Getting started
Set up your profile
What it's about
In your profile, you decide how you show up in patchio – name, avatar, role – and set the app up for you.
Why it's here
Your family should recognise you at a glance, and you want the app to fit you as well as possible. A light interface by day, dark in the evening, a dashboard without the modules you don't use anyway.
How it works
In your profile, you set your name, optionally upload an avatar picture, and choose your role in the household (parent, mother, father, partner, child, daughter, son, housemate or family member). It's a label and doesn't grant any rights – whether you're an admin is set by an admin under Family (see Manage members). You switch between light, dark and “match the system” with the appearance switch in the sidebar, in the menu on your phone or on the dashboard; the choice applies to that device. In the “Dashboard” section, you show or hide individual modules – weather, events, birthdays, timer, “Who's home” – and set the order. What you turn off here, only you see; other family members keep their own setup.
Under Display & appearance, you also choose what you see as your home screen on your phone (tile menu or dashboard) and which view the calendar opens in: Automatic (that's Month), Month, Week or Agenda. The default calendar view applies on your phone and on your computer; in the calendar itself you can switch any time with M · W · A without changing your default.
Menu bar on the left or right: On a tablet, an unfolded phone or a phone held sideways, the bar with the sections isn't at the bottom but runs as a narrow column along the edge. Under Display & appearance → Menu bar you choose which side: Automatic, Left or Right. Automatic means: on the right when you use the device with your finger (that's usually where your thumb is), on the left when a mouse or trackpad is connected. The choice only applies to the device you make it on and takes effect straight away. On a computer with a wide window the sidebar is always on the left; on a phone held upright the bar stays at the bottom. On a foldable iPhone that's folded shut, the status bar runs down the side of the screen; there the sections move into that column below the clock and camera, unless you've picked the other side.
The profile page is organised into expandable sections to keep it tidy: your profile header at the top (photo, name, role, colour, user code), then Contact & privacy, Display & appearance, Notifications, and Account & security. Tap a section to open it.
Under Contact & privacy you can mark your mobile number, birthday and favourite meal as private. Then only you and your household's admins see the value; everyone else sees just the day and month of your birthday. There's one exception: if you're listed as an emergency contact for a child, that child's babysitter can still see your number. If you join another household later, private details don't come with you: your number is missing there, and so is the year of your birthday.
Change your email address
The address you sign in with is shown at the top of your profile. Use Change email address to enter a new one. For your security, patchio then sends two emails: one to your current address and one to the new one. Open both links and tap “Confirm now” each time. After the first link you see “Almost done”, and the new address only applies once you've confirmed the second. The order doesn't matter, and the links are valid for 60 minutes.
Until both are confirmed, you keep signing in with your current address, and your profile shows that the change is waiting for confirmation. If you can no longer get into your current address, let us know via Feedback.
If you only sign in with Apple or Google, your address comes from there. Your profile then shows a note instead of the button, and you change the address with Apple or Google.
In practice
Hide the points modules on your dashboard, if you find them relevant only for the children, and set the theme to “System” – in bed in the evening, patchio goes dark automatically.