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Cozi is meant for use by a whole busy family. Parents can use it to create and share shopping lists with each other or their children. You can keep a free online calendar of appointments for the whole family. Appointments and errands are color-coded by family member and can be viewed by individual or overall. Cozi also allows families to create and plan family meals and can even suggest family-friendly meals based on your shopping list. The app allows users to receive e-mailed reminders of upcoming appointments and tasks. It also keeps track of school and sports schedules for kids.

Cozi has grown rapidly since it was founded in 2005 and now includes millions of users. The app has won a wide range of awards, including the 2012 Appy Award for Best Family/Parenting App, the #1 Practical App for Moms by The Babble Top 25 and the No. 1 iPhone App for Moms by Circle of Moms. Along with the awards it has received a number of rave media reviews, including a spot on the Today Show in the US. Robbie Cape, a 12-year veteran of Microsoft, co-founded Cozi and currently serves as its Chief Executive Officer.

The app is different from other to-do lists and organizers because it focuses only on families. This is an organizer that includes recipe suggestions, school schedules and other items for children. It could replace or supplement professional organizers. But a professional organizer couldn't do the same job as Cozi because it lacks the family-friendly functions.

The first impression of Cozi's main page is that it's very crowded. A lot of text and options can leave the first-time user confused. But the menu on the left-hand side of the page explains and organizes everything quickly. Clicking on one of the menu items after the other takes only a couple of minutes. It should make the functions clear. From there, the app is easy to use. Scrolling through the calendar, to do lists, meals, journal and settings makes the usefulness of this app very clear.

To register, simply press Sign Up on the main page of the app. It will ask you to type in your e-mail address, zip code and a password into the boxes provided. The password is to be shared with the whole family. From there, the app doesn't even require e-mail confirmation. Once in the app, you type in information on your family members so you can create separate entries for them.

The basic application, with advertisements, is free. A Cozi Gold edition is available for $4.99 a month. The Cozi Gold package eliminates adds and expands meal-planning options.

The app is ideal for busy parents of several children. It can be used by the entire family as well to involve children more in the planning process. Any parent that must deal with schools, sports, holidays, shopping, cooking and the other normal parental duties should check out this app.

• Family Calendar.
• E-mail reminders for appointments.
• Weekly agenda e-mail.
• Create and share shopping lists.
• Organize family meals.
• Keep a family journal with whole-family contribution.

Cozi video

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