Step-by-step guides for setting up your home and getting the most out of Rootenza.
When you first sign in, you create your household — that's your shared home that everyone joins. To bring others in:
Family members and kids are all included — adding a sitter, nanny, or housekeeper works the same way; you just choose what to share with them.
Rootenza lives on the web, so there's no app store download — you add it to your home screen and it works like any other app:
On iPhone, always open Rootenza from the home-screen icon (not a fresh Safari tab) so notifications and everything work properly.
You don't have to type recipes in. Add one three ways:
Once a recipe's in, you can scale it up for a crowd and flip between US and metric measurements.
Open any recipe and tap Cook Mode. Your screen stays awake the whole time and the steps show in large, easy-to-read text — tap to move to the next step, even with messy hands.
On Android and in a Safari tab, you can also say "next," "back," or "repeat" to control it by voice. (On the iPhone home-screen app, use tap-to-advance — Apple limits voice there.)
Open a recipe and tap Add ingredients to grocery. Everything you need drops onto your shopping list — and items are smart about which store they belong to, so they land on the right list automatically.
Go to Meals → Meal Planner. Tap any day to add breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Your plan shows up on the family calendar, and you can send a meal's ingredients straight to your grocery list — so no more 5pm "what's for dinner?" scramble.
Everyone's events show together, color-coded by person, so you can see the whole household at a glance — and each day even shows what's planned for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You control exactly who can see what.
In the calendar settings, choose Connect Google Calendar and sign in to allow access. Your Google events then appear right alongside everything else in Rootenza. Use Sync now anytime to pull in the latest.
Set up the stores you actually shop at (Costco, your grocery store, the hardware store). When you add an item, pick its store — and Rootenza remembers, so next time it routes that item to the right store's list automatically.
Staples are the things you keep stocked — milk, paper towels, coffee. Keep a staples list (or several), and when you're running low, tap to drop an item straight onto your shopping cart. No re-typing the basics every week.
Add a one-off task with Add Task, or set up a chore that repeats:
Kids can have their own chores too, with your sign-off.
If a task doesn't get done today, Rootenza doesn't delete it at midnight like other apps — it carries forward and waits for you. Nothing slips through the cracks just because the day ended.
On iPhone, you can add groceries and tasks just by talking, using the Shortcuts app:
Android works through a shortcut helper too — guide coming soon.
If you tapped "Don't allow" by accident, reminders won't come through — and re-installing won't fix it, because the block lives in your phone's browser settings, not the app. To turn them back on:
Your home's information belongs to you. You can export your data anytime from your account settings — it's never locked in, and it's never sold.
We're happy to help — reach us at support@rootenza.com.
