Setting up your family in Haklo is short. Sign up, name your family, pick the day you'll gather, add the people in your family, and you're ready for your first meeting. The whole thing takes a few minutes.
This page walks through what each step actually asks you for, and answers the questions that come up most often — especially around adding kids, inviting people who'll have their own account, and the difference between a "managed" family member and an invited one.
Signing up
How do I create an account?
You sign up with an email address and a password. Haklo doesn't use magic links or social sign-on — just the basics. Once you've signed up, Haklo will ask whether you're creating a new family or joining one that someone else has set up.
What if someone has already invited me?
If you got an invite link in an email, tap it. Haklo opens to a confirmation screen showing the family you've been invited to and the name the inviter used for you. From there you sign up (if you don't have an account yet) or sign in (if you do), and you'll land in the family.
If the link doesn't auto-open the app, you can paste the invite token manually on the join screen.
Creating a family
If you're the first person from your family in Haklo, you'll walk through four short screens:
1. Name your family + pick a meeting day
Type the name your family will be known by inside the app — "The Nelson Family," "Garcia Crew," whatever feels right. You can always change it later in Settings.
Then pick the day you want to gather each week. This is a default — the app will use it as a gentle anchor — but it doesn't lock you in. Life shifts; the day can shift with it.
2. The privacy promise
A short screen explaining what stays private to your family, what we don't do (no selling data, no training AI on your gatherings), and what you control. There's nothing to fill out; it's a moment to read before you add the people you love.
3. Add family members
This is where you tell Haklo who's in your family. For each person you add, you choose:
- A name — how they'll appear in the app
- An emoji — a small accent that follows them through the app
- A role — Parent, Guardian, Young Adult, Teen, or Child
You can add as many people as you want here, and you can also skip this screen and add people later from Settings. You're already in the family yourself; this is for everyone else.
4. You're all set
A short confirmation that you're ready. Tap Let's go and you're at the home screen, ready for your first gathering.
Adding family members
A few things worth knowing as you build the family list.
Can I add someone without inviting them to use the app?
Yes — and this is one of the most useful things to understand about Haklo. Every family member you add is a profile in the family. They show up in gatherings, they can have priorities and goals attributed to them, and the family record references them by name.
Whether they have their own account is a separate question. You can:
- Add a member as a profile only — they exist in the family record but aren't using the app on their own device. This is common for kids, for grandparents who'd rather not deal with another app, or for anyone who'd rather participate through someone else's phone.
- Invite a member by email later — Haklo sends them an invitation link. They sign up, and from that point on they have their own account and their own coaching, their own Heard notes, their own settings.
You don't have to decide this at setup time. Add the profile first; invite later.
How do I send an invite?
After your family exists, go to Settings → Family Members, tap the person you want to invite, and enter their email. Haklo sends them an invitation link. When they tap it, they walk through the join flow described above.
What roles should I pick?
The role mostly affects what AI coaching the person sees and what protections apply:
- Parent / Guardian — adult, full access, can subscribe to Plus on behalf of the family
- Young Adult — adult, but framed as a member rather than a head-of-household (good for grown kids staying close)
- Teen — 13 to 17. Has their own account if invited; sees age-appropriate coaching; never sees the paywall themselves
- Child — under 13. Doesn't have an account. Doesn't see AI coaching. Has extra privacy protections built in (see below)
You can change roles later in Settings if someone's situation changes.
Children under 13
Adding a child triggers a few extra steps because Haklo follows COPPA — the U.S. law that protects children's online privacy.
What's different for kids under 13?
- No account. Children under 13 don't have their own login. Their participation in gatherings happens through a parent's device.
- No AI coaching. Children's data is excluded from the AI coaching layer entirely.
- Parental-consent screen. Before a child profile is added, a parent confirms — on screen — that they understand what data is involved and consent on the child's behalf. A receipt of this consent is recorded so we have a clear record.
- Extra protection of their name. When the AI generates anything that touches the family, your child's name is replaced with a placeholder before being sent to the model, then swapped back when the response comes home. The model never sees their real name. (See the coaching page for the full description of how this works.)
What about teens?
Teens (13 to 17) can have their own account, see their own coaching, and participate fully in family life on their own device. They never see the paywall and can't subscribe on their own — Plus is family-level, set up by a parent or guardian.
Common questions
What if I don't add everyone right away?
Fine. You can run gatherings with whoever's in the family list — everyone else can be added later. Adding someone after a few weeks doesn't break anything; they just join the family from that point forward.
Can someone be in two families?
Not in the current version of Haklo. One Haklo account belongs to one family. (We know this is something blended families and split households eventually need; it's tracked but not yet shipped.)
Can I change my family name or meeting day later?
Yes. Both are editable in Settings → Family.
What if a teen turns 18?
You can change their role from Teen to Young Adult in Settings → Family Members. This unlocks the adult-framed coaching tone and removes the teen-specific protections. (Aging-up isn't automatic on a birthday today — you'd update it manually when it makes sense.)
What if I get the email about consent for my child but I want to change what I agreed to?
The parental-consent record is per-child and persistent. You can remove the child profile from the family at any time in Settings → Family Members, which effectively withdraws consent going forward. Removing the profile also removes their data from future AI processing.
Missing something or got a question this page didn't answer? Let us know — we update this page from real questions.