The Maple Family App Is Shutting Down: Here's Where to Take Your Family Calendar Next

If you're a part of the Maple family app, you probably already heard the news. A third party recently acquired Maple, and the app is shutting down by the end of the year. First and foremost, we're sorry you're dealing with that! It’s not always easy to make a change, especially when you find a system that is working. Maple had the right idea: families need something built specifically for how households actually operate. We think so too. And, here at Jam, it's actually kind of our whole thing.

What is The Maple Household Planner?

Maple was a family organization app built for busy households, with a shared family calendar, to-dos, grocery and shopping lists and shared household organization under one hub. Like Jam, it was also built on the idea that families need more than a plain paper calendar to run a household. They need an easy system to manage the ever-changing family life with everything in between. So if you’re looking for a new tool for your family to run and track your household, keep reading. We got you. 

Meet Jam: A Family Planner App

Jam is an all-in-one family organization app built to keep everything going on in your household in one place. It includes the calendar, the to-dos, the grocery list and the stress of “Who’s picking up who on this day and that day?” of it all. 

But who built it? Well, two moms who were tired of piecing a bunch of countertop strategies with endless mountains of paper created it. Something that could hold and organize the whole household in one place instead of scattered across sticky notes, group texts and whatever calendar happened to be open. So if Maple was working for your family, Jam should feel familiar too. 

Here's What That Looks Like in Jam: 6 Family Planner App Features 

1. A shared family calendar 

With Jam, you can create events for multiple family members (just tag who’s going), see everyone's schedule and assign drivers so nobody's left wondering who's doing pickup. You can color-code by person, see the whole week or just today and use essential productivity hacks to stay on top of changes, events and everything else your family has going on. So if you’re wondering, “What calendar can I use to share with the family?”, Jam is on your side. 

2. Shared, assignable to-do lists

What is the easiest digital planner to use? Well, Jam builds themed lists, even holiday to-do lists, hands off tasks to the person who's doing them and sets up recurring to-dos for the stuff that reoccurs every week. Instead of trying to remember if anyone signed the permission slip or if someone took the dog to the vet for a yearly check-up, you can look and know immediately. If it wasn’t done, you know exactly who needs to complete what and when. Very easy and effective. 

3. Shopping and grocery lists 

You can connect a list to an event like supplies for the science fair or treats for a sleepover, and it's there when you need it. Whoever's at the store can also check off items using the app, so you're not both buying eggs and still forgetting the poster board. No more separate list apps.

4. Calendar syncing

Bring your existing Google or Apple calendars into Jam instead of starting from a blank page. Updates also flow both ways, so you're not stuck checking two places to know what's happening. For example, your work meetings, your partner's calendar and the kids' school calendar all live in one synced view.

5. Roles and permissions for parents, kids, and caregivers

Share the mental load with everyone in the family, including grandparents, carpool buddies and sitters, with control over exactly what they can see and do, so you’re not trying to learn how to share the mental load of parenting by yourself. For example, a sitter picking up from practice can see enough to get the job done, without you having to hand over everything else. See how Jam works.

6. A system built around reducing the mental load

The most exciting benefit is that it doesn’t just track events. It lightens the invisible work and internal chaos that remembering, delegating, following up and organizing creates. You feel happier and more relaxed knowing another member in your household knows their role, how to help and how everyone is connected in one app, one household. 

Switching Your Family App is Easier Than You Think

We know the idea of migrating your whole family's life to a new app sounds exhausting, especially right now. That's why we built onboarding to take only about 10 minutes. 

To make it even easier, we have Jaime, our assistant for getting everything up and running fast. Jaime helps you get your calendars connected and your family's information into Jam without you having to manually rebuild everything from scratch. You bring what you've got, Jaime helps you connect it all and you're back to a working family command center quickly. 

And if you're switching over right as the school year kicks off, pair your move to Jam with The Back-to-School Blueprint to get your whole family's schedule, supplies and routines dialed in. 

Come Jam With Us

What is the best digital family planner? Everyone has a different answer. But what we do know is that if you loved what the Maple family app was doing, then you're exactly who Jam was built for. We can't undo the fact that you have to switch systems or say goodbye to Maple, but we can make sure switching is the last hard part. And that you’ll be happy with our family planner app.

So if you're looking for a new home for your family's calendar and to-do lists after Maple, come try Jam. Start your free 30-day trial and see what it feels like to have your whole family on the same page.