The calendar and the costs, in one calm place both parents see. Whose night it is, who owes whom, what got agreed to: answered before anyone has to ask.
Start free, no credit card
One subscription covers both homes. $99 a year, about $8.25 a month, and your co-parent joins free. Several well-known apps charge each parent separately. See the comparison →
These are real screens from the website app at phone size, filled with sample data. The calendar, expenses, Kid Kits and messages sync live between both parents' phones.
Every day is color-coded by parent, switch days show the drop-off time, and each child's activities carry their own color. Questions like "what time is pickup?" get asked and answered in comments right on the event, so the plan and the conversation stay together.
The app opens to tonight: whose house the kids are at, what's coming in the next 7 days, this month's balance, and anything new from your co-parent. Built for a parent checking their phone between meetings.
Snap a photo or upload a PDF of any receipt and AI fills in the amount, date, store, and category. Costs split by your percentages automatically, and each month ends with a clear number both parents agreed to.
A shared checklist for each child: the inhaler, the cleats, the library book, the charger. Both parents see the same list, so nothing gets left at the other house. Bought something on the list? The money button starts a shared expense with the child and description already filled in, so you just add the amount.
One time-stamped thread for co-parenting messages. Wrote it heated? Tap Soften and AI offers a calmer, child-focused version. You choose which one sends.
Setup hands you the invite: text it, email it, share it or copy it. In the iPhone and Android apps, you can also pick your co-parent from your phone's contacts, and the app gets only the one contact you tap. Your co-parent taps the link or enters your invite code, makes a free account, confirms their email and joins. Once they are in, your free trial runs 60 days from the day you signed up instead of 30.
Week-on/off, 2-2-3, every other weekend, or a fully custom 2-week rotation. It fills the calendar in for you.
One time-stamped thread. Wrote it heated? Tap Soften and AI rewrites it calm and child-focused. You choose which version sends.
A private journal only you can see, one-tap exchange check-ins shared with both parents, and message log PDFs watermarked with the name on your account.
529s, daycare, medical mileage auto-filled from two addresses, and an accountant-ready packet every January. Only you can see it.
Upload your court order or parenting plan and AI fills in what it finds, such as the schedule, holidays and split, for you to check and change. A copy stays on file, so either parent can ask it questions like “Who has the kids on Thanksgiving?” and get an answer quoted from the plan. It takes a PDF or a .txt file. On the website a scanned PDF works too: where a page has little or no text of its own, AI reads it from a picture of the page, up to 40 such pages.
Both parents log in and see the same calendar and expenses, synced live. Your co-parent joins free with your invite link or code.
iPhone, Android, tablet, or computer, right in the browser today. The iPhone app is on the App Store, and the Android app is on Google Play. Dark mode is in Settings, and you set it on each device.
Optional two-factor authentication, and we never link bank accounts or move money between you.
Whose night it is, the next handoff, and the month ahead, colored by parent, on your iPhone or Android Home Screen, and on the iPhone Lock Screen.
Twelve kinds of alert, each with its own switch. Pick how alert emails come: as things are posted, in one end-of-day summary, or not at all.
Notifications leave out the details: no names, amounts, or message text on your lock screen, and Lock Screen widgets never show money. Alert emails leave them out too.
5 GB of shared storage for court orders, school letters, and receipts, attached to the messages they belong to.
Turn on mileage for practices and appointments, even ones that repeat. Type the place and the app looks up its address, then shows the miles and each parent's half right away. The parent who drove confirms each trip, or you can have trips added automatically. Either way, it's the IRS standard mileage rate for business use, split 50/50. Your co-parent never sees your home address, only where the trip went and the miles.
Setup walks you through a few simple tiles. Start with your plan and Two Porch Lights fills in what it finds: names, children, the schedule, holidays, the split and child support. Everything stays editable in Settings.
All your co-parenting messages in one organized, time-stamped thread, so nothing gets lost in scattered texts. And when a draft comes out heated, tap 🕊️ Soften: AI rewrites it calm and child-focused, and you choose which version sends.
Each parent has their own account. Here is what is shared and what is not.
Invited by your co-parent? Read what you are joining. The longer list is there, and under Who can see what? in Help.
The calendar, expense-splitting and messaging you would expect from the well-known co-parenting apps, at one price that covers both parents.
| Two Porch Lights | Other co-parenting apps | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost for both parents | One price, co-parent joins free | Often billed per parent |
| Start free | 30 days, plus 30 when your co-parent joins (60 days total), no credit card | Varies: from no free trial to 60 days |
| AI message tone coach ("Soften") | ✓ Included | Included by some, higher-priced plans only at others |
| Document storage for the shared space | ✓ 5 GB included, no tiers | Tiered by plan at some (from 1 GB), unlimited at others |
| Your money | Never linked or touched | Some charge a fee on payments |
Also included at the one price: holiday and birthday exchange times, comments on calendar events, school email import, TalkingParents history import, receipts read from a photo or PDF, a private Assistant, a private journal, exchange check-ins, custom and every-other-week schedules, and optional two-factor sign-in. The private Tax Center is included for the parent who created the space. A parent who joined from an invite gets their own by adding their own plan.
What other apps offer was read from their own websites on October 1, 2026 and changes often. Please confirm current plans on each provider's site.
Side by side with one app: TalkingParents · AppClose · OurFamilyWizard
23 field-tested steps for calm handoffs, clean money habits, and records that stay in order. Free, straight to your inbox. No newsletter, no spam.
No learning curve. If you can send a text, you can use this.
Start from your parenting plan, or add your kids, schedule, cost split and any child support one tile at a time. Takes a few minutes.
You send the invite yourself, from your own phone or computer. Your co-parent taps the link or enters your invite code, makes a free account, confirms their email and joins the shared space. Once they are in, your free trial runs 60 days from the day you signed up instead of 30.
The same calendar and the same balance, synced live: whose night it is and who owes whom, without the back and forth. How to ask your co-parent
Exchange days end the way they should. The light's on at both houses.
Use everything free for 30 days, plus 30 more when your co-parent joins (60 days total). One subscription, yearly or monthly, covers both parents: calendar, parenting schedule, expenses, and live sync across all your devices. Cancel anytime.
This app keeps growing, and the ideas come from the parents using it. When something gets built, it shows up in your account at no extra cost. What does not move is what you pay. Subscribe at $99 a year and that stays your price for as long as your subscription is active, however much the app grows.
No. Your co-parent joins free with an invite link or code, and one subscription covers the shared space for each of you: the calendar, expenses, messages, and payments. Either of you can be the one who subscribes. The one personal extra is the private Tax Center: it is included for the parent who created the space, and a parent who joined from an invite gets their own by adding their own plan.
Yes. The private Tax Center tracks 529 contributions, daycare and day camp, medical costs, kids' insurance premiums, and FSA reimbursements, and it auto-calculates medical-visit mileage from two addresses. One tap builds an accountant-ready packet for TurboTax or your CPA. It's private: your co-parent can never see it.
Yes. Upload your court order or parenting plan and a copy stays on file for your shared space. It takes a PDF or a .txt file. On the website a scanned PDF works too: where a page has little or no text of its own, AI reads it from a picture of the page, up to 40 such pages. AI can misread a word or a number, so when pages were read that way, answers remind you to check quotes against your own copy. Ask in plain words, like “Can I take the kids out of state?”, and the AI answers only from your plan, quotes the section it used, and tells you plainly when the plan doesn't cover it. It is not legal advice; for what your plan means, ask your attorney or mediator.
Turn on Track mileage for an event, including one that repeats: every date is its own trip. Type the place and the app looks up its address, and the event form shows the miles and each parent's half right away. After the trip, the parent who drove (by default, the one with the kids that day) confirms it, and it's added as an expense at the IRS standard mileage rate for business use for that date, always split 50/50. Or turn on Add trips automatically in Settings, and each trip is added after the date, the next time the driver opens Two Porch Lights, with a Didn't happen button to take it back out. Miles are figured from your own home address, which your co-parent never sees; they see only where the trip went and the miles.
No, you do not need matching phones. Two Porch Lights works in any web browser on iPhone, Android, tablet, or computer. The iPhone app is available on the App Store today, the Android app is on Google Play, and the same account works either way.
Yes. In the iPhone and Android apps you can put Two Porch Lights on your Home Screen: a small tile showing whose night it is and the next handoff, or a calendar of the days ahead, up to the whole month, colored by parent. On iPhone you can also add one to your Lock Screen. Lock Screen widgets show the schedule only and never show money.
Yes. Settings, then Notifications, lists twelve kinds of alert, from messages and expenses to exchange check-ins and the monthly close-out, and each one has its own switch. You also choose how alert emails reach you: as things are posted, in one summary at the end of the day, or not at all. All three are on the website and in the iPhone and Android apps. If your app shows a single on/off switch for email instead, update it to the latest version, or make your choice on the website. Alerts are private by design: a notification says at most what kind of thing changed, like a new message or a payment, never the message text, a name or an amount.
Never. We don't link bank accounts or transfer funds between you. You settle up however you already do; we just keep an accurate, shared record of who owes whom.
30 days free, plus 30 more when your co-parent joins (60 days total), with no credit card. After that, keep it for $99/year or $12/month on the website, your choice. Either parent can subscribe, and one plan covers both parents. In the iPhone and Android apps you subscribe yearly or monthly through the App Store or Google Play, at the price shown there. Cancel anytime.
Yes. Your data is yours, stored securely, and never sold for money. Nothing you enter in the app is used for advertising. See our Privacy Policy for details.
No. Your private journal, your Tax Center and your Assistant chats are visible only to you, and the home address you save for mileage is never shown to your co-parent. A mileage trip does show them where the trip went and the miles driven. Your co-parent sees the shared space: the calendar, expenses, payments, messages, exchange check-ins, kid info and the parenting plan copy if one is on file. They also see the email address you sign in with, next to the messages you send. The longer list is on our page for an invited parent.
No. Signing up does not notify your co-parent, and you decide when to invite them. If you sign up from an invite link they sent, you join the shared space once your email is confirmed; they can then see that you joined, and are alerted if their alerts are on. For 72 hours after someone joins, the parent who created the space can remove them, in case the wrong person joined.
It still works for you on its own. You can log expenses, track the schedule, keep your journal and exchange check-ins, and export PDF and CSV records, all without the other parent ever joining. Nothing you enter depends on them. If they join later with your invite link or code, everything you have already recorded is there waiting, and the shared view switches on from that point. Your private journal stays visible only to you. Not sure how to bring it up? See how to ask your co-parent for three ready-to-send messages.
Yes. Each message sent in Two Porch Lights is time-stamped by our server when it is saved, not by the sender's phone, so nobody can backdate a message or change its time. Messages imported from TalkingParents keep the original date from that service's export file and are labeled as imported. There is no way for either parent to edit, unsend, or delete a single message. The one exception: if a parent deletes their Two Porch Lights account, the messages they sent are removed from the shared thread, and when the last member of a shared space deletes their account, the whole space is deleted. You can download the message log as a PDF, every message or a chosen date range, and every page carries a watermark with the name on the signed-in account, plus the download date and time and page numbers. While your plan or free trial is active, you can also create an expiring, read-only access code that shows your attorney or mediator the message log alongside every expense and payment on record, on one page they can print or save as a PDF. We are not a law firm, and nothing here is legal or financial advice. Whether any record is accepted or given weight in a legal proceeding is up to the court. Follow your attorney's guidance and confirm details against your own court order.
They stay yours. If your subscription ends, your space becomes read-only: your records stay readable and exportable. The message log downloads as a PDF, and expenses and payments export month by month as PDF or CSV. Creating a new attorney access code needs an active plan or trial. If you delete your account outright, the messages you sent are removed from the shared thread and your private journal is removed too, and if you are the last member of your shared space, the whole space is deleted, so export anything you want to keep first.
Sign in to your shared account to pick up right where you and your co-parent left off, on any device.
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The app is on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, and on Google Play for Android. The same account and subscription work either way, so nothing changes for you or your co-parent.
It opens full-screen, with its own icon, and it even works offline.