The Settings Page: A How-To Guide

The Settings page is your account control center. From here you can see your current plan and status, change or switch plans, manage billing and storage, pause your membership, turn on optional extra pages, set your email preferences, and export or wind down your account.

This guide walks through every function on the page.

Opening the Settings page

From the main menu on the left, click Settings (the gear icon). On a phone, Settings is not in the bottom bar, so tap More (the menu button at the bottom-right), then tap Settings in the menu that slides up.

The page is a single scrolling column of cards, in this order: Account, Storage, Plan & billing, Optional pages, Email preferences, and Data & account.

Note: This guide uses a sample account, "Demo Family," on the Scholar plan, so every card and option is visible. The Optional pages card appears on every plan, but on the Primer plan it offers only the Standardized Testing Log toggle; the other optional pages (Reminders, Manage My Co-op, Volunteer time, High School Transcript) are Scholar features and appear when you have Scholar access, including during the free trial.

Account

The Account card shows your profile at a glance.

The Status pill can read:

• Active (green): your subscription is paid and current.
• Free trial (green): you are inside your free trial with full Scholar access.
• Trial ended (amber): your trial has finished and you have not yet chosen a plan.
• Payment due (amber): a payment did not go through and needs attention.
• Paused (amber): your membership is paused until a date you chose.
• Cancelled (red): your subscription has ended.

Note: Email and password changes are not available on this card yet. A note under the card explains that they will be added once secure sign-in is enabled.

Storage

The Storage card shows how much of your plan's storage you have used, mostly from Gallery photos.

• A progress bar and a line below it read, for example, "1.2 GB of 10 GB used (12%) on the Scholar plan."
• If you are running low, a message tells you how much space is left and suggests moving to a larger plan.
• If storage is full, a message asks you to delete some photos to free up space, or move to a larger plan.

Add extra storage (a paid add-on)

If you have an active subscription, you can buy extra storage in 2 GB units. Each unit costs $1 per month (or $10 per year) and is billed on the same schedule as your plan.

1. Find the Extra storage line, which shows how much add-on space you currently have.
2. Click Add 2 GB to add one unit. Repeat to add more.
3. To reduce it, click Remove 2 GB (this button appears only once you have at least one unit).

Changes apply immediately. The cost is prorated for the rest of your current billing period, as the note under the buttons explains.

Note: If you do not have an active subscription yet, this card instead reads "Choose a plan below to add extra storage." Pick a plan first, then come back to add storage.

Note: On a Lifetime account, this card reads "Your Lifetime membership includes this storage. Extra storage add-ons are not available on Lifetime."

Plan & billing

The Plan & billing card is where you choose a plan, switch plans, open the billing portal, and pause your membership.

At the top, a summary line tells you where you stand:

• On a free trial: "You are on a free trial with full Scholar access until [date]. Choose a plan below to continue after it ends."
• Subscribed: "You are on the [plan] plan ([monthly or annual], renews [date])."
• Lifetime: "You have a Lifetime [tier] membership: permanent access with no recurring billing."
• Paused: "Your membership is paused until [date]." with a Resume now link.
• No subscription yet: "You are on the [plan] plan. No active subscription yet."

Choose monthly, annual, or lifetime pricing

Use the Monthly / Annual / Lifetime toggle to switch the prices shown on the plan cards below it. Annual pricing reflects the homeschool school-year discount (you pay for roughly eight months to get twelve months of access). Lifetime is a one-time purchase that gives you permanent access with no recurring billing, shown with a "Pays for itself within N years" note.

The plans

Two plan cards are shown side by side. Each shows the price at the interval you selected, plus what the plan includes.

Your current plan card is outlined and its button reads Current plan (and is not clickable). On the other plan, the button reads:

• Choose plan if you do not yet have an active subscription, or
• Switch to this plan if you already subscribe and want to change plans.

When Lifetime is selected, each plan's button instead reads Buy Lifetime.

Note: If you already have a Lifetime membership, the interval toggle and plan cards are hidden. In their place a summary line reads "You have a Lifetime [tier] membership: permanent access with no recurring billing.", and the Account card shows a "· Lifetime" suffix next to the plan name.

Start checkout

1. Set the Monthly / Annual / Lifetime toggle as you want it.
2. On the plan you want, click Choose plan (or Switch to this plan, or Buy Lifetime when Lifetime is selected).
3. A Subscribe window opens right inside the page with a secure Stripe payment form (titled Buy Lifetime for a Lifetime purchase). Enter your card details there.
4. When payment is done, click Done to close the window. Your plan updates within a few moments.

To cancel out without paying, click Close in the top-right of the window. No changes are made.

Note: Payment is handled securely by Stripe. The note under the plans reminds you that you can change or cancel any time from Manage billing.

Manage billing (the Stripe billing portal)

If your account already has billing set up, a Manage billing button sits in the top-right of the card. Click it to open Stripe's secure billing portal in a new tab, where you can:

• Update your card or payment method.
• Download invoices and receipts.
• Change or cancel your subscription.
• Reactivate a cancelled account.

Pause your membership

If you have an active subscription and it is not already paused, you can pause both billing and access until a date you choose (up to one year out).

1. Click Pause membership.
2. In the form that appears, pick a Resume on date.
3. Click Pause until this date.

Your membership resumes automatically on that date, or you can end the pause early with the Resume now link on the summary line.

Important: A membership can be paused only once per calendar year. If you have already used your pause this year, the button is replaced with a note saying so, and you cannot pause again until next year.

Important: Pause before your billing date. If you pause after your next billing date has passed, the pause begins only after that next billing date (you are billed once more first).

Optional pages

The Optional pages card lets you add extra pages to your left-hand menu, turning each on only if you want it. It appears on every plan. On the Primer plan it offers the Standardized Testing Log toggle; the remaining pages are Scholar features and appear when you have Scholar access, including during the free trial.

1. Tick any of the optional pages you want to use.
2. Click Save pages.

The Save pages button stays disabled until you actually change one of the toggles. Once saved, each page appears in your menu right away. Untick a box and save again to remove a page from the menu.

Tip: Each optional page has its own how-to guide right here in Help & Guides. Turn a page on, then open its guide to learn what it does.

Email preferences

The Email preferences card controls whether we send you marketing email.

1. Tick or untick Send me product news and blog updates.
2. Click Save preferences.

A confirmation message appears: "Subscribed. You will receive product and blog updates." when you opt in, or "Unsubscribed from marketing email." when you opt out. The Save preferences button is disabled until you change the toggle.

Note: We use double opt-in and honor one-click unsubscribe. Account and billing emails (such as receipts and password resets) are always sent, regardless of this setting.

Data & account

The Data & account card lets you download everything in your account, and explains how cancellation and data retention work.

Download my data

Click Download my data to export your whole account as a single JSON file named chalk-and-chart-export.json. The button briefly reads "Preparing..." and then the file downloads through your browser. A confirmation "Your data export has downloaded." appears when it is done.

Cancellation and data retention

Cancelling and reactivating are handled from Manage billing in the Plan & billing card above (not from this card). The note here explains the retention schedule after a cancellation:

• Your data is archived for 180 days before it is permanently deleted.
• We send a notice 30 days ahead of deletion.

If your account is archived, a colored banner appears at the top of this card telling you the exact date your data will be deleted, and reminding you to download it (or reactivate from Manage billing) before then. The banner turns red inside the final 30-day window.

Quick reference

Screenshots use a sample "Demo Family" account on the Scholar plan.