Your household doesn't stop when you step away from your desk — and neither does SimpliHome. The iOS and Android apps give you full access to your Circle from your phone: check the calendar, update tasks, manage files, reply to household chat, track bills, and more, all from wherever you are.
This guide covers everything about using SimpliHome on mobile — how to get started, what to expect, and how to get the best out of the app.
#Downloading the App
iPhone (iOS 16 or later):
- Open the App Store
- Search for SimpliHome
- Tap Get → install
Android (Android 10 or later):
- Open the Google Play Store
- Search for SimpliHome
- Tap Install
#Signing In
Open the app and sign in with your SimpliHome account.
If you registered with Google or Microsoft, tap Continue with Google or Continue with Microsoft — you don't need to remember a separate password.
If you signed up with email and password, tap Sign in with email and enter your credentials.
First time on mobile? Once signed in you'll see your Circle's data exactly as it appears on the web app — all your household members, calendar events, bills, files, and everything else are already there. Nothing to re-enter.
#Enabling Biometric Login
For quick access without typing your password each time, enable biometric login after your first sign-in.
- Go to Settings (tap your profile icon or the settings icon)
- Tap Biometric Login
- Toggle it on
- Authenticate with Face ID (iPhone) or fingerprint (Android) to confirm
After this, opening the app launches straight to a biometric prompt — one look or one touch and you're in.
#Setting Up Push Notifications
Push notifications make SimpliHome genuinely useful as a mobile app. Without them, you have to remember to check — with them, important reminders and updates come to you.
On first launch, the app asks permission to send notifications. Tap Allow.
If you skipped that prompt, you can enable it in:
- iPhone: Settings (iOS) → SimpliHome → Notifications → Allow Notifications
- Android: Settings → Apps → SimpliHome → Notifications → On
Notification types you'll receive:
| Notification | What triggers it | |---|---| | Bill due soon | A bill's renewal date is approaching | | MOT expiry alert | Your vehicle's MOT is due within 30 days | | Insurance renewal | An insurance policy is about to renew | | Calendar reminder | An event you're attending is coming up | | New chat message | Someone sends a message in a thread you're part of | | Task assigned | A household member assigns you a task or chore | | New Circle post | Someone posts to the household news feed |
To customise which notifications you receive:
- Go to Settings → Notifications
- Toggle individual notification types on or off
Set these to match your preferences. Most people want bill alerts, MOT/insurance reminders, and chat messages — but turn off feed posts if they're too frequent.
#What's Available on Mobile
The mobile app gives you access to everything in SimpliHome:
#Dashboard
Your household overview — today's calendar events, upcoming bills, tasks due soon, recent household activity, and financial summary. The starting point for each day.
#Calendar
View the household calendar in day, week, or month view. Tap any event for details. Add new events with the + button. Events sync in real time — if a family member adds something on the web app, it appears on your phone immediately.
#Chat
Full access to Circle Chat. Send messages, attach files, react to messages, start direct conversations, and create new group threads. Chat messages arrive as push notifications.
#Files
Browse, upload, preview, search, share, and email household documents. The full Files vault experience — see our Files guide for details.
#To-Do Lists
View and manage household task lists. Tick off completed items, add new ones, assign tasks to Circle members, and set priorities and due dates.
#Chores
See the household chore schedule for the week. Mark chores as done, add new recurring chores, and see which member is assigned to each task.
#Recipes
Browse your household recipe library, view recipe details and ingredients, and add new recipes — including importing from a URL for supported recipe sites.
#Meal Planner
See the week's meal plan and update it. Assign recipes to days, add notes like "Eating Out" or "Leftovers", and view the week at a glance.
#Bills & Finance
View all household bills with due dates and costs. Check bank accounts, review recent transactions, and see your budget overview.
#Cars & Vehicles
See all registered vehicles with MOT dates, road tax, and insurance expiry. Tap a vehicle for full details and documents.
#Circle Members
View household member profiles, contact details, health records, and location sharing (if enabled).
#Settings
Manage your account, notification preferences, biometric login, theme, and Circle settings.
#Offline Access
SimpliHome caches your household data on the device so you can access key information without an internet connection.
Available offline:
- Viewing your calendar events
- Reading notes and contacts
- Browsing the recipe library
- Reviewing bills and vehicle information
- Reading chat history
Requires a connection:
- Sending chat messages
- Uploading files
- Syncing calendar with Google or Outlook
- Loading new transactions or bank data
When you're offline, the app displays a banner to let you know you're viewing cached data. Changes made offline (for Notes) are queued and synced automatically when you reconnect.
#Switching Between Accounts
If you're part of multiple Circles — for example, you manage the family household and also help coordinate care for an elderly relative who has their own SimpliHome Circle — you can switch between accounts from the profile menu.
Tap your profile icon → Switch Account.
#Dark Mode
SimpliHome supports both light and dark mode on mobile.
Automatic (follows system): By default, the app follows your device's appearance setting. If your phone switches to dark mode at sunset, SimpliHome switches too.
Manual override: Go to Settings → Appearance to fix the app to light or dark mode regardless of your device setting.
#Home Screen Widgets
SimpliHome includes home screen widgets for iOS and Android so you can see your household at a glance without even opening the app. Three widgets are available:
| Widget | Size | What it shows | |---|---|---| | Small Calendar | Small | Today's next upcoming events | | Large Calendar | Large | Today's full event list with times | | Large Planner | Large | Today's personal planner entries — activities, appointments, notes |
All widgets update automatically whenever you open the app and can also be refreshed by pulling down in the app.
#Adding widgets on iPhone
- Long-press an empty area of your home screen until icons jiggle
- Tap the + button (top left)
- Search for SimpliHome
- Choose a widget size and tap Add Widget
- Tap Done
You can add multiple widgets — for example the Small Calendar on a home screen page and the Large Planner on a Today View.
#Adding widgets on Android
- Long-press an empty area of your home screen
- Tap Widgets
- Search for or scroll to SimpliHome
- Choose a widget and drag it to your home screen
#Widget data
Widgets display live data from your Circle:
- Calendar widgets — today's events with start times. Tap an event to open it in the app.
- Planner widget — today's entries from your personal weekly planner, organised by category with emoji labels.
- Task counts — some widget sizes show a summary of overdue tasks and tasks due this week assigned to you.
- Today's meals — where space allows, widgets surface today's meal plan entries (breakfast, lunch, dinner) from the meal planner.
Widgets respect your chosen app theme (light/dark and colour scheme).
#Sharing Content Into SimpliHome
The SimpliHome app registers as a share target on both iOS and Android, so you can send files and photos to your Circle directly from other apps.
On iPhone:
- Open the file, photo, or document in any app (Mail, Files, Safari, Photos, etc.)
- Tap the Share button (box with an arrow)
- Scroll to find SimpliHome in the share sheet
- Choose the folder to save it to
- Tap Save to SimpliHome
On Android:
- Open the file or image in any app
- Tap Share
- Select SimpliHome from the share target list
- Choose the destination folder and confirm
This is particularly useful for:
- Saving email attachments (insurance schedules, receipts, letters) straight to the Files vault
- Sharing photos from your camera roll into the Pictures folder
- Sending PDF downloads from Safari/Chrome directly to SimpliHome without downloading them separately first
#Adding to Your Home Screen (iOS Shortcut)
If you access SimpliHome many times a day, add it to a prominent spot on your home screen.
iPhone: After installing, press and hold the SimpliHome icon → tap Edit Home Screen → drag it to your preferred position.
The SimpliHome icon also supports long-press quick actions — press and hold the app icon to see shortcuts like "New Event", "New Task", and "Open Chat" without needing to navigate inside the app.
#Troubleshooting
I'm not receiving push notifications.
Check that notifications are enabled for SimpliHome in your device settings (see above). Also check Settings → Notifications within the app to confirm the relevant notification types are toggled on.
The app shows old data.
Pull down on any screen to trigger a manual refresh. If the data is still stale, check your internet connection.
My calendar events aren't syncing with Google.
Check that the Google Calendar connection is active in Settings → Calendar. Occasionally the OAuth token expires and needs to be re-authorised — the settings page will show a "Reconnect" button if this happens.
I forgot my password.
On the sign-in screen, tap Forgot Password. SimpliHome will send a reset link to your registered email address.
The app crashes or behaves unexpectedly.
Try force-quitting and reopening the app. If the issue persists, go to Settings → Help & Support to contact us — include a description of what happened and your device model, and we'll look into it.
#Mobile vs Web — Do You Need Both?
The mobile app and the web app have the same features. Which you use is down to preference:
Mobile is better for:
- Checking the calendar while you're out
- Receiving push notifications
- Quickly marking tasks as done
- Uploading photos directly from your camera roll
- Checking if there's a chat message to reply to
- MOT and bill reminders landing on your phone
Web is better for:
- Bulk data entry (adding lots of bills, recipes, or events)
- Managing finances and reviewing transactions on a large screen
- Uploading large files or multiple documents
- Administering Circle member settings
Most people primarily use the mobile app day-to-day and switch to the web app for longer household management sessions.
#Keeping the App Updated
SimpliHome releases regular updates with new features, performance improvements, and bug fixes.
iPhone: Enable automatic updates in App Store settings, or check the App Store → your profile → look for SimpliHome in the update list.
Android: Enable automatic updates in Play Store settings, or open the Play Store → tap your profile → Manage apps & device → look for SimpliHome updates.
Staying on the latest version ensures you have access to new features as they launch and any fixes that have shipped since your current version.