Two jobs, three schools, a soccer season and somebody’s orthodontist — in one place the whole family can see. FamPlan holds the settled bits and is honest about the rest: the party with no time yet, the ride nobody has claimed, the Saturday that is still a maybe. Then it keeps asking until they are answered.
Schedules, rides, chores and dinners. A free week to start, everyone in the family included.
Most families run on four calendars, a group chat, a fridge door and somebody’s memory. FamPlan puts all of it in one view — each person in their own color, so you can read the whole week at a glance or tap one name and see only theirs.
“Riley needs dropping at practice Saturday at noon, back at five.” FamPlan reads that and builds the event — the time, the place, who’s going, who’s driving. It asks about anything it couldn’t work out instead of guessing.
It lands on every phone in the family at once, and on the calendar app they already use. No forwarding, no screenshots, no “did you see my text?”
FamPlan works out real travel time from where you actually are and tells you when to leave — not a reminder at the start time, when leaving is already too late.
Every other calendar makes you invent a time before it will take the event. So the maybes live in a group chat instead, and get forgotten there. FamPlan takes them as they are — “Saturday, some point”, “over half term”, “Riley is finding out when” — and keeps them where you will see them.
Nothing reaches the calendar pretending to be settled when it is not. That is the difference between a plan and a list of hopes.
Describe it, dictate it to Siri, or share a text message straight into the app — a message from your daughter about Saturday becomes an event with the details filled in. It reads on your phone; the text never leaves the device.
Travel time from your current location to where the thing actually is — including the corner of the car park you always use, not the address at the front of the school.
Getting there and getting home are separate, because they usually have different answers. A trip nobody has taken is visibly unclaimed. A lift a friend’s parent is giving simply closes.
Children put requests on the calendar without being able to commit anyone else’s evening. A parent approves, and decides who’s driving.
Jobs with a deadline and a photo for proof, a running balance per kid, and payday on the day you actually pay. Or switch the money off and keep it purely as accountability.
FamPlan writes to the Calendar app and reads from it, so a work meeting and a pickup collide where you can see it. Attach FamPlan details to an event another app created rather than duplicating it.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner by day. Plan a slot from your own recipes or find one, let it fill the week around the allergy and the vegetarian, and it flags a clash instead of blocking it. Ingredients go straight onto the shopping list.
A named list for anything — pack for the lake, plan the party — yours or the whole family’s. A shopping list per store that sorts itself into aisles, with a big-tick mode for the trolley.
“Dentist Tuesday at 3” is an event. “Get milk” is a shopping item. “When is the game?” is a search. Say it in the app, to Siri, or from your Apple Watch, and FamPlan works out which and opens it for you to check.
A nudge before the thing. If a ride is still unclaimed or a chore is overdue, the person it concerns is asked first, then a parent — a few times a day at most, never in the night. A morning digest and a Sunday look at the week, by push or email.
What’s coming up, on your wrist, kept current by your phone. Dictate a sentence and it goes to the phone’s assistant.
Everybody you invite is covered — partner, kids, a grandparent who does the Thursday pickup. Only the person who sets it up ever pays. Nobody is asked to subscribe to take part in their own family’s plan.
The trial isn’t a smaller version of FamPlan — it’s all of it. Set up the family once, then install the app on everyone’s phone. One subscription covers the household: Premium from $2.49 a month or $26.99 a year, Basic $8.99 a year.
FamPlan for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch is with App Review now. Email us and we’ll let you know the day it opens.
Before you do: our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. They are short, they are specific about what we store and what stays on your phone, and they are worth the two minutes.