Built for kids with Autism and ADHD in mind
Missions instead of chore lists. Real reinforcement instead of nagging. And a progress report you can actually hand to a teacher or an OT — not just a streak counter.
Fig. 01 — The actual app, mid-use
Live Beta
PowerUp Kids is live and working today — this isn't a preview. We're looking for a handful of families to actually use it for a week or two and tell us what's working (and what isn't) before this goes wide. Every Premium feature is unlocked free for testers — no payment info, no catch.
Any email and password — right in the app, takes under a minute. No credit card, ever, for testing.
The profile screen walks you through it — pick a theme, add two or three missions to start. You can always add more later.
Open the ⚙️ Settings menu and tap "🧪 Dev: Toggle Premium (testing only)" — that turns on every Premium feature (Epic Feats, levels, the Progress Report, all of it) for your account, no charge, so your feedback covers the whole app.
Grounded in the research
Not a therapy replacement — a tool built around the same structural ideas clinicians and autism resource centers already recommend.
Every mission shows up with a time, an icon, and a heads-up before it starts — the same "warn before you switch activities" approach autism resource centers recommend for easing the hardest part of a routine: the moment one thing ends and another begins.
— Indiana Resource Center for Autism, "Transition Time"Every mission completed earns something — points, feats, play. No losses, no penalties, no red marks. Major health bodies recommend positive-reinforcement behavior strategies as the first-line approach for kids with ADHD, ahead of anything else.
— CDC, "Behavior Therapy First for Young Children with ADHD"Calmer color states, a "Calm Celebrations" toggle for kids who find confetti and sound overwhelming, and no flashing surprise animations — following published sensory-design guidance built specifically for neurodivergent users.
— Tiimo & Aspect Autism-Friendly Design GuideInside the app
Meet Ava — Level 22, real Epic Feats, a routine her mom built one mission at a time. Every screen below is her account, mid-week, doing exactly what you'd see if you opened this on your own kid's phone right now.
A parent builds the routine once — wake-up, homework, bath, whatever the day needs — and the kid works through it as missions with a level curve deep enough that it doesn't cap out after a good week.
Epic Feats sit above the daily list for the bigger wins — "broke a mental block," "zero-complaint day" — confirmed by a parent, not self-reported, so the points mean something.
Fig. 02 — Daily Missions
Meds, laundry, whatever you're actually tracking in your head all day — My Missions is a plain checklist just for you, in the same Parent Menu you already use. No points, no game sounds. Free, for every family.
The Missions Calendar (Premium) goes a step further: pre-fill a mission onto any future day — a dentist reminder, a chore you know is coming — and it's just there, already waiting in My Missions, the moment that day arrives. No rebuilding your list every morning.
Fig. 03 — Missions Calendar
Most habit apps stop at a streak count. This one tracks mood, focus, and energy alongside every mission, then surfaces the pattern for you — like flagging that "Free Time Unlocked" has quietly been the hardest mission of the week.
Export it as a PDF. Hand it to a teacher, a therapist, or an OT. It's built from your family's own data, and no one sees it unless you share it.
Fig. 04 — Progress Report
Finishing missions unlocks short, tuned mini-games — no ads, no in-game purchases nudging a kid to spend. The reward is play itself, which keeps the motivation intrinsic instead of turning routines into a shop.
Every game ships with a level system and a flap/tap budget instead of a punishing timer, so a kid who needs a slower pace still gets to finish the level.
Fig. 05 — Sky Hop
Some kids can say out loud that they're stuck. Others can't — and by the time it turns into tears, the moment to step in quietly has already passed. A tap on the 🤚 flags a mission as "I need help," right there on the card. No talking required.
It shows up instantly wherever a parent is looking — on that kid's own mission list, or as a small badge if you're checking on everyone at once. Tap to clear it once you've helped, and it's quietly logged in the Progress Report, so a pattern (say, homework, most days) is something you can actually see.
Fig. 06 — Asked For Help
No manual "reset" button, no digging through history — once a day, a short note is waiting: what each kid actually got done yesterday, and one practical tip for today, picked to match how the day went.
A genuinely great day gets real recognition, not just a stat. A rougher one gets a specific, kind suggestion instead of a guilt trip. Dismiss it with one tap and it won't nag you again until tomorrow.
Fig. 07 — Daily Recap
Sudoku and Four in a Row, sitting behind their own 🎲 button — nothing shared with a kid's account, nothing scored, nothing to unlock. Just something to do for five minutes while a mission runs its course.
No points feeding into anyone's level, no leaderboard, no ads. It's there because taking five minutes for yourself shouldn't mean leaving the app your kid is using.
Fig. 08 — Four in a Row (Parent Games)
Getting started
This isn't a testimonial from another family — we're early, and we'd rather tell you honestly how to start than invent a story about someone who already has. This is the order that tends to work, based on the same reinforcement-first principles the app is built around.
Before any routine goes in, hand them the profile screen — their name, their emoji, their theme. It takes two minutes and it's the difference between "an app Mom set up" and "my thing."
Pick the transitions that are actually hard right now — often wake-up and homework start — rather than digitizing the entire routine on day one. A short list that gets finished beats a long one that doesn't.
The first mission checked off and the first Epic Feat confirmed matter more than any of the ones after. Notice it with them, out loud, in the moment — that's the reinforcement doing its job, not the app.
One day of data is noise. A week in, the per-mission breakdown starts showing you something real — which part of the day is actually the sticking point — which is far more useful than guessing.
Before assuming it's a motivation problem, check what's actually happening — the fix is usually specific, not "try harder."
Not always willpower. Try shifting the time 15-30 minutes before repeating a slot that keeps failing — routines and times are fully editable.
That's usually a transition or sensory signal, not defiance. Lean harder on the heads-up warning, and check the Calm Celebrations toggle if sound or motion is part of it.
The reward might be the wrong currency for this kid. Points and Epic Feats motivate some kids — a parent-set real-world reward per level works better for others.
Some things aren't a routine problem. That's worth mentioning to whoever else supports your kid, not something to keep tuning alone.
Free & Premium
Pricing for Premium is still being finalized ahead of launch — this page will update the moment it's live. Here's how the two tiers split today.
The worldwide leaderboard is opt-in per child, shows a nickname only (never a real name), and can be turned off any time. Details in the privacy policy.
Questions
No. PowerUp Kids is a structure-and-motivation tool built around the same principles clinicians already recommend — it's meant to sit alongside professional support, not replace it. If your family is working with a therapist or OT, the Progress Report is built to be something you can bring to that conversation.
Any phone, tablet, or computer with a browser — it works today at powerup-kids-app.web.app. Dedicated iOS and Android apps are on the way.
There are no ads and no third-party analytics anywhere in the app. Data is used to run the app itself — nothing else. A child's real name and profile are never made public, even on the worldwide leaderboard, which only ever shows an auto-generated nickname. Full details are in the privacy policy.
No. A kid's device can only ever update their own missions and play data — routines, settings, and billing stay parent-only, enforced at the database level, not just hidden in the UI.
The level curve runs deep on purpose — a great week doesn't cap it out — and Premium routines are fully editable any time a kid's needs change, so the app can grow with them instead of getting stale.
No spam, no marketing list — just one email when PowerUp Kids launches on the App Store and Google Play.