You know how it goes: the calendar on the fridge, sticky notes with shopping lists, and WhatsApp groups full of “who’s picking up the kids?” FamilyWall aims to bring all those loose ends together in one app. A digital family hub where everyone can share their appointments, tasks, and meals without your data ending up on social networks.
Who’s behind FamilyWall?
FamilyWall was founded in 2011 by Nicolas Frattaroli and Eric Vieillevigne in Paris. The original idea was simple: give families a safe place to organize and communicate without their data being scattered across social networks. They wanted to replace the paper calendar and fridge magnets with something digital that actually works for busy families.
The company, officially called Family & Co SAS, raised €2.5 million from investors like Idinvest Partners. That investment helped build the app into what it is today. In 2024, FamilyWall was acquired by OurFamilyWizard, a platform focused primarily on co-parenting after divorce.
Meanwhile, the app has been downloaded more than 7.2 million times and ranks in the top 10 lifestyle apps in over 100 countries. The French company holds privacy in high regard and complies with GDPR legislation, which means your data isn’t sold to advertisers.
Who is FamilyWall for?
FamilyWall is built for families who want to manage their chaos. Think busy parents with kids, co-parents who need to share planning after a divorce, or couples who want to organize their life together. The app works best when everyone in the family participates and actively adds things.
Where the app is less suitable: business teams or project management. It’s really focused on private use within a family context. If you’re looking for a tool to work with colleagues, you’re better off looking at other options.
What can FamilyWall do?
The free version of FamilyWall offers a shared calendar, shopping lists, tasks, and private chat. For features like syncing with Google Calendar or Outlook, a meal planner with recipes, and a budget tracker, you need a paid plan. You also only get 100MB of storage space in the free version.
Here’s what the app can do:
- Shared Calendar: Everyone in the family can add appointments and see what’s on the schedule. You can use color codes per family member, which makes it much easier to keep track. Handy when you want to know when the dentist appointment is or who’s picking up the kids.
- Shopping Lists & Tasks: Add items to a shared list that everyone can see in real-time. If your partner buys milk, it immediately disappears from the list. Also works for tasks like “repair washing machine” or “fill out school form”.
- Meal Planner & Recipes: Plan your weekly menu and add recipes. The app can automatically add ingredients to your shopping list. This saves a lot of hassle when you have to figure out what to cook every night.
- Location Sharing (GPS): See where your family members are via GPS tracking. Especially handy for parents with teenagers who want to know if their child arrived safely at school. You can turn this on or off for each person.
- Budget Tracker: Track shared expenses and see where the money goes. Not as comprehensive as a full budgeting tool, but handy for keeping an overview of household costs.
- Secure Private Chat: A built-in chat for your family, so you don’t have to coordinate everything through WhatsApp. Messages stay private and aren’t scanned for ads.
The app works on Android, iOS, and via a web version. So you can access everything from your phone, tablet, or computer. That makes it flexible, especially if not everyone uses the same devices.
What does FamilyWall cost?
There’s a free version available that covers the basic features. If you want more, the Premium subscription costs €4.99 per month. If you pay for a year, it works out to €3.33 per month (€39.99 total). That’s much cheaper than the monthly option.
New users get a 30-day free trial for Premium. This way you can try out all the features before deciding if it’s worth the investment. There’s no lifetime option, so you’re stuck with an ongoing subscription if you want to keep using the premium features.
The free version works pretty well if you mainly need a shared calendar and lists. But as soon as you want to connect external calendars or use the meal planner, you’ll need a paid plan.
What should you watch out for?
FamilyWall isn’t perfect. Users regularly report synchronization issues, especially when connecting external calendars. Sometimes events spontaneously disappear or don’t load properly. That’s frustrating when you’re counting on everything being up-to-date.
There are also bugs when editing recurring appointments. If you want to modify a weekly appointment, the change might not sync everywhere. Importing recipes from websites doesn’t always work smoothly. Sometimes the page won’t load or ingredients get copied incorrectly.
Another downside: documents you upload don’t have thumbnails. So you have to rely on the filename to know what it is. That makes finding that one school letter a lot harder. Also, notifications can sometimes be overwhelming when everyone is actively adding things.
FamilyWall alternatives
FamilyWall isn’t the only family organizer on the market. Here are a few alternatives you might consider:
- Cozi: Choose this if you live in the US and recipe management is the most important thing. Cozi has a more extensive recipe database, but shows more ads and has fewer privacy features than FamilyWall.
- TimeTree: Go for this if you only need a shared calendar without all the extras. TimeTree is simpler and focuses purely on sharing calendars, but lacks meal planning and shopping lists.
- Google Calendar: Choose this if you don’t want to spend money and are already deep in the Google ecosystem. It’s free and powerful, but lacks specific family features like integrated shopping lists and meal planning.
Each alternative has its strengths and weaknesses. FamilyWall falls somewhere in the middle in terms of functionality: more comprehensive than TimeTree, but with more focus on privacy than Cozi.
Frequently asked questions
Here are answers to frequently asked questions about FamilyWall:
Is FamilyWall free?
Yes, there’s a free version with basic features like the shared calendar and lists. For advanced features like calendar sync and meal planning, a Premium subscription is required. The free version also has limited storage space of 100MB.
Can I connect my Google Calendar?
Yes, but this requires a Premium subscription. With this feature you can import external calendars from Google and Outlook into the FamilyWall calendar. In the free version you have to enter everything manually.
Is my data safe with FamilyWall?
FamilyWall is a French company that complies with GDPR legislation. Your data is not sold to third parties and is securely stored within the EU. The company has privacy-first design as a core value, which means they don’t generate revenue from selling user data.
Conclusion
FamilyWall does what it promises: it brings family organization together in one app. The combination of calendar, lists, meal planning, and location tracking makes it a convenient all-in-one solution. The free version is usable, but for most families the Premium subscription will be necessary to really benefit from it.
The app is ideal for busy families who want to reduce their chaos and co-parents who want to collaborate in a structured way. Less suitable if you’re just looking for a simple shared calendar or if you’re not willing to pay for extra features. The synchronization issues and bugs are annoying, but for many users the benefits outweigh those drawbacks.
