Help with budgeting, subscriptions, family groups, and Kids Mode — plus a direct line to a real person. We aim to respond within 2 business days.
Prefer to write directly? hello@tether-free.app
Requirements and setting up your account.
Plans, cancelling, restoring, and refunds.
Creating, joining, roles, and invite codes.
Allowances, app styles, caps, and goals.
Set chores and approve them for allowance.
Categories, recurring bills, payoff plans.
What we store and what we never collect.
Passwords, sign out, and deleting your account.
Quick fixes for the things people hit most.
TetherFree is a family-shared budgeting app for iPhone. Budget together, set kids’ allowances, save toward goals, and build a debt-payoff plan — with no ads and no data selling.
Once you’re in, open Help & Tips inside the app for guided walkthroughs of every feature.
TetherFree is free for personal budgeting. Family plans add shared budgets, Kids Mode, chores, and more.
Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel subscriptions in your device Settings.
Sign in with the same Apple Account you used to subscribe, then tap Settings → Restore Purchases.
Refunds are handled by Apple. Visit reportaproblem.apple.com.
Subscribe to a family plan, open the Family tab, and tap Create Family Group. Your invite code appears at the top of the Members screen.
Sign up, open the Family tab, tap Join with Invite Code, and paste the code you were given.
As the Owner, go to Family → Members, select a member, and choose a new Role.
Use the same Members screen to remove someone. Owners can’t simply leave — you must disband the group to leave it.
Invite codes are 16 characters and belong to a single family. To regenerate a code, disband and recreate the group.
A simplified home screen for family members marked as children.
Pick how it looks for each child in Members → (child) → Kid App Style:
Set an allowance in Owner → Members → (child) → Set Allowance, weekly or monthly.
Optionally set per-category dollar limits. The child gets a gentle warning when they go over one.
A child taps “I Spent Something,” picks an emoji category, and it’s saved as an expense against the family.
Go to Family → Goals → +New, toggle “Just for a family member,” and pick the child.
Chores are off by default. The Owner turns them on under Family → Chores.
Give it a name, an icon, and a dollar reward — and optionally assign it to a specific child.
A child taps “I Did It,” and the chore shows “Waiting for approval.”
The Owner approves or denies from Family → Chores → Pending Approvals. Approved chores automatically top up that child’s allowance for the current period.
Create spending categories, each with a monthly limit, and watch your progress as you log transactions.
Add recurring bills and mark them paid — doing so automatically creates a matching transaction.
Pick a strategy — Snowball (smallest balance first) or Avalanche (highest interest first) — and set your monthly debt budget.
Your payoff timeline projects when each debt is cleared based on the monthly amount you commit, so you can see the impact of paying a little more.
Your data is stored in Google Firebase, encrypted in transit and at rest.
When bank linking arrives, Plaid handles your credentials — TetherFree never sees your bank password.
For the full details, read the TetherFree Privacy Policy.
On the sign-in screen, tap Forgot password and we’ll email you a reset link.
Go to Settings → Account → Sign Out.
Settings → Account → Delete Account. This is permanent: it purges all of your personal data and disconnects any bank you linked. Family-shared data your family created stays available to the other members.
Data export is coming in a future update. Until then, email us and we’ll help.
Tap Settings → Restore Purchases and make sure you’re signed in with the same Apple Account you subscribed with.
As the Owner, open Family → Members — the invite code is shown at the top.
Chores are off by default. The Owner needs to enable them under Family → Chores.
Bank connections launch in v1.1 — they’re not available yet.
Check Settings → Subscription, then try Restore Purchases with the Apple Account you used to subscribe.
Found a bug or have an idea? Email hello@tether-free.app. To help us fix things fast, please include:
Email a real person on the TetherFree team. We aim to respond within 2 business days.
We read every message and aim to reply within 2 business days.