Parents Want One Family-Management App
Parents are struggling with fragmented digital tools and overwhelming data related to their children and household management. Existing apps often fail to address the specific needs of families, leading to frustration, duplicated efforts, and a desire for more connected, privacy-focused solutions. They're building their own tools to solve these problems.
SOURCES (60)
“That's definitely a great idea! Do you have any other questions you'd be looking for in a product like this?”
“The problem is they don’t use a tool at all. Or if the do, only one person knows the master password and that’s the person that passes away and leaves their spouse locked out of important things or all the passwords are in a notebook somewhere that’s impossible to find the one you need and when you do find the account in the notebook there are multiple password changes, they’re the only passwords I’ve ever used and none of them work. In this case, the problem isn’t going to be solved with an app”
“Tailscale. All of my family is on iOS, so I setup a mix of Shortcuts and Automations to connect/disconnect Tailscale upon opening specific apps. For example, there’s a Shortcut that is labeled ‘Immich’ and lives on their iPhone Home Screen. When that’s selected, the following happens: 1) connect to Tailscale 2) wait 3 seconds (this allows the VPN to start) 3) open a Immich. When Immich is closed, there’s an Automation setup to disconnect from Tailscale. Been working very well over the last year.”
“just install the native apps or add web shortcuts to their homescreen. anything more complicated and they wont use it.”
“I am looking for a small group of testers for Bebelul Meu, an installable web app for tracking a baby's daily care and development. It includes feeding timers and history, sleep, diapers, temperature, growth measurements, vaccinations, treatments, diversification and milestones. The interface is available in Romanian, English and Italian. Test link: https://bebelulmeu.ro The most useful feedback would be: - Can you complete onboarding without guidance? - Can you record a feed or diaper chang”
“I have to say the same (parent of an 8yo and 15yo here, FWIW) I would not want them using anything with unrestricted internet access until at least secondary school (that's 12 yo and above here). Even then the older one is using the internet after a decent number of chats about safety and soforth, and we're an open enough family for her to come to use with issues. Because social media is just so massively corrosive right now. (and she's told me of a former primary classmate - admitte”
“I'd keep it simple at first. The real challenge is getting family members to use it consistently. A photo archive, family tree, and calendar would probably get more use than a full wiki right away. If those stick, then you can add trip pages and other stuff later.”
“Interesting. I might have to get a cheapo tablet for that, because mounting it in my kitchen to be able to have it pull up Mealie on a dime would be a sick use for it.”
“Parent to a 3.5 year old and a 1.5 year old that does what big bro does.. These questions are real and scary. I think we could talk for hours about screen time for kids these ages, but the short answer is, today's kids are watching way to much TV for their little brain to handle, way to many high dopamin games on the iPad, colourful coco melon videos on YouTube, and this sadly ruin the small brains and today's parent generation doesn't see this. Technology and kids don't go hand”
“I love it! Kinda a similar story here. My wife and I got a really fancy scanner and we took it upon ourselves to take on the HUGE undertaking of digitizing all the old photo prints, slides, and negatives from both our families. I was (and still am) planning on hosting them on a server with Immich + Jellyfin (for old family videos), but I want a site to host stories and history along-side it. Similarly, I figured I'd go a similar markdown file approach if I did implement a full family "w”
“parents of 3–6 year olds are not on this sub in any number, which is the actual constraint on this feedback round, not the questions you wrote. the ones you want are already posting. "he asks two hundred questions a day and i have started handing him the ipad" is a sentence people write every week, and it contains all five of your questions already answered. 😔 r/toddlers and r/Parenting produce them daily. reply to the guilt rather than the device, then ask which part of the day they”
“About four years ago, my two youngest children—then around 1 and 4—were terribly sick over the course of several days. I was exhausted and running on very little sleep, trying to keep track of everything: their symptoms, how high their fevers had been, how long they’d lasted, when I’d given medication, and how much. At around 2:30am one morning, lying awake and feeling completely overwhelmed, I thought: “There must be a better way to manage family health.” Then I had an idea. Despite desperately”
“[ChatGPT] ★★ 2/5 (v1.2026.237) — It is fun for what it’s worth but I pray they come out with something for homeschool parents and kids. This could be so much better. They are falling short and like the rest of AI companies and are really forgetting about the families and students that really need something like ChatGPT to help them design, make and code things for school.”
“I like this idea and would definitely use it if this existed. Will give it a try at building this over the weekend”
“I’m a mom with a totally scattered brain and I’m getting overwhelmed with housework. I need an app that just sort of starts up with cleaning tasks. I already struggle to make my to-do lists so I don’t want something that I have to manually enter in tasks by myself. I’m trying to create less work not more. Obviously I know that anything I pick will need some customization over time but I’d rather be skipping tasks that don’t apply than spending hours on an app that is basically a fancy reminder n”
“Came across an item on Tiktok, a device of sorts to organize chores, set up chore rewards, meal planning, calnedar, etc. But im afraid to drop that kind of money on a Tiktok shop item that may be hit or miss. I know theres other models/brands that do similar things. Anyone use one of these? Would prefer one without a subscription but open to the idea if its worth it. Please share your experiences! submitted by /u/HallOfSquirrels [link] [comments]”
“My husband and I track everything in apple calendars (events, bills, paydays, meals, chores, etc) and the other day I had a thought- a digital calendar to look at in the morning would be so nice for us! I have tried paper calendars many many times. Love the idea. Hate updating them especially when I already use my phone calendar for updates.. Unfortunately for me I didn’t realize this would become a rabbit hole because there’s so many options and many of them require subscriptions that I’d prefe”
“I’m your target demographic, it’s a fun idea but I don’t think I would ever read my kids a bedtime story on a device/screen. Maybe we’re in the minority, but we try and limit screentime as much as possible, especially just before bed.”
“This is pretty cool, but reading the post makes it sound like you didn't try the built-in parental controls? Windows actually does a decent job of it natively. Your app looks great as well, don't get me wrong, and I like both the privacy aspect and the transparency with the kid.”
“I went looking for screen-time software for my kids and found two piles: subscriptions priced like the problem is permanent, and surveillance suites with screenshot galleries, keyloggers, and "stealth mode" - software built on the idea that the kid is a suspect. I didn't want to spy on my kids; I wanted a daily budget, a bedtime for the machine, and a record we could look at together. So I built it, it's been running in my house for a while, and I've now open-sourced it. Re”
“Thanks so much. Interested to hear what you think. Not sure where you from. Since it’s community based it’s still quite empty.”
“Thanks a lot! The "chaotic spreadsheet" is exactly what I wanted to replace with the dibs feature. Since your family coordinates gifts a lot, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the "Surprise Gift Groups" feature if you get a chance to try it out with them!”
“One-tap logging of feeds, sleep, diapers, pumping — built for 3 a.m., dark mode follows the clock Predictions from your baby's pattern (next feed, nap window), with the stats behind them Real partner accounts — everyone has their own login The Dutch timeline: consultatiebureau visits, RVP vaccinations, aangifte/kinderbijslag/toeslagen deadlines from the due date or birthdate, in English or Dutch, each with what to expect and what to ask Pregnancy mode that switches over the day the baby arri”
“Every app we tried for trying-to-conceive/pregnancy/newborn made it feel like a spreadsheet — ovulation "scores," percentile charts, streaks, ads wedged between kick counts. So we built Bloom instead: no ads, no third-party trackers, nothing sold. It covers fertility tracking, pregnancy week-by-week, a contraction timer, and newborn logging, but framed as a story — your home screen is a garden that grows with you, not a dashboard grading you. Two parents share one timeline, and the onl”
“Couple of reasons: 1. People are always carrying their phones around, so it's convenient. 2. The app stores the data locally, so there's no login or back-end servers with your important relationship data.”
“My oldest (12) just got their first phone recently. It is funny watching them figure out basic phone stuff, etiquette, how to hold a phone, texting, and stuff like that. They've seen my wife and I use phones and have occasionally talked to grandparents on our phones, but haven't really done that much with a phone on their own before now because honestly all my kids are terrors with electronics. Anyways they just called me while I was at the grocery store so they could tell me they figure”
“My son is 8 and no matter how many books I bought him, even ones I knew he'd actually like, the tablet always won. So instead of fighting it, I tried using it. How it works right now: - I add my son as a kid profile and assign him a book, or he picks one himself from his account - He reads it, then takes a quiz on it - I set the number of questions and how many points it's worth — an AI generates the quiz and grades the short answers - He earns the points - I set up rewards myself (extra”
“Fair concern. It does more than output a score: it shows what is pressuring the household, the month-ahead breathing room, costs after checkout, cost per use, and safer alternatives. But you’re right that it doesn’t currently have a dedicated partner-conversation step. I’m considering a simple “talk it through” summary: what the purchase solves, what it costs now and later, what gets squeezed, and the safer options. Would that make it feel useful instead of like a spreadsheet lecture?”
“Whats the differencr on creating an event on the native calendar app? or adding to the contact information a related date?”
“Looks like an interest concept to be honest, I just feel it needs more refinement. But I'd like something like this for a more private family / close meaningful friends group.”
“So the app solves the five biggest problems for parents when on the topic of screentime enforcement. There are, like you said, plenty of screentime trackers but none that actually enforce it truly well. The biggest problems parents have is the constant arguments with their children and not having a solution that would offer a reasonable compromise for both sides. That's why my app, Chorewell, solves this. It has a chore-for-reward type of system where the parents send the kids chores(optiona”
“My little one is currently 11 weeks and next week I go back to work (I had 12 weeks of leave). We have been using Huckleberry since the hospital when she was born to track feeds, diapers, naps, and wake windows. I’m wondering at what point do we stop tracking every little thing? I am only going to be working three full days which baby will be with my husband (he’s third shift) and my parents for a few hours on those days. I obviously don’t expect my parents to track every little thing and trust”
“Guarantee people learn quickly when you let them bear the consequences of those actions. My point was: The consequences are often felt by people who had nothing to do with the "mistake" (e.g. mom doesn't use the shopping list app so mom, dad, kids and guest have no food to eat tonight) The lesson they learn might not be to use a list app, it might be that you don't care if they suffer and they can't count on you. Not all consequences are small and temporary enough that they”
“My husband and I kept running into the same problem with productivity apps: They were great at managing tasks. But our actual lives aren't just tasks. There's a dentist appointment next Tuesday. A friend's birthday next month. The car needs servicing. The kid's daycare event is Friday. Someone needs to call the electrician. I need to remember something I thought about at 11pm last night. And somehow all of that ends up as a giant list of tasks that I eventually stop looking at. S”
“Hey daddit, Between work, kids, appointments, and household chores, keeping the family routine running smoothly sometimes feels like managing a logistics company with zero budget. My wife and I are trying to streamline our daily chaos so nothing falls through the cracks, but we're still trying to figure out what system works best long-term. I’m curious: how do you guys manage your family organization? Are you team shared Google Calendar? Physical whiteboard on the fridge? A specific app? Or”
“Mindwtr may cover the task and calendar side: it’s an open-source app with a Docker self-hosted stack, web/PWA and mobile clients, projects, Kanban, and calendar views. It doesn’t handle contacts or birthdays, so I’d pair it with a small contacts/birthday tool instead of forcing everything into one suite.”
“I’ve lost count of how many event apps I’ve downloaded only to open them once for the schedule and never again. The ones that get repeated use usually give people a reason to return, live updates, useful networking, or quick access to something they need on the floor. From conversations with other organizers, Eventify’s combination of reliable push notifications for changes plus basic attendee matching seems to perform better than apps that try to do everything. Has anyone tracked actual usage a”
“Now that my son is born I am really wanting to have books made of his photos that are on my cellphone. I currently am working on his baby book on the app called TheShortYears, but would like something a little more affordable for other photos. Any recommendations for this? I have seen something called Chatbooks, has anyone used this site? Any other recommendations? I also considered just having photos printed off and putting into a photo album… what are you doing to save your memories? sub”
“Love it. Great for taking things down quickly, you can make bulleted lists, pin anything to the top, have a shared list with an S/O - it’s great.”
“Basically title, what do you say when one of your close ones says something along the lines of : "Wow that's incredible, you're the one who's built this app?" Whereas you only do the management part, having a server, knowing how to use linux and docker/podman and have basic networking skills BUT you've never actually coded the kind of apps that you self host? submitted by /u/Major_Skuld [link] [comments]”
“My wife was on parental leave, so she decided to start building an app with Lovable. She's not a developer. But that didn't really matter. She went from an idea to a surprisingly polished app just by prompting. That “wow, I actually built this” moment was pretty crazy to watch. Then she published it, people started using it, and pretty quickly, some users started telling her they couldn't sign up. And that's when I thought: There should be a way to make these silent errors visibl”
“Currently is meant only for solo or couples. Roomate/flatmate mode will have up to 10 ppl but haven't released that yet. I left budgeting out on purpose because there are apps that do that pretty well already. Focused more on things i needed,”
Interesting concept. Would have loved to be part of the testing. I might just ask my wife if she wants us to participate in this. Does it work for more than 2…
“My kids are at the age where I can blink and suddenly they’re 20 feet away 😅. I’m looking for a small/discreet tracker I can hide in their shoe, clothing, waistband, etc., especially for airports, travel, theme parks and crowded places. I’ve looked at AirTags, but wondering if there’s something better with real-time GPS. 👀 What are you actually using and trusting with your little ones? AirTag? AngelSense? Jiobit? Something I haven’t heard of? TYIA! submitted by /u/tswt16 [link] ”
“the framing around ownership vs tasks is really sharp. curious though, how are you planning to reach the person who doesnt already know they have this problem? the one carrying the mental load usually isnt the one searching for a chore app”
“That is exactly what this is. Owning whole department, for example groceries or laundry.”
“We have a Toniebox. I hate the Toniebox. I wanted a better experience and to not drop $20 every time my kids took interest in something new. Turns out, all you need is an old Android phone, an $8 pack of NFC Tags and a Bluetooth speaker. You can create a playlist in Spotify and then write a NFC tag with a link to that playlist to play on your speaker. Attach the NFC tag to a printed picture of the content, an action figure, or anywhere else that's clever, and then tap it to the phone to play”