Family organizer guides and comparisons

Written by the makers of Somiya. Each page says where a competitor is the better choice, including ours where it applies.

Pick the question you have. The comparisons name the cases where each app is the wrong choice. The how-to pages describe only what the Somiya app does today.

Compare family apps

• Best family organizer & management apps 2026 — Cozi, TimeTree, FamilyWall, Nori, Calendara and Somiya compared on price, platforms, exports and where your data lives — with the cases where each one is the wrong choice, including ours. Facts checked 12 August 2026.
• Cozi alternatives 2026 — Leaving Cozi over the one-month free calendar, the ads or the Gold price? Seven alternatives — free and paid — with prices, platforms, who owns them, and how to take your calendar with you.
• Somiya vs Cozi — Cozi Gold costs $39 a year and Cozi Max $79. Cozi vs Somiya compared on price, the 30-day free limit, ads, platforms and getting your data out — including where Cozi wins.
• Somiya vs TimeTree — TimeTree vs Somiya compared on price, ads, what each app actually is, platforms and getting your data out. Written by the makers of Somiya, including where TimeTree wins.
• Somiya vs FamilyWall — FamilyWall vs Somiya compared on price, features, who owns the app, where your data goes and getting it out again. Written by the makers of Somiya, including where FamilyWall wins.
• Somiya vs Calendara — Calendara and Somiya are both iPhone family calendars that read a photo of a flyer, and both cost $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year. Here is where they differ, and where Calendara is the better choice.
• TimeTree alternatives 2026 — Leaving TimeTree over the ads, the per-account price or the missing lists? Six alternatives with prices, platforms and what each is wrong for — and how to get your events out.
• Cozi vs Google Calendar — Is Cozi or Google Calendar better for a family? Price, ads, lists, reminders, platforms and getting your data out — and when each one is the wrong choice.
• Calendar-era vs AI-era family apps — Family organizers split into two generations: the shared calendars you type everything into, and the AI apps that read a photo instead. What actually changed, what didn't, and what to check before you trust either with a decade of family life.

Use one shared system

• Shared family calendar app for iPhone — A shared family calendar for iPhone: one change reaches everyone at once, reminders go to the person who has to act, in their own timezone, and events also appear in the calendar already on each phone.
• Shared grocery list app for families — A shared grocery list for the whole family on iPhone: items sync to every phone at once, work with no signal in the store, sort by aisle, repeat every week, and one tap tells the family the list changed.
• Family chore app — Shared family chores on iPhone: give each chore an owner, make it repeat, and the reminder goes to the person who has to do it — in their timezone. No points or rewards; here is when that matters.
• Free family calendar apps — Apple, Google, TimeTree, Cozi and FamilyWall all have a free family calendar. What each free plan limits, shows or holds back — and when paying is worth it.
• Family calendar for different time zones — How a family in different countries keeps one calendar without doing time maths: store each event once, show it in each person’s own time, and send reminders at the right local hour.
• Add a school calendar to your iPhone — Three ways to get a school calendar onto your iPhone: subscribe to the school's calendar link, import an .ics file, or turn a PDF or paper flyer into events — and how to share it with the whole family.

Switch apps

• Leaving Cozi: export, cancel, delete — Cozi has no export button — only a link on the website. The whole route out, step by step: export the calendar, move the lists, cancel Cozi Gold, then delete the Cozi account.
• Maple is shutting down: save your data — Maple sunsets on 31 December 2026 and deletes everything. Here is what to save, in what order, and where it can go — including the lists no export will hand you.
• Switching family organizer apps — Switching family organizers. How to take your calendar with you, what Somiya costs, and how to leave again if you change your mind.

Privacy, AI and tools

• What happens to family data when a family app adds AI — Five questions to ask any family app that reads your photos and emails — retention, training, sub-processors, where it runs, and what stops a school letter from instructing the model. Where to find each answer, and ours in full.
• What Somiya deliberately doesn't build — No family chat, no location tracking on your children, no photo galleries, no budget, no meal planner, no third-party analytics. The list of things we refuse to add, with the reasoning for each — so you can decide whether the refusal suits you.
• Connect your AI assistant to your family calendar — An MCP server that lets your own AI assistant read your family's calendar, tasks and shopping lists, and suggest additions you confirm in the app. It never writes on its own. Runs on your machine, revoke any time.
• ICS file checker — Drop in an .ics export from any calendar app and see how many events it holds, how far ahead it goes, and how many repeat. Runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded. Merge several files, or save the lot as CSV.

Ready to try it? Get Somiya on the App Store.