Even if you have a small family, it can still be hard to juggle everyone’s schedule. Between soccer practice, drama club, debate team, family dinners, weddings, work schedules, out of town business meetings, and all the other events that kids and their parents are trying to juggle, it is very easy to get mixed up about who needs a ride when, or who is unable to chaperone what field trip. Whether you’re a family of two or twenty-two, a helpful app called Hub can help you coordinate everyone’s various schedules and commitments.

What is it and what does it do

Main Functionality

Hub is, well, a “hub.” This virtual shared space lets families share their calendars, lists, tasks, and photos. Use it to share status updates (“Working on history project with Mel after school, be home by 5”), funny pictures, or grocery lists.

Pros

• Free app that is quick to set up
• Clean, attractive interface
• Great for communicating quickly on the go, and in a space where everyone is sure to get the message
• Scheduled events are automatically synced between users
• Easily add people to your hub from your Contacts list
• Customizable cover image lets you personalize the feel of your hub
• Automatically imports existing events from your Calendar

Cons

• Upgrading for a year’s service will cost you about thirty bucks (more in Discussion below)
• Menus would occasionally pop up and be halfway off the screen (seems like a minor bug that will probably get sorted out after the next update)

Discussion

Hub is a very useful tool for helping families to stay organized. It’s superior to sending a bunch of texts, or having a physical shared message board, because you can update it on the go with up-to-date changes in your schedule. The interface is very attractive, clean, and super simple to navigate.

If you want to unlock some additional features, you’ll need to pay $29.99 for a year’s service. This payment will entitle you to make unlimited sharing, assign tasks to other users, repeat events, and set reminders. The app works just fine without these extra features, but having them does allow you to set requests with more authority and urgency, which is often helpful when dealing with a large family.

It’s very handy that this app quickly updates its internal calendar with data from your calendar. Adding people to your hub is very simple (assuming they are already in your Contacts list.) Overall, this app really couldn’t be more user-friendly.

Conclusion and download link

If you have a large family that you need to keep organized and on the same page, Hub is a great tool for keeping you sane. If you have a busy schedule, this app is a good way to ensure that everyone is aware of everybody else’s commitments. This is an app to keep your eyes on.

Price: Free

Version reviewed: 1.0.18

Supported OS: Requires iOS 6.0 or later.

Download size: 22.8 MB

Hub – Home & Family Organizer on Apple App Store