10 Best Parenting Apps to Make Life Easier

In 2024, there's an app for almost everything. You can use apps for community and networking opportunities, entertainment, location tracking, healthy sleep habits, meditation, and nearly anything else. Parenting apps are a critical development for those raising kids in the modern world, and they can take many different forms.

Parenting apps can be important for a diverse set of reasons. Some apps, like Joon, help you use evidence-based practices for behavior, screen time management, and routines. Other apps focus more on financial advice, location tracking or monitoring, or act as educational resources that help kids learn. 

The best parenting apps apply relevant research and use it for good while keeping your child safe and considering how their brain works. One great example is Joon.

The Joon app is a behavior management app for kids. Families use Joon to help kids finish daily tasks like homework and chores, stick to routines, improve behavior, and build self-esteem. Kids love it, too, because it plays like a game.

So, what should you know about parenting apps as a whole? What apps can help your family with specific challenges or parts of life? Let's discuss the best parenting apps for kids in popular categories, including chore and behavior management, education, family calendar and organization, and budgeting or finance apps. 

Chore and Behavior Management Apps

How do you make your kids do their chores? It's an age-old question for parents. For some, behavior is also a challenge. But, you want to navigate it correctly so that you use behavior management practices that benefit your child most.

Ideally, chore apps for kids should have sustainable incentives or rewards and a fun interface so that kids want to use them. Apps like Joon use those practices to help kids adopt new, healthy behaviors and routines without negative side effects.

The benefit of using a chore and behavior management app is that it decreases conflict between parents and their children while making chores more fun and doable for kids. The right chore and behavior management app will support your child, remind them to finish tasks, and allow for parental monitoring.

Joon 

Joon is the #1 chore and behavior management app for a reason. In the app, parents assign tasks (called "quests"). Once a task is complete, kids get rewards that let them care for a virtual pet. With the Joon parent app, you can select preloaded tasks and add them to your child's list automatically, or you can add your own. 90% of kids who use Joon complete all of their tasks. You can set reminders, which can be vital for kids who tend to forget chores and related tasks. 

Designed for kids with ADHD, Autism, and behavior problems, the app has a way of motivating kids without it feeling "forced" or like something that they dread. The reviews show that it really works, and all kids can use it! When you sign up for Joon, we'll ask a few questions about your child's goals. Use of the app can be customized to fit your needs. 

Joon is backed by psychologists, teachers, and other professionals who work with kids. Like all of the best apps for kids and families, there are parental control options in the Joon app that give you full control. Joon can help your child limit screen time, too.

Click here to get your 7-day free trial of Joon.

Educational Apps for Kids

While you may want kids to avoid or limit social media, educational games can be incredible tools for them. While the right educational app for your child might differ depending on factors like what they want to learn, finding one that works for your child is an excellent way to fill their online time with productivity. 

The #1 benefit of educational apps for kids is that they make learning fun and promote engagement with subjects like math or reading. Here are some of our top picks.

ABC Mouse

A recent winner of the Mom's Choice, Teacher's Choice, and Parent Choice GOLD awards, ABC Mouse is a trusted educational app for kids in the 2-8 age range. Home-schooling parents and teachers often recommend it for the wide range of subjects it covers. 

ABC Mouse has a full curriculum that covers math, art, reading, science, music, and more. The app has more than 10,000 learning activities, and it was created by teachers and education experts.

Khan Academy & Khan Academy Kids

Khan Academy is a nonprofit organization with a mission to provide accessible education to anyone, anywhere.

The Khan Academy app is suitable for everyone from Kindergarten students to adult learners. It offers lessons on an array of subjects for people of all ages or skill levels. 

If you have younger kids and want a more concentrated app for their age group, Khan Academy Kids is another option. The app is designed for children ages 2-8 and offers thousands of kids' books, math activities, reading games, and more.

Even better, both apps are free.

Duolingo

Duolingo is a popular language-learning app among kids and adults. Like Joon, it is enjoyed by many kids and families because of its gamification aspect. Duo Lingo uses games to teach 40+ languages, and you can both read and hear the language spoken. From a parent's perspective, one of Duo Lingo's key features is parental controls for users under 13.

As a bonus, Duo Lingo isn't just for languages anymore. You can use it for math and music lessons, too!

Family Calendar and Organization Apps

The next category of apps we'll discuss is family calendar and organization apps. Like behavior management apps, you want the interface to be visually appealing and fun, especially if your child uses it, too. You might also have a specific family need, like co-parenting, and the right apps can help. Regardless of the type of family calendar and organization app you need, safety, security, and ease are three things you want to look for.

The best app for managing your family's schedule should be easy to use, and your privacy should be a top priority of the app like it is with Joon. Some family calendar and organization apps will involve kids more, while others are primarily designed for parents. Here are some of our top picks. 

Cozi Family Organizer

Cozi Family Organizer has a simple interface and all of the features you need to keep your family on schedule. Cozi Family Organizer is a great app for parents and families who want to:

• Keep track of their kid's activities (e.g., tutoring, sports practice).
• Organize meals and grocery lists.
• Set reminders for yourself or family members so that no one misses their activities and events.

With Cozi Family Organizer, you can do all of that and more in one place. The basic version of the app is free, but in-app purchases are available to users who want additional features. 

Our Family Wizard (for co-parenting)

All families are different. Our Family Wizard is a co-parenting app with tools that promote positive communication by spotting language that could create conflict before you send a message. It has color-coded schedules, an expense log, and call features for both kids and co-parents. There's even a way to give family law professionals access to the app.

Cubbily

Cubbily is a shared family calendar app designed for the whole family. It is an ideal app for families looking for a simple, customizable, and visually appealing digital calendar. However, there are a few fun additional features, too. One unique feature of Cubbily is that it asks daily family questions to promote communication and engagement among family members. For example, "What made you smile today?"

Parents must have an email address to sign up, but your kids do not need an email address to connect. The basic version of Cubbily is a free app, but you can pay for extra features if you choose.

Budgeting and Finance Apps for Families

Finance apps have become a more popular parenting app category in recent years. All parents want their kids to learn good financial habits. Budgeting and finance apps for families such as the following help your child do just that.

Greenlight Kids & Teens Banking

The Greenlight app helps teach kids money skills they'll use for life. It's suitable for both kids and teens, so it's an app that you can use long-term. Key features of Greenlight include: 

• Banking for kids and teens with parental controls.
• The ability to set and meet spending goals.
• Real-time spending notifications.
• Money games for kids that promote financial literacy.

Greenlight also has a location-sharing feature, which can be helpful for parents wanting to monitor their child's location. While it is not a free app, plans start at as low as $4.99 per month. With parental approval, Greenlight even has resources that can help teach kids and teens about investing.

GoHenry Kids & Teens Banking

The GoHenry Kids & Teens mobile banking app is designed for the 6-18 age bracket, making it another solid choice for Joon users who want to help their kids learn about money management. 

GoHenry Kids & Teens banking has bite-sized money lessons, flexible parental controls, and the ability to set and work toward goals. 

The automated allowance feature teaches kids about budgeting, and much like Greenlight, GoHenry grows with your child. Once they reach 13, kids can transition to the 13+ account with features just for teens.

Kids Home Bank Plus

Kids HomeBank Plus is likely the best finance app for parents with young kids because of its interface. The App lets kids customize a cool avatar or upload a profile picture. You can pay kids for chores from your own mobile device, and kids enjoy tracking their expenses through colorful charts.

Recap

Parenting apps let you use modern technology for good. The best parent apps share a few common features regardless of category; they should be easy to use with a privacy policy that keeps your family's important information safe. Apps that include your children's engagement should have parental control features, even if they're not necessarily parental control apps. 

Parenting apps can help your family stick to a schedule, teach children new things, use rewards to promote good behavior, aid communication, and work through a wide variety of challenges your child or family might face. There are also apps with location-tracking features and screen time management tools that can put parents at ease.

Joon was created with all of the most important features for our app category in mind. Joon was designed for kids with ADHD, so it promotes consistent engagement and helps kids stay excited to complete their tasks long-term. It's a chore and behavior management app all in one, and it can support your child's self-esteem and mental health, too.

Parents enjoy monitoring their child's progress, and kids have fun playing the game. You can use Joon to help kids develop healthy sleep habits, follow morning and night routines, complete chores, avoid overuse of screens, and more. It's a fantastic way to support your family's scheduling needs and help kids stay on track.

Parents must have an Apple device to use the Joon Parent App. Kids can connect to Joon Adventure Game on any phone or laptop with access to the Google Play Store.

Click here to get Joon in the app store.