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, as well as a rescue dog. In addition to juggling the responsibilities of home and family, she also runs her own public relations firm.

“Everyone has busy lives,” she says. “There’s schoolwork, appointments, shopping…everything constantly demands our attention. We used to book twice, waiting to come home to look at a calendar or the shopping list on the fridge.”

The O’Connells turned to technology for apps that would update on their phones immediately, giving them shared information in real time.

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

They use Google Calendar to sync activities and OurGroceries to plan meals and share shopping lists.

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

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Lou Baltruschat Hollis, 35, from Bedfordshire, is another working dad juggling his busy schedule. He lives with her husband and her two young children.

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

UN Women research suggests that women also shouldered a greater burden of domestic work during the pandemic. So could technology help? Among the multitude of apps that promise to help families manage their lives collaboratively, which ones are popular?

Ms. Baltruschat Hollis tried various applications. She then came up with an idea: reuse an existing app that she was already using for her online business. Notion is project management software used for taking notes and managing tasks.

“I found it very helpful to compartmentalize things, from cleaning to Christmas,” says Ms. Baltruschat Hollis. “Using this technology feels simple and streamlined. It makes life easier.”

When Steven Rueter, 32, of San Francisco, and his now wife, Lily, moved in together for the first time, they found they had new shared responsibilities to dish out.

“We learned that the seemingly simple tasks of running a home can really add up,” says Mr. Rueter. “I thought there had to be an app for this, so I created Merge.”

The task management app, Merge, was released in 2017.

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

But it’s not just about managing the mundane tasks of life. After what has been a largely fun-free couple of years, during the pandemic, apps designed to help couples get their lives back on track are emerging. Apps that help organize adventures, make plans for a family, or just spend quality time together.

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

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

“We especially like TripIt,” she says. “It keeps track of all our reservations and tickets, so we’re not arguing [over] Who was in charge!”

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

“It was a fun way to do something that would otherwise be pretty boring,” says Mr. Whitely. “We’d been out of the dating scene for a while, so doing something Tinder-esque was kind of fun!”

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

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

“Technology can improve ‘old’ ways of doing things by making them more fun,” says Mr Haasnoot.

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

“I was tired of going back and forth with my husband every night about what we would make for dinner,” says founder Jordan Scott. “While there were tons of great resources available, there was nothing to help us make a decision collaboratively.”

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

Cobble makes “making decisions” easy, says Ms. Scott: what to watch on TV, which bar to go to, where to go on a mini break.

“Gone are the days of sending 50 texts back and forth, or going around in circles about what to watch or what to order. We don’t need to waste time like this.”

All the apps mentioned so far can make life more efficient, but do they just add another layer of screen-based activity?

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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 instead of making us feel more connected, it can lead to loneliness and depression.

Jeremy Edge, founder of internet addiction counseling service Escapingthe.com, raises some concerns. He helps people who suffer from gaming disorders, social media addiction, and other problematic screen usage.

He says that if we’re on our devices while in the company of others we’re ‘phubbing’, or ignoring someone in favor of our phones, which “damages the relationship and leaves people feeling disconnected.”

Edge says social media should be used to contact loved ones and set up a place to spend time together in person.

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

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

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