I hope my wife is not reading this, but it has been said that being in a relationship is kind of like running a business. You have to make sure that the money coming in every month is not less than that being spent, you have to make sure that the kids (and pets) are clothed/fed/shuffled about from one activity to the next, etc, and you have to somehow be romantic and have some fun in the process. The good news is that technology might actually be able to help: this post is about three different mobile apps that can be useful to couples.
The apps are: Better Haves, an expense tracking app designed specifically for couples, that lets you allocate expenditures and sync transactions (and lets the couple have their own separate accounts to boot). Next, there’s Any.Do which is probably the best to-do/task management app on any mobile platform. It also lets you ‘share’ tasks with your significant other, to remind him/her to bring some milk home. Lastly, there’s Couple,a private Facebook for two, where you can post messages and pictures for your significant others’ eyes only.
1. Better Haves: expense/budget tracking for couples
Need a better way to manage your money as a couple? You probably do, since there’s a lot of research out there that has shown that money issues are among the biggest sources of stress for a relationship. With ‘Better Haves’ you and your significant other can allocate expenses into ‘envelopes’ and record any expense as it happens. This information syncs and is available in real time to your better half.
A really smart feature is that you can allocate shared accounts (a.k.a ‘envelopes’) as well as non shared envelopes (i.e. your own personal money). This is also a great idea backed up by research, and more likely to make the whole system work.
Better Haves also offers what you would expect from this type of app in terms of charts and expense reports, etc. It is available for Android right now and an iOS version is in the works.
2.Any.Do: nag-free task sharing with your significant other
Any.Do is a one of the best task management/to-do mobile apps, which we first mentioned in our first ‘Must Have Android Apps’ post. And while not specifically pitched at couples, my wife use it and find indispensible. This is because Any.Do lets you ‘share’ a task with others; essentially, letting you have the cake and eat it, by creating a reminder, on the one hand, while skipping the annoying nagging part, on the other.
The screenshot above right shows a task in the process of being shared. You can accept or ignore (at you peril 😉 ) and the task will be listed with your other tasks until checked off, at which point the sender will be notified.
Any.Do is available as an app for iOS and Android, a webapp, and a Chrome extension.
3. Couple: your own private Facebook
The cheesiest app award goes to ‘Couple’, a private social media app for you and your loved one, which I had to post here if for the name alone.
My first reaction, when I heard of this was: can you have a social media network consisting of just two people? I suppose you could count the relationship itself as some sort of a third entity. Or not. Either way Couple provides you and your sweetheart with a dedicated app where you can chat together, post pictures, ‘sketches’ and video, and just be all round lovey dovey I suppose.
This app seems like it’s geared for those newly in love, who are constantly in each other’s thoughts. The more advanced, paid version allows you to add a mistress or another girlfriend as well (JOKE!- there is no paid version).
Actually, it seems that several such social media apps for couples exist; Couple seemed the most professional of the bunch though.
That’s it. Do you know of any apps that can be useful for couples that I missed? Let me know.
