Chores

A family chore chart and allowance bank for iPhone that kids actually want to open.

Coming to the App Store.

Kids tap a big tile, confetti flies, stars pile up and money lands in their jars. Parents get approvals, the allowance and the weekly summary without nagging.

Features

• Today board: each kid gets a colour, avatar and big tap-to-finish tiles, with confetti, stars, streaks and a crown when the day is done
• Kids mode behind a 4-digit parent PIN, with an optional grown-up OK before stars and money count
• Schedules: every day, school days, chosen days or weekly; stars per chore and money on bigger jobs; ideas by age
• Allowance bank: spend, save and give jars, a weekly allowance that pays itself, full history and a savings goal
• Reward shop priced in stars; grown-ups see what is owed and mark it given
• Parents: the week at a glance, a weekly summary to share, printable fridge charts, an optional daily reminder

Price

A paid app: one price, no in-app purchases, no subscription, no ads.

Privacy

No network code at all: Chores makes no requests and collects no data. Reminders are local notifications. Everything is saved on the device in chores.json. The privacy manifest (Resources/PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy) declares no tracking and no collected data types.

Built without a Mac

This app was written on a Windows PC. No Mac is involved at any point: every build, signature, screenshot and App Store submission runs on GitHub Actions macOS runners, driven by the App Store Connect API.

• project.yml is an XcodeGen spec. The .xcodeproj is generated on the runner and never committed, so the repo can be edited on any OS and there are no .pbxproj merge conflicts.
• .github/workflows/build.yml runs on every push: picks the newest Xcode 26 and iPhone simulator on the runner, builds, then launches the app once per screen with -shot <screen> (sample data, fixed 9:41 status bar) and captures the store screenshots with simctl, uploaded as a workflow artifact.
• .github/workflows/appstore.yml (manual) has three modes: compile, dry_run (build, sign, upload, do not submit) and release (also submits for review). The distribution certificate is imported from a secret into a throwaway keychain; fastlane (fastlane/Fastfile) fetches the App Store profile with the API key, sets the build number one above the latest on TestFlight, archives, and uploads the binary with fastlane/metadata and the committed fastlane/screenshots.
• .github/workflows/review-video.yml records the App Review screen recording: the app is launched with -demoAutoplay and drives its own real screens.
• Store/*.py talk to the App Store Connect API directly from Windows (Python, requests + PyJWT): asc.py registers the bundle id and pushes metadata, listing.py sets the age rating, review details, price and screenshots, and signing.py creates the distribution certificate locally so its private key is never stranded on a disposable runner.

Only one step is manual: Apple's API will not create the app record itself, so that is made once in the App Store Connect web UI.

Build and run

With a Mac and Xcode 26 (the version CI uses; the app targets iOS 17+):

brew install xcodegen
xcodegen generate
open Chores.xcodeproj

Run the Chores scheme on any iPhone simulator. No signing is needed for the simulator; from the command line:

xcodebuild build -project Chores.xcodeproj -scheme Chores \
  -destination 'platform=iOS Simulator,name=iPhone 16 Pro' CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=NO

To see it filled with sample data, launch with a screenshot argument, e.g. xcrun simctl launch booted com.mattbusel.chores -shot today.

Without a Mac: fork the repo and push. The Build workflow compiles it on a GitHub macOS runner and attaches the screenshots as an artifact.

Shipping your own build needs these repository secrets: ASC_KEY_ID, ASC_ISSUER_ID, ASC_KEY_CONTENT (base64 of the .p8), DEVELOPMENT_TEAM, DIST_CERT_P12, DIST_CERT_PASSWORD, plus your own bundle id in project.yml and fastlane/Fastfile.

Code map

All app code is in Sources/ (SwiftUI, Observation, no third-party dependencies).

File	What it does
App.swift	entry point, floating tab bar, -shot handling
Model.swift	kids, chores, schedules, stars, jars, allowance, JSON persistence
TodayView.swift	the today board and kids/grown-up mode
WeekView.swift	week view and the printable chart
BankView.swift	the three coin jars
ShopView.swift	the reward shop
GrownUps.swift / Settings.swift	PIN keypad and parent settings
Editors.swift	chore, kid and reward editors
Celebrate.swift	the confetti burst
Theme.swift	sticker-book palette
Demo.swift / Autopilot.swift	the sample family and the App Review recording

Store/ holds the App Store Connect scripts, fastlane/ the lanes, listing text and screenshots, Resources/ the asset catalog and privacy manifest.

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More apps built the same way: Chain, Ironbook, Quiver, Race Fuel, Minder, Baseline Ledger, Fairway Ledger, Odometer, Rooms, Clockout, Curve, Pricebook, Pawprint, Pocket Beings, Glyphstorm, Clear the Strait.

Hire the author

I designed, built and shipped this app myself. Want one like it for your business? I build native iOS apps from prototype to App Store launch, fixed price. Services and pricing · Email · LinkedIn