Paper works. It has worked for decades and there is nothing magic about putting it on a phone. It is worth being clear about what an app actually adds before deciding you need one.
What an app is better at
| Advantage | Whether it matters to you |
|---|---|
| It is wherever you are | Matters if the good moments happen in the car and the school run rather than at the kitchen table |
| Two adults, one record | Matters across two houses, or where one parent does the mornings and the other the evenings |
| Arithmetic you never do | Matters once things are worth different amounts, which is the point at which paper starts getting fiddly |
What paper is better at
Being seen. A chart on the fridge is looked at by everyone who walks past it, including visiting grandparents, and nothing on a phone is. That is a real advantage and it is the reason a lot of families who move to an app drift back.
The decision that matters more than either
Whether the thing can go down. A paper chart nobody erases beats any app that subtracts, and an app that never subtracts beats a paper chart where stickers get taken off in an argument. The format is a distant second to that one rule, and a family choosing between them is usually asking the wrong question first.
If the paper one on your fridge is still going after two months, there is nothing to fix.