Tuppence started with a jam jar on a kitchen counter, a fistful of coins, and a question we couldn't answer well: where does this go?
Most of us learn about money by getting some and spending it. The saving comes later, if it comes at all, and giving is usually an afterthought prompted by a school fundraiser. That order is backwards, and it sticks. A tuppence is a small, slightly old-fashioned word for a small amount of money, which is exactly the amount a habit needs to start.
What we actually built
Tuppence tracks chores, allowance and pocket money for a family, and it splits every coin three ways at the moment it's earned.
The split is the whole idea. A kid who sees three numbers move every time they earn something learns that money has jobs, not just a balance. And because the parent approves every coin, the conversation happens weekly instead of never.
What we deliberately didn't build
We're not a bank. There's no debit card, no account to open, no balance we hold. You keep the cash; Tuppence keeps the ledger and the agreement between you and your child. When your kid cashes out, you hand them real money, which turns out to be the part they remember.
We don't run ads and we don't sell data. Not to anyone, and never involving a child. A child's profile is a first name, a birth month and an avatar, because that is genuinely all the app needs to work. If you want the specifics, they're in our Privacy Policy, written to be read rather than survived.
We don't try to keep your kid in the app. There's no streak that punishes a missed day, no feed to scroll, nothing that turns their attention into our metric. Tuppence should be opened for a minute, then closed.
Who's behind it
Tuppence is made by Mishmapps LLC, a small independent studio in Dallas, Texas. Small enough that a parent's email reaches the person who can act on it, which is deliberate and something we'd like to keep for as long as we can.
If you have a question, an idea, or a story about what worked with your own kids, we'd genuinely like to hear it. There's a Contact link in the footer below.