Who's on the watch? — the caregiver chip explained

When more than one caregiver uses Happyly for the same child, the watch chip — the small pill next to your child's name button — shows who's actively watching right now. The chip itself is quiet — no scoreboard, no minute-counting — but hand-off events (someone taking the watch from you, or accepting one you sent) send a push notification by default so a 3am hand-off doesn't go missed. The push behavior is opt-out — see the Notifications section below. Just a way for an off-duty caregiver to know they can step away, or for a returning one to know who's on.

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## What you see on the chrome

The row next to your child's name button carries (left to right):

1. A horizontal stack of avatars — every caregiver currently in the app, plus optional "ghost" avatars (grayed, lower opacity) for invited co-parents who aren't currently online.
2. The watch chip — adaptive copy based on who's on duty (see the four states below).
3. An Out chip instead of the watch chip when the child is at daycare / with grandma / etc. (see child-out-status).

Tooltips on each avatar tell you who they are: "You" / "{name} has the watch" / "{name} is here" / "{name} — away, last here {N} min ago".

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## The four states

The chrome adapts to your household shape automatically.

### 1. Solo — just you, no co-parents invited

Just your own avatar. No chip, no banners, no inline noise. Inviting a co-parent is one tap away from the family-member dropdown (the chevron next to your child's name) — pick Invite a co-parent.

### 2. Family here — you have co-parents invited but none are currently in the app

Your avatar plus one or two grayed-out ghost avatars for offline co-parents, plus a "No one on watch" chip. Tap the chip to:

• Take the watch — claim it for yourself.
• Mark out — say the child is with someone outside the app (see child-out-status).

### 3. Co-active — multiple caregivers in the app together

Full avatar stack. The chip varies:

• "On the watch" (accent-tinted) — you have it. Tap to open a sheet that offers Hand off to {co-parent} (one row per active co-parent), Step off the watch, or Mark out.
• "{Name} has the watch" — your co-parent has it. Tap to claim it directly. (A two-step "Request the watch / Hand it off" flow the other direction is on the roadmap — for now claiming the watch takes effect immediately and your co-parent sees the change live.)
• "No one on watch" (amber-tinted) — no-one currently has it. Tap to take it, or to mark out.
• "Waiting for {name}…" — you've sent a hand-off request and are waiting on the receiver to accept. Tap the chip to cancel.

### 4. Out — the child is with someone outside the app

The watch chip is replaced by an Out · {reason} chip (Daycare / With other parent / With grandma / With sitter / Out). See child-out-status for the full flow.

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## Active-accept handoff

When you have the watch and tap Hand off to {co-parent}:

1. Your chip changes to "Waiting for {name}…".
2. Their session shows a small inline banner: "{your name} wants to hand off {childName} to you. [Take the watch] [Not right now]".
3. They tap Take the watch → duty transfers, your chip flips to "{Name} has the watch", and their chip flips to "On the watch". They see the warm "now on for {childName}" toast; you stay quiet.
4. They tap Not right now → your chip drops back to "On the watch" and a soft note appears under it: "{name} can't take it right now — {childName} is still on you." (Auto-dismisses after a few seconds.)
5. 30 seconds pass without a response → same fallback: "Didn't see the hand-off — {childName} is still on you." The 30-second safety net guarantees the child is never silently un-watched even if your co-parent has the app open but isn't looking.
6. They close the app mid-request → another fallback: "{name} stepped away — {childName} is still on you."

The principle: the child is never silently un-watched. Handoffs require either a tap by the receiver or the 30-second timer protecting you.

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## Who can use it

The host (account owner) and any guest with the Co-parent presence permission can take, hand off, and step off the watch. The Co-parent and Caregiver presets both include this; the Grandparent / view-only preset does not — silent observers see the chrome but the watch chip is hidden for them.

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## From chat

• "I've got him for the night." / "I'm on for {childName} now." → marks you on watch.
• "You take over." / "She's all yours." / "I need a break." → marks you off.
• "{Name} just dropped him at daycare." → marks Out · Daycare (see child-out-status).

Happyly confirms transactionally — no banner needed when you give the instruction yourself, because you already know.

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## What it does (and doesn't) do

• ✅ Shows your co-parent who's on duty in real time.
• ✅ Requires receiver consent on a button-initiated handoff — the watch never transfers without their tap.
• ✅ Falls back warmly if your co-parent isn't paying attention — you stay on the watch by default, never silently dropped.
• ✅ Pairs with Mark out for the daycare / grandma case so the chrome stays truthful.
• ✅ Drops your avatar from other caregivers' screens within seconds of you closing the tab.
• ❌ Doesn't count minutes, track who-was-on-longer, or surface a history of handoffs anywhere. Caregiving is not a metric.
• ❌ Doesn't ping for ambient state changes — only hand-off events (where the watch actually transfers) trigger a push. Someone opening the app and watching alongside you is silent.
• ❌ Doesn't auto-transfer. Even when the AI fires `set_on_duty` from chat, it's because you told it to.
• ❌ Doesn't lock the chat or any feature for the off-watch caregiver. Both can still log feeds, read insights, message the coach — the chip just tells you who's primarily watching.

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## Why it's quiet

The research behind co-parent sync (the work that became Feature 21) was consistent: caregivers want to know who's on, but resent any mechanic that turns parenting into a scoreboard. Counting minutes, ranking who fed more, or auto-alerting when the watch changes makes the app feel like surveillance. Every choice in the chip — silent by default, no history, warm copy, no scoreboards — is in service of "a gift, not a metric."

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## Notifications when someone takes over

Hand-offs trigger a push notification by default — when a co-parent accepts your hand-off, or sends one your way, you'll see a push wherever you've enabled notifications. Hand-off pushes are time-sensitive and bypass quiet hours by default so a 3am hand-off still wakes you. You can tighten this in My Account → Notifications:

• Mute hand-offs from a specific family — useful if you're a guest in more than one household.
• Apply quiet hours to hand-offs too — flips the time-sensitive carve-out off if you'd rather hand-off pushes wait until morning.
• Turn off hand-off notifications entirely — leaves the watch chip ambient-only, no pushes.

Full controls in manage-notifications.

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## Step off without a hand-off

No-one has to be on duty. Tapping Step off while no-one else is in the app simply leaves the chip in the "No one on watch" state. Use this when the baby is asleep and both adults are working, or when you want to drop the watch without forcing a co-parent to take it.

If the child is genuinely outside the app (daycare, grandma, the other parent's place), use Mark out instead — see child-out-status.