Family calendar apps in the UK: an honest comparison

There are two kinds of family calendar app, and most comparison pages mix them up. The first kind is a shared calendar: a place to put dates so everyone sees them. The second kind reads things for you: it takes the school letter and turns it into the date. They solve different problems, cost different money, and a family can reasonably want one, the other, or both.

This is the same twelve questions asked of nine products. We make one of them, and we have tried to be fair; the table sticks to what each supplier publishes, our own gaps are in it, and sources are at the bottom.

The two kinds#

Shared calendars: Cozi, TimeTree, Google Calendar, FamilyWall, Skylight. You type things in; everyone sees them. Some add lists and meals.

Readers: Nuet, Sense, Cyril, AskBobbie. You forward the letter, the photo or the message; the app finds the date, the money and the child, and puts it on a calendar you check.

If you want the second kind, a shared calendar is included. If you want the first kind, a reader is more than you need.

The twelve questions#

The shared calendars#

Google Calendar is free, on every device, and already where one of you lives. Its weakness is the other one of you: a shared calendar only works if everyone looks, and Google gives you no reason to. There are no lists, no children, no reading.

TimeTree is the best free shared calendar. A comment thread on every event is where "who's picking up?" gets settled. Nothing else; that is the point. See Cozi vs TimeTree.

Cozi is the established all-rounder: calendar, shopping, to-dos, meals. Treat it as a paid product now; the free calendar shows only 30 days.

FamilyWall is Cozi's closest rival, with location sharing added. Same trade-offs.

Skylight is a screen on the kitchen wall, from $159, plus $79 a year for the features that make it worth having. If a physical calendar in the hall is what your family responds to, it is the modern version. It does not read anything without the subscription, and it is another device to charge, clean and explain.

The readers#

Nuet reads your Gmail or Outlook inbox directly and makes events from school emails, photos and voice notes. It knows ParentMail, Arbor and School Gateway. It is iPhone only.

Sense reads the notifications from ParentMail, Arbor, MCAS and ClassDojo and fills the calendar. Its blog tested with UK families across a school year and is worth reading whichever app you choose.

Cyril launched in August 2026. You forward emails, photos and screenshots and it makes dated actions per child; every English state school is listed at sign-up. New, and worth watching.

AskBobbie is ours. One email address you give the school, or a forwarding rule; photos, PDFs and voice notes on WhatsApp; each letter read into dates, money, kit and forms, filed under the right child; you confirm with a tap. Every grown-up sees the same calendar, you can ask it what's on in words, and it does dinners, shopping and to-dos as well. Its gaps: no native app store listing (it installs from the browser), no direct reading of your inbox (you forward instead, which we think is the right trade), and round-ups on WhatsApp only within WhatsApp's day window.

Which one you need#

• Two grown-ups who already share Google Calendar and rarely miss things: stay put.
• A family that needs a shared calendar and nothing else: TimeTree.
• A family that wants calendar, lists and meals in one place and will pay: Cozi.
• A family that responds to a calendar on the wall: Skylight.
• A family whose actual problem is the school letters: a reader. Try two; they have trials. If you want WhatsApp, questions in words, and the lists as well, try Bobbie.

Further reading#

• Cozi vs TimeTree for UK families
• AI for family admin, honestly

---

Sources: NestBoard, best family calendar apps 2026; Kinmory, Cozi vs Skylight; Sense, best family organiser apps UK 2026; Nuet, alternatives; SecurityBrief on Cyril's launch. Prices as published in September 2026, in the currency each supplier quotes.