The full guide.

NannyTank works for au pairs everywhere, not just South Africa. Go to Settings → Region & language to set:

• →Your country — sets your default currency and whether distance is tracked in km or miles
• →Your language — English, German, Dutch, Spanish or French, independent of your country

💡 Working in a country different from where you're from? Your country sets the currency you're paid in; your language is your choice.

Go to Settings → Pay & hours and fill in:

• →Vehicle and rate per km/mile — use the rate agreed with your employer, or your country's standard reimbursement rate
• →Normal working hours — your contracted start and end times
• →Hourly rate and overtime rate — used to calculate your monthly claim total
• →Fixed monthly salary — on a fixed salary, type the amount from your contract and your claim shows it as-is

💡 Update your rates at the start of each term if your hours or pay changes.

In Settings, under How you're paid, choose the option that matches your contract:

• →
  Hourly — you're paid for every hour you work. Your claim total = (hours worked × hourly rate) + (overtime hours × overtime rate).
• →
  Fixed salary — you get the same amount each month regardless of exact hours. Type the monthly amount into Settings, and your claim shows it as-is + any overtime on top.

💡 Not sure which to choose? If your payslip shows a set amount every month, use Fixed. If it changes based on hours worked, use Hourly.

When you first sign in, you choose how you'll use the app:

• →I have an au pair job — the full app to log hours & trips and send monthly claims (this is what most of this guide covers).
• →I'm looking for a job — build a public profile and browse au pair jobs from families and agencies. This side is free.

💡 You can switch between looking and working any time — it just sets where you start. Already have the app? Head to Settings → My public profile → Looking for a new job.

In the app go to Settings → My public profile (or on the website, sign in at nannytank.co.za → your profile). Add:

• →A photo, headline and a short about you
• →Your city, years of experience, whether you want live-in or live-out, and the languages and skills you bring
• →Credentials you can provide (police clearance, first aid, driver's licence…) — these show as badges

🔒 Your actual CV and certificate files stay private in My documents — a profile only advertises the credentials you choose to list, never the files themselves.

Your profile only appears in the directory once you publish it (you tick a consent box first — you can remove it at any time). Once it's live, a work status toggle controls who sees it:

• →Looking for work — your profile is visible to families and agencies in the directory.
• →I have a job — your profile is saved but hidden from the directory. Nothing is deleted.

💡 Landed a job? Flip to I have a job to stop new enquiries — then switch back to Looking for work whenever you're open again, without rebuilding your profile.

• →When a family is interested in your profile, their message lands in Settings → My public profile → Interest from families.
• →You can also go looking yourself — browse open positions on nannytank.co.za/find-a-job and reach out to families directly.

🛡️ NannyTank is a place to connect — we don't vet or verify anyone. Always do your own checks (references, an interview, meeting safely) before accepting a job. See our Terms for the full safety guidance.

1. 1Open the app and tap on any day in the calendar
2. 2Enter your Start and End time for that day
3. 3Tap Save for [date] — your hours are recorded

💡 Any hours outside your normal working hours are automatically calculated as overtime at your overtime rate.

1. 1Tap a day on the calendar to open it
2. 2Under Quick add, tap a saved route to add it instantly
3. 3Or tap + Add trip manually to enter a custom description and distance

💡 Save your regular routes in Settings → Saved trips so you can add them in one tap every day.

Tap any day on the calendar, then choose the status that fits at the top of the day view:

• →Day off or Vacation — leave you've taken
• →Sick — a sick day
• →Weekend — marks a weekend you had off, so it doesn't look like a gap in your calendar

💡 These record correctly on your claim without needing to enter hours — no guessing at month-end.

If your working hours change during school holidays, set a Custom schedule so overtime is calculated correctly for that period.

1. 1Go to Settings → Custom schedules
2. 2Tap Add schedule and give it a label (e.g. "December holidays")
3. 3Set the date range and the different start/end times for that period

💡 During the custom schedule period, the app uses those hours instead of your default hours to calculate overtime.

1. 1Go to the Settings tab at the end of the month
2. 2Set the From and To dates for your claim period
3. 3Tap Export claim to download the Excel file, or Submit to employer to email it directly

💡 Your employer receives an email with the Excel claim attached and approves it with one tap.

Every claim you've ever sent lives in Settings → Submit a claim, under Claims history — showing:

• →Whether it's Pending or Approved, with hours, distance and fuel claim totals
• →A Mark salary received button once you've been paid
• →The option to delete a claim — it's removed for both you and your employer

Go to Settings → My documents to store things like your police clearance, first aid certificate, driver's license, ID/passport, CV, contract or qualifications — a PDF or image, up to 10 MB each.

For documents that expire — police clearances, certificates, visas — set an expiry date when you upload (or add one later). The document shows a colour-coded badge as it approaches expiry, and you'll get a push reminder at 30, 7 and 1 days out.

💡 Only you and a connected employer can see these — handy for keeping everything in one place instead of digging through email attachments. Your employer gets the same expiry reminders, so nothing lapses unnoticed.

Tap the Schedule tab, then the Family calendar toggle at the top to see events from the family's Google Calendar.

1. 1The first time, you'll be asked to connect your Google account
2. 2Sign in and grant calendar access — this only gives the app read-only access
3. 3The app shows the family's upcoming events, public holidays and school events

💡 Your employer needs to share their Google Calendar with you first — ask them to share it to your Google account.

The Schedule tab isn't just the family's calendar — switch the toggle to NannyTank to see and add your own entries. Tap + Add and fill in:

• →A title, plus start/end date and time (or toggle All day)
• →An optional location and notes
• →A one-off reminder — toggle "Remind me" and pick the time

💡 Great for appointments, playdates or anything that isn't already on the family's calendar.

Any entry on your NannyTank schedule can have a comment thread — expand an event and you'll see a Comments section.

Type a note and tap Send. Comments are tagged with who wrote them and when, so a connected employer can leave a note ("pack the extra class book") and you can reply, right on the event.

💡 Keeps the back-and-forth about a specific pickup or appointment out of your regular WhatsApp chat.

Go to Settings and toggle on Daily log reminder — a push notification at 6pm on weekdays to remind you to log your day.

For anything that repeats weekly ("pack the piano book every Tuesday"), set a Weekly reminder — from either Settings or the top of the Schedule tab. Pick the message and which days it should repeat on; it fires at 7am on those days.

Tap the book icon at the top of the app to open the diary. Add an entry for anything worth noting:

• →🍽️ Meals, 😴 naps, 😊 mood, 🎨 activities, ⚠️ incidents, or a free-form 📝 note
• →Each entry gets a time (defaults to now), an optional note, and an optional photo

💡 A connected employer sees the same diary in their app, and gets one notification the first time you add something each day — so they know to check in, without a ping for every entry.

1. 1Go to Settings → Connect employer and tap Generate pairing code
2. 2Share the code with your employer — they enter it in their own NannyTank app
3. 3Once they connect, you'll see Employer connected in Settings

💡 This is entirely optional. You can disconnect at any time from the same screen.

A connected employer gets their own NannyTank app — with a Calendar of your hours/km/days off, your Claims (to approve, payslip and mark as paid), your shared Schedule, the kids' Diary, and your uploaded Documents.

They can't edit anything you log (hours, trips, days off, claims, documents) — that stays yours. The shared schedule is the one exception: either of you can add, edit or comment on events there, since it's meant to be used together.

💡 No money moves through this connection — claims are still approved and paid the same way, outside the app. See what the employer side looks like below.

1. 1Tap the Status tab at the bottom of the app
2. 2Tap a quick status like On my way, Picked up kids, Arrived, or Home safe
3. 3WhatsApp opens with the message pre-filled — just select the chat and tap Send

💡 Your Google Maps location is automatically included in the message.

The four preset statuses not quite right for your day? On the Status tab, tap Edit then + Add to create your own one-tap message — pick an emoji, write the label and the message, and it saves as a button right alongside the presets.

💡 Handy for things you say often, like "Stuck in traffic" or "At the doctor with the kids."

Tap the History tab to see all your logged hours and trips grouped by date.

• →Search by date or trip name using the search bar at the top
• →Tap the edit icon next to any entry to update the details
• →Tap the delete icon to remove an entry you logged by mistake

Go to Settings → Appearance and choose System, Light or Dark. System follows your phone's own setting automatically.

Go to Settings → Help → Rate NannyTank to leave a star rating and a comment. You can choose to let us feature your review on this website — it's what the quotes on the homepage are made of. 💜