Best Apps for Busy Moms

When it comes to apps for your smartphone, the world is your oyster. There’s an app for everything you can think of, but is that too much of a good thing?

W hen you’re browsing the app store, what do you choose? There are simply too many apps and choosing one is difficult. The following selections are designed to help you make choices, but not everyone’s needs are the same. If your kids are still infants you won’t need the same apps as moms of teens or even young children. Choose accordingly and move on! Please note, all apps listed are free and for both the iOS devices and Androids unless noted.

Cozi has been a favorite of moms for several years. The app has beautiful screenshots and design. Cozi organizes your family’s calendar, reminds you of events coming up, creates up-to-date lists you can share, stores shopping lists and recipes. You can use the family journal to send grandparents special photos of momentous events to keep them informed. It assigns a colored dot to each child so you can easily see who needs to be where. You can use Cozi on your mobile devices or your computer.

Find My Friends is a great app to use to track family and friends who share their location with you. Moms can use it to keep up with kids in crowded places. For moms of teenagers who are beginning to drive, it can be especially useful. I use it to track my adult sons who travel internationally for work and whose schedule I can never keep up with!

Hey! VINA is designed to help moms meet new friends. You can use it to meet and connect with other moms in your area. If you are new in the area or traveling, Hey! VINA is a great app for developing new friendships or simply having an adult conversation when you’re still at home with the little ones. It’s designed for iOS devices.

Playground Buddy can help you find a new place to carry the kids for fresh air and outdoor fun. Whether you are traveling or simply bored with the neighborhood playground, this app will help you locate new adventures for the kids. The app shows street views of the playgrounds, gives you directions and saves your favorites.

Remember the Milk is for those of us who do lists. It helps us manage the many lists we create. I do mine while watching TV. You can create a list of to-do projects for tomorrow or next week. Remember the Milk will alert you when an item is coming up. It reminds you of the doctor’s appointment and the baseball practice schedule.

Kids Meal Deals can save you money! This super app names all of the restaurants in your hometown that offer kids’ meal deals. When traveling, you can quickly find restaurants that are kid-friendly and have specials for kids only. At some of these restaurants, the kids eat free.

Our Everyday Lunch plans a whole week’s worth of menus for the working mom. Each day shows a new menu and the app invites you to try the new recipe to keep your lunches interesting. The app generates a shopping list to help you plan ahead.

Moms Pump Here locates rooms where moms can pump their breast milk in comfort all over the country. It includes nursing pods and indicates where moms can pump in airports. The app, available for the minimal price of $1, is a great timesaver for the working mom who is still nursing her infant.

Baby Connect is a top-rated app for tracking baby’s feedings, diaper changes, which side you last nursed on, and when you last pumped. With the app, you can also track baby’s sleep, mood, milestones and medical history. At each well visit, you can input the baby’s height and weight. Sync the app to other caregivers’ devices so they can stay up to date. Cost is from $4.99-$8.99.

Artkive will help you preserve your child’s art work. You can take a picture of the artwork, then tag it with your child’s name, grade, date and title. You can then share it with other family members.

For special occasions, you can turn the art work into a hardcover book.

Finally, Sex Offender Tracker is a useful app for the careful mom. It shows how many registered sex offenders live in a certain area, what they were convicted of as well as their mugshot photo. It costs $1.99 but 5 percent of the proceeds go to RAINN.

These are only a few of the apps available for moms. There are many, many more. Start a conversation with other moms in your play group and see which others you are missing out on. Maybe you’ll be the one with the coolest apps. ■

Sources: familyeducation.com, lifewire.com and workingmother.com.