Home · Family Sharing

New in v1.2

The whole household. One dog record.

Bring your spouse, your co-parent, or your roommate onto the same dog records. Vet appointments, walks, feedings, weights, vaccinations, and medications all stay in sync across every iPhone — via your private CloudKit, never our servers.

Download on the App Store

How Family Sharing works

Send an iMessage invite. The other phone accepts in the native iOS prompt. Done.

  1. Send the invite

    Open Settings → Family Sharing. Tap Invite to family. EmberPaws creates a private CKShare for the dog and opens the iOS share sheet — send the link via iMessage. Your spouse, co-parent, or roommate receives the invite in their Messages.

  2. Accept in the native iOS prompt

    Your household member taps the iMessage link. iOS shows the native CKShare acceptance prompt — they tap Accept and authenticate with their Apple ID. No EmberPaws account, no signup form, no password.

    If they don't have EmberPaws yet, the App Store opens; they download (free), and the share is waiting after install.

  3. Everyone's on the same dog

    From that moment, every change syncs. When one person logs the morning meal, the others see it. When one books a vet visit, it appears on everyone's dashboard. When the dog gets a new medication, all household phones see the schedule and can log doses.

    It's the calm version of "did you feed the dog?" — because you can just check.

Family Sharing vs. Sitter Mode

Both use Apple's private CKShare. The difference is the trust boundary.

Family Sharing Sitter Mode
Who it's for Your household A temporary sitter
Time boundary Indefinite — until you revoke Time-bounded to the sit dates
Medications Sync automatically Off by default — per-sit toggle
Scope The full dog record Only what the sitter needs for the sit
Cleanup Manual revoke when needed Automatic when sit ends

What syncs. What doesn't.

Household members are inside your trust boundary — they see the full dog record. Nothing leaves the household.

Synced to the household

  • Vet appointments and reminders
  • Walks, feedings, weights
  • Vaccinations and flea & tick history
  • Eye health, stool, skin scores
  • Medications — schedule and logged doses
  • Routine logs and Ember Score history

Never leaves the household

  • None of the above is sent to EmberPaws servers
  • None of it appears in any public CloudKit DB
  • None of it is visible to Apple's billing-level Family
  • Medications never reach Walking Club
  • Medications never reach the future Litter Network

Family Sharing FAQ

How is Family Sharing different from Sitter Mode?
Family Sharing is for your household — people inside your trust boundary, who need the full picture and need to dose medications. There's no time limit and no opt-in toggle for meds (they sync automatically). Sitter Mode is for a temporary handoff to a person outside the household — it's time-bounded, scoped to one sit, and medications are off by default behind a per-sit toggle. See the comparison table above.
Do household members see my dog's medications?
Yes — within the household, medications sync automatically. Whoever's dosing the dog needs to see the schedule, and the household is inside the trust boundary. Medications are still structurally excluded from any public CloudKit database (Walking Club, future Litter Network).
Do my household members need to create an account?
No. EmberPaws has no accounts. The household member taps the invite link, the native iOS CKShare prompt handles authentication via their Apple ID, and they're in. If the app isn't installed, the App Store opens; they download (free), and the share is waiting.
Can I revoke someone's access?
Yes. As the dog's owner, you can remove a family member at any time from Settings → Family Sharing. Their local copy of the dog's records is removed on their next sync.
Is EmberPaws Family Sharing the same as Apple's Family Sharing?
No. Apple's Family Sharing is billing-level (sharing App Store purchases, iCloud storage, etc.). EmberPaws Family Sharing is per-dog access control inside the app — it works between any two iCloud users, regardless of whether they share an Apple billing family. It's opt-in and only flows between iCloud users you've explicitly invited.
Can I share multiple dogs?
Yes — each dog is a separate share. You might share the family dog with your spouse, and a different dog with a different household member. The shares are independent.
Where does the shared data actually live?
Apple's shared CloudKit, encrypted by Apple. EmberPaws has no servers; we cannot read what's in your shared zone. See our Privacy Policy for the full architecture.

Ready to bring the household together?

Free to download. No account. No subscription. Available on iPhone, iOS 17+.

Download on the App Store

Built on Apple's private CKShare. Your dog's records never touch EmberPaws servers.