MoveToPlay · How it works
Earn screen time by moving.
MoveToPlay is a screen time app for kids on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. Children earn screen time by exercising and doing chores you approve. Minutes go into a bank that never expires, and on an iPhone or iPad you can lock the apps you choose until that time has been earned. Here is how it works, step by step, then the questions parents ask us most.
How it works
- Set it up as the parent. Download MoveToPlay from the App Store, add your child with a nickname and a broad age band, and create a parent code. There is no account to make. iCloud is optional and only used to keep a second device in sync.
- Decide what minutes are worth. You set a weekly maximum on what your child can earn through their own effort, how much each exercise pays out, what each chore is worth and how often it can come round, which play session lengths exist, and optional guaranteed daily minutes.
- Your child moves. Each day the app picks three activities as Today's Quest, from strength, cardio, mobility, balance and recovery, within the limits you set: difficulty, low-impact only, the equipment you have and the places you can exercise. Your child can swap an activity for an alternative before starting it. Completing an activity banks minutes. Exercises get harder after repeated Easy ratings and ease off after repeated Too hard ratings, and your child can tell you if something hurt.
- Chores earn minutes too. Your child taps I did it, you approve, and the minutes you set are banked. If you turn on proof, they add a photo or short note first. If you turn on Apple Health steps, walking can earn minutes as well, within a daily cap you set.
- Minutes are spent on play. Your child spends banked minutes to start a timed play session with a visible countdown. With Lock selected apps on, the apps you chose on their iPhone or iPad are blocked until a session starts and blocked again when the countdown reaches zero. Minutes can also buy real-world rewards you price yourself, like a movie night or a trip out.
- Nothing is lost. Banked minutes never expire. Unused minutes from a session ended early go straight back. There are no streaks to keep up.
Not every step is required. Locking apps is optional, and so are iCloud sync, chore proof, Apple Health steps and guaranteed daily minutes. See MoveToPlay’s features.
Questions parents ask
Is MoveToPlay available on Android?
No. MoveToPlay is an Apple-only app. There is no Android version and nothing on Google Play. It runs on iPhone and iPad (iOS 18 or later) with a companion Apple Watch app (watchOS 11 or later).
Which devices does MoveToPlay work on? Does it work on a Mac?
iPhone and iPad with iOS 18 or later, plus an Apple Watch app for watchOS 11 or later. The iPad version can also be downloaded from the Mac App Store on an Apple silicon Mac running macOS 15 or later. Apple lists it as designed for iPad and not verified for macOS, and Mac use has not been tested by us. Automatic app locking needs an iPhone or iPad.
Can MoveToPlay lock my kid's games until they have earned screen time?
Yes, on iPhone and iPad, and it is optional. With Lock selected apps turned on and Apple's Family Controls set up on your child's iPhone or iPad, the apps you pick stay blocked until your child spends banked minutes to start a play session. The apps are blocked again when the countdown reaches zero. Turn the lock off and no apps are blocked: your child can still spend banked minutes with a visible countdown, but play sessions run on the honour system. Apple Watch and Mac cannot lock apps.
Do I have to set up Screen Time or Family Controls to use MoveToPlay?
No. Earning minutes works without it. Family Controls is only needed if you want MoveToPlay to lock the apps you choose on your child's iPhone or iPad. If you leave locking off, minutes are still earned, banked and spent with a visible countdown, on the honour system.
Do I need an account to use MoveToPlay?
No. There is no account and no sign-up. A parent sets a parent code on the device during setup. iCloud is optional and is only used if you want a second device, such as your own phone, another iPad or an Apple Watch, to stay in sync.
How much does MoveToPlay cost? Is there a free trial?
MoveToPlay is free to download and setup is free. To use the app, a parent either starts the Annual or Monthly Family subscription, or buys Lifetime once for $19.99 (US price). New subscribers get a 2-week free trial, after which the subscription renews unless it is cancelled in Settings. There is no free unlock without starting a subscription or making the purchase. Lifetime and both subscriptions can be shared with your family through Apple's Family Sharing.
Privacy and safety
Plain answers about safety and data for MoveToPlay: Earn Screen Time by Duke & Duke, the Apple-only app on the App Store. Every answer below matches our privacy page and the app itself.
Is MoveToPlay safe for kids? What data does it collect about my child?
MoveToPlay: Earn Screen Time (by Duke & Duke, for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch) is made to be set up and supervised by a parent. There is no account and no sign-up, so there is nothing to register and no profile on our side; a parent sets a parent code on the device. In the wording of our privacy page, the app “does not contain ads or third-party ad networks” and “may process information chosen by a parent or child, including”:
- A nickname and broad age band, but not an exact birth date
- Movement preferences, available equipment, and parent settings
- Completed activities, progress, earned minutes, chores, and redemptions — both play sessions and any real-world rewards a parent chooses to record
- Technical information needed to synchronize the family's devices and maintain app reliability
- Step counts from Apple Health — read-only, only if a parent turns this on, used only to calculate extra play minutes
- A photo or short note submitted as proof a chore was completed, reviewed by a parent and deleted automatically (within 14 days of a decision, or 30 days if never reviewed)
- Which apps are selected for automatic locking, and whether a child's device has been authorized for Apple's Family Controls / Screen Time
Also in our privacy page's words: “Information is used to provide the app's fitness progression, rewards, parent controls, device synchronization, safety features, and support. Duke & Duke does not sell personal information, does not show ads, and does not use children's activity for targeted advertising.” And: “The app keeps family data on the family's devices and, when enabled, in Apple's iCloud and CloudKit services for private synchronization. Information may be processed by Apple as necessary to provide those services under Apple's terms and privacy practices.”
There is no location, no microphone, no ads and no third-party SDKs: purchases go through Apple's App Store only, and optional family iCloud sync is Apple's. Apple's privacy label lists Name, Health and Fitness as Data Linked to You, used for App Functionality. The questions below take each of those in turn, and our privacy page has the full wording.
Does MoveToPlay track my child's location?
No. MoveToPlay: Earn Screen Time (by Duke & Duke) does not use location at all. The app has no location entitlement, no location permission text of any kind in it, and no Core Location code anywhere in it. There is no live location, no location history, no geofencing, and no find-my-child feature. An app on iPhone or iPad cannot read location without that permission text inside the app and your agreement on the device, and MoveToPlay has neither.
Does MoveToPlay use the camera or microphone?
The camera, in one place only. The microphone, not at all. MoveToPlay: Earn Screen Time (by Duke & Duke) uses the camera for one thing: a photo as proof that a chore was done. Proof is off by default on every chore, and a parent chooses per chore whether it is off, a photo, a note, or either. When a photo is asked for, the child takes one picture with the camera there and then — there is no photo library picker — and the app's own wording on that screen is “Take one photo with the camera. It stays in MoveToPlay and is not saved to Photos.” The photo goes to the parent to approve or reject, it travels only inside the family's own Apple iCloud sync as part of the family's own records, and it is deleted automatically 14 days after a parent's decision, or 30 days after it was submitted if nobody ever reviews it (the next time the app runs after that). Our privacy page's wording: “A photo or short note submitted as proof a chore was completed, reviewed by a parent and deleted automatically (within 14 days of a decision, or 30 days if never reviewed).” A parent can also delete the photo straight away from the review screen. None of it reaches Duke & Duke: the photo stays on the family's own devices and, if iCloud sync is on, in the family's own private iCloud, which Apple does not give a developer access to. We run no server that receives chore photos, and the app does not analyse them at all; it only shows the photo to the parent to approve or reject. The app never records video, and there is no camera-based rep counting or exercise recognition: an exercise is marked done by tapping, not by being filmed. The microphone is not used — the app contains no microphone permission text, which iOS requires before an app can even ask, and no audio recording.
Does MoveToPlay read my child's messages, browsing, or what they do in other apps?
No. MoveToPlay: Earn Screen Time (by Duke & Duke) cannot see messages, email, browsing history, or what happens inside other apps, and there is nothing in it built to. The optional app lock on iPhone and iPad works through Apple's Family Controls, and Apple's design is what makes this a cannot rather than a promise. A parent picks apps, categories and websites inside Apple's own picker, and what MoveToPlay gets back is Apple's opaque tokens — it never sees the app names. The only thing our parent screens show about a selection is how many items are in it. The lock is a timer, not a usage monitor: it blocks the chosen apps, and when a play session's time is up it puts the block back. It never reports what was used, for how long, or by whom, there is no background monitoring of app usage, and there is no inventory of what is installed on the device.
Are there ads or third-party trackers?
No ads, and no advertising or analytics SDKs. Our privacy page says it plainly: “The app does not contain ads or third-party ad networks.” and “Duke & Duke does not sell personal information, does not show ads, and does not use children's activity for targeted advertising.” MoveToPlay: Earn Screen Time (by Duke & Duke) is built on Apple's own frameworks, with no third-party SDKs: purchases go through Apple's App Store only, and optional family iCloud sync is Apple's. The app's privacy manifests set tracking to false and do not name any tracking domains, so the app does not track your family across other companies' apps or websites and never asks for Apple's tracking permission. The App Store privacy label is separate: it lists Name, Health and Fitness as Data Linked to You, used for App Functionality. This website is the same: it “does not use advertising trackers, analytics cookies, or account registration.”
How do I delete our data?
MoveToPlay: Earn Screen Time (by Duke & Duke) has no account on our side to close, and our privacy page says where the data sits: “The app keeps family data on the family's devices and, when enabled, in Apple's iCloud and CloudKit services for private synchronization.” So deleting happens on your own devices and in your own iCloud. Deleting the app from a device removes the family data it kept there. One thing survives on purpose: the parent code is held in the device keychain, which iOS keeps across an uninstall, so a parent who reinstalls still needs the old code — it is erased, and replaced with a new one, through Forgot the code? on the app's parent screen. If iCloud sync was switched on, the synced copy lives in MoveToPlay's own iCloud container and can be removed from your Apple Account's iCloud storage settings on the device. Some things delete themselves: a chore photo or note is removed 14 days after a parent decides on it, or 30 days after it was submitted if it is never reviewed, the next time the app runs after that, and a parent can delete a chore photo immediately from the review screen. In a family with more than one child, a parent can also remove a child from the Parent dashboard. For anything else, as the privacy page says, “Parents may contact us to ask questions or request assistance with family data.” The contact form reaches a person.
Do banked minutes expire? What happens if a session ends early?
Banked minutes never expire. If a play session is ended before its time is up, the unused minutes go straight back into the bank.
Are there streaks or daily pressure to keep playing?
No. There are no streaks, no guilt messages and nothing designed to pull a child back into the app. Minutes wait in the bank until they are spent.
Can my child earn minutes without exercising?
Only if you choose to allow it. Parents can set a number of guaranteed daily minutes that is credited automatically once a day, on top of anything earned, even if the child completes no quests or chores. It is off by default. Parents can also give a one-off bonus at any time.
Is there a limit on how much screen time my child can earn?
Yes, and the parent sets it. The weekly maximum is the ceiling on what a child earns through their own effort: movement activities, walking, and approved chores together. Guaranteed daily minutes, parent bonuses, and minutes refunded from ending a session early are outside it and always land in full.
Can I stop play sessions at bedtime or during school?
Yes, with one limit. Parents can set named pause windows, such as bedtime or school hours, on chosen days of the week. Play sessions cannot start during a pause window. A session that is already running is ended early, with the unused minutes refunded, when MoveToPlay is open or the next time it is opened; it is not ended in the background.
Does MoveToPlay work for more than one child?
Yes. Each child's bank, quests, progression and rewards are separate, and the child-facing screens on a child's device show only that child.
Is this the same as the MoveToPlay app at movetoplay.app?
No. MoveToPlay by Duke & Duke is an Apple-only app and is not connected with the Android app at movetoplay.app.
Still have a question?
Send it through the contact form and a person will answer. The support page also has safety guidance for children exercising at home. For the wider questions, read our guides for parents: Apple’s free Screen Time tools, chores for screen time and earning screen time with exercise.