App Profile: Hearth Companion App

Disco_Pierre

Rating: 4/5

We’ve had the hearth set up in our house for close to a year and a half. The updates that have come out in the last few months have been really great for our family. Being able to set up routines for my eight-year-old and my four-year-old have been huge game changers. We love being able to look at the calendar in order to see what’s going on throughout the week. One thing that I think could be improved is an integration of meal planning/grocery lists with the menus. I also think the subscription price is pretty high and I would prefer to simply pay a one time price for the display.

aelbery

Rating: 3/5

I love the concept of Hearth and appreciate the schedule, meal planning, to-do lists, and reward system. It has great potential for keeping the family organized. That said, the functionality could be improved. The calendar would be far more useful if it integrated with existing calendars so changes in Hearth reflected everywhere. Meal planning is nice, but links to recipes or videos would make cooking much easier. It’s tedious to use another app to plan my weekly menu and then add each grocery item individually to Hearth’s list. My kids enjoy the routines, but since we keep the Hearth in the kitchen, we tend to stop using it for tasks done upstairs. Once the kitchen is “closed” for the night, the rest of the routine falls off. I also don’t love letting the kids finish their routines in the app because the fun is lost that way. I think the cost of the initial product is steep, though I will say it’s beautiful and blends seamlessly into my space—so I do appreciate the investment into its elevated look. However, the annual fee also feels high, and I don’t see enough benefit to justify it. Realistically, I wouldn’t move it out of the kitchen, so some flexibility for multi-location use would help. With better integration, more seamless features, and more value for the cost, this could easily be a five-star tool.

figutspiner1000

Rating: 3/5

In general, I find the Hearth to be helpful. I like being able to see what’s on the calendar for the week and month at a glance. The touch screen doesn’t work very well. It often takes multiple taps before it responds. I do feel that the overall experience has been working better when paired with my iPhone than it did when I first got the phone. I wish the device could rotate horizontally for a better weekly calendar view. Additionally, I very much wish I could assign tasks to my kids that correspond to specific days and have them automatically pop up only on those days. Right now, when I add tasks, they all show at once with small dates underneath. This makes it look like my kids have a huge list, when in reality they only have certain tasks on certain days. It’s not very easy for them to quickly glance and understand what’s actually due that day. Overall, I do appreciate the Hearth, but there are times I see some of the Skylight options and wonder if I made the right decision. I do hope for continued updates and growth.