Family Members

Family members are the people in your household. Each member gets a name, an avatar, a color, a role, and an optional PIN. Members are used for chore assignment, the leaderboard, and visual identification throughout the app.

Adding a family member

1. Click the gear icon (Settings) in the bottom of the sidebar
   • On mobile, tap More in the bottom tab bar, then tap Settings
2. The “Family Members” modal opens showing your current members (or “No family members yet” if none exist)
3. Click + Add Member
4. Fill in the form:
   • Name: Enter the member’s name (required)
   • Avatar: Pick an emoji from the categorized grid (see below)
   • Color: Pick a color from the 8-color palette
   • Role: Select Parent or Child
   • PIN: Optionally enter a 4-6 digit numeric PIN
5. Click Add Member

The member is saved immediately to the browser’s localStorage and (when possible) synced to Home Assistant input_text helpers.

Avatar selection

Beacon provides 55+ emoji avatars organized into 5 categories:

People (16 options)

Boy, Girl, Man, Woman, Old Man, Old Woman, Person, Baby, Child, Princess, Prince, Superhero, Red-haired Woman, Curly-haired Man, Bearded Person, Blonde Person

Animals (16 options)

Dog, Cat, Rabbit, Fox, Bear, Panda, Lion, Cow, Pig, Frog, Owl, Bee, Butterfly, Turtle, Octopus, Penguin

Nature (9 options)

Cherry Blossom, Sunflower, Hibiscus, Four-leaf Clover, Rainbow, Star, Moon, Sun, Fire

Fun (9 options)

Guitar, Art Palette, Soccer Ball, Basketball, Video Game Controller, Rocket, Theatre Masks, Circus Tent, Bullseye

Food (5 options)

Pizza, Ice Cream, Cupcake, Donut, Birthday Cake

To select an avatar, scroll through the categories and tap the emoji you want. The selected avatar gets a highlighted border.

Color assignment

Eight colors are available for family members:

The color appears in several places:

• As the border and background tint on the member’s avatar throughout the app
• As the progress bar fill in the Chores panel
• As the background tint on chore cards
• In the leaderboard row styling

Multiple family members can share the same color, but using different colors makes it easier to visually distinguish members.

Roles

Each family member has one of two roles:

Roles are currently informational and used to control UI visibility (e.g., showing the chore creation form). There is no access control enforced by roles at this time.

PIN setup

PINs are optional 4-6 digit numeric codes. When a PIN is set:

• It is stored in the browser’s localStorage
• Only digits are accepted (letters and symbols are stripped during entry)
• The maximum length is 6 digits
• PINs are stored as plain text locally (not hashed)

PINs are reserved for future features like parental controls and per-member authentication. They are not currently enforced for any action.

Editing a family member

1. Open the Family Members modal (gear icon in sidebar)
2. Find the member you want to edit
3. Click the pencil icon on their card
4. The form opens with the member’s current data pre-filled
5. Modify any fields
6. Click Save Changes

Removing a family member

1. Open the Family Members modal
2. Find the member you want to remove
3. Click the trash icon on their card
4. The button changes to show Confirm? (you have 3 seconds to click again)
5. Click Confirm? to permanently remove the member

Removing a member does not delete their chore completions or streak history. However, they will no longer appear in the Chores panel or Leaderboard.

Data storage

Family member data is stored in the browser’s localStorage under the key beacon_family_members. When a Home Assistant client is connected, Beacon attempts to sync the data to an input_text.beacon_family_members helper entity (for payloads under 255 characters).

For larger families, the data may exceed the HA input_text limit. In that case, localStorage is the sole storage location. This means:

• Family members are tied to the specific browser/device where they were created
• Clearing browser data will remove family members
• To use the same family on multiple displays, set up members on each device separately

Tip: For a production setup, consider using a dedicated tablet that is always on, with browser data persistence enabled.

Troubleshooting

Family members disappear after clearing browser data

Family data is stored in localStorage. If you clear browser data (cache, cookies, site data), family members will be lost. To avoid this:

• Use a kiosk browser (like Fully Kiosk) that does not clear data
• Avoid clearing site data for your Beacon URL

The “Add Chore” button does not appear

The Add Chore button appears when there is at least one family member defined. If no members exist, the Chores panel shows “Add family members first to assign chores.”

Changes do not sync across devices

Each device has its own localStorage. Family members added on one tablet will not appear on another. This is a known limitation of the localStorage-based storage approach.