The Best Family Calendar App
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The #1 spot for the best family calendar app goes to the Cozi Family Calendar.
Cozi is a free app designed to help families stay organized.
It’s available on both iPhone and Android mobile devices. You can also access it from your computer.
Why Cozi wins
The Cozi Family Organizer is one that gets it right. It’s an award-winning app that comes preloaded with features designed just for busy families.
Here’s a quick list of Cozi’s features:
- Shared family calendar
- Set up reminders
- Create to-do lists
- Shopping lists
- Recipe storage & meal planning
- Daily agenda
The Cozi calendar
Cozi’s shared family calendar means every family member has access to the same color-coded calendar where you are able to view everyone’s schedule at once.
You can also filter by family member, which is convenient.
The calendar gives you one central place to organize your family’s schedules, appointments, activities, and other important events.
You can also set reminders.
Reminders may be set to trigger at the time of an event, 5 minutes before, or all the way up to 2 weeks before.
Shopping and to-do lists
If you’re a list-maker like I am, you’ll be excited to hear that Cozi has a whole section dedicated to list-making.
There are two main types of lists you can make within the Cozi app:
- A shopping list
- A to-do list
A shopping list is automatically shared with each family member.
To-do lists can be shareable too, but you also have the option of creating private ones for yourself.
QUICK TIP: Swipe left to edit or delete a list.
Create chore lists and personalized to-do lists or browse through Cozi’s pre-made list library for more ideas.
Family recipe box
Cozi also allows you to create a family recipe box, which I love.
One of my biggest meal planning tips is to have a personalized “recipe bank” like this to pull from when you’re planning your meals. It’s a huge time saver.
There are several ways to fill up your Family Recipe Box:
- Import recipes from around the web. You just need the URL of the recipe you’d like to import.
- Add your own family favorites from scratch.
- Browse recipes already within the app and add them to your recipe box.
Each recipe can then be added to your Cozi Calendar as breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a snack.
Add recipes straight from your recipe box (see below) to your calendar, so everyone will be able to see what’s for dinner.
There’s also a feature where you can click “add to shopping list” and the list of ingredients will be added to a shopping list. Handy, right?
Integrations available
The Cozi Family Organizer integrates with other calendar programs including Google Calendar, Outlook, and Apple Calendar.
You may share appointments and events to OR from Cozi.
Cozi has also added new integrations that allow you to add your children’s classroom calendars to the Cozi app.
Other calendars you can integrate with Cozi:
- Google Calendar
- Apple Calendar
- Apple Watch (read-only)
- Outlook
- Schoology
- Google Classroom
- Canvas
- Outschool
- TeamSnap
- DAKBoard
- Team Cowboy
Is the Cozi calendar a free app?
Cozi is a free app, yes, but there is an upgrade option that’s called Cozi Gold.
Cozi Gold is $29.99 per year. Here are the extra features you get:
- No ads
- Mobile month view – Gives you the option of a monthly view instead of the standard weekly view.
- Calendar search
- Multiple reminders
- Ability to change notifications
- Shopping mode – Your screen won’t turn black while you’re viewing your shopping list. This is a handy feature to have while you’re at the grocery store.
- Birthday tracker
So, yes, you do get quite a bit more plus NO ads.
However, the ads within the app are not terribly intrusive and you still get the main features with the free plan:
- Shared family account
- Color-coded calendar
- Shopping lists
- Shared to-do lists
- Family recipe box & meal planning
Cozi is an excellent option if you are searching for a family calendar app (with positive reviews at the time of writing this) for busy families – no matter which plan you choose.
Cozi vs Google Calendar
If you’re already using Google Calendar with Gmail, the Cozi calendar may feel a little bit redundant.
That being said, there are some very distinct differences between these two apps that might make one stand out more than the other for your family.
For example, if you’re looking to maintain an ultra-organized schedule, Cozi is the way to go.
This isn’t your standard calendar app. It’s specifically designed for families with lots of different schedules and activities.
For example, you can quickly add a new event in seconds by creating a daily, weekly, or monthly recurring schedule. Plus, Cozi comes preloaded with “Cozi To-Dos”, which are household tasks you can keep track of and manage through the app.
Another benefit of using Cozi is its ability to share a grocery list with everyone in your family. Best of all, everyone can add to it.
Cozi makes it easy to keep track of everyone’s schedules, while Google Calendar might be better for those who want to maintain their own personal calendars.
Final thoughts on Cozi
So, is a shared family calendar a must-have for every household?
That’s going to depend on your family and your preferences. If you have a very busy family with several schedules to manage, Cozi may be the answer.
This app comes with all the features you need in a family calendar app, but it also includes some additional perks that can help simplify your busy schedule.
All in all, if you’re looking for a way to stay organized and keep your family in sync (and you love lists, schedules, and all things organization), I recommend giving it a try!
If you’re looking for the best calendar app for families, the Cozi Calendar app is a great choice if you have to manage multiple busy schedules.
If you haven’t downloaded it yet, I highly recommend giving it a try.
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we have used Cozi family calendar for at least 8 years. Last year they removed the address book feature, which was something that was really helpful when on the go. Now I am struggling with their new interface. I’ve reloaded it multiple times, and there is nothing in the header, and no year is ever shown to help figure out if you’ve scrolled to last year (it is VERY sensitive to scrolling, so I’ve ended up in last year and beyond without being able to figure out where I am) While I do like Cozi calendar, I find the interface on my PC to be quite annoying, and lacks information that I depend on, like being able to advance or look back to the past, and no means to look at last month. When I called and asked if my old calendar could be reloaded, (we use it to help with taxes) I was told ‘nope, you’re out of luck”. Now when I looked to figure out where I was, I see some years past, but it only contains those entries that were “recurring” entries, and not the individual daily entries. I think they released this PC version before it was ready. I even offered to help with doing testing on the interface, but was abruptly told no, it was done. Beware! give it some time to mature, and let them figure out all the bugs before using