Co-parenting tools

Best Co-Parenting Apps for Virginia Parents: 7 Compared

Prices and plans last checked on each app's own site November 2, 2026. Information only, not legal advice.

A swapped weekend, a dentist bill, a late pickup: after a separation, those small exchanges are often where parents clash. A co-parenting app puts them in one place with a date on each. Here are seven of them, with prices read from each company's own site, and what Virginia law does and does not say about using one.

At a glance

No Virginia rule names an app

We found no Virginia statute or court self-help page that requires or recommends a co-parenting app. Your own order controls.

Free plans

BestInterest and Fayr list free plans. AppClose and TalkingParents have no permanent free plan, but offer trials and fee waivers.

Who pays

OurFamilyWizard needs a subscription for each parent. One 2houses subscription covers the family.

Protective orders

An app does not change a no-contact order. Read the order first.

How we chose

An app made this list if it met all four of these on Nov 2, 2026:

It is built for separated parents, so general family calendars are left out.
It has both a shared calendar and messaging between parents.
The company publishes a price on its own site, which we could read.
It is offered to parents in the United States.

The list runs A to Z, so a higher place means nothing. We did not open accounts or test these apps, and we give no ratings. Features and prices come from each company's own pages, which are sales pages, so read the terms yourself before paying. Prices change.

The seven apps compared

Prices as published by each company, checked Nov 2, 2026. Taxes and app-store pricing may differ.
App	Published price	Free option	Who pays	Help with cost
2houses	$169.99 a year (shown as $14.17 a month)	14-day trial	One subscription covers the family	None listed on the pricing page
AppClose	$7.99 a month on the web; $5.99 a month prepaid for two years	60-day trial, no card, no permanent free plan	Not stated on the pricing page	Fee waiver; military discount
BestInterest	Free; paid plans from $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year	Free plan with no expiration; 2-week trial on paid plans	Each parent picks a plan; both need not pay	Fee waiver for qualifying parents
Custody X Change	$6 a month, billed $72 a year	No free plan listed; 30-day refund	Each parent who wants to share subscribes	None listed on the pricing page
Fayr	Free; Premium starting at $9.99	Fayr Lite, listed as free forever	Not stated on the pricing page	Free Premium through a lawyer who joins its network
OurFamilyWizard	$110 a year; Essentials $149.99 a year	No free plan listed; 30-day refund (varies by platform)	Each parent needs a subscription; one can pay for the other	Fee waiver; military rate
TalkingParents	$7, $16 or $32 a month; annual billing saves 8%	30-day trial; a paid plan is required after that	Each parent has a plan; plans can differ	Fee waiver

Which app fits which situation

Matches based on what each company publishes. Your order or agreement comes first.
If this is your situation	Look at
Your order or agreement names an app	That app. Changing it may mean changing the order.
Money is tight	BestInterest Free or Fayr Lite, or a fee waiver from AppClose, BestInterest, OurFamilyWizard or TalkingParents
The other parent will not sign up	Custody X Change or BestInterest Solo Mode, for your own records
Only one parent will pay	2houses, or OurFamilyWizard, where one parent can pay for the other
You need to write a parenting plan	Custody X Change Gold
You want calls logged or recorded	AppClose, BestInterest Protect Plus or OurFamilyWizard Max
One parent is in the military	OurFamilyWizard's military rate or AppClose's military discount. See also temporary custody for deployed parents.

The apps, A to Z

2houses

Plan: One plan: $169.99 billed every 12 months. Prices change by country, so confirm yours at checkout.
Includes: Calendar, finance, messages and a journal, with access for two parents, children, third parties and mediators.
Suits: Parents where one person will handle the bill, since the other parent gets in without a second subscription. Either parent can ask to take over the payment.
Watch for: You are charged automatically unless you cancel before the trial or renewal period ends.

Source: 2houses pricing page. Checked Nov 2, 2026.

AppClose

Plan: One plan with every feature: $7.99 a month on the web or $8.99 in the app. Prepaid on the web: $83.88 for one year or $143.76 for two.
Includes: Messaging, calendar, expenses, unlimited audio and video calls, call recording, and record exports.
Suits: Parents who want calling and exports without choosing a tier. Its fee waiver page names parents unable to pay, survivors of domestic violence, active military and disabled veterans.
Watch for: The app-store price is $1 higher than the web price. Calls are recorded only with the consent of both participants.

Source: AppClose pricing page. Checked Nov 2, 2026.

BestInterest

Plan: Free at $0. Connect at $9.99 a month. Protect at $14.99 a month. Protect Plus at $29.99 a month. Yearly: $99.99, $149.99 and $299.99.
Includes: Every plan has messaging, a shared calendar, expense tracking, a private journal and Solo Mode for using the app on your own.
Suits: A parent receiving hostile messages. Protect adds a pre-send tone review and a filter for harmful language. Paid plans add Boundary Line, for messaging without your co-parent using the app.
Watch for: The Free plan takes incoming calls only and has no verified court reports. Connect allows 10 reports a month.

Source: BestInterest pricing page. Checked Nov 2, 2026.

Custody X Change

Plan: Bronze at $6 a month, billed $72 a year. Gold at $12 a month, billed $144 a year. The page says annual billing saves $48 and $96. Prices change by country, so confirm yours at checkout.
Includes: Bronze has custody and activity calendars, child information and co-parent messaging if linked. Gold adds parenting plans, expense tracking, time calculations and a private journal.
Suits: A parent drafting a parenting plan or tracking actual parenting time. The company says you can use every feature alone except messaging, so it can work if the other parent will not join.
Watch for: Plans, time tracking and the journal are Gold only. The apps are not in the app stores: they install from the browser.

Source: Custody X Change pricing page. Checked Nov 2, 2026.

Fayr

Plan: Fayr Lite is free. Fayr Premium is a monthly or annual subscription starting at $9.99. The page gives no full price list.
Includes: The company lists messaging, scheduling, expenses and location. Premium adds a location log, file vault, PDF exports and a private journal.
Suits: Parents who get along well enough to share day-to-day details and want to start at no cost.
Watch for: PDF exports and the private journal are Premium features, so plan for that if you expect to need a copy of your records.

Source: Fayr pricing page. Checked Nov 2, 2026.

OurFamilyWizard

Plan: Base at $110 a year. Essentials at $149.99, Premium at $216 and Max at $299.88 a year. Two-year terms are also offered.
Includes: Essentials has 45 call minutes a month, message first-viewed timestamps, expense tracking, GPS-verified check-ins and PDF records. Premium adds unlimited calls and certified records.
Suits: Parents who want read timestamps and check-ins at exchanges. Children, relatives, caretakers and your lawyer or therapist can have free limited or view access.
Watch for: Two subscriptions means two bills. The Base plan has 1 GB of storage and receive-only calls. Call recording is on Max only.

Source: OurFamilyWizard pricing page. Checked Nov 2, 2026.

TalkingParents

Plan: Essentials at $7, Enhanced at $16 and Ultimate at $32 a month. The company says that since March 30, 2026 the app needs a paid subscription.
Includes: All plans have secure messaging, a shared calendar, an info library, a personal journal and PDF records.
Suits: Parents who mainly want a message and calendar record at a low monthly price, and who may not pick the same plan. Fee waivers cover financial hardship and survivors of domestic violence.
Watch for: Calling is 30 minutes, 60 minutes or unlimited by plan. Payments through the app carry a 4%, 3% or 2% fee by plan.

Source: TalkingParents pricing page. Checked Nov 2, 2026.

What Virginia law says about co-parenting apps

Very little, directly. On November 2, 2026 we read § 20-124.1, § 20-124.2 and § 20-124.3 of Virginia's custody chapter, along with the custody page on Virginia Court Self-Help. None of them mentions a co-parenting app. A web search of vacourts.gov for these app names also found no Virginia opinion naming one. Trial court orders are not published in one place, so that cannot show no Virginia judge has ever ordered an app. It does mean we cannot tell you a Virginia court requires or recommends any of them.

Two parts of the Code are still worth knowing. The best interests factors in § 20-124.3 include each parent's "ability to cooperate in and resolve disputes regarding matters affecting the child." And § 20-124.2(A) says the goals of custody mediation may include a proposal on "how disputes between the parents will be handled in the future." Parents who want to use an app could raise it there. An app does not prove cooperation by itself, and using one promises nothing about how a case turns out.

The Virginia custody overview explains how judges decide these cases. If you want an app written into an order, or want out of one, that is a question for a Virginia lawyer. The legal aid page lists places to start, including the Virginia State Bar's Lawyer Referral Service.

If a protective order is in place

A protective order for family abuse can prohibit contact with the petitioner and family or household members (§ 16.1-279.1(A)(2)). Violating a no-contact provision is a Class 1 misdemeanor under§ 16.1-253.2, and the protective order violation guide sets out the rest.

In Armstrong v. Armstrong, a published 2019 opinion (Record No. 0215-19-3), the Court of Appeals of Virginia upheld joint legal custody despite a no-contact order. It said parents are "free to communicate through counsel or other agreed-upon third parties" without violating such an order. The opinion does not discuss apps, and an app sends your words straight to the other parent. Do not treat that case as permission. If you need a way to discuss the children, ask the court to spell it out in the order.

Using app records in court

Several of these companies describe their records as court-ready, court-trusted or court-admissible. Those are the companies' own words. Whether a judge admits a record, and how much weight it gets, depends on your case. Keep your messages as if a judge will read them, and ask a lawyer how to present them.

Common questions

Answers are general information only, not legal advice for a specific situation.

Do Virginia courts require a co-parenting app?

We found nothing in Virginia's custody statutes or on the courts' self-help page that requires one or names one. A particular order or agreement may still name one, so read yours. If it does, follow it.

What is the best free co-parenting app?

On November 2, 2026, BestInterest and Fayr listed free plans. Each limits some features, so check what the free plan leaves out before relying on it. AppClose and TalkingParents have no permanent free plan, but both offer fee waivers to people who qualify.

Can I make the other parent use an app?

Not on your own. Parents can agree to use one, and an agreement can be written into a consent order. If they cannot agree, a parent can raise it in mediation or ask the court. A lawyer can tell you how a judge in your court is likely to treat that request.

Will app messages be accepted as evidence in a Virginia court?

That is for the judge in your case. Several companies call their records court-ready or court-admissible, which is their own description. Ask a Virginia lawyer how to present records before you rely on them.

Can we use a co-parenting app if there is a protective order?

Only if the order allows it. A protective order can prohibit contact, and a message sent through an app is still a message. Ask the court to address it in the order before using one.

Does TroofLaw recommend one of these apps?

No. TroofLaw has not tested these apps, and none of them paid to appear here. The list is in A to Z order, and the tables show what each company publishes so you can compare.

Sources

Checked on November 2, 2026. Read the current text before relying on it.