Top 5 Reasons to Use a Co-Parenting App (2024)

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.

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. Reimbursem*nts 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 visitation 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 attorney 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.

Your attorney 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 judge 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

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