A co-parenting app in Australia has the same job as anywhere else: keep the calendar, the costs, the child’s record and the messages in one place both parents can see. What changes is the detail: the school year, the words the law uses, and the price in dollars.
It is an app shared by two parents who live apart, for the ordinary work of raising a child across two homes: whose night it is, who paid for the excursion, what the doctor said, what came home in the school bag. In the hard weeks it is also where the messages are kept, so that what was said does not depend on anyone’s memory.
A calendar that runs a fortnightly rotation on its own, whether that is week about, 2-2-5-5 or something else, and lets the school holidays sit over the top. The school year here has four terms and a long break across December and January, and the dates differ from state to state, so the holiday dates need to be yours to set. A time and a place for each changeover, each way. Expenses in dollars, with the receipt and who paid. Dates written day first. Messages that cannot be edited or deleted once sent. And an export that a solicitor or a family dispute resolution practitioner can read without signing in to anything.
Australian family law no longer talks about custody and access. Parenting plans and orders say who a child lives with and who a child spends time with. Most parents still say custody, most apps do, and so do these guides in places; it is the everyday word for the same thing. If you are new to all this, Family Relationships Online is the government’s plain-language starting point, and the Family Relationship Advice Line is on 1800 050 321.
In most cases separated parents are expected to try family dispute resolution before asking a court for parenting orders. There are exceptions, including family violence, child abuse and urgency. Whatever comes out of it, a parenting plan or consent orders, then has to be lived one week at a time. That is where an app earns its place: the rotation goes in once, and both parents see the same calendar from then on. If your plan or your orders name a particular app, use that one.
An app is not a safety tool. If you are worried about your own safety or your child’s, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, or 000 in an emergency.
Most co-parenting apps charge each parent separately, so a family pays twice the advertised price. Across the eight apps on our comparison page, a year for two parents runs from about A$100 to about A$400, with prices as checked in September 2026. Manon is A$99 a year per parent, or A$9.99 a month, which is A$198 a year for a family of two parents. The first month is free and needs no card.
If the two of you get on and a shared phone calendar does the job, you do not need a co-parenting app. They are made for when talking directly costs something. And no app replaces a mediator, a lawyer or a counsellor: it organises, it does not decide.
Manon was built in Australia in 2026, for every family with two homes. You set the rotation once and the calendar shows who has the children on any day, in both homes. The summer holidays start out as mid-December to the end of January and can be changed to your own school’s dates, and Easter, Christmas and birthdays are laid over the top without touching the pattern. Each changeover has its own time and place. Expenses, the health and school record and a private logbook sit alongside, and messages arrive calmer and stay on record. It works in the browser on any phone, with nothing to download.
Yes, more than one. Manon is one of them: it was built in Australia in 2026, is priced in Australian dollars, and sets the long summer break to December and January for families here.
Across the apps we compared, a year for a family of two parents runs from about A$100 to about A$400, and most charge each parent separately. Manon is A$99 a year per parent, or A$9.99 a month, and the first month is free with no card.
No app can promise that. Whether a record is accepted is always the court’s decision. What an app can do is make sure messages cannot be edited or deleted once sent, and that the export is dated, numbered and shows who wrote what.
It depends on the app. In Manon each parent has their own subscription, so your access never depends on the other parent paying or staying.
Yes. The calendar, the health record, the logbook and your own notes work for one parent. Messages need both of you. If the other parent joins later with your invite code, nothing has to be entered again.
General information, not legal advice. Your own orders or parenting plan come first, and a family lawyer or the Family Relationship Advice Line can tell you how the law applies to you.