I installed a digital wall calendar at a friend’s home a few months ago, and her first question was the one I keep asking myself whenever I try these gadgets: “Does it have a voice assistant?” That seems to be the one missing piece for most of these devices. Digital wall calendars have surged in popularity this year, helped along by the success of the Skylight Calendar. After trying several models in my own house, I understand why. They pull together any of the calendars you already use—Google Calendar, iCalendar, Outlook Calendar, and so on—and display them on a single screen in the kitchen or living room.
For families like mine, who rely heavily on Google Calendar but don’t want to be glued to our phones when we talk about plans, these screens are a blessing. They can also serve as household management hubs, offering meal‑planning tools, chore trackers, to‑do lists, photo slideshows that act as digital frames, and even financial management for children when you choose the Greenlight Family Hub.
The Greenlight Family Hub is priced at $299 on Amazon for the 15.6‑inch model, currently discounted to $279 (a 7 % reduction) when purchased with the Family Hub+ package. What sets this device apart is the breadth of features it bundles. In addition to its origins as a banking tool for parents and teens, it adds family location tracking, using the Greenlight app on a family member’s phone or an optional GPS tracker for younger kids. The only feature locked behind a $10‑per‑month subscription is a voice assistant, which finally gives the device the capability I have been looking for.
Greenlight’s own voice assistant has proven easy to use and often provides thoughtful, accurate answers. It raises the question of why other digital wall calendars lack voice support, and why smart displays that do have voice assistants rarely include full‑page calendars and chore charts.
Greenlight positions the Hub as more than just a calendar. The company is using its existing suite of financial and parental‑control tools as a foundation, which is why it calls the product a Family Hub rather than a simple calendar. Starting as a banking app, Greenlight has expanded into managing chores, kids’ spending, and family locations, creating a comprehensive platform that brings calendars, chores, finances, and whereabouts together on one screen.
“We noticed that voice assistants have been around for over a decade, yet when building the specs for Family Hub, we saw that voice support was missing in the digital calendar market,” said Sushil Sharma, Greenlight’s chief product officer. “Our goal with Hub was to create an all‑in‑one command center for busy families to engage with technology in a way that feels natural and seamless. By combining a voice assistant feature with a centralized home display, we can reduce the number of devices families need.”
Sharma also highlighted that voice support makes the Hub more accessible for younger children who may not read or type well, aligning with expectations set by years of smart speakers and smartphones offering voice interaction.
The assistant operates on modern AI, similar to the latest versions of Alexa and Google Assistant, and relies on large language models enhanced with Greenlight’s proprietary safety tools designed for families. This means the assistant avoids sensitive or inappropriate topics—so it won’t accidentally tell a child that Santa isn’t real—while still handling timers, everyday questions, and displaying the conversation on the right side of the screen, much like the Alexa experience on an Echo Show.
The Hub is supposed to activate only when it hears its wake phrase, “Hey Greenlight.” In practice, I found it a bit overly eager, sometimes waking on its own and continuing to listen for follow‑up commands. If the family continues a normal conversation after a question, the assistant may try to answer unintended queries, prompting me to say “stop.” This is a common issue with AI‑driven voice assistants; my Google Gemini‑powered speaker behaves similarly, and both my son and I quickly say “Google, stop!” when we’re interrupted.
When I shared the long list of features with my editor, she called the device a “Big Brother machine.” The concern is understandable—tracking location and financial data on a device that looks like a simple calendar could feel invasive. I ran into a hiccup during setup when the app kept me on the financial onboarding path, requiring support to clear my information so I could finish the installation without linking a child’s bank card. Greenlight says it is fixing that issue in the app.
Despite the occasional “Big Brother” vibe, the Hub offers a surprisingly rich set of tools for families, even if the microphone and data‑tracking capabilities feel a bit intense for some users.