Introducing the Enhanced Hearth Helper Feature in the Hearth Mobile App
The Hearth Helper has evolved, providing Hearth Display users with a convenient method to contact customer support through text or email for uploading event listings. This feature allows users to bulk upload details, such as a comprehensive school calendar. As of March 19, this functionality is now accessible via the Hearth mobile application.
Originally, Hearth Display, a contemporary tool for family management that serves as a combined digital calendar and task tracker, included the Hearth Helper directly on its 27-inch tablet. In a previous review that assessed the merits of the Hearth Display and its $699 price tag (often discounted to $599), the inclusion of this feature struck me as peculiar. While one might expect the “Helper” function to facilitate direct access to customer support, selecting this option would merely present a prompt displaying contact information for those wishing to use AI for bulk uploading events. For instance, users could share a photograph of a school calendar, enabling the AI to seamlessly transfer that data onto their Hearth calendar. While I initially considered this feature to be of little personal use—preferring to manage my calendar manually—it piqued my interest when it transitioned to the mobile app.
Locating Hearth Helper on the Mobile App
To utilize Hearth Helper within the mobile application, begin by ensuring the app is updated on your device. Upon launching the app, a full-screen notice encourages users to update to the latest version, marking the first occasion requiring a forced update; previous iterations allowed for manual updates primarily aimed at bug fixes and newer features, such as the ability to update Routines through the smartphone interface or add personalized to-do lists.
Once the app is updated, the Hearth Helper feature can be found as a chat box icon at the top-right corner of the display, adjacent to the notification bell. This new placement feels intuitive and significantly improves accessibility compared to its former position on the Hearth Display itself, where it appeared prominently alongside the Calendar, Lists, and Routines menus. Post-update, a notification popped up on my Hearth Display tablet, reading, “Hearth Helper has moved!” along with details on its migration to the app.
Utilizing Hearth Helper
Exploring the mobile Hearth Helper was a straightforward experience. The AI prompt provides suggestions for the types of requests users can make for calendar event creation. Additionally, users can simply tap on a camera icon to capture an image of a schedule or to upload a previously saved image from their device. My main interest was in determining the processing time for requests. Here’s an overview of what the Hearth Helper interface looks like once the icon is clicked within the mobile application:
Upon requesting a basic appointment, the AI took less than a minute to send back a “Pending Event” awaiting approval. Users can either “Accept All” or “Reject All” if multiple events were submitted, or choose to give a thumbs up or down for each individual pending event.
For a more complex scenario, I obtained a PDF of the New York City Department of Education’s 2024-2025 School Year Calendar, curious about uploading an entire calendar. However, I soon discovered that Hearth Helper doesn’t support PDF uploads. Instead, I snapped a picture of my laptop screen—not a clear screenshot, but a somewhat blurry image that encompassed eight events spanning two months. Surprisingly, despite the unfavorable quality, processing took under a minute, yielding a list of Pending Events that were impressively well-formatted. Certainly, sending multiple images would be required to comprehensively cover an entire year.
However, it is important to recognize some limitations of the Hearth Helper:
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Lists (such as grocery or to-do lists) and Routines cannot be uploaded using the Hearth Helper.
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Only basic images can be used: the feature does not accept uploads from URLs, Word documents, Google Sheets, or any other formats.
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Human support is unavailable as the Hearth Helper operates entirely on AI. For assistance from a real person, users should contact [email protected].
Is the Hearth Helper Worth Utilizing?
Initially, expectations for the Hearth Helper were low, primarily based on my past observations. A concern addressed in a previous review highlighted that the concept behind Hearth Helper felt rather flimsy. The preference leans towards having a human representative address customer service inquiries instead of relying on AI for bulk uploads that could be performed manually. Those who invest in an expensive family management device likely possess specific expectations regarding the organization and format of their calendars. Nonetheless, after reassessing the output of the bulk uploads from Hearth Helper, a shift in perspective may be warranted for two reasons.
Firstly, the events were imported with high accuracy and consistency in formatting. Secondly, the imported events can be easily edited or rejected as needed. The initial worry of inundating the calendar with disorderly entries has subsided; bulk uploads can serve as suggestions that can be refined, approved with a thumbs up, or dismissed with a thumbs down. Overall, this latest update to the Hearth Display appears to enhance event management efficiency and minimize manual interventions. The Hearth Helper will prove particularly valuable during back-to-school periods, when planning for new academic years, or whenever children engage in new extracurricular activities.
