What is the daily briefing?
When you open the Family Nook, you might notice a warm orange box near the top of the page. This is your daily briefing — a personal summary of the things that need your attention today. Think of it as a friendly tap on the shoulder: "Hey, here’s what’s on your plate."
Why does it exist?
Family life is busy. Activities, to-dos, pickups, drop-offs — it’s a lot to keep track of. The daily briefing pulls together the most important things you personally need to do today, so you don’t have to dig through calendars and task lists to figure out what’s next.
The daily briefing is mostly personal — it shows the things you need to do today, and every family member sees their own when they sign in. Two kinds of item also surface for the grown-ups even when they aren’t yours: a to-do or activity assigned only to a child, and a to-do nobody’s been assigned to yet (more on both below). Family-wide schedules live in the Family Planner and To-Do pages.
What shows up in the briefing?
Three kinds of item can appear: activities happening today, to-dos that need attention, and medication reminders for anyone in the family with doses to take today. Here’s exactly how each one works.
Activities
An activity appears in your briefing if it’s scheduled for today and you’re involved in one of these ways:
- You’re on pickup duty 🚗 — You’ll see a reminder like "Don’t forget to pick up Mia from Swimming at 4:30 PM today!" The time shown is when the activity ends, so you know when to be there.
- You’re on drop-off duty 🚗 — You’ll see something like "Time to drop off Mia at Swimming at 9:00 AM!" The time shown is when the activity starts, so you can plan your morning.
- You’re assigned to the activity — If you’re listed as a participant (but not specifically on pickup or drop-off), you’ll see "You have Swimming at 9:00 AM today!"
If you’re both the drop-off and pickup person for the same activity, you’ll see the pickup reminder (since that’s the one you’re most likely to forget). You won’t get duplicate messages for the same activity.
And like to-dos (below): if an activity is assigned only to a child — and you’re not the drop-off or pickup person — every grown-up sees it framed by the child’s name: "Emma: Swimming at 4:00 PM today!" So a parent always knows what’s on the kids’ plates.
To-dos
A to-do appears in your briefing if it’s assigned to you, not yet completed, and meets one of these conditions:
- Due today 📋 — "Don’t forget: Buy birthday present today!"
- Overdue ⏰ — If it was due yesterday or earlier, you’ll get a gentle nudge: "A gentle reminder: Buy birthday present — it was due March 25"
- No due date 📋 — If someone assigned you a to-do without a deadline, it still shows up because it’s waiting for you: "Don’t forget: Buy birthday present"
If another family member created the to-do and assigned it to you, the message will mention their name — for example, "Dad asked you: Buy birthday present today!" This way you know who to ask if you have questions.
To-dos with a due date in the future (not today, not overdue) won’t appear in the briefing yet. They’ll show up when the day comes.
To-dos for the kids — and to-dos for no one
Two kinds of to-do show up in a grown-up’s briefing even when they aren’t assigned to that grown-up:
- Assigned only to a child 📋 — You’ll see it framed by the child’s name: "Emma: wear AM uniform for school photos today!" The child sees it as her own to-do too. This way the parent who actually has to make it happen doesn’t miss it. Want just one parent on the hook? Add that parent as an assignee alongside the child — then only that parent (and the child) see it, not every grown-up.
- Assigned to no one 📋 — An unassigned to-do is treated as "whoever’s free", so it shows up for everyone: "Buy milk (anyone can do this)". It stays in everyone’s briefing until someone ticks it off — so a loose task doesn’t get lost.
The same date rules apply to these — a child’s to-do due next week won’t appear yet — and whoever ticks a shared to-do off gets the credit, assignee or not.
Medications
If someone in the family has a medication with a set number of daily doses, a reminder appears — "Don’t forget: Antibiotics for Noah (2 more today)" — and it counts down as doses get logged. Everyone sees these, so whoever’s doing the giving is covered, and the reminder disappears once today’s doses are all logged. Tap it to open the medication and log a dose.
How items are sorted
Items with a specific time come first, sorted from earliest to latest — so your 8 AM drop-off appears before your 4 PM pickup. Items without a time (like most to-dos) appear after all the timed items.
The five-item limit
To keep the briefing quick and scannable, it shows a maximum of five items. If you have more than five things on your plate, you’ll see a message like "+3 more for you today" at the bottom. You can find the full picture on the Family Planner and To-Do pages.
When the briefing is hidden
If you have nothing that needs your attention today — no activities, no to-dos due, no overdue items — the orange box won’t appear at all. A clean Nook means a clean day. Enjoy it!
Tapping on items
Each item in the briefing is tappable. Tap an activity to open it in the Family Planner, or tap a to-do to view and edit it. It’s a quick way to get to the details without leaving the Nook.