A little e-ink sensor snaps onto your washer, dryer or dishwasher, feels when the cycle ends, and pings everyone in your household. No more soggy socks, mystery dishes or "wait, did anyone start the dryer?"
7:46
Thursday
🧺 The dryer is done!
Dryer ran 52 min.
🍽️ The dishes are clean and dry!
Dishwasher is ready to unload.
👕 The washing machine is done!
Washer ran 48 min.
How it works
About $50 from Adafruit (links below). It's four parts and a few screws.
Sign up at the console and invite the people you live with.
Plug the MagTag into your computer and click Install in Chrome. No apps, no command line.
Join its Wi-Fi from your phone, pick washer, dryer or dishwasher, scan the code. Done.
The dashboard
Washing, tumbling, steaming dry, ready to unload. The dashboard updates within seconds and speaks fluent household: "Wet clothes alert! Into the dryer before they get funky."
🎉 Something's ready for you!
Washer
Swish swish!
Sloshing away for 23 min
Dryer
Warm and fluffy!
Done 5 min ago. Fold while it's toasty
Dishwasher
Drying off
Clean! About 20 min to go
Upstairs dishwasher
Dirty dishes
Load it up and hit start
Features
Everyone you invite gets a notification the moment the cycle ends. Whoever's closest grabs it.
Washing, tumbling, drying, done. See every machine at a glance, from anywhere, updated in seconds.
Feels the door open and the clothes come out, so "done" turns into "emptied" on its own.
Waits out the dry cycle, then says clean. Opens the door to unload? Back to dirty. No more "are these clean?"
Laundry day, night owls, how long clean dishes really wait. Your household, in numbers.
Updates arrive over Wi-Fi, never mid-cycle, and tuning adapts to how your machines actually shake.
The kit
$43.40 essentials · $50.35 with battery
Order these from Adafruit (the battery is optional), plus a USB-C cable and any phone charger. Screw the magnet feet through the back plate, sandwich the MagTag under the faceplate, and you're ready to install.
The brains: Wi-Fi, a motion sensor and a 2.9" e-ink screen that shows what your machine is up to.
A cute cloud (or arrow) faceplate and back plate with nylon screws. Keeps fingers off the electronics.
Screw into the corners and it snaps onto any metal appliance. No drilling, no tape, no landlord drama.
Rides out a bumped cable or a power blip. Recommended, not required.
Prices are Adafruit's at the time of writing and may change. ChoresHelp isn't affiliated with Adafruit; we just love their stuff.
No microphone, no camera. While your machines sit idle, nothing leaves the sensor. It only reports when a cycle starts and ends, plus how hard it shook, so it can get better at noticing. Your household's data is yours: remove a sensor and its history goes with it.
If it vibrates while it runs, yes. It doesn't connect to the appliance at all. It just feels the shaking, so the brand and age don't matter. It needs a metal surface for the magnets (or a strip of strong tape).
A USB-C cable to any phone charger. The optional battery keeps it going through a bumped cable or a short outage.
No. Open console.choreshelp.io on your phone and add it to your Home Screen. Notifications work on Android and on iPhone (iOS 16.4+, from the Home Screen).
When a cycle starts and ends, and how hard it shook, so it can get better at noticing. Nothing while your machines sit idle, no audio, no camera. Just vibration.
The hardware is about $50, paid to Adafruit. ChoresHelp itself is free while we're in early access.
If you can use a screwdriver and a web browser, yes. Installing the software is one click in Chrome, and the screen walks you through the rest.
Create your household now. It's free during early access, and your sensors will be waiting for you.