Family Organization Is a Snap With Your iPhone in Hand

In the past, we’ve shared with you some great ways that you and your significant other can share to-do lists. But is that really enough for a busy family? No, sharing a to-do list is a healthy start, but there’s so much more you can do with your iPhone in hand to keep up with family organization.

Of all of the choices on the iOS App Store, Picniic offers perhaps the most complete feature set. Not only do you get shared calendars, shared to-do lists, and a family journal, but the app also allows you to search popular culinary sites for recipes.

The grid-based layout makes it easy to find exactly what you’re looking for within the app, and the included features are all well executed. If the free features aren’t cutting it, an inexpensive Premium subscription will unlock the ability to store important family information, locate family members, plan meals, and even keep track of your kids’ sports teams.

When it comes to a family calendar, shopping lists, to-dos, a recipe box, and even a family journal, Cozi Family Organizer has got you covered. You can color-code each person’s calendar, set reminders, share shopping and to-do lists, and keep track of special moments with photos. It is not only easy to use, but fun at the same time.

You can create multiple to-do lists, as well as calendars for every member of your household. You can even set up multiple shopping lists, helping make sure that anytime somebody is stopping at the grocery store, they just have to check the list to find out what else might be needed while they’re there.

Next up is the aptly-named Family Organizer – Calendar Planner. This app, though, is so much more than just a calendar planner. Each day sees you starting off looking at the Today screen, where you can check the weather forecast for the day, but that’s just the beginning.

Family Organizer also allows you to establish multiple to-do lists, shopping lists, and a recipe box. To provide even more functionality, you can import your photos into the app to liven things up and really personalize your planner. You can also select background music to play while the app is open, and set a passcode to prevent unauthorized access to your information.

For even more flexibility in your family organization, consider Hub Family Calendar. Within Hub, you can establish multiple lists of to-dos along with shopping lists, grocery checklists, and anything else you can think to categorize. You can also integrate with your calendars for setting reminders, but that’s not even close to all you can do with this app.

What really sets Hub Family Calendar apart from other family organization apps is the ability to create multiple “hubs” within the app. You could have one set of calendars, notes, and to-dos for your immediate family, and a completely separate one for that extended family reunion.

Last, but certainly not least, is Family Calendar by FamCal. Within this app, you can set up multiple to-do lists to keep everyone organized, specifying who gets notified about each task. This way, you can make sure the right person is alerted to do each chore. Whether you have a simple life or one with dozens of home improvement and repair projects going, FamCal has you covered.

You can also create your home shopping list along with shared to-do inventories. If that doesn’t cover everything, just leave a memo to let your loved ones know what’s going on and what you want them to do.

If you don’t want to install more apps on your iOS device, there’s plenty you can do with the built-in software that Apple provides you. Without even unlocking your iPhone, you can use Siri to set reminders that you can later share with your household members.

For jotting down memos, Apple’s Notes app has been greatly refined since iOS 9. It now supports attachments and rich text, something most of the above-mentioned apps don’t allow for. Finally, iCloud makes it a breeze to create shared calendars that can be accessed from your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or even other organization apps.