and Android apps, yes. Tap Report under a message your co-parent sent, or Report this answer under anything the Assistant writes, to send it to us for review. Reporting never deletes the message, and the other person is not told. We look at reports within one business day.

To mute, go to Settings → Account → 🛡️ Safety & reporting. Once your co-parent has sent a message, they are listed there with a Mute button. Their new messages stay in the record but arrive collapsed, with a Show button, and you stop getting notifications about them. Nothing is deleted, they are not told, and you can unmute at any time in the same place.

The website doesn't have Report or Mute. If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency number.

The 🤖 Assistant tab is a private AI helper: ask how anything in the app works, get general co-parenting guidance, ask for help wording a difficult message, or, with your parenting plan on file, ask what the plan says. Conversations stay on your device and are never visible to your co-parent.

No, with one exception. It can't read your expenses, messages, or schedule. If your parenting plan is on file, it can read the plan's text to answer your questions about it. It reads the plan when your question mentions the plan or something plans often cover, such as holidays, school, travel or support. And it's not a lawyer, accountant, or therapist; for legal, tax, or safety matters it will point you to a professional.

Yes, once your parenting plan is on file. On the 🤖 Assistant tab, use 📄 Is it in my parenting plan?: type a question in plain words, like “Who has the kids on Thanksgiving?” or “Can I take them out of state?”, and tap Ask. You can also ask the Assistant; mention the plan (for example, “Does my plan say...”) so it reads the plan on file.

Answers come only from the plan on file. Each one quotes the words it relied on and names the section (and the page, when it can tell), and when the plan doesn't cover something, it says so plainly instead of guessing. Either parent can ask. Your questions aren't saved in the app.

To put your plan on file, use the first setup tile, Start from your parenting plan, or Settings → Schedule → 📥 Import court parenting plan with Keep a copy on file so either parent can ask it questions checked. It takes a PDF or a .txt file, and on the website a scanned PDF can be read too, up to 40 scanned pages (see First-time setup).

If AI read pages of your plan from pictures of them, answers that draw on those pages quote the text it read. AI can misread a word or a number, and a word it could not read shows as [illegible], so each answer from Is it in my parenting plan? then ends with a reminder to check quotes against your own copy.

The 📓 Journal tab is your personal, timestamped record: document incidents, missed exchanges, anything worth remembering. Each entry is time-stamped by our server when you save it, and entries can't be edited or deleted in the app. Deleting your account removes them. You can optionally note when it happened (date and time), and the entry then shows both that and when it was saved.

Journal entries are private to your account, follow you across devices, and are never shown to your co-parent. Download the whole journal as a PDF anytime, watermarked with the name on your signed-in account, plus the download date and time and page numbers.

An optional setting (Settings → App features) for when trust is thin: changes to parenting time and money (day swaps, schedule edits, expenses, payments, cost-sharing, the Driving and trips switches) stay pending until the other parent taps ✓ Approve & lock in from their own signed-in account. You see your own pending change marked "awaiting your co-parent"; they see an approval card on their Today tab. Everyday things (calendar events, messages) still apply instantly.

On the Today tab: a shared checklist for each child, for the things that travel between homes (the inhaler, cleats, chargers, library books). Both parents see the same list and check items off as they're packed, so nothing gets left on the wrong porch.

The small money button on an item turns it into a shared expense with the child and description already filled in, handy when someone has to replace the lost water bottle.

Not something you need? Turn Kid Kits off under Settings → App features and it disappears from the Today tab. Your lists are kept, so you can switch it back on anytime.

Turn them on in Settings → 🔔 Notifications (the same buttons also sit at the top of the Messages tab). You'll get a phone alert when your co-parent messages you, adds an expense, records a payment, changes parenting time, logs an exchange check-in, comments on something, and more, plus a Recent updates feed on the Today tab showing exactly what changed.

Alerts about changes, and the Recent updates feed, need your co-parent to be on the website or the iPhone or Android app from version 1.0.12. A change made in an earlier app version still syncs, but sends no alert. New messages alert you from any version.

Notifications leave out the details. In the iPhone and Android apps, a notification says what kind of thing changed, like a new message or a payment, never the message text, a child's name or an amount. Website notifications just say there's something new.

Choose which alerts you get: tap 🔔 Alert types to see all twelve kinds, each with its own switch. Keep messages on and turn expense alerts off, or any mix you like. Your choices only change what reaches you, never what your co-parent gets.

Email alerts are a separate choice, in the same Notifications card and behind the 📧 Email alerts button at the top of the Messages tab. Pick one of three:

• As posted: an email each time your co-parent changes something or sends you a message. After an email, more changes of the same kind within 2 minutes don't send another, and the same goes for messages, so a burst of changes doesn't fill your inbox.
• End of day: one summary email a day, at about 7 PM your time, counting your co-parent's updates and new messages by kind, like “2 new messages, 5 expense updates, 1 calendar update”. It counts from your last summary, or over the last 24 hours if you haven't had one in 3 days. Changes saved together count as one update, however many items they touch. Nothing is sent on a day with nothing new. This is the setting you start with.
• App notifications only: no alert emails, just phone and browser notifications. It also stops the monthly close-out reminder emails on the 1st and 5th.

Alert emails leave out the details too: an As posted email names only the kind of change, and the End of day summary only how many of each, never the message text, a name or an amount. Your Alert types switches apply to email as well, and your email choice never changes your phone or browser notifications.

More than one co-parent space? Each shared space has its own Email alerts choice, and changing it in one space leaves the others as they were. With End of day in more than one space, you get a separate summary for each. The monthly close-out reminder emails are one set for you, not one for each space, so choosing App notifications only in any of your spaces stops them.

End of day uses the time zone of the phone or computer you last opened that shared space on, using the website or an app version that offers the three choices. Older app versions don't record a time zone. While End of day is picked, you'll see the time zone it uses under the choices, and until one is recorded, the summary comes at about 7 PM Mountain Time.

The iPhone app before version 1.0.13 and the Android app before version 1.0.15 show a single Email alerts on/off button instead, and its note about one email every 6 hours no longer applies. Off there is the same as App notifications only. On there brings back As posted if you had it before you turned email alerts off in that app, and otherwise gives you End of day. All three choices are always on the website.

We may email people who have an account about new features now and then. To stop those, tap Unsubscribe at the bottom of one, then tap the Unsubscribe button on the page that opens. You can also reply to the email and tell us. The same page can turn them back on.

Emails about your account still come, like password resets, the alerts you chose, and trial notices.

Yes. Under Settings → Account, tap ＋ Add another co-parent to create an additional co-parent space: each is fully private with its own kids, schedule, calendar, expenses, and messages, and its own invite code. Switch between spaces anytime; neither co-parent ever sees the other space.

From the Report tab: the month's summary (shares, support, who-owes-whom), the full expense log, payments, your co-parent notes, the close-out agreement status with signature lines, and every receipt for the month, full size (each page of a PDF receipt, up to 20), as an appendix at the end. Ready for your records, a mediator, or an attorney.

On the Report tab, tap 🧾 Year-End Tax Summary and pick a year: you get a PDF of what each parent paid by category, with commonly tax-relevant ones (childcare, medical, dental, prescriptions, tuition) starred, plus child support paid. Hand it to your tax preparer each January. (It's a record, not tax advice.)

On the Report tab, the 🧾 Tax Center is a private space (your co-parent can never see it) for everything child-related your tax preparer asks about: 529 contributions, daycare and day camp, medical, dental, vision, prescriptions, kids' health insurance premiums, tuition, and FSA reimbursements. It pulls in what you paid from the shared expense list automatically, and you add the private items yourself.

For medical-visit mileage, type the two addresses and tap 🚗 Auto-fill miles: the drive distance fills in for you (doubled for round trips). One tap on Accountant Packet builds a PDF organized by tax area for TurboTax or your CPA. The Tax Center is included for the parent who created the space; a co-parent who joined from an invite can unlock their own with their own plan.

Yes. While your plan or free trial is active, you can create an expiring, read-only access code for an attorney or mediator. It shows your message log alongside every expense and payment on record, on one page they can print or save as a PDF. Your private journal, your Assistant chats and the parenting plan copy are never included.

If a subscription ends, the space becomes read-only: your records stay readable and exportable, but creating a new attorney code needs an active plan or trial.

Yes: expenses and payments download month by month as CSV (buttons on those tabs), alongside the monthly PDF statement. There isn't a single all-time spreadsheet or PDF, so download each month you need. These expense and payment files aren't watermarked.

For one raw data file of the shared space's settings, expenses, payments, calendar events and check-ins, use Settings → Your Data → Backup Data (JSON). It leaves out messages and your journal, which have their own PDF downloads.

$99/year (about $8.25/month) or $12/month on the website, after the free trial. The trial is counted from the day the parent who created the shared space signed up: 30 days, and 60 days from that same day while the other parent is in the space too, with no credit card. One subscription covers the shared space for both parents and unlimited kids, and either parent can subscribe; your co-parent joins free with your invite link or code. The private Tax Center is included for the parent who created the space, and a parent who joined from an invite gets their own by adding their own plan.

Subscribing in the iPhone or Android app instead? You can choose yearly or monthly there too. That subscription is bought through the App Store or Google Play, at the price shown there.

Not for you. Once you subscribe, that stays your price for as long as your subscription stays active. New features are added as they are built, shaped by what parents ask for, and they are included at no extra cost. There are no tiers to upgrade into, nothing extra charged per parent for the shared space, and no quiet increase at renewal.

If you cancel and come back later, you would sign up at whatever the price is at that time.

On the website: card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay. Checkout is handled securely by Stripe. We never see or store your card details.

In the iPhone or Android app, the subscription is bought through the App Store or Google Play and charged to your Apple Account or Google Play account.

Subscribed on the website? In the app go to Settings, scroll to Account, and tap Manage / cancel subscription. That opens your secure Stripe billing page where you can update your card, download invoices, or cancel.

Subscribed in the iPhone app? Open the Settings app on your iPhone, tap your name, then Subscriptions, and choose Two Porch Lights.

Subscribed in the Android app? Open the Play Store app, tap your profile picture, then Payments and subscriptions → Subscriptions, and choose Two Porch Lights.

Apple and Google manage subscriptions bought in the apps, so those can only be changed or canceled in the App Store or Google Play.

Still on the free trial, or using an access code? There is nothing to cancel and no card on file. A free trial simply ends on its own.

Canceling stops future charges and you keep access until the end of the period you already paid for. Your data is not deleted, and your co-parent keeps their access for that period too. After that, if no plan is active, the space becomes read-only for you and your co-parent, with nothing deleted. Subscribed on the website and would rather we cancel it for you? Email support@twoporchlights.com.

On the sign-in screen, enter your email and tap Forgot password: we'll email you a reset link. Open it on the device you want to keep using and set a new password.

Delete your account: Settings → Account → Delete my account, on the website, in the iPhone app or in the Android app. You type DELETE to confirm, and there is no undo. If you haven't created or joined a shared space yet, the link is on the Connect with your co-parent screen, under Sign out (in the apps, from version 1.0.8). Deleting your account does not cancel a subscription, so cancel it first (see How do I cancel or manage my subscription? above). What is deleted and what stays is on our Delete your account page.

Leave a shared space: on the website, Settings → Account → Co-parent spaces → Leave this shared space. In the iPhone and Android apps, Settings → Account → 🛡️ Safety & reporting → Leave this shared space. You are asked to type LEAVE, and leaving never deletes the space or anything in it. On the website, and in the apps from version 1.0.8, you are first told what happens, leaving gives the space a new invite code, and you can't leave a space you are the only member of. More on our Delete your data page.

Shared between parents: the calendar, schedules, expenses (including mileage trips, with where each trip went and the miles), payments, child support settings and saved payment handles, messages, exchange check-ins, kid info, and the parenting plan copy if one is on file. Your co-parent also sees the email address you sign in with, next to the messages you send; it is also in the message log PDF and in the attorney or mediator view. Private to you alone: your journal, your Tax Center (a parent who joined from an invite has one only with a plan of their own), your Assistant chats, your home address for mileage, your theme choice, and your password. Your alert choices and time zone name are saved with the shared space: the app shows them only to you, but they are in the backup file either parent can download. An attorney or mediator sees your message log (with each sender's email address), expenses, and payments (with the parents' and children's names), and only through an expiring code created by you or your co-parent; each parent can see the list of codes in Settings.

No. Two Porch Lights never reads your contact list, and it asks for no permission to your contacts. The website never opens your contacts: Text the invite and Email the invite open your own messages or mail app, and you choose your co-parent there.

In the iPhone app from version 1.0.14 and the Android app from version 1.0.16, the invite has a button that opens your phone's own contact list. On iPhone it reads Choose your co-parent from contacts and on Android Choose your co-parent's number, each with their first name once you have entered it. The app gets only the one contact you tap: their name, with their phone numbers and email addresses on iPhone, or the one number you tap on Android. It shows that on your screen and uses it on your phone to address the text or email you send. It isn't saved, and it isn't sent to us.

Settings → Schedule → 📄 Parenting plan on file → Remove plan. Either parent can remove it. That deletes the file and its text from your shared space, and nobody can ask it questions until a plan is put on file again. Settings already filled in from it stay as they are until you change them.

The copy is also deleted with the shared space, when its last member deletes their account. Details are on our Delete your data page and in the Privacy Policy.

In a secure cloud database with per-account access rules, synced over encrypted connections, plus a copy on your device so the app works offline. Payments run through Stripe; we never touch your money or card numbers. Details in our Privacy Policy.

Neither parent can edit, unsend, or delete a single message, and private journal entries can't be edited or deleted in the app. The exception is account deletion: if a parent deletes their Two Porch Lights account, the messages they sent are removed from the shared thread and their journal is removed; when the last member of a shared space deletes their account, the whole space is deleted.

Like any online service, we have administrative access to our database, but the app gives our staff no way to edit or delete messages. Content may be removed when the law requires it or at a verified account holder's request.

Either parent can edit expenses and payments while a month is open, and the record shows what's in the space now, not a history of every change. An expense's details do show who added it and who last edited it, and when. Once both parents close out a month, it locks until you both reopen it.

Two-factor authentication, on the website and in the apps: Settings → Account → 🔒 Two-factor authentication → Turn on two-factor. Scan the code with an authenticator app (Google Authenticator, or the one built into iPhone), then enter the 6-digit code it shows. Save the setup key somewhere safe: it is your backup if you lose your phone. After that, signing in asks for your password and then a 6-digit code. Turn off two-factor is in the same place.

App Lock, in the iPhone and Android apps: Settings → Account → Require Face ID or Touch ID to open the app (on Android, Require fingerprint or face unlock to open the app). It uses the lock already set up on your phone, it is off until you turn it on, and it is set on each phone. On Android 13 and newer, in the Android app from version 1.0.7, the app switcher doesn't show a picture of your last screen while it is on. The website doesn't have App Lock.

Phone (home-screen app): swipe the app fully closed in the app switcher, then reopen it. Do it twice if needed. Still stuck? Delete the home-screen icon, open the site in Safari, then re-add it (your data is safe: it lives in your account, not the icon).

Computer: hard-refresh (hold Shift and click reload), or clear the site's data in your browser settings and reload.

iPhone or Android app: a few features started in a later app version than on the website, and the answers here name that version. If one is missing on your phone, update Two Porch Lights to the latest version from the App Store or Google Play. Most of them are on the website too, signed in to the same account. An answer says so when something is only in the apps.

Send the invite again and have them tap the link: it joins without typing a code. If they're typing it, they should sign in to their own account first, tap Join with code, and enter the code exactly. On the website, in the iPhone app from version 1.0.14 and in the Android app from version 1.0.16, they can paste your whole invite message instead; in an earlier app version, they type just the code. An invite you send from an earlier app version has your code and no join link, so they join with the code. If you tapped New code, old codes and links stop working, so send the new one. Still stuck? Email us, we'll connect you.

For 72 hours after someone joins, the parent who created the space can remove them in Settings → Account, on the website, in the iPhone app from version 1.0.14 or in the Android app from version 1.0.16. They're told they were removed, and your invite code changes, so the old link and code stop working. After 72 hours, email support@twoporchlights.com and we'll help.

1. On iPhone, the app must be opened from a Home Screen icon: notifications can't work from a regular Safari tab.
2. Tap 🔔 Turn on notifications in the app and allow the permission prompt.
3. Check the phone's Settings → Notifications for Two Porch Lights.

Each parent enables notifications on their own device.

Expecting an email as each change or message comes in? Email alerts start on End of day, one summary in the evening. Choose As posted under Settings → 🔔 Notifications → Email alerts, on the website if your app shows only an on/off button.

1. Which parent are you? Trips are listed for the parent who drove. If the card asks Which parent are you on this device?, tap I'm and your name, or pick yourself under Settings → Parents → On this device, I am.
2. Home address: Add stays greyed out until your home address is saved. Type it in the box on the card, or under Settings → Account → Home address for mileage.
3. Who drove: a trip goes to the parent in the event's Driving choice, so it may be on your co-parent's list. If a trip on their list was yours, they can tap My co-parent drove to send it to you.
4. When: a trip shows once the event's time has passed, and only trips from the last 60 days are listed. Mileage also needs you to be signed in.
5. Not in Expenses: a trip is not an expense until it is added. One that waits is on the Today tab: for example, a trip dated before mileage was turned on waits there for the driver to tap Add. On the website, the Expenses tab tells the driver when trips have not been added and has a button that goes to them. Also on the website, the event form can add those earlier trips you drove as you save: see the tick box under How do I track mileage for an activity?

More in How do I track mileage for an activity?

Make sure you're signed in and online (the AI reader needs both). Take the photo straight-on with good light. If a receipt still won't read, just type the amount: the photo stays attached either way.

A PDF that asks for a password when you open it can't be read, and Two Porch Lights never asks for that password. Save a copy without one: open the PDF with its password, choose Print, and save it as a PDF instead of printing. Then choose that copy. If your PDF app won't do that, or the file doesn't allow printing, ask whoever sent it, such as your attorney or the court clerk, for a copy without a password. If the app says only that the plan couldn't be read, or "No password given", the PDF may be locked: these same steps apply.

Scan the pages into one PDF with your phone, then choose that PDF. On an iPhone, the Files app and the Notes app can scan documents. On Android, the Google Drive app can. Lay each page flat, in good light, and keep the pages upright and in order. A scanned PDF can be read on the website, up to 40 scanned pages (see First-time setup). A plan kept on file can be up to 20 MB. If your scan is larger, scan it again in black and white or at a lower quality. A photo that isn't inside a PDF can't be read.

Reading pages from pictures takes a while, and the screen has to stay open until it finishes. If you close it, nothing is saved and you start again. If some pages couldn't be read, choose Try those pages again, or Use what was read to go on without them. There are limits on how many pages can be read this way in an hour and in a day. If the app stops for one of these limits, try again when it says to, or the next day if it names no time, or email support@twoporchlights.com. If pages in your scan are sideways, turn them upright in your PDF app and save before you choose the file.

Both parents: fully close and reopen the app so it pulls the latest. Sync is live when you're online; changes made offline catch up as soon as you reconnect. If numbers still disagree, email us with the month in question and we'll take a look.

Email support@twoporchlights.com with what you were doing, what you expected, and what happened (a screenshot helps a ton). We read everything and genuinely want the app to work for you.