2024-07-08T12:41:48-0500 2024-07-08T12:54:54-0500 True Why bother using a co-parenting app? Here are 5 good reasons why a co-parenting app can relieve your stress, organize your tasks, and make co-parenting easier. Why bother using a co-parenting app? Here are 5 good reasons why a co-parenting app can relieve your stress, organize your tasks, and make co-parenting easier. /sites/default/files/media/image/2024-01/coparenting-apps-1.jpg Co-Parenting on OurFamilyWizard
Published: Jul 8, 2024
Updated: Jul 8, 2024

Top 5 Reasons to Use a Co-Parenting App

Note: Not every detail in this article applies to every co-parenting app. But they all apply to the app recommended at the end. 

Co-parenting is stressful, complicated and often painful. But there’s one major way to make co-parenting easier: Use a co-parenting app.   

A co-parenting app can simplify, organize and automatically document your co-parenting life. It can help you cut costs, save time and protect your kids. It can’t turn your former partner into a different person, but it might be able to help you both develop new habits that slowly whittle down the conflict. 

If nothing else, it keeps all your co-parenting interactions in the same spot on your phone. It’s the convenient way to co-parent.  

Here are five key reasons to use a co-parenting app—plus a host of things that it can replace or reduce. 
 

Man using his phone.

1. Use just one app for co-parenting  

Co-parenting is complex—emotionally, of course, but also it just involves a lot of different tasks. And it takes up some brain space to remember: Did he send that schedule request on Instagram? Or text? Or was it a phone call?   

With a dedicated co-parenting app, you can stop searching through half a dozen other apps. If it’s related to co-parenting, then it’s in your co-parenting app.   

You can use a co-parenting app for all these things:  

  • Messages 
  • Audio calls 
  • Video calls 
  • Parenting time calendar 
  • Shared expenses and child support 
  • Photo sharing 
  • GPS check-ins 

A co-parenting app is magic for compartmentalizing—and this time we mean emotionally. You only get notifications about your co-parent from one app. No more tough conversations popping up when you’re just trying to text your daughter to see what she wants for dinner. (With some co-parenting apps, you can reduce alerts to a daily digest and only deal with them once a day.) 

Replace: Email, texting, social media DMs, FaceTime, Zoom, Meet, Venmo, Zelle, Cashapp, Google Docs, Google Drive, iCloud 

2. Everything is on the record, with zero extra effort  

Most co-parenting apps are secure and tamper-proof for your peace of mind. Once you receive a message, it’s recorded forever—messages can’t be edited or deleted. There’s no manipulation. And you can easily find messages by searching. 

Everything gets a digital paper trail. Reimbursements are recorded (and if a request is declined, that’s noted too). Some co-parenting apps record call logs, too, so you can even get virtual parenting time on the record. Schedule change requests are permanently stored. And that’s just a sampling. A good co-parenting app documents all digital activity between co-parents. 

If you want to demonstrate that you’re reliable, or document that you’re following the parenting plan or show how you and your co-parent communicate, it’s easy to download reports in case you need to share something with your lawyer or bring your records to court. 

You can generate those reports with just a few clicks. For example, you could create a tidy PDF of all messages you and your co-parent have sent this week, or all the messages you’ve sent on a certain topic or every message sent since you started using the app. You can download a report of your child support payment history, or a record of your GPS Check-ins to show that you reliably pick up the kids on time. Click, click, download.  

Replace: Sending screenshots, forwarding emails, searching in multiple places, worrying about deleted records 

 

Woman at work, sitting at desk with many papers.

3. Work smoothly with your family law professionals (and save money) 

If your app provides professional access, then your family law pro (such as an attorney, mediator, therapist, parenting coordinator, or guardian ad litem) can generate reports, too. They can see all your interactions in the app, so they’ll be better prepared to support or represent you. 

In most situations, these reports are court-admissible, which means you or your lawyer can present them to the justice.  

It also means you can save time and money. You won’t need to take a hundred screenshots, and your lawyer won’t have to sort through dozens of forwarded emails and compile everything into a single document.  

Your lawyer could save so much time by generating reports, and the difference could cover the cost of a premium co-parenting app. (Just think of how much your lawyer charges per hour.) 

Your pros can also work with you in the co-parenting app. For example, if you work with a parenting coordinator, they can help you and your co-parent resolve disputes directly in the app—and it’s easier for them because they can see all your interactions at a glance. Solving problems in the app, rather than taking them back to court, is convenient (and cheaper) for everyone.  

Replace: Tedious screenshotting, reviewing unpleasant conversations, paying your attorney to do busy work 
 

4. Conflict often decreases 

When everything is tamper-proof, there’s no more arguing over who said what, when. 

When everything’s on the record—and a lawyer or justice could easily review it—there’s more motivation to communicate respectfully. 

When there’s an automatic paper trail, both parents are motivated to stick to the parenting plan.  

When tailored tools help you avoid unnecessary messaging, you can avoid unnecessary frustration and sunken time. (For example, you can use a schedule change request form instead of sending a message about swapping parenting time.)  

Reduce: Endless frustration, unproductive messaging, emotional turmoil 
 

5. Shield the kids from conflict so they can have two happy homes 

A secure co-parenting app gives you a platform to manage your disagreements where the kids can’t overhear. And if the app has password protection and doesn’t show notification previews, then your kids will never accidentally catch a glimpse of an argument. 

If the app lessens the level of conflict—even if it’s just a little, or even if it’s just in front of the kids—that makes a huge difference.  

High-conflict divorces are considered ACEs, or adverse childhood experiences, which can affect children’s physical and mental health throughout the rest of their lives. Anything that reduces conflict or shields the child from conflict will limit those painful effects. 

Reduce: Worrying about how the divorce will affect your kids 
 

OurFamilyWizard makes co-parenting easier 

We care deeply about your experience of co-parenting. With OurFamilyWizard’s powerful and customizable tools, you can free up time, emotional energy and mental space. 

Here’s what sets OurFamilyWizard apart from other co-parenting apps: 

  1. Unlimited free, customizable reports 

  1. Truly permanent storage of messages and more 

  1. Accounts designed for family law professionals 

  1. A schedule change request form 

  1. First-viewed timestamps on messages 

  1. ToneMeter: Automatic suggestions for tweaking your messages to avoid triggering conflict (kind of like an emotional spellcheck) 

  1. Password protection + no previews in notifications 

  1. A dedicated server