Co-parenting apps

Signposts, not endorsements

This is information, not legal advice, and we are not paid by any of these apps. They are listed so you can compare them, not as a recommendation of one over another. Check each app’s current features, price and privacy terms yourself before you rely on it.

A co-parenting app can take a lot of the heat out of arranging things. Instead of texts, emails and WhatsApp scattered across three places, you get one calm channel, a shared calendar, and a record. That record is the real prize: most of these apps timestamp every message and lock it so it cannot be edited later, which is exactly the kind of clear, dated history a court can look at if it ever comes to that.

The usual advice still holds, write everything as if a judge might read it. With these apps, they literally can.

What they are good for

• One place for messages, the schedule, handovers, expenses and documents.
• A tamper-proof, timestamped record of who said what and when.
• A shared calendar, so nobody “forgets” a pickup or a parents’ evening.
• Splitting costs without arguing over who paid for the school shoes.

The established apps

• OurFamilyWizard is the most established, and the one most often recognised in family courts here. Messaging with a locked log, a shared calendar, expense tracking, and a tone checker that flags heated wording before you send it. It is billed per parent, from £107.99 a year (more for the Premium and Max tiers), and has a UK presence.
• TalkingParents is also widely recognised by solicitors and mediators for its locked, timestamped record. As of March 2026 it is paid only, from $7 a month (prices in US dollars), with fee waivers for those who qualify.
• AppClose has messaging, expenses and a shared calendar, and is widely used. Since January 2026 it is a paid subscription, around $7.99 a month (prices in US dollars), though it still gives free accounts to parents on a low income and to survivors of domestic abuse, and offers a 60-day free trial.
• 2houses is strong on the shared calendar and expense-splitting side, handy for the logistics. It is £8.25 a month or £99 a year, and only one parent needs to subscribe, though its records do not carry the same court recognition as OurFamilyWizard.

Which ones do courts actually recognise?

Here is the honest version: no app is officially “court approved” in England & Wales. There is no such stamp. What actually matters is whether an app produces a tamper-proof, timestamped record you can export, and whether judges and solicitors are used to seeing it. On both counts OurFamilyWizard is the front-runner here, with TalkingParents close behind.

App	Locked, exportable record	Track record in UK family courts	Cost
OurFamilyWizard	Yes	Highest, most often recognised	From £107.99 a year, per parent
TalkingParents	Yes	Widely recognised	From $7 a month (USD), paid only
AppClose	Yes	Used, less established	$7.99 a month (USD); free for low income
2houses	Basic	Low	£8.25 a month, or £99 a year
The Coparent App	Claimed (“UK court compliant exports”)	New, unproven	£9 a month (2 users)

If a record for possible proceedings is your main reason for using an app, lean towards the names judges already know. If it is mostly about keeping the day to day calm and organised, the field is wider.

A newer UK option: The Coparent App

Most of the big names started in the United States. The Coparent App is a newer, UK-built option from Pittance Ltd, a Scottish company. It leans hard into keeping things calm rather than just logging them:

• an AI that rewrites heated messages before they send;
• a “Boundary Mode” that caps you at three messages until the other parent replies, so a row cannot spiral;
• a shared calendar with non-deletable events, GPS handover logging, expense and receipt tracking, and shared space for the children’s information;
• what it calls “UK court compliant exports” that neither parent can edit.

It is £9 a month for two users. As a new app it does not yet have the courtroom track record of the established names, so if a tamper-proof record for proceedings is your main aim, weigh that up. But the calm-by-design features are a genuine point of difference. As with everything here, it is a signpost, not a recommendation: try it and judge for yourself.

Use it as a calm channel, not a weapon

One warning, because it is easy to get wrong. These apps are not a trap to bait the other parent into looking bad, and a judge can spot that a mile off. The record cuts both ways, so the same rule applies as everywhere else on this site: stay calm, stay child-focused, keep it brief. Used that way, a shared app makes you look exactly like what you are trying to be, the reasonable one.

Where to get real help

• NACCC: co-parenting apps: a neutral overview from the National Association of Child Contact Centres.
• Family Mediation Council: if you are still working out the arrangements an app would hold, start with a MIAM.

Last reviewed: 12 June 2026. App features and prices change often, so check each one’s website for the current position before you rely on anything here.