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The 50 Best Apps for Parents, 2012
Whether we’re using our smartphone to organize play dates or handing over the iPad to keep the kids entertained, we can’t live without our mobile gadgets. But with more than a million apps available in Apple’s iTunes Store and Android’s Google Play market, our smartphones and tablets are useful for a lot more than calls and games.
From baby monitors to vacation planners to virtual assistants for mom, our annual guide to the 50 best apps for parents has everything you need to get the most from your iPhone, iPad, or Android smartphone. Best of all, most of these apps are free or available with free equivalents, so you can give them a whirl without having to put a dent in the family budget.
We hope you have as much fun checking out these apps as we did testing them. Be sure to tell us about your favorite apps, too — we can’t wait to see what you find! — Aaron Burgess
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Ancestry
Rankings:
- #10 Family Fun
How many leaves are on your family tree? Ancestry makes it easy to find out. The app integrates with the subscription-based site Ancestry.com to let you add, research, and discover the relationships in your family tree from the convenience of your mobile gadget. You can tap to upload family photos, search public records for distant relatives, and calculate relationships between yourself and notable figures throughout history. While the app is free, you need an Ancestry.com membership (prices vary) to unlock all of its features. The site offers a free two-week trial period, however, so it’s worth a try if you’ve ever considered documenting your roots. Bonus: It makes a fun family project and a neat historical hand-me-down for the kids.
Get it for iPhone + iPad, Free
Get it for Android, Free
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