Family admin is a second job. Hand it over.
The school runs, the meal plan, the shopping, the form that needed signing, the present you still haven’t bought. Poppins holds the lot, and you can tell her about it in one sentence, on WhatsApp, while you’re walking.
£19.99 a month for the whole household · no card to start · cancel in a click
Nell’s dentist and Otis’s swimming both start at 4pm, and you can’t be in two places. Ellie’s diary clears at 3.30, so shall I ask her?
Thursday, seen before it happens: who’s where, what collides at four, and the one press that fixes it.
Nobody applied for this one
It isn’t one big task. It’s two hundred small ones, most of which live in somebody’s head and get done at eleven at night on a phone. Poppins is where they go instead.
The newsletter with three dates buried in it
Forward it. Poppins reads it and puts the dates in.
Who’s collecting Otis on Thursday
One line each on a shared timeline, so everyone can see the answer.
What’s for dinner. Again.
A week planned in one press, from a book that knows their ages.
Whether we still have plasters
A list the whole house can add to, filed by aisle.
The present you haven’t bought
A reminder that arrives with time to do something about it.
Telling the nanny what happened today
The handover written down, in the shape she’s trained to write it.
The form that needed signing
On the list, assigned to whoever is doing it.
Granny asking for photographs again
She gets her own way in: the diary and the children, nothing else.
Remembering Bea can’t have dairy
Recorded once. Flagged on every recipe from then on.
The PE kit, remembered at midnight
A nudge on your phone the evening before, for the thing and the kit it needs.
“What size are her feet now?”
Shoes and clothes live on each child’s page, ready for whoever’s buying.
A party at a house you’ve never been to
The address went in with the invitation. Directions are one tap, in the car.
Say it once. Consider it done.
You say it once, on the school run, mid-meeting, or at eleven at night, and it’s done. Moved, added, planned, told. Not advice about how you might do it yourself. Try one and watch the calendar, the shopping, the meal plan and the diary change as she answers.
🥦 PRODUCE
Baby spinach
And she notices what you’d miss
Handing the admin over only works if whoever takes it is actually paying attention. Every person gets a lane on one shared axis. School and the work day sit back in grey, because that’s where somebody already is. Poppins says something when two of them collide, before four o’clock arrives and you find out the hard way.
- Clash Two short things, two different children, starting within 45 minutes. Not school and nursery overlapping all day.
- Cover One press hands it to an adult who is genuinely free, and tells them. Never you, for yourself.
- Now A pink line at the actual time, so “what’s next” needs no arithmetic.
Nell’s dentist and Otis’s swimming both start at 4pm, and you can’t be in two places. Ellie’s diary clears at 3.30, so shall I ask her?
INGREDIENTS · FOR 4, FROM 6
- Chicken breast 400 g
- Panko breadcrumbs 65 g
- Katsu curry paste 2 tbsp
- Rice 200 g
For the two-year-old: leave the curry sauce on the side and cut the chicken into strips she can hold.
A week of dinners, in one press
A hundred recipes, each written with what to change when one of the people eating it is two. Poppins plans the week without repeating itself and leads with what they actually like, and you can tell her to never suggest something again.
- Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack. The empty lunch slot shows itself at breakfast, not at noon.
- Amounts follow your family. A recipe for five becomes a recipe for four, rounded to something you’d actually weigh. A tray of flapjacks stays a tray.
- Allergies are flagged before you cook. Poppins matches the ingredients against what each child reacts to, and says so on the card.
- The shop writes itself. One press turns the week into a list with the amounts added together: 30g of flour and 100g of flour make one line, filed in the aisle you’ll walk past.
One errand, one screen
Shopping and what needs doing, a tab apart. Items file themselves into aisles, so the list reads in the order you walk the shop. Tag a thing to a child and it stays theirs: “oat milk” means one thing, Bea’s oat milk means another.
🥦 PRODUCE
🥛 DAIRY
The bit you’d otherwise forget
Photographs, video, and the handover a nanny is trained to write: sleep, meals, mood, what they did, anything that happened. Mark a moment as a milestone and it stays findable. Share an entry with the wider family, or keep it to the household; nothing goes further unless you say so.
Ellie
Today
Nell rode the whole way to the postbox with no stabilisers. Absolutely furious that we cheered.
HANDOVER · BEA
- Sleep
- 12.30–2.15
- Meals
- All of lunch, half the fruit
- Mood
- Cheerful, tired by four
Not everyone needs everything
A grandparent wants the photographs, not your shopping list. A nanny runs the week but shouldn’t decide who’s in the family. Everyone gets their own way in, sees what’s theirs, and nothing else of yours is reachable at all.
Owner
Everything, plus the billing and who’s in the family.
Parent
The calendar, the lists, the meals, the diary, the children.
Nanny
All of that, apart from renaming the family or deciding who’s in it.
Family
The diary and the children. Not the calendar, the lists or your addresses.
Their people
Granny, the childminder, the neighbour with the spare key: names school will release a child to, and numbers you can tap. Emergency contacts come first.
Their places
School, the dentist, Grandma’s. Each with the number you ring when you’re late, and directions in one tap.
The dog
Pets are family. Walks, the vet, and who feeds them while you’re away, on the same calendar as everyone else.
Four ways in, one household
Poppins doesn’t forget which conversation she’s in because you picked up a different device. The same thread, the same family, whether you’re on the school run or at the kitchen table.
On WhatsApp and by text
Say it while you’re walking. Forward the school newsletter and the dates land in the calendar.
On iPhone and iPad
A native app. The iPad becomes a household display: everyone’s day on the kitchen counter.
In any browser
The same board, the same lanes, the same lists. Nothing to install.
By email
Forward anything to your family’s own address and Poppins reads it.
Nine o’clock is nine where the school is
A parent in New York reading “9:00” thinks they have all morning. Poppins leads with the household’s clock, and puts your own underneath, only when the two actually differ.
Times are London, where the family is. You’re in New York, so your own time is under each one.
Works in the supermarket basement
The day, the lists, the recipes and the diary stay on your phone. Tick things off in the aisle with no bars, and it all catches up the moment the signal comes back.
It shows up where you already look
Subscribe from Apple Calendar, Google Calendar or anything that speaks iCal and the family’s events appear there too. One way, so Poppins stays the source and nothing gets overwritten.
A private family network
No advertising, no selling anything on, and no tracking cookies. Our analytics are cookieless, which is why you haven’t been asked to accept anything. The diary, the children’s notes and your messages are encrypted at rest. Photographs are never on public links; they sit behind expiring, signed ones. Nothing leaves the household unless somebody shares it.
Read the privacy policy →The whole carpet bag
This is the whole of the second job, in one place. Every feature on every plan. There is one price and nothing held back for a tier above it.
THE CALENDAR
- Everyone’s day as lanes on one axis
- Clash detection, with one-press cover
- A whole term of school dates in one go, INSET days flagged for cover
- Repeating events, with single occurrences editable
- Reminders before the thing, and for the kit
- Places with phone numbers and directions
- Subscribe from Apple, Google or any iCal app
MEALS
- 100 recipes, each with what to change for little ones
- Plan the week without repeating itself
- Amounts scaled to your family
- Allergy and intolerance warnings on the card
- “Never suggest this again”
- Turn the week into a shopping list, amounts merged
LISTS
- Shopping and to-dos on one screen
- Filed into aisles automatically
- Tag an item to a child, a job to a grown-up
- Add from a recipe, a day, or the whole week
- Swipe or click to remove
THE DIARY
- Photographs and video
- The handover a nanny is trained to write
- Mark a moment as a milestone
- Share an entry with the wider family
- Reactions and comments
THE HOUSEHOLD
- Four roles: owner, parent, nanny, family
- Children, with sizes, allergies and photos
- Important numbers: NHS, passport, GP, with a nudge before they run out
- Under the weather: doses written down so nobody doubles up
- A child can belong to two households
- Pets
- Contacts, with emergency ones first
- Invite by link or by email
- Belong to more than one household
POPPINS HERSELF
- Does the thing, not tells you how: moves, plans, adds, asks
- WhatsApp, SMS, email and in-app
- Reads a forwarded school newsletter
- Remembers what your family is like
- Searches the web when she needs to
One price, whole household
Everybody in the family, every feature, no per-seat arithmetic.
Or £179 a year, which works out at £14.92 a month.
The first 100 households pay £9.99 a month, for as long as they stay.
- Every feature on this page
- As many family members as you have
- The iPhone and iPad app included
- WhatsApp, SMS and email
- 14 days free, no card to start
- Cancel in a click
No card required. We’ll remind you before it ends.
It had quietly become a second job
I’m Simon, and I have three children. Between the school runs, the meal plans and coordinating with whoever had them that afternoon, family admin had turned into work I was doing badly, at eleven at night, on a phone.
The thing I actually wanted was something that knew the whole household well enough to notice the four o’clock problem before I did, and could be told about it in a sentence, on WhatsApp, while walking. That’s what Poppins is.
Simon
Founder, Poppins
The ones people ask
What is Poppins?
Poppins takes on your family’s admin. It holds the shared calendar, the meal plan and the recipe book, the shopping and to-do lists, and the family diary, and comes with an assistant you can reach in the app, on WhatsApp, by SMS or by email, who can work every part of it for you rather than just telling you how.
How much does it cost?
£19.99 a month, or £179 a year, for the whole household with every feature included. Every account starts with a 14-day free trial and no card is required to begin.
What does “spots the clash” actually mean?
Two short commitments, for two different children, that overlap and start within 45 minutes of each other. School and nursery running at the same time all day isn’t a clash, so Poppins doesn’t cry wolf about it. When she does find one she offers it to an adult who is genuinely free at that moment, and tells them.
Can I use it on WhatsApp?
Yes. Message Poppins on WhatsApp or by text, or forward a school newsletter to your family’s own email address, and the dates land in the calendar and the lists. It’s the same conversation as the app.
Is there an iPhone app?
Yes, for iPhone and iPad, included in the price. The iPad version becomes a household display: everyone’s day side by side on the kitchen counter.
Does it work with my existing calendar?
You can subscribe to your family’s Poppins calendar from Apple Calendar, Google Calendar or anything that speaks iCal, and the events show up there too. It’s one-way, so Poppins stays the source and nothing you’ve written gets overwritten.
Can grandparents see the photographs without seeing everything else?
That’s exactly what the “family” role is for: the diary and the children, and not the calendar, the lists or your addresses. A nanny gets nearly everything instead, apart from renaming the household or deciding who’s in it.
How many people can I add?
As many as your family has. There is no per-person charge, and you can belong to more than one household. A nanny working for two families switches between them.
We’re separated. Can we both use it?
Yes. A child can belong to two households: both homes see the same profile, sizes, allergies and important numbers, and each household’s calendar, lists and diary stay its own. Share it from the child’s page with a link.
Somebody should be doing the family admin
It may as well not be you, at eleven at night, on a phone. Fourteen days free, the whole household, everything included.
Start the free trial