Challenges

Challenges, explained

Time-boxed lists of tasks with a coin reward at the end. There are 16 preset checklists curated by us, and Premium members can build their own. Here's how the clock works, where the coins come from, and what the household sees.

Preset vs custom

Two flavours, same idea

A challenge is just a focused list of things to tick off, with a deadline. Tidywell ships 16 preset checklist challenges — Spring Clean, Guest Prep, New Baby Prep, End-of-Tenancy, and so on. They're curated by us and visible to everyone, free or Premium.

On Premium, you can also build your own. Pick specific tasks from your rooms, add a few one-off items if you want, set a deadline. Same paradigm, just curated by you instead of by us.

Preset challenge

Spring Refresh

20 curated tasks · 14 days · 120 coins

Your own challenge

Sort the spare room

8 tasks you picked · 7 days · 40 coins

The mechanics

How they actually work

The clock starts when you join

The deadline is a duration in days (3, 7, 14, or 30), counted from the moment you tap Join. So if you join a 7-day challenge on a Tuesday at 3pm, you've got until the following Tuesday at 3pm to tick everything off.

If the time runs out before you finish, the card shows "Expired" — but Tidywell isn't mean about it. You can still finish later and still earn the coins. The expiry is more of a soft target than a hard cutoff.

Progress is per-member

When you join a challenge, you get your own copy of the progress. Mum and Dad joining the same Spring Refresh have independent progress — Mum's at 12/20, Dad's at 5/20, and that's normal. Only your taps move your number.

For preset challenges, progress syncs across your devices automatically. For custom challenges, progress is per-device in v1 — your phone and your iPad track separately.

Coins land when you finish

Each challenge has a coin reward. Tick everything off and the coins drop into your wallet automatically — no "Claim" button. The reward scales with how big the challenge is: about 5 coins per task, capped at 200 for the longest custom lists.

Coins are spent in the Shop on furniture for your virtual home. Read the Free vs Premium guide for the full economy.

Premium feature

Building your own challenge

Custom challenges are user-curated checklists. Tap "+ Create your own challenge" on the challenges screen, and the builder opens.

Name and look

Give it a name, pick an emoji, choose an accent colour. This is just so you can spot it on the list later.

Pick a deadline

3, 7, 14, or 30 days. The clock will start the moment you save.

Pick tasks from your rooms

The picker shows every task you have, grouped by room. Tap one to add it to the challenge. There's a search box for when the list is long, and a count chip at the top so you can see how many you've selected.

Add one-off items (optional)

If you want to include something that isn't a regular task — "Call the landlord", "Find the spare keys", "Book a chimney sweep" — type it in the one-off items field. These items live inside the challenge only. They don't appear in Today, don't bump cleanliness, don't show up in your room views. They're just tick-off items scoped to this challenge.

The coin reward

5 coins per item you picked, capped at 200. The cap is there so a 50-task custom challenge doesn't print 250 coins of inflation. The number updates live as you add and remove items, so you always know what's at stake.

Sharing

What the household sees

The catalogue is shared

Every member of your household sees the same list of challenges — preset and custom. If your partner creates a custom challenge on their phone, it appears on yours within a couple of seconds. They show up with an "Added by [name]" pill so you know who built each one.

Joining is a personal choice

Each member decides whether to join a challenge. You don't get auto-enrolled when someone else creates one. Tap a card to read the details, then tap Join if you want to take it on.

Anyone can delete a custom challenge

If a custom challenge has run its course or was a misfire, any household member can delete it from the catalogue. The detail screen warns you that deletion is for everyone — there's no per-member hide.

Premium gates creation, not viewing

Free members in a Premium household can see and join custom challenges, just not create new ones. If your household's Premium expires, existing custom challenges stay readable; you just can't add new ones until subscription resumes.

FAQ

Common questions

Can I edit a custom challenge after creating it?

Not in v1. Once saved, the name, items, and deadline are locked in. If you need to change something, the cleanest path right now is to delete the challenge and create a fresh one. We're tracking edit-after-create as a follow-up.

What happens if I delete a task that's in a custom challenge?

The challenge keeps the slot for that task — it just renders as "[deleted task]" in the list. Your progress count isn't affected. If you want to clean it up, delete the challenge and rebuild it without that task.

Do one-off items appear anywhere outside the challenge?

No. They're scoped to the challenge only. They don't show up in Today, don't affect cleanliness, don't appear in room views. The reasoning: a "Call landlord" item shouldn't bump the bedroom's clean percentage. If you want something to be a real task too, add it via the normal Add Task flow.

Can I leave a challenge I've joined without losing my progress on the rest?

Yes. Tap the challenge, tap Leave. Your progress on that one is wiped, but other challenges and your normal cleaning history are untouched. You can rejoin a preset challenge any time. Custom challenges, you can rejoin too as long as the catalogue still has them.

Why does the timer keep going past zero?

Deliberate. We considered hard-stopping the challenge at expiry but it felt punitive — life happens. The card shows "Expired" so you can see you're past the deadline, but the items are still tickable and the coins still land if you complete it. The pressure is gentler that way.

Can a kid create a custom challenge?

Any household member of a Premium household can create custom challenges, including kids. Anyone can also delete one (see above), so if a kid sets up something silly an adult can tidy up. We may add a "creator-only delete" option in the future if it becomes a problem.

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