Device modes: kiosk or personal
Choose whether a device is a family screen everyone shares or your own phone or tablet, and what changes between the two.
Every device you sign in to is either a kiosk or a personal device. A kiosk is a screen the whole family shares, like a tablet on the kitchen wall. A personal device is your own phone, tablet or computer.
The mode belongs to the device, not to your account. You can run the kitchen tablet as a kiosk and your phone as a personal device, signed in to the same account, and neither one changes the other.
What changes between the two
Kiosk | Personal | |
|---|---|---|
Settings | The family's shared settings. A change here changes them for everyone. | Your own look and settings, which follow you to your other personal devices. |
Notifications | Everything the family's reminders send, with a Mute this screen switch for that one device. | Only what concerns you: your own habits, events and tasks you're on, and tasks someone assigns to you. |
New tasks and events | Nothing is filled in for you. | You're pre-filled as the assignee or attendee. You can still pick anyone else. |
Lists | New lists are always shared with the family. | Shared lists, plus personal lists only you can see. |
Habits and Rewards | The family's usual order. | Your own card comes first. |
Parental-lock PIN | Asked for before Settings opens, if the family has set one. | Skipped if you're an adult. |
"Done by" names | Not recorded, since anyone in the family may be tapping. | Your name is recorded when you tick something off. |
Choosing a mode
During setup. Near the end of setup, Plannie asks How will you use this device? and offers Kiosk mode or Personal device. Plannie picks one to start with: Kiosk in a browser, Personal in the iPhone, iPad and Android apps. Change it if that's wrong for this device.
If you joined by invitation. You don't see that step. Your device starts as a personal device, and you can switch it in Settings if you're actually setting up a family screen.
Any time afterwards. Go to Settings → Family & access → Device mode and pick Kiosk — a screen the family shares or Personal — my own device. It takes effect right away. If the family has a parental-lock PIN, leaving kiosk mode asks for it, so children can't turn the family screen into their own.
Always on screen
Always on screen (in the same Settings section) keeps the screen awake in landscape and asks for the PIN to exit. It's for a wall display, so turning it on also makes the device a kiosk. Switching a device back to personal turns Always on screen off.
Notifications on each kind of device
On a kiosk, open Settings → Calendar to find Mute this screen. It silences that one device and nothing else; the family's reminders keep arriving on every other device.
On a personal device, the same page has a Your notifications section with a Notify me switch. These settings are yours alone. They follow you to your other personal devices and change nothing on the family's shared screens. The reminder switch above that section is still the family's master switch. Turning it off stops reminders for everyone.
Personal lists
On a personal device, creating a list asks whether it's a Shared list (everyone in the family can see it) or a Personal list (only you can see it). Nobody else in the family can open a personal list or find it in search. Shared lists show a small people icon in the sidebar so you can tell them apart. Favourites follow the same split: the lists you star on a personal device are yours alone, while a kiosk keeps one set of favourites for the whole family. See Shopping & custom lists.
Busy-only calendars
If someone has set one of their synced calendars to show as busy only, its events appear as plain "Busy" blocks on shared screens and to every other family member. Only the calendar's owner sees the details. See Syncing with Google Calendar.
Good to know
- The parental lock still applies on a child's own device. It's skipped only for adults on their own personal device.
- Devices that were set up before device modes existed start as personal devices. Switch your family screen to kiosk in Settings.
Related: Parental lock & PINs · Managing family members
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