The popular apps aiming to tame the chaos of family life

“My husband and I couldn’t live without three apps,” says Jo O’Connell from Bournemouth in Dorset.

She lives with her husband Jonathan, their two children Bethany and Bo, and a rescue dog. In addition to coping with household and family responsibilities, she also runs her own PR firm.

“Everyone has a busy life,” she says. “There’s schoolwork, appointments, grocery shopping…everything requires our constant attention.

The O’Connells turned to technology, looking for apps that would update their phones instantly and give them real-time shared information.

Trello is a list making app that family uses to keep track of chores, manage a home renovation, list account passwords, favorite recipes, and Christmas and birthday gifts.

They use Google Calendar to sync activities and OurGrocories to plan meals and share grocery lists.

“The pace of life is accelerating,” says Ms. O’Connell. “It can be overwhelming. We never stop.”

Research shows that communication is key to maintaining a relationship during stressful times.

With the increasing pressures of modern life, is the way we communicate with our partners changing?

Lou Baltruschat Hollis, 35, from Bedfordshire, is another working parent who has a busy schedule. She lives with her husband and their two boys.

“Running a full-time business and having two kids – there’s always a lot going on in our lives,” she says.

Research from UN Women suggests that women have also taken on a greater burden of household chores during the pandemic. So could technology help—among the multitude of apps promising to help families manage their lives together, which ones are popular?

Ms. Baltruschat Hollis tested various apps. Then she had a brainwave: to repurpose an existing app she was already using for her online business. Notion is project management software used for note taking and task management.

“I’ve found it so helpful to break things down – from cleaning to Christmas,” says Ms. Baltruschat Hollis. “Using this technology feels easy and streamlined. It makes life easier.”

When Steven Rueter, 32, of San Francisco, and his now-wife Lily first moved in together, they found they had to share new shared responsibilities.

“We’ve learned that the seemingly simple tasks of housekeeping can really add up,” says Rueter. “I figured there had to be an app for that, so I built Merge.”

The task management app Merge was launched in 2017.

“It helps couples to organize the everyday life of living together,” says Rueter. “The growth to tens of thousands of users was unexpected. Membership continues to grow every day.”

But it’s not just about coping with everyday tasks in life. After a few largely fun-free years, apps geared towards helping couples get their lives back are popping up during the pandemic. Apps to help organize adventures, plan a family, or just spend quality time together.

“We use quite a lot of apps as a couple,” says Lavina Dsouza, 34, from Leeds. “Some to track expenses or for daily tasks. But mostly we use them for travel.”

Previously, Ms. Dsouza and her husband lost track of budgets and ended up paying more than planned. Now they use a range of apps to plan their adventures.

“We especially like TripIt,” she says. “It keeps track of all our reservations and tickets, so we don’t fight [over] who was in charge?”

When Tom, 35, and Madeleine, 32, of Whiteley, from Surrey, found out they were expecting their first child, they turned to an app called Children to help them name their new baby.

“It was a fun way to do something that was otherwise pretty boring,” says Mr. Whitely. “We haven’t been in the dating scene for a while, so doing something Tinder-style was a little fun!”

Kinder uses the swipe-to-like feature of the dating app Tinder. It was launched in 2016 by Dutch developer Krijn Haasnoot.

In the first year after launch, around 3,000 people downloaded the app. The app went viral in 2018 and has now been downloaded 1.5 million times.

“Technology can improve ‘old’ ways of working by making it more fun,” says Haasnoot.

Another app similar in design to Tinder is Cobble, which promises “less scheduling, more time together.”

“I got tired of going back and forth with my husband every night about what we were making for dinner,” says founder Jordan Scott. “While there were tons of great resources out there, there wasn’t anything that could help us make a decision together.”

Ms. Scott launched the decision-making app, Cobble, in June 2020. Since then, Cobble has grown to a team of 16, and this year plans to launch firmly in 15 new cities.

Cobble makes “decisions” easy, says Ms. Scott – what to watch on TV, what bar to go to, where to take a little break.

“Gone are the days of sending 50 text messages back and forth or going in circles about what to watch or what to order. We don’t have to waste so much time.”

All the apps mentioned so far could make life more efficient – but do they just add another layer of screen-based activities?

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According to DataReportal, people aged 16 to 64 already spend around seven hours a day on connected devices.

Recent studies have shown that screen time often replaces healthy behaviors like physical activity and sleep and can make us feel disconnected and lead to loneliness and depression.

Jeremy Edge, founder of internet addiction counseling service Escapingthe.com, expresses some concerns. He helps people suffering from gaming disorder, social media addiction and other problematic screen usage.

He says when we use our devices while in the company of others, we “phub” or ignore someone in favor of our phones, which “damages the relationship and makes people feel disconnected.”

Mr Edge says social media should be used to connect with loved ones and organize a place to personally spend time together.

“Great relationships are built face-to-face in the physical world,” he says. “Couples need time to converse and network without screens or distractions.”

But back in Bournemouth, Ms O’Connell says using technology as a tool can mean we can spend more time with loved ones.

“Just having a few apps can make life easier,” she says, “so you can spend more time doing what you love with those you love.”