Apps for couples: what they actually need to do

A couple living together runs, without calling it that, a small business: a calendar of commitments, a stockroom to restock, a budget, contracts, archives. Almost always with tools built for something else: the work calendar, the chat, phone notes, a spreadsheet abandoned in February.

Before choosing an app to organise as a couple, it's worth asking what it needs to do. Here are the criteria that matter, in order of importance.

1. Will you both use it?

The criterion that beats all the others. A perfect app used by one person is a private notebook with an extra notification. Check:

• Does it work on both your phones, even if one has an iPhone and the other an Android?
• Is there a computer version, for whoever organises from work?
• Is joining simple? If the invite takes ten steps, the second partner will never get in.

2. Shared by default, not "shareable"

Many tools let you share: a calendar, a note, a list, one at a time. The problem is that every share is an action to remember, and whatever isn't shared stays invisible to the other person.

In an app built for couples (or families) it's the other way round: everything is common by default, and your partner finds things without you sending them.

3. One calendar

The calendar is the heart. It needs both people's commitments and the shared ones, with a view that shows the week at a glance: working out where to fit dinner with friends is its main job. And an event added by one of you should appear for the other immediately, with a reminder.

4. Lists with an owner

A shared list without owners is a list of things "someone" will do. Look for an app where every item can be assigned, with the reminder going to whoever has to do it. It's the detail that separates a used list from an ignored one — more in the shared to-do list for couples.

5. Money, without becoming accountants

You don't need accounting software. You need to know what the home costs each month and who paid for what, so you don't have to reconstruct expenses at the end of the month. A real advantage: when expenses are created automatically from bills or appointments recorded elsewhere, they don't get written twice.

6. Sensitive things, kept safe

A couple shares more than you'd think: the Wi-Fi password, the insurance login, ID documents, medical reports. Keeping them in chat is convenient and terrible. Ask yourselves:

• do passwords have a dedicated, encrypted place?
• are documents encrypted, or just uploaded to a server?
• can whoever runs the app read what you put in it?

7. What happens if children arrive

Not a question for day one, but worth asking: if a baby arrives in two years, will the app cope? Appointments, vaccinations, the child's documents, their expenses. Switching tools with a newborn at home is the last thing you'll want to do.

Where KidBox fits

KidBox was built as a family organiser, and a couple is a family: a calendar with month, week and day views, assignable to-dos with reminders, expenses with who paid, passwords and documents encrypted with a key that exists only on your devices. It works on iPhone, Android and the browser, and the free plan covers a family of two. Plan details are on the pricing page.

In short

First: you'll both use it. Then sharing by default, one calendar, lists with an owner, money without accounting and sensitive things encrypted. And an eye on the future, if the future might include children.