Best free apps to keep families connected
Jul 25, 2022
At RoomMate Cabins we love to help families stay together for longer, with our portable cabins available to rent around New Zealand.
Our portable cabins help hundreds of families across New Zealand stay close and connected – whether it’s by providing extra space for extended family, a sleepout for older kids, or a home office to allow caregivers to work from home.
Nowadays, technology has also developed to make it easier for families to stay in touch. With so many apps, websites and resources available, knowing which ones to choose can be tricky. In this blog we share some of our favourite FREE apps for families.
Google Family Calendar: The Shared Calendar
Organising your own schedule is hard enough. Staying on top of kids, partners, co-parents, and extended family members’ schedules is even harder. That’s where Google Calendar comes in. Google Calendar makes it easy to share and plan events with the entire fam.
First, you need a Google account (a Gmail email account), then you can invite family members to your Google Family. Anyone that you’ve invited to your Google Family can create, view, edit, or delete events on the Family calendar — as long as they’re signed into Google.
- Keep track of multiple schedules in one calendar
- Set up reminders and notifications so you don’t miss a thing
- Make co-parenting or shared living arrangements smoother
- Share your calendar with extended family, grandparents, or other caregivers
Cozi: The Family Organiser
Cozi is a family schedule organiser app that allows you to coordinate the schedules of every family member in one place, and keep the whole family connected and organised.
With Cozi, you can keep track of appointments, tasks, to-do lists or even menu plans. The app has a colour-coding feature that can assign a colour to each family member to make tracking easier.
- Keep track of everything from calendars to school schedules to shopping lists
- Access the app anywhere, anytime, and on any platform
- Get the whole family involved in meal planning and chores
Splitwise: The Expense Manger
Do you live with flatmates, adult kids, or family with whom you share expenses? Keeping track of costs and payments can be tricky! Splitwise makes it easy to keep track of shared expenses, whether it’s rent, groceries or Wi-Fi.
Splitwise keeps track of the total bill, how much each person owes and the outstanding balance, so you don’t have to keep reminding people when money is due.
- Split bills/expenses with anyone and track them in the app
- Set up monthly reminders, so everyone knows where they stand
- Settle an amount owed at any time and in any form of payment
WhatsApp: The Ultimate Messaging App
WhatsApp is a free messenger app that uses the internet to send messages, images, audio or video, and to make voice or video calls. Because WhatsApp uses the internet to send messages, it costs less to use than texting and calling, and is great for staying in touch with people overseas.
You can use WhatsApp to create groups with contacts. Groups are a great way to communicate with family members around different topics.
- Message and share images and videos with family, wherever they are
- Create groups to connect family members
- Phone and video call using data or Wi-Fi
Messenger Kids: The Messaging App for Kids
Messenger Kids is a free video calling and messaging app designed for kids aged 6 – 12 as an alternative to Facebook Messenger, which is for people over the age of 13.
Messenger Kids is a great way for parents to communicate with kids, and for kids to communicate with each other in a safe and controlled environment.
Parents can manage their child’s contact list, and kids can enjoy fun features like filters, stickers and games.
- Stay in touch with your kids easily if you’re away from home or they’re away from you
- Manage your kids’ account and contacts through the Parent Dashboard on your Facebook account
- Take part in individual or group video chat and messaging
- Use fun features like kid-friendly filters and stickers
Keep your family connected with a Roommate Cabin
If you’re looking for a solution to keep your family connected and under one roof (more or less!) a portable cabin from RoomMate Cabins could be for you!
RoomMate Cabins are under 30sqm and have no water connections, so you don’t require a permit for residential use in Auckland or anywhere else in NZ. We can usually deliver within Auckland and around NZ within a few days, subject to availability at the time of your enquiry. Your local RoomMate Cabins supplier will be able to let you know their current delivery timeframes and will add you to a waitlist if they don’t have one immediately available.
Contact your local RoomMate Cabins supplier today and take that first step toward keeping your family together for longer.