Ohai is a thoughtful AI household manager with a native app and Apple/Google/Outlook calendar sync. Hermo lives in WhatsApp instead, no new app for you or your partner, and connects to Gmail natively. So the school email at 7am becomes a calendar event before drop-off without you having to forward anything.
Short version: most of what Ohai does, Hermo does too. Ohai has multi-provider calendar sync and an Instacart integration. Hermo lives in WhatsApp instead of a new app, and reads your inbox natively rather than asking you to forward.
| Ohai | Hermo | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | ✓ | ✓ |
| Shared family calendar | ✓ | ✓ |
| Shared to-do list | ✓ | ✓ |
| Meal planning | ✓ | ✓ |
| Reads your inbox automatically (no forwarding) | ✓ | |
| Multi-provider calendar sync (Google, Apple, Outlook) | ✓ | |
| Instacart grocery integration | ✓ | |
| Lives in WhatsApp (no new app to install) | ✓ | |
| Auto-categorises to-dos by household vertical (Fair Play) | ✓ | |
| Proactive Watchers (weekends, school holidays) | ✓ |
Both Hermo and Ohai are AI assistants for parents running a household. The differentiation isn’t the feature list. It’s what surface you live in, how the inbox is read, and what shows up before you ask.
Ohai is a native iOS and Android app. You download it, your partner downloads it, you both check it. Hermo lives in WhatsApp the family already uses. Voice note Hermo from anywhere. Your partner joins the household and uses the WhatsApp they already check fifty times a day. No habit change required, no new icon to remember to open.
With Ohai, you have to forward the email yourself for the AI to see it. If you don’t forward it, the date in it never makes the calendar. Hermo connects to Gmail natively through Google-audited OAuth. It reads the school newsletter at 7am and the calendar event lands before drop-off, without you forwarding a thing. Nothing slips because you didn’t think to forward it.
Hermo doesn’t send email, reply to anyone, or delete anything from your inbox.
Hermo has named Watchers: Weekend Watcher (three ideas every Friday), Half-term Watcher (fires weeks ahead), holiday-club deadline Watchers. And Familypedia, a queryable knowledge base both parents ask on their own WhatsApp. Ohai has AI reminders and a unified family hub, but they’re reactive. Hermo’s Watchers show up before you ask.
Hermo learns which household vertical each to-do belongs to (school, finance, medical, social) and tags it accordingly, in the spirit of Fair Play’s vertical breakdown. The list isn’t a generic pile: school items live with school items, admin with admin, so when you sit down to do a batch you’re not switching context every line.
Connect your inbox, message Hermo on WhatsApp, and watch the Invisible Load become a list both of you can see.