The good: It successfully fulfills the purpose of having a ‘family management app’ and it’s nice that it has the ability to notify family members of events with multiple reminders. I LOVE the recipe tab and like that it is easy to transfer those ingredients to the shopping cart. I appreciate that my husband and I can keep track of what’s going on and what’s needed all in one place. The bad: not entirely super user friendly, in that it’s easy to do things but not as easy to undo them. Like when you transfer the ingredients to the shopping cart, you have to individually delete each item as needed rather than selecting multiple (at least on the mobile app, it sure how that part is on the desktop). You can’t just select an entire recipe and delete if you accidentally add it twice. Also, I putting a ton of appointments was way easier on a desktop (at initial startup) than on the phone, but adding individual events is fine. Lastly, I added my kids as family members only to keep my husband and I in the loop of who is where, and it’s frustrating to have to uncheck their names in the “notify” section because they don’t have their own emails so I was getting five “notifications” since it was mine plus 4 of them until I started removing them. It could be a little smoother in that aspect. Overall though, the price is good for what you get (I NEVER pay for apps, but was willing to for this one!!) it’s been a life saver but could use some improvements.

We started using the Cozi when our two oldest kids were in high school. Two varsity athletes and athletic club participants, a child in elementary school, and two parents who travel for work made for a daunting job of keeping track of all the commitments. Our bigs are now in college, youngest is just about to enter middle school and we both still travel for work. This app is perfect for any family with a ton of balls to juggle. Everyone (including the pets) are part of our group. We can keep track of every aspect we need to know for scheduling appointments, work trips, meals...literally everything. Before my husband or I agree to a meeting out of town, we can make sure no conflicts exist with our youngest child (someone is always home for her.) The notifications help keep everyone up to date on the latest changes immediately. Meal planning is simple as we can decide what kinds of meals will work best on any given day ( both of us out all day, crockpot meal; after school lessons, something quick ; just two for dinner, portion adjustment) Plus, having the meal plan allows whoever is home first to get dinner started since the recipe is also available in the app. Running to the store? Grocery list of needed items is available to confirm we have everything we need. Anything we do is in the Cozi, it is a great tool. It keeps us on track and running smoothly.

I have slowly tweaked this program with how I use the lists to organize my life. I really like being able to use the calendar to see what I and my children have planned ( everyone has a color). No more calling them when they are in class. He has made it so you can just look at your calendar, everyone’s or individual kids. I love how I have created a permanent shopping list that I just have to click what I need and then have a shopping mode so it only shows what I have to get. This is great for when others are shopping for me. I have added stuff on while they were shopping! No more annoying calls. The owner has been amazing to work with over the years; actually implementing suggestions that I have given. I have even created weekly and monthly cleaning lists so my house/holidays are not hard to keep up with and plan for. No more thinking of what I will do. Just move up the whole list for the week. I choose my monthly priority projects and then at night move up what I will be doing the next day. I wake up motivated vs. overwhelmed. I love how I can assign work to others. I have used this tool to try out different productive scheduling and all work with it. The nice thing is I got rid of my massive to do lists and helped me break it down into categories. No more writing the same thing over and over just copy and paste. I have used this to assign projects to people and see how they are moving along without having to talk to them. The one suggestion I would have is to be able to have it where for instance my daughter could change her view to only see her lists so mine do not overwhelm her. Or I could make mine private.

I like this app ok. I like the shared calendar and to do/shopping lists. Shared calendar especially. However, there are several features lacking that should be simple to implement and that would make Cozi more user friendly. I wish that checked items would fall to the bottom of a list (or that there be a setting that allowed that). (I don't want to delete them because many are items that recur, so simply being able to uncheck them is preferable to retyping them, but why do I have to manually move completed items to bottom so my current list is uncluttered and easier to read?). I also wish that I could assign priorities to list items. Right now, all I can do is manually move them up or down. And, the headings for lists is rather meaningless because it doesn't actually group tasks. It is just another line entry on the list! For example, I can't move a section of tasks by moving the heading/category. I have to move the heading and then each of the sub listings separately. That's not how groups and sub lists should work!! And I would like a way to program recurring tasks or tasks that fall on a particular day. Right now, I have to schedule an appointment. But there's no way (short of rescheduling the appointment) to move the task to another day. And, the task isn't an appointment! It's a task. I don't like having to play games to get around system limitations. I am paying for this. These shouldn't be difficult features to design.