RoseStorie

Support & Documentation

Set up your family dashboard step by step. Each section covers one feature — skip to what you need.

Sign up & onboarding Free

RoseStorie uses Google Sign-In — no separate password to create or remember.

  1. Go to app.rosestorie.com and click Sign in with Google.
  2. The first time you sign in, the onboarding wizard launches. It walks you through naming your home, setting your location (used for weather and timezone), and connecting your first integration.
  3. You can skip any step during onboarding and come back later via Settings → Admin inside the dashboard.
The onboarding wizard re-appears if you haven't completed it. You can dismiss it permanently from the last step.

Invite family members Free

Each family member gets their own Google account login and appears on the location map.

  1. Open the dashboard and tap Settings → Admin → Family.
  2. Enter the family member's email address and click Send invite.
  3. They'll receive an email with an accept link. When they click it and sign in with Google, they're added to your family dashboard.
  4. Invited members can view everything on the dashboard. Only the account owner can change settings, billing, and integrations.
Invites expire after 7 days. If a link expires, just send a new one — it only takes a second.

Removing a member

Go to Settings → Admin → Family, find the member, and click Remove. Their Google account is unlinked from your dashboard immediately; your data isn't affected.

Calendar Free

The dashboard shows Google Calendar events for every family member who has connected their account.

  1. Open Settings → Admin → Calendar.
  2. Click Connect Google Calendar — you'll be redirected to Google's consent screen. Grant calendar read access.
  3. After connecting, your calendars appear in a list. Toggle each one on or off to control what shows on the dashboard.
  4. Each family member connects their own Google account. You don't need to share calendars with each other — the dashboard merges everyone's events into one view.

Adding a shared family calendar

If you use a shared Google Calendar (e.g., "Storie Family"), add it by pasting its Calendar ID into Settings → Admin → Calendar → Add calendar ID. The ID looks like [email protected] and can be found in Google Calendar settings under the calendar's name.

Calendar not showing new events?

Calendar data refreshes every few minutes. If something is missing, open Settings → Admin → Calendar and click Refresh to force a sync.

Weather Free

Weather is pulled automatically from the home location you set during onboarding. To update it:

  1. Go to Settings → Admin → Home.
  2. Click Set location and search for your city or address.
  3. Save — weather updates on the next dashboard refresh (usually within a minute).

Kiosk & display setup Free

Any tablet, iPad, old phone, or Raspberry Pi with a browser can become a family dashboard display. The display mode is optimised for always-on portrait screens.

Pairing a display

  1. On the device you want to use as a display, open a browser and go to app.rosestorie.com/pair.
  2. A pairing code appears on screen.
  3. On your phone (while signed in), go to Settings → Admin → Displays and tap Pair display. Enter the code shown on the screen.
  4. The display automatically reloads into kiosk mode — no login required on the display itself.

Kiosk mode tips

  • On iOS, add the dashboard to your home screen (Share → Add to Home Screen) and enable Guided Access to lock it to the app.
  • On Android, use the browser's "Add to Home Screen" option and enable kiosk/pinned-app mode in device settings.
  • On a Raspberry Pi, set Chromium to launch in fullscreen: chromium-browser --kiosk --noerrdialogs https://app.rosestorie.com/pair
  • The display JWT is long-lived (1 year) and is stored in the browser. It only shows the dashboard — it can't access settings or billing.
A display that stays paired and idle will automatically refresh to pick up new events and data. No manual reloading needed.

Sensors (SensorPush) Free

RoseStorie connects to SensorPush via your account credentials and pulls temperature and humidity readings for all your sensors.

Setup

  1. Go to Settings → Admin → Sensors.
  2. Enter the email and password for your SensorPush account.
  3. Optionally, choose one sensor as your Outside sensor — this is used for the outdoor temperature shown on the main dashboard view.
  4. Click Save. Readings appear on the dashboard within 5 minutes (the poller runs every 5 minutes).
Your SensorPush credentials are encrypted at rest and never exposed to the browser — they're only used server-side to call the SensorPush cloud API. You can remove them at any time from the same settings page.

Sensor history

Tap any sensor card on the dashboard to see a temperature and humidity chart. You can switch between 6-hour, 24-hour, 7-day, and 30-day views.

Sensor not appearing?

Make sure the sensor is registered in your SensorPush app first — it must have synced at least once via the SensorPush gateway or Bluetooth. RoseStorie reads the same data as the SensorPush app.

Location sharing

Location sharing is powered by OwnTracks — an open-source app for iOS and Android. Your location data goes to your RoseStorie instance, not a third-party cloud service.

Option A: Managed MQTT (recommended)

On the Family or Household plan, RoseStorie provisions a private MQTT broker for you automatically.

  1. Go to Settings → Admin → Location and click Set up location sharing.
  2. Click Generate credentials. The dashboard shows your personal MQTT broker URL, username, and password.
  3. Install OwnTracks on each family member's phone (iOS / Android).
  4. Open OwnTracks → ☰ Menu → Preferences → Connection and configure:
    • Mode: MQTT
    • Host: the broker URL from step 2 (without the mqtt:// prefix)
    • Port: 1883 (or 8883 for TLS if enabled)
    • Username / Password: your personal credentials from step 2
    • Device ID: anything short and recognisable (e.g. iphone, pixel)
  5. OwnTracks will start publishing your location. You'll appear on the map within a few seconds of your first publish.

Option B: Bring your own MQTT broker

If you already run a Mosquitto or other MQTT broker, you can point RoseStorie at it instead.

  1. Go to Settings → Admin → Location → BYO MQTT.
  2. Enter your broker URL (e.g. mqtt://192.168.1.10:1883), username, and password.
  3. Configure each family member's OwnTracks app to publish to the topic owntracks/{your-tenant-id}/{deviceId}. Your tenant ID is shown on the settings page.
  4. Save — RoseStorie subscribes to your broker and starts ingesting location events.

Privacy note

Location data is stored per-event in your tenant's private database. Only family members you've invited can see it. You can delete all location history at any time from Settings → Admin → Location → Clear history.

Recipes & meals (Mealie)

Mealie is an open-source recipe and meal-planning app. The dashboard shows your weekly meal plan and lets you browse recipes.

Option A: Managed Mealie (Family/Household plan)

We spin up a private Mealie instance for you when you subscribe. No setup needed — it appears automatically in your dashboard and settings once your plan is active.

To access the full Mealie interface (to add recipes, edit meal plans, etc.), click Open Mealie from the Recipes panel in the dashboard. Log in with the credentials shown in Settings → Admin → Mealie → View credentials.

Option B: Bring your own Mealie

  1. Self-host Mealie on your own server. The Mealie docs cover Docker setup.
  2. In Mealie, go to Settings → API Tokens and create a new token.
  3. In RoseStorie, go to Settings → Admin → Mealie and enter:
    • URL: your Mealie instance URL (e.g. http://192.168.1.10:9000)
    • API token: the token you created in step 2
  4. Click Save & test. If the connection succeeds, your meal plan appears on the dashboard.
RoseStorie proxies all Mealie API calls server-side — your token never leaves the server and Mealie doesn't need to be publicly reachable.

Meal times

You can customise what time breakfast, lunch, and dinner appear on the dashboard under Settings → Admin → Mealie → Meal times.

Chores & routines (Donetick)

Donetick is an open-source chore and recurring task app. The dashboard shows upcoming chores and who's assigned to each one.

Option A: Managed Donetick (Family/Household plan)

Like Mealie, we provision a private Donetick instance for you automatically on paid plans. It appears in the dashboard as soon as your plan activates.

Access the full Donetick interface by clicking Open Donetick from the chores panel. Credentials are in Settings → Admin → Donetick → View credentials.

Option B: Bring your own Donetick

  1. Self-host Donetick. See the Donetick GitHub for Docker setup instructions.
  2. In Donetick, go to Settings → API and copy your API token.
  3. In RoseStorie, go to Settings → Admin → Donetick and enter:
    • URL: your Donetick instance URL (e.g. http://192.168.1.10:2021)
    • API token: the token from step 2
  4. Click Save & test.
Like Mealie, Donetick API calls are proxied server-side. Your token is encrypted at rest.

AI assistant Add-on · $5/mo

The AI assistant lets any family member send questions and commands via Telegram. It has context about your calendar, meal plan, chores, sensors, and location — and responds in plain English.

The AI assistant is a paid add-on available on any plan. Add it from Settings → Billing → Add-ons before following the steps below.

Creating a Telegram bot

  1. Open Telegram and search for @BotFather.
  2. Send /newbot and follow the prompts to name your bot (e.g. "Storie Assistant").
  3. BotFather sends you a bot token — it looks like 1234567890:ABCDef.... Copy it.

Connecting the bot to RoseStorie

  1. Go to Settings → Admin → AI Assistant.
  2. Paste the bot token from BotFather.
  3. Add the Telegram user IDs of family members who can talk to the bot. To find your user ID, message @userinfobot on Telegram — it replies with your ID number.
  4. Optionally, add the bot to a family Telegram group and enable Require @mention so it only responds when directly addressed.
  5. Click Save. Send /start to your bot in Telegram to confirm it's working.

What you can ask

Some examples:

  • "What's on the calendar tomorrow?"
  • "What's for dinner tonight?"
  • "Add milk to the shopping list."
  • "Who did the dishes last?"
  • "Is everyone home yet?"
  • "What's the basement temperature?"
  • "Plan meals for this week."

Usage limits

Usage is measured in messages per month, per family. You can see your current usage under Settings → Billing → AI usage. We send a warning when you're approaching your monthly limit — we'll never charge overage without notice.

Plans & billing

Your current plan and billing details are under Settings → Billing in the dashboard.

  • Upgrading: changes take effect immediately and your first charge is pro-rated for the rest of the billing period.
  • Downgrading: the change takes effect at the end of your current billing period. Managed services (Mealie, Donetick, OwnTracks) remain readable for 30 days after downgrade, then are removed.
  • Cancelling: cancel from Settings → Billing → Cancel plan. You stay on the paid plan until the period ends, then drop to Free.
  • Annual billing: saves 20%. Switch to annual billing from the same Billing settings page.

Exporting your data

You own your data and can export it at any time — no need to cancel first.

  1. Go to Settings → Account → Export data.
  2. Choose what to include: calendar connections, sensor readings, location history, chore history.
  3. Click Request export. You'll receive a download link by email within a few minutes.

If you're on a paid plan with managed Mealie or Donetick instances, you can also export directly from those apps — the full interface is accessible from the dashboard.

Troubleshooting: sensors not updating

  • Check your SensorPush credentials: go to Settings → Admin → Sensors and re-save your email and password. If they changed, the poller will have been failing silently.
  • Check the SensorPush gateway: your sensors need a SensorPush gateway or a phone with the SensorPush app running nearby to upload readings to the cloud. RoseStorie reads from the SensorPush cloud, so if the gateway is offline, readings won't arrive regardless.
  • Polling interval: readings update every 5 minutes. If the last reading is less than 10 minutes old, everything is working normally.
  • Still stuck? Email [email protected] and include the email address on your account.

Troubleshooting: location not showing

  • Check OwnTracks is running: on iOS, OwnTracks requires "Always" location permission and Background App Refresh enabled. Check Settings → Privacy → Location Services → OwnTracks.
  • Check the MQTT connection in OwnTracks: open OwnTracks → ☰ → Status. It should show "Connected". If not, double-check the host, port, username, and password in OwnTracks Preferences.
  • Topic mismatch (BYO MQTT only): make sure OwnTracks is publishing to owntracks/{tenantId}/{deviceId} — RoseStorie only processes messages on that topic pattern. Your tenant ID is in Settings → Admin → Location.
  • Map shows old location: OwnTracks only publishes when it detects movement by default. You can force a publish by tapping the location arrow in the OwnTracks app.

Troubleshooting: dashboard showing stale data

  • Service worker cache: the dashboard uses a service worker to cache assets for offline use. If a recent update isn't appearing, clear it from your browser's site settings, or run this in the browser console: 
    navigator.serviceWorker.getRegistrations()
  .then(rs => Promise.all(rs.map(r => r.unregister())))
  .then(() => caches.keys())
  .then(ks => Promise.all(ks.map(k => caches.delete(k))))
  .then(() => location.reload())
  • Calendar not refreshing: go to Settings → Admin → Calendar → Refresh to force a Google Calendar sync.
  • Display kiosk stuck: the kiosk view auto-reloads every hour. You can manually reload by pressing F5 or long-pressing the screen (if touch is enabled) and choosing Reload.

Troubleshooting: kiosk display issues

  • Blank screen after pairing: try reloading the page. The pairing token is stored in localStorage — as long as you don't clear browser data on the display device, it will stay paired.
  • Display went back to the pairing screen: the display's browser data was cleared (e.g., OS update, browser cache wipe). Re-pair it from Settings → Admin → Displays.
  • Clock is wrong: check that the home timezone is set correctly in Settings → Admin → Home.
  • Portrait layout looks wrong on landscape screen: the dashboard is designed for portrait orientation. Rotate the display, or see the project repo for CSS customisation tips.

Still need help?

Email us at [email protected] — we read every message. Paid-plan subscribers get priority responses.