All parents known that keeping track of a busy family schedule can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re juggling work calendars, kids’ activities, appointments and social events. Enter the Hearth Display, a buzzy new digital calendar that’s packed with features designed to help families stay organized.
As a mom of two school-aged kids, I’ve been handwriting our monthly calendar for years, color-coding each family member’s events and sticking it on the fridge for everyone to see. I’ve even taken pictures of the calendar so our caregivers have access. It’s worked to keep us organized, but it’s a hassle to write everything out each month — and it looks messy once new plans are added or existing ones changed. Plus, there’s never enough space to write down all the details under a single day.
What is the Hearth Display?
The main purpose of the Hearth Display touchscreen is to serve as a shared family calendar. The screen measures 27 inches and is installed on your wall, but it’s designed to look like a framed photo.
When you add events to the calendar — whether it’s an appointment, social gathering or any other activity — you enter the event name, timing and optional notes. You can also set recurring events, which was a huge time-saver for me after years of handwriting shared paper calendars. Then, you select which person the event is for. Each family member gets their own profile on the Display, complete with a photo and a color-coded view. If an event involves multiple family members, it shows up in a different color, distinguishing it from single-person events.
You can add all the details directly on the Display or through an app, which lets you access the calendar and other features remotely. I found this super helpful because it meant I could view the calendar and schedule events even when I wasn’t at home.
In addition to the calendar display, Hearth allows you to add to-do lists, chores and routines to help kids build habits and independence. There’s also a weather widget and access to a “Hearth Helper” assistant, where you can text a photo of a paper calendar (like when a kid brings home an activity schedule) to the system and have it added to the Display.
At a glance: Pros and cons
Pros
- Helps families manage multiple schedules
- Convenient and easy to use
- Aesthetically pleasing
Cons
- Expensive
- Some features can be buggy
- Doesn’t connect to existing voice assistants
Cost and subscription fees
The Hearth Display doesn’t come cheap. It’s currently priced at $599, but the company notes that this is early adopter pricing — the regular list price will be $699. This cost includes the display, everything you need for installation, unlimited profiles and synced calendars.
The purchase also comes with a one-month Family Membership subscription. After the first month, the subscription costs $9 a month (or you can save 20% by opting for an annual plan). The subscription gives you access to the app, to-do lists, routines and other features. If you’re going to splurge on the Display, I recommend adding the subscription — it’s a small extra cost compared to the device itself, and it lets you take full advantage of everything it offers.
What we liked
It looks great
The biggest highlight for both me and Monique was how visually appealing it is. I’ll admit that I was nervous at the thought of giving a digital screen a permanent spot on my wall, especially in such a high-traffic and central location (we put it in the hallway right outside our kitchen). But I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoy its appearance. Not only does the schedule view look better than a typical calendar, but it also has a privacy mode where you can have it display a photo instead of the calendar, making it look like a large digital picture frame on the wall.
It’s a time (and hassle) saver
I love how quickly I can schedule and edit events, and setting up recurring events means I no longer have to write them out each month. Before, I had to access multiple calendars and manually compile them to create a family schedule. Now, the Hearth Display has become my central hub for scheduling everything in real time.
It encourages healthy habits in kids
It’s no secret that getting out the door in the morning and winding down at night can be daily challenges for families. Adding routines to the Display can help kids stay on track by letting them know exactly what’s coming next. For example, kids can check off tasks like getting dressed, brushing their teeth, eating breakfast and packing their backpacks, with the Hearth Display celebrating each step they complete.
It also encourages kids to get more involved with family chores. “My eight-year-old quickly joined in, adding tasks to the to-do lists and feeling so proud when she crossed items off!” Monique shared. “It’s a great way to keep the family on track and get kids more engaged in family planning.”
Drawbacks to consider
As we used it, both Monique and I found ourselves wishing it had a few more features. For example, Monique mentioned she would have loved if it could connect with the voice assistant she already uses at home. I initially wished the built-in calendar could send alerts for events since I don’t always remember to check the Hearth calendar regularly. However, I recently learned that a push notification feature will be added soon — so it’s worth expecting the capabilities to keep improving.
I also encountered some issues with the Hearth Helper, which the company describes as an “SMS AI Assistant.” It’s designed to automatically add events to your calendar but can take up to 24 hours from when you text or email. My family and I tried this feature a few times via text, but the events didn’t successfully get added to our calendar. While it’s not a dealbreaker since we could still manually add those events, it’s something to be aware of so you don’t miss scheduling something important!
Lastly, I had a minor issue with the built-in level during setup. The kit includes all the tools you need to install the Display on your wall, including a level to ensure the frame is straight. However, we noticed it didn’t look quite right, so we checked it against other levels we had at home and found it wasn’t accurate. This was easily fixed by using a different level, but it’s something to watch out for during setup.
