BinPilot · English

BinPilot User Manual

How to set it up, what everything means, and how to share the job with the people you live with.

About 8 minutes to read. You only need Part 1 to get going.

The problem it solves

Recycling in Ontario is changing, and chances are nobody told you. A province-wide shift has been redrawing who collects your bins, what you are allowed to put in them, and where you go to find out. Your city's answer today may not be the answer it gave last year.

Meanwhile the everyday version of the problem never went away: four streams, different weeks, holiday shifts, a rule for pizza boxes that nobody can remember, and a city web page you have to go and find. Most households solve it by one person keeping it all in their head - and that person gets it wrong a few times a year.

BinPilot exists to end both. It works out who serves your exact address, tracks what they currently accept, and merges every stream into one calendar that stays right as things change. No lookups, no guessing, no missed weeks.

And the part nobody has offered you before

Everything above is about KNOWING which bin goes out. There is a second problem in most homes, and it is the one people have simply learned to live with: somebody has to actually do it, and remember to, every week, for ever.

In practice that becomes one person. They are the one who remembers, the one who notices at 10pm that it is recycling week, the one who ends up doing it themselves rather than asking again. It is a small job that never ends, and the effort of chasing it is usually larger than the job. Nobody has ever sold you a fix for that, because a calendar cannot fix it and a reminder app just nags the same person harder.

BinPilot Household is that fix. It names whose turn it is on every collection day and rotates automatically — holiday shifts included — so the rota is visible to everyone and nobody has to keep score. Whoever is on duty can settle it with a photo of the bins at the curb, stamped with their name and the time. If you are away that week, you swap the day with somebody rather than dropping it. Up to twenty people, each on their own phone, all looking at the same roster.

It also settles the arguing, which is the part households do not expect. The rota is the agreement, in one place everybody can see, so "it wasn't my week" stops being a matter of memory. Each duty leaves evidence: a photo of the bins at the curb with the name of whoever owed the chore and the time written into the picture. Not to catch anyone out — because nobody has to be the enforcer. The rule enforces itself, and the person who did do it gets the credit without having to claim it.

If you live alone, you will never need any of it, and the calendar is free for ever. But if the bins in your house are quietly one person's job, that is the thing to look at — and it is Part 3.

What BinPilot is

BinPilot tells you which bins to put out, and when, for your exact address in Ontario. Garbage, recycling, organics, yard waste and battery days all land in one calendar, so you stop checking a city website and stop guessing.

It also knows about holidays. When collection shifts for a public holiday, your calendar shifts with it.

Why the calendar is free

Knowing which bin goes out this week should not cost anything, and it should not need an account. So one address, the full calendar and the Sort look-up are free, permanently.

You do not sign in, you do not give us an email, and it keeps working offline once your schedule has loaded.

Part 1 - Setting up

Once, and it takes about a minute.

Add your address

Everything else depends on this. BinPilot needs to know which collection route you are on, and that is decided by your street address, not your city.

For example — You have just installed BinPilot and want tomorrow's answer before you go to bed.

  1. Open BinPilot. The first screen asks for your address.

    The BinPilot home screen with an empty Set up your address box above a blank September calendar.
    The BinPilot home screen with an empty Set up your address box above a blank September calendar.

  2. Start typing your house number and street. A list appears as you type - pick yours. Check the town shown underneath each one: several Ontario towns share street names, and picking the wrong town gives you the wrong collection days.

  3. BinPilot shows what it found and how many collection days it has for you. If it looks right, tap Yes, use this.

    A confirmation card reading 50 Burnhamthorpe Rd W, Mississauga, 37 collection days, with a Yes, use this button.
    A confirmation card reading 50 Burnhamthorpe Rd W, Mississauga, 37 collection days, with a Yes, use this button.

What happens: Your calendar fills in straight away, and stays on the device - so it opens instantly next time, even with no signal.

Worth knowing: If BinPilot does not cover your town yet, it says so plainly rather than showing you a neighbouring town's collection days. A wrong day is worse than no day.

Your street is not in the list

The address search covers the communities BinPilot has verified. If yours is not there yet, you are not left with nothing.

For example — You have just moved to a smaller township and the street search comes up empty.

  1. Under the address box, tap the line offering to choose your city instead.

  2. Pick your city from the list.

  3. You get that city's general collection information rather than a route-exact calendar.

What happens: Something useful now, and your exact address later when your community is added.

Read your calendar

The month view is deliberately quiet: a coloured dot per bin, so you can take it in at a glance.

For example — It is Sunday night and you cannot remember whether this is a recycling week.

  1. Each coloured dot on a day is one bin collected that day.

    A September calendar with coloured dots marking collection days.
    A September calendar with coloured dots marking collection days.

  2. Tap any day to see the bins named in full, so you never have to remember what a colour means.

    A day panel reading Thursday, September 10, 2026 with Organic, Yard Waste and Recycle chips.
    A day panel reading Thursday, September 10, 2026 with Organic, Yard Waste and Recycle chips.

  3. A star marks an Ontario public holiday. If your collection actually moves that week, the calendar already shows the moved day.

  4. Move to another month with the small arrows at the top, or just swipe the calendar - left or right, or up and down over the middle three columns. Whichever gesture feels natural, they all change the month.

What happens: You can answer the question - what goes out tomorrow - in about two seconds.

Read it without the calendar grid

A month grid is dense, and small coloured dots are exactly the wrong shape for anyone with low vision. Accessibility mode is not just larger type - it replaces the calendar with a different screen.

For example — Your mother is 78, keeps the phone at arm's length, and gave up on the last app that showed her a grid of tiny dots.

  1. Settings, then Appearance, then Accessibility.

  2. The grid disappears. In its place is the next collection in large, high-contrast type - the bins named in words, not dots - followed by a short list of what comes after it.

    The Accessibility view: NEXT COLLECTION, Thu Sep 10 in very large type, with Organic, Yard Waste and Recycle each beside a large colour block, then a THEN section for the following collection.
    The Accessibility view: NEXT COLLECTION, Thu Sep 10 in very large type, with Organic, Yard Waste and Recycle each beside a large colour block, then a THEN section for the following collection.

  3. Everything else in the app stays where it was. Only the home screen changes.

What happens: One thing at a time, in type you can read across a room, answering the only question that usually matters: what goes out next.

Worth knowing: It shows exactly the same collections as the calendar - it is the same schedule presented differently, never a shortened version of it. It is also worth knowing this is a setting, not a separate mode you get stuck in: switch back to Standard at any time.

Choose a view that suits you

Not everyone wants the same amount of detail, and some people need bigger type.

For example — You have used the app for a month, you know green means organics, and you would rather see a clean calendar.

  1. Go to the Settings tab and look under Appearance.

    The Settings screen showing Appearance options: Simple, Standard and Accessibility.
    The Settings screen showing Appearance options: Simple, Standard and Accessibility.

  2. Standard is the default: the calendar plus a list underneath naming every pickup that month, spelled out. It suits most people, and nobody is confused by labels.

  3. Simple shows colour dots only, with no names. Pick it once you know your colours.

What happens: The whole app follows your choice, and you can change it back whenever you like.

Part 2 - Every week

The two things you will actually do.

Check what goes out tomorrow

This is the whole point of the app, and it should take seconds.

For example — You are already in your pyjamas and you can hear a truck two streets over.

  1. Open BinPilot. Today is highlighted on the calendar.

  2. Tap tomorrow. The panel names every bin due that day.

  3. Put those bins out.

What happens: No lookups, no guessing, no missed weeks.

Find out where something goes

Most arguments about bins are really one question: does this go in recycling or not?

For example — There is a greasy pizza box on the counter and two people in the kitchen who disagree about it.

  1. Tap the Sort tab. You will see the main bins and a safety note about batteries and hazardous waste.

    The Sort tab with a search box and cards for Recycling, Organics and Garbage.
    The Sort tab with a search box and cards for Recycling, Organics and Garbage.

  2. Type the item into the search box - pizza box, cup, battery.

    A search for pizza box returning: clean top to recycling flattened, greasy bottom to organics or garbage.
    A search for pizza box returning: clean top to recycling flattened, greasy bottom to organics or garbage.

What happens: A direct answer, including the awkward cases - a pizza box gets cut apart, not thrown whole into one bin.

Worth knowing: Recycling follows Ontario's province-wide list. How you set things out - bundling cardboard, booking bulky items, yard-waste season - varies by city, and BinPilot shows your city's own rule where it has it. When you are unsure, choose garbage over contaminating the recycling.

Put a copy on the fridge

Not everyone in the house has the app, and a paper calendar on the fridge still settles arguments.

For example — Your father looks after the bins on Tuesdays and does not want an app on his phone.

  1. Tap the printer icon at the top of the Schedule tab.

  2. BinPilot builds a printable calendar for the month you are looking at, with your address on it.

  3. Print it, or save it as a PDF and send it to whoever needs it.

What happens: A calendar anyone in the house can read, with no app and no account.

Worth knowing: The button stays greyed out until a schedule has loaded - there is nothing to print before then.

Make it check for changes now

BinPilot keeps itself up to date on its own. Occasionally you want to make it look again.

For example — Your city announced a change to collection days and you want to see it straight away.

  1. Tap the refresh icon at the top of the Schedule tab.

  2. It re-fetches your schedule from your city's own source.

  3. If that fails, your existing calendar stays exactly as it was. A failed check never replaces good information with nothing.

What happens: The newest schedule your city has published, or the one you already had.

You see a note about unrecognised labels

Cities invent their own words for collections. When BinPilot meets one it does not know, it says so rather than guessing.

For example — Your town runs an annual 'Curbside Giveaway Day' that no app has ever heard of.

  1. A single line appears under the calendar mentioning unrecognised labels.

  2. Tap it to see the exact wording your city used.

  3. Those days are still shown. They are simply not sorted into a bin, because guessing the wrong bin would be worse than admitting the app does not know.

What happens: You see everything your city published, and you can tell what BinPilot is sure about from what it is not.

Worth knowing: It is a prompt to check that one word on your city's page, not a sign that anything is broken.

Part 3 - Sharing the job

This part is BinPilot Household, and it is the paid one. It is free for 21 days.

Decide whether you need it

Plainly: if you live alone, you do not.

For example — Four of you live there, and all four weeks of the month are somehow yours.

  1. Household is for homes where more than one person could take the bins out, and one person always ends up doing it.

    The Household screen explaining the Duty Roster.
    The Household screen explaining the Duty Roster.

  2. It names whose turn it is and rotates automatically on every collection day, holiday shifts included.

  3. Everyone in the household sees the same roster, so nobody has to keep score in their head.

  4. It also unlocks collection-day reminders, proof photos, turn swapping, and up to three addresses.

What happens: The bins stop being one person's job to remember.

Start the 21-day free trial

So you can see it working in your own home before deciding.

For example — You want to see whether a rota actually stops the arguing before you pay for one.

  1. Tap the Roster tab, then Start free trial.

  2. Fill in your name, email and household address. You are the plan administrator - the person who can invite and remove people.

    The Set up your plan screen with fields for name, email, optional phone and household address.
    The Set up your plan screen with fields for name, email, optional phone and household address.

  3. Tap Start free trial. No card is asked for, and nothing is charged during the trial.

What happens: Household features unlock immediately, for 21 days.

Worth knowing: The trial is counted on our side rather than on your phone, so reinstalling the app or changing your device clock does not restart it - and does not cut it short either. Signing up is not the only way in: wherever BinPilot asks for an account, it also offers Choose a plan, which subscribes this phone without one.

Set up your household and roster

The roster needs to know who is in it, and in what order the turn passes.

For example — Two parents, two teenagers, and a standing Sunday-night dispute about whose turn it is.

  1. BinPilot walks you through three steps: your address, your household, then invites.

  2. Name the household - whatever you call it at home is fine - and add everyone by name, in the order you want turns to pass. You are member number one, and your name shows on your own duty days.

    The Duty roster screen: a rotation order of two people, then Upcoming duties listing each collection day with its bins and whose turn it is.

    No iPhone capture: this screen is the same on both.

  3. Names are enough to start. Nobody else needs the app installed yet for the rotation to work.

  4. Choose the date the rotation starts from.

What happens: From that date on, every collection day carries a name: whose turn it is. It rotates by itself, holiday shifts included.

Worth knowing: You can change the turn order later by dragging people up and down, and you can schedule the new order to start on a future date instead of immediately. A household holds up to five people and five devices; there is no larger plan to buy today, so if you need more, tell us.

Move the household to a new address

The rotation runs against one address and everyone on the roster sees duty days for it. When you move, that address has to move with you - and the turns people have already taken should not be rewritten behind them.

For example — You have moved across town. The new place is collected on Wednesdays; the old one was Mondays.

  1. Open the Roster tab. Under Collection address, tap Change address.

  2. BinPilot takes you to the address box on the Schedule tab - the same search you used at the start. Find the new address and confirm it.

  3. You are asked when you move in. Pick the date. It has to be today or a day still to come: BinPilot will not backdate a move, because the days before it have already happened and are recorded against the old address.

  4. From that date onwards everyone sees the new address's collection days. Before it, the calendar still shows the old address's days, with the people who actually did them.

  5. Only the household admin can change it. Everybody else simply sees the new address appear on their own calendar.

What happens: One household, one rotation, carried across the move with its history intact.

Worth knowing: Expect your collection day to land on a different weekday - that is the new route, not a mistake. If you want to be certain, check the first week against your new town's own calendar.

Get a reminder the night before

Knowing your schedule and remembering it on the right evening are two different problems. This one solves the second.

For example — You know the schedule perfectly well. You just keep remembering it at 7am, through the window, as the truck goes past.

  1. Settings, then Reminders, and turn the switch on.

    The Settings screen showing the Reminders switch marked Household, with a warning that notifications are turned off for BinPilot in the device settings.
    The Settings screen showing the Reminders switch marked Household, with a warning that notifications are turned off for BinPilot in the device settings.

  2. You get a notification before each collection day, listing the bins to put out - not just that something is due.

  3. Reminders cover EVERY address you have saved, not only the one currently on screen. Adding a second home does not mean remembering that one yourself.

  4. With more than one address, each reminder names the house it is about, using the name you gave that address. With a single address the wording stays as it is, unqualified - there is nothing to tell apart.

  5. If your phone has notifications switched off for BinPilot, the app says so right there rather than failing quietly, and tells you where to turn them on: your phone's Settings, then Apps, then BinPilot, then Notifications.

    If your phone has notifications switched off for BinPilot, the app says so right there rather than failing quietly, and tells you where to turn them on: your phone's Settings, then Notifications, then BinPilot.

What happens: An evening nudge naming the exact bins, and the exact house, so the calendar stops being something you have to remember to check.

Worth knowing: Reminders are part of Household, and the app offers the free trial when you turn them on. An unqualified reminder about an unspecified house would be worse than none, which is why the naming only appears once you have more than one address. Signing out switches reminders off on this phone, so whoever signs in on it next does not inherit yours. Your account's reminders carry on: BinPilot's server keeps sending them to every phone registered to your account, this one included, until you switch them off yourself. Signing back in switches them on again.

Invite someone to your household

Names on your phone are enough to run a rotation. Inviting people is what lets them see it on their own device, and take their own proof photos.

For example — Your partner keeps asking you whether it is their week. You would like the phone to tell them.

  1. Open the Roster tab and tap the envelope on the person's seat.

  2. Send the invite by email, by text message, or copy the link and send it however you like.

  3. They install BinPilot and open the link, which claims their seat. They do not need their own subscription - your household covers them.

What happens: Everyone sees the same roster, and it stays in step across devices.

Worth knowing: You need to be signed in before you can invite anyone, so the roster has somewhere to sync to.

Join a household you were invited to

The other side of an invite. You need the link AND access to the mailbox it went to - both, so that forwarding a link to somebody does not hand them your seat.

For example — Your housemate set the roster up and sent you a link.

  1. Open the invite link on the phone you will use. If it does not open the app by itself, open BinPilot, choose the option for having an invite, and paste the link.

  2. BinPilot emails the invited address. Open that email and follow it - this is the step that proves the mailbox is yours.

  3. You return to the app and your seat is claimed.

What happens: You are in the household, seeing the same roster as everyone else, without needing your own subscription.

Worth knowing: The email step leaves the app and comes back. That is expected, not a failure - you can close BinPilot in between.

Be a member of someone else's household

Joining somebody's household is a different experience from running one, and the differences surprise people. The person who set it up is the admin; everyone else is a member.

For example — Your housemate pays for BinPilot and added you. You want to know what you can and cannot change, and whether you are stuck with their address.

  1. You see the household's address marked as shared with you, rather than one you typed. That is where the rotation runs.

  2. The rotation order, the members and the invites are managed by the admin - you will see a note saying so. You cannot reorder the rota or invite people.

  3. Everything that IS yours lives on the Schedule tab: tap any collection day to see your duties, mark them done, take a proof photo, or propose a swap.

  4. You can also set up your own address, and even start your own household at it, while staying on theirs. You have to set your own address first, because your own rotation runs against it.

What happens: You take part fully - duties, swaps, proof - without needing your own subscription, and without being locked into somebody else's address.

Worth knowing: If the admin's subscription lapses, the rotation pauses for everyone in that household and the app says so. Your own collection calendar is free and carries on regardless.

Mark a duty done - with or without a photo

So nobody has to take anyone's word for it, and nobody has to remember who did what.

For example — Somebody swears they took the bins out. The bins were not out.

  1. Go to the Schedule tab and tap the collection day. Duties, swaps and proof photos all live on the day itself, not on the Roster tab.

  2. Tap Done, with proof. The camera opens straight to the shutter - one tap, no picking a photo out of your gallery afterwards.

    The duty sheet for a day, offering Take proof photo and mark done, Mark done without a photo, and Swap this duty.

    No iPhone capture: this screen is the same on both.

  3. BinPilot writes the name of whoever's duty it was, and the time, into the corner of the picture itself. You do not type anything.

  4. Or tap Mark done without photo if a photo is more trouble than it is worth. The duty still counts as done.

What happens: The day shows as done, with the photo attached if you took one, and everyone in the household can see it.

Worth knowing: Why the name and time are written into the picture rather than shown beside it: a photo of bins at a curb, on its own, proves neither whose turn it was nor when it was taken. Burning them into the image means the answer travels with it - saved to a phone or forwarded to someone, the name and the time are still there. It names the person whose duty it was, not whoever held the phone, so when an admin snaps it on somebody else's behalf the credit still goes to the right person.

Know how long a proof photo lasts, and where

A proof only has a job to do until the bins have actually gone, so the copy we hold does not linger. The copy on your own phone is a different thing, and people reasonably assume both work the same way.

For example — Somebody asks whether photos of your driveway are being kept somewhere for ever, and you would like to give them a straight answer.

  1. The copy on our servers is deleted automatically on the eve of your next garbage day - one full collection cycle, not a fixed number of days. If your garbage is weekly that is about a week; if it is every other week, about a fortnight.

  2. Bonus or exemption garbage days do not count as the anchor, so the window stays predictable rather than being cut short by a one-off extra collection.

  3. The phone that took the photo keeps its own copy, and so does any phone that has viewed it. BinPilot stores those inside the app itself, not in your camera roll, so they do not appear in your gallery and nothing else on the phone can see them.

  4. Those copies stay. They are removed when you delete BinPilot or clear its data - we do not delete them, and we cannot: they are on your device, not ours.

  5. To put a proof in your normal photo gallery, open the Schedule tab, tap the collection day, and choose Save to device. It only appears on a day that already has a photo. That copy is yours and is never touched by us.

    The same sheet after a proof was taken: Done with proof and when it was taken, then Retake proof photo, View proof, Save to device and Share.

    No iPhone capture: this screen is the same on both.

  6. Once our copy has gone, a member whose phone never held it sees a short message saying the proof is no longer available, rather than a broken image. The same message appears if you are offline and your phone does not have it.

What happens: The record of who did what stays for good. Our copy of the picture goes once it has done its job; the copies on the phones that were actually involved remain with those people.

Worth knowing: If you leave a household, our copies of your proofs there are deleted with your seat, and the app tells you so before you confirm. That does not reach the copies already on people's phones, including your own - those stay until each person deletes BinPilot or clears its data.

Find a proof photo from weeks ago

The copy the household shares is deleted on the eve of the next garbage day. The copy on the phone that took the picture is not, and this is how you get at it.

For example — Somebody asks whether the bins really did go out over the long weekend, and that was three weeks ago.

  1. Open the Schedule tab. Archive is at the top of the screen, beside the print button, and carries a number when this phone is holding proofs.

  2. Tap it for the proofs this phone photographed, each against the duty day it belongs to.

  3. Pick one to see it full size.

  4. These copies are this phone's own and do not expire on the shared clock. They go when BinPilot is deleted or its data is cleared - see 'Know how long a proof photo lasts, and where' above.

Worth knowing: A phone that only looked at a proof keeps a copy too. A phone that never saw it before the shared copy expired has nothing to show, and says so plainly rather than showing a broken picture.

Change phone without losing your proof photos

Your proofs live in BinPilot's own storage on the phone, so what happens to them is decided by your phone backup, not by us. We cannot send them again: our copy expired a collection cycle after the duty.

For example — You are trading in your phone on Saturday and there are photos in BinPilot you would rather not lose.

  1. Restoring a new phone from a backup of the old one usually brings them: BinPilot's own data is part of an iPhone or Android backup, and the app finds the photos again by itself.

  2. Setting the new phone up as new, or signing in without restoring, does not. There is nothing to bring the photos back from - ours are already gone.

  3. The same is true if the backup skipped BinPilot, which can happen when device backup is switched off or the backup is over its size limit.

  4. If a particular proof matters to you, do not rely on any of that. Open the Schedule tab, tap that collection day, and choose Save to device before you change phones.

  5. To take all of them at once, open Settings and tap Save proof photos to your gallery under Your data. It tells you how many this phone is holding, and files them all into the BinPilot album in one go.

    The Your data section of Settings, with a row reading Save proof photos to your gallery and the number held on this phone.

    No iPhone capture: this screen is the same on both.

  6. Saved photos go into a BinPilot album in your gallery rather than loose among your other pictures, so they stay together and can be found - or removed - as a group. From there they travel with your usual photo backup like every other picture you take.

What happens: Restore-from-backup keeps them; a fresh start does not. Anything you have saved to your gallery is safe either way.

Worth knowing: This is about the copy on your phone. The record of who did which duty, and when, lives with your household and is not affected by changing phones at all - sign in on the new phone and the roster and its history are there.

Swap a turn when life gets in the way

Being away on your week should not mean the bins do not go out, and it should not mean a permanent change to the order.

For example — You are away for work on your week and do not want to come back to a full bin and a grudge.

  1. On the Schedule tab, tap your duty day and choose Swap this day.

  2. Pick a future day belonging to the person you want to swap with.

  3. They get a notification and a card on their own calendar, with Accept and Decline. Nothing moves until they accept - a swap is a request, and being the household admin does not change that.

  4. When they accept, the two days change hands and you are told. If they decline, both days stay exactly as they were.

  5. A day that has already been swapped can be swapped again - including swapping it straight back. Whoever holds the day now is the person who gets asked, which may not be the person whose turn it started as.

  6. A request nobody answers disappears once the first of its two days has gone by, so an old request cannot move a day you have already put the bins out for.

What happens: The two days have changed hands. Nothing else in the rotation moves, and the normal order carries on afterwards.

Know when someone asks you to swap

A request nobody sees is not a request. This is the difference between a swap happening and a bin being missed.

For example — Somebody asks for your Wednesday while your phone is in your pocket.

  1. The first time this phone is part of a household, BinPilot asks whether it may send you notifications. Say yes - this is what tells you when somebody is waiting on an answer.

  2. When someone asks for one of your days, a notification arrives even if BinPilot is closed. Tap it and the app opens with Accept and Decline already in front of you.

  3. You get an email as well, so a notification you missed, swiped away or never allowed is not the only copy.

  4. Said no to notifications and want them back? That is your phone's Settings, then Apps, then BinPilot, then Notifications.

Worth knowing: This is separate from the bin reminders earlier in this part: those are about your own collection days, these are about somebody waiting on you.

Keep up to three addresses

Household covers three addresses; the free app keeps one. Each gets its own calendar, and each is watched independently - they are not one calendar with extra pins in it.

For example — You do the bins at your own place and at your father's, the two towns collect on different days, and you have missed his more than once.

  1. On the Schedule tab, use Add more addresses.

  2. Add it the way you added the first: type it, pick it from the list, confirm it.

  3. Give it a name with 'Name this address' - Home, Mum's, The cottage. This is worth doing rather than skipping: the name is what your reminders will call it.

  4. Switch between saved addresses with the numbered buttons on the card - 1, 2, 3. Only the one you are looking at is shown in full, so extra addresses never crowd the screen, and every address stays watched whichever is open.

What happens: Three separate calendars, three sets of reminders, one app - and each reminder tells you which house it means.

Worth knowing: If your subscription lapses you go back to one address. The others are not deleted, and they come back if you resubscribe.

Change the turn order

People move out, someone takes on more, a child gets old enough to help.

For example — Your daughter leaves for university in September and should come off the rota that week, not today.

  1. Open the Roster tab and drag people up or down into the order you want.

    The Rotation order card, with Change order beside it and each member listed in the order their turns come round.

    No iPhone capture: this screen is the same on both.

  2. Apply it now, or set a date for the new order to start.

  3. Somebody can also be taken out of the rotation without being removed from the household.

  4. Everyone else in the household is told the moment the new order takes effect - a notification on their phone and a notice in the app - because a new order can move their own duty days.

What happens: Turns pass in the new order from the date you chose.

Worth knowing: Only the household admin changes the order, the members and the invites. Everyone else manages their own duties, swaps and photos from the Schedule tab.

Know when the rotation order changes

The order decides whose turn falls when. If it changes and nobody tells you, you plan around a duty day that is no longer yours.

For example — The admin moves you later in the rotation while you are away, and your next turn is a week off from what you had in your head.

  1. When an admin changes the rotation order, every other member is told the moment it takes effect - a notification on the phone and a notice in the app, even if BinPilot is closed, as long as you allowed notifications when you joined.

  2. There is nothing to accept or decline. Open the app and the calendar already shows your new duty days.

What happens: Your duty days stay in step with the household without your having to check.

Worth knowing: Only the admin can change the order. If your days look wrong and you had no notice, check that notifications are allowed for BinPilot in your phone's settings.

Know what happens to the rotation when someone joins

Adding a person changes whose turn falls when, and the question people ask next is whether it disturbs a swap they had already agreed.

For example — Your son turns fourteen and joins the rota in March - but you and your neighbour-in-law already traded two turns in April, and neither of you wants that undone.

  1. While an invitation is still outstanding, nothing moves. A seat that has been invited but not yet accepted is held out of the rotation, so turns carry on exactly as before.

    The Rotation order card listing each member in the order their turns come round.

    No iPhone capture: this screen is the same on both.

  2. The moment they accept, they take the place their seat already holds in the order - a new seat is added at the bottom, so that is usually last - and their first turn comes round from there. You can move them before or after they accept.

  3. Turns that have not happened yet are recalculated, so upcoming turns can move to a different person. Days already past never change - the record of who took the bins out is kept as it happened.

  4. A swap the two of you already agreed STAYS WITH THE TWO OF YOU. The traded days are pinned to the people who agreed them, so a new member cannot inherit somebody else's swapped turn, and neither of you loses the side you took on.

  5. A swap request nobody has answered yet changes nothing either way - it only moves turns once it is accepted.

  6. If you would rather someone joined the household without taking turns at all, add them and take them out of the rotation; they keep their own calendar and reminders.

What happens: The new person takes turns from their first one onward, your agreed swaps are untouched, and the past stays as it was.

Worth knowing: A typed name you manage yourself counts in the rotation straight away - it is only an OUTSTANDING INVITATION that waits, because until someone accepts there is nobody to give the turn to.

Remove someone, or leave a household yourself

Households change.

For example — You are moving out and want your photos of somebody else's house gone.

  1. An admin removes a member from that person's seat on the Roster tab.

  2. To leave a household you belong to yourself, open your account - the circle with your initials at the top of the calendar - and tap Leave household.

  3. Leaving means losing access to that household's schedule, and the shared copies of your proof photos there are deleted. The ones on your own phone stay - they are your pictures of your own home. You can be invited back later.

What happens: The rotation carries on without that seat.

Worth knowing: Leaving one household does not affect any other you belong to, and you can start your own at your own address.

Part 4 - Your account and settings

None of this applies until you sign in, and you only sign in for Household.

Create an account and sign in

The free calendar needs no account at all. You make one only when you want Household, because a roster has to read the same on everybody's phone.

For example — You are setting up the roster and want it on your partner's phone too.

  1. Enter your email address and choose a password. It must be at least 8 characters.

  2. BinPilot emails you a code. Type it in to confirm the address is really yours.

  3. Tick Remember my email on this phone if you would like the address kept for next time. Only the email is stored, never your password, so signing back in is one field instead of two.

  4. That is it. You are signed in and the roster syncs to this device.

What happens: Your household follows your account rather than your phone, so a new phone does not mean starting again.

Worth knowing: If a signup looks like it did nothing, check your email for the code before trying again. The account is usually already created, and a second attempt will only tell you the address is in use. An account is never the only way forward: when you arrive here by tapping a Household feature, the same screen also offers Choose a plan, because a subscription does not need an account.

Change or reset your password

Passwords get forgotten.

For example — New phone, and the password you chose in March is gone.

  1. On the sign-in screen, ask for a reset for your email address.

  2. Follow the emailed link and choose a new password - at least 8 characters, typed twice so a typo cannot lock you out.

  3. Your household, roster and history are untouched.

What happens: You are back in, with everything as you left it.

Use BinPilot in your language

The app is translated into 27 languages.

For example — The person in your house who actually does the bins reads Portuguese more comfortably than English.

  1. Settings, then Language.

  2. Automatic follows your phone's language. Or pick one from the list.

What happens: The whole app switches immediately.

Unlock with your face or fingerprint

The free calendar has no account and nothing to protect, so this only appears once you have signed in to a Household. What it protects is your sign-in - and behind it your household: who lives there, whose turn it is, and photos taken outside your home.

For example — You open the app most days and would rather not type a password at the front door with an armful of shopping.

  1. Settings, then Face / fingerprint unlock. It sits under Security, and only appears when you are signed in.

  2. Turn it on. Your sign-in is then kept on this phone behind the screen lock you already use, so you are not typing a password every time you open the app.

  3. There is nothing to choose between face and fingerprint. BinPilot asks your phone for the strongest sensor it has and uses that, so you get one prompt rather than a menu.

  4. Signing out does not undo it. The enrolment stays on this phone, so the sign-in screen offers your face or fingerprint again instead of the password - as long as BinPilot still has your email from Remember my email on this phone.

What happens: The app opens with the same gesture you already use to unlock the phone, and your password stays available if the sensor will not read.

Worth knowing: Turn it off on a shared phone: it keeps YOUR sign-in ready on that device. If you do not see the setting at all, either you are not signed in yet, or the phone has no face or fingerprint enrolled - set one up in your phone's own settings first. It can also switch itself off after a factory reset or a restore onto a new phone, because the stored sign-in did not come with you; sign in once more and turn it back on.

Know what happens to your data if you cancel

So there is no unpleasant surprise, and so you know in advance what you would have to set up again.

For example — The trial is ending and you want to know exactly what you lose, and what you keep, before you decide.

  1. Your calendar and the Sort look-up carry on exactly as before. They are free, they need no account, and cancelling does not touch them.

  2. Reminders are switched off.

  3. You go back to a single address: the one you were last looking at. The second and third are removed from the app, so if you resubscribe you add them again. If you want them, print or note them down first.

  4. The duty roster pauses. Names, swaps and proof photos are hidden - but the household itself, its members and its turn order are not deleted. They come back as they were when the subscription is renewed.

  5. Proof photos are on their own clock regardless, and expire whether or not you are subscribed.

What happens: You keep the thing you came for. The shared-household layer pauses rather than disappearing, and the only thing you genuinely have to redo is your extra addresses.

Worth knowing: If you are a MEMBER of somebody else's household and their subscription lapses, the app tells you plainly that the rotation is paused and their admin can renew to restore it. Your own collection schedule is unaffected. Deleting your account is a different thing entirely, and is not reversible - see that task.

See which devices are using your subscription

Your plan covers a set number of devices, and a phone you no longer own should not keep holding one.

For example — You have upgraded your phone twice this year and the new one will not sign in.

  1. Settings, then Your devices.

  2. You see each device currently using a slot.

  3. Free the slot belonging to any device you no longer use.

What happens: The slot comes back immediately and the next device can sign in.

Worth knowing: This is why the screen exists. Before it, replacing your phone a few times could quietly use up every slot with no way to get one back.

Read the privacy policy and the terms

You should not have to go and find a website to learn what an app does with your information.

For example — You are about to put your address and your family's names into an app and would like to read the terms first.

  1. Settings, then Privacy Policy or Terms of Use, under Legal.

    The bottom of Settings: Privacy Policy and Terms of Use under Legal, above the Your data section.

    No iPhone capture: this screen is the same on both.

  2. Both open inside the app.

What happens: They are part of the app itself, so they open with no connection and cannot go missing.

Delete your account

You are entitled to leave.

For example — You are leaving, and you want your data to leave with you.

  1. Settings, then your account, then delete.

  2. You are asked to type the word DELETE. That is deliberate: a second 'are you sure' button gets tapped out of habit, and this cannot be undone.

  3. If you are the admin of a household, deleting your account takes that household with it. Hand it over or warn the others first.

What happens: The account and its data are removed.

Worth knowing: Everything else destructive in BinPilot can be undone by an admin. This cannot.

Part 5 - If something looks wrong

The three things people ask about.

Your town is not listed

BinPilot only publishes a community once its schedule has been checked against the city's own sources.

For example — You live outside the towns BinPilot has verified and want to know whether it is coming.

  1. You will see a plain message saying the area is not covered, rather than a calendar.

  2. That is deliberate. Showing you a nearby town's days would look right and be wrong.

  3. You can register your address on unigata.com so we know where to go next.

What happens: You will be told the moment your area is verified.

The calendar stops part way through the year

Cities publish their calendars a year at a time.

For example — It is December and next year's dates are not there yet.

  1. Past the last published date, BinPilot says the schedule is not published beyond that day.

  2. It does not invent dates that look plausible.

  3. When your city publishes the next year, it appears on its own.

What happens: You can trust every date you can see.

You are offline

Bins happen whether or not you have signal.

For example — You are at the cottage with one bar of signal, wondering about the bins at home.

  1. Your saved schedule is on the device, so the calendar opens normally.

  2. If BinPilot could not refresh, it tells you when it last updated.

What happens: You still get an answer.

Tell us something is wrong

A wrong bin day is worth reporting, and 'it did not work' is hard to act on.

For example — Your green bin day looked wrong last week and you want it fixed for your whole street.

  1. Settings, then Diagnostics.

  2. It shows what the app recorded about itself - what it fetched, how long it took, what failed - newest first.

  3. Tap Copy and paste it into your message to us.

What happens: We can see what actually happened instead of guessing.

Worth knowing: The log holds no addresses, no names and no passwords. It is safe to send.

What it costs

Household, by how many people it covers. Everything in Part 1 and Part 2 is free, and always will be.

Plan5101520
Monthly$3.99$6.99$9.99$13.99
Annual$29.99$53.99$77.99$101.99
Lifetime$49.99$89.99$129.99$169.99

Worth knowing: these are the Canadian list prices. Your app store shows the price in your own currency, including any tax, at the moment you buy - and that is the price that governs. Every plan includes the 21-day free trial, and on every plan each member gets their own five devices.