FAQ

Co-parenting app questions, answered

The things co-parents actually ask before signing up — including the ones with uncomfortable answers.

About Braidly

What is a co-parenting app?

A co-parenting app is a shared workspace for parents raising children in two households. It replaces scattered text threads, screenshots and spreadsheets with one custody calendar, one message thread, one expense ledger and one document store that both parents can see. Braidly adds AI that helps rewrite heated messages before they send, and records that can be exported for court if it ever comes to that.

Do both parents have to pay for Braidly?

No. One Braidly subscription covers the whole family — both parents and both households — and parents can split the cost between them. This is the main way Braidly differs from OurFamilyWizard and TalkingParents, which bill each parent separately, so a two-parent family there pays twice.

What if my co-parent refuses to sign up?

Braidly still works for one parent. The calendar, journal, expense records and document vault all function solo, and everything you log is timestamped from the day you write it — which matters if you later need to show a pattern. When your co-parent does join, they see the shared schedule and expenses from that point forward, and your private journal stays private.

Is Braidly free?

Yes, there is a permanently free plan that includes the custody calendar, basic messaging, up to two children, the handoff log and limited expense tracking. Every new account also gets a 14-day full Premium trial with no credit card required. Paid plans are $12.99/month (Standard) and $24.99/month (Premium) for the whole family, not per parent.

Will a court accept Braidly records?

Braidly exports produce a complete, timestamped record of messages, journal entries, custody history and expenses, sealed with a SHA-256 hash so any later alteration is provable. Once legal hold is active, neither parent — and not Braidly — can edit or delete the underlying records. Whether any given record is admitted is always the court's decision, and no co-parenting app can promise admissibility; what an app can do is make the record complete and tamper-evident, which is what Braidly does.

Can my attorney or therapist see our records?

Yes. You can grant an attorney, mediator, therapist, grandparent or caregiver read-only access scoped to the records you choose, without exposing either parent's full account. Access is granted and revoked by you at any time.

Does the AI read my messages?

The AI Tone Coach analyses a message you are composing, on your device's request, and offers a calmer rewrite before you send. It suggests only — you always choose which version sends, and nothing is sent automatically. The AI Mediator only ever joins a thread when a parent explicitly invites it.

How do kids use Braidly?

Children get their own simplified view showing where they are staying and when, on their own device or through a link a parent shares. They see the schedule, not the parents' messages. The point is that a child never has to ask either parent where they sleep tomorrow, and never carries a message between two houses.

Where is Braidly available?

Braidly is available in the United States and Canada. European signups are not accepted yet because data residency and Standard Contractual Clauses are still outstanding, and accepting them without those in place would be a GDPR problem rather than a feature gap.

How long does setup take?

About five minutes. You pick your rotation pattern — 2-2-3, week-on/week-off, or a custom schedule — set the date it starts from, add your children, and invite your co-parent with a code. Holidays are pre-seeded and school breaks can be imported from a school calendar.

Getting started

How long does it take to set up a co-parenting app?

About five minutes in Braidly. You choose a rotation pattern, set the date it starts from, add your children, and generate an invite code for your co-parent. Eighteen US holidays are pre-seeded, and school breaks can be imported from a school calendar rather than typed in.

What if my co-parent refuses to join?

Braidly still works for one parent. The calendar, private journal, expense records and document vault all function solo, and everything is timestamped from the day you write it — which is what matters if you later need to demonstrate a pattern. When your co-parent does join, they see the shared schedule and expenses from that point forward, and your journal stays private.

Can we both start the week on different days?

Yes. Whether the calendar grid starts on Sunday or Monday is a per-parent display preference with no effect on the custody rotation. Both parents always see the same custody days regardless of how their own grid is arranged.

Does Braidly work on iPhone and Android?

Yes. Braidly runs in the browser on any device and installs to the home screen on both iOS and Android, so it behaves like an app with push notifications for handoffs, messages and expense approvals.

Can I import our existing custody agreement?

You can store your custody agreement, parenting plan, insurance cards and court orders in the document vault so both parents always have the current version. The calendar itself is built from a rotation pattern you select rather than parsed from the decree.

Privacy & what each person sees

Can my co-parent see my private journal?

No. The journal is private to the parent who writes it. Entries are timestamped when written and can be flagged as incidents, and they appear in your own court export — but your co-parent never sees them through Braidly.

Can Braidly staff read my messages?

Records are protected by row-level security so each family's data is isolated at the database level, and once legal hold is active nobody can alter records, including Braidly. Access for support purposes is limited and logged. Full detail is in the privacy policy.

What can my children see?

Children see a simplified view of the custody schedule — where they are staying and when — and nothing else. They cannot see the parents' messages, the expense ledger, either parent's journal, or any documents.

What happens to our data if I cancel?

Cancelling drops you to the free plan rather than deleting anything. Your calendar, messages and records remain. If you delete your account outright, deletion follows the schedule set out in the privacy policy, except where a legal hold is active and records must be preserved.

Is Braidly available outside the US?

Braidly is available in the United States and Canada. European signups are not accepted yet because data residency and Standard Contractual Clauses are still outstanding, and taking EU signups without those in place would be a GDPR problem rather than a feature gap.

Courts & legal

Will a court accept Braidly records?

Braidly exports produce a complete, timestamped record of messages, journal entries, custody history and expenses, sealed with a SHA-256 hash so any later alteration is provable. Once legal hold is active, neither parent — and not Braidly — can edit or delete the underlying records. Admissibility is always decided by the court hearing the matter, and no app can promise it.

Is Braidly a court-approved co-parenting app?

No co-parenting app is certified by any court. The phrase generally means judges have ordered families to use a particular app, which OurFamilyWizard, TalkingParents and AppClose have accumulated over many years and Braidly, launched in 2026, has not. What Braidly provides is the underlying property that makes records hard to challenge: completeness, timestamps and provable integrity.

My order names a specific app. Can I switch to Braidly?

If a court order specifically names an app as your required communication platform, use that app unless the order is modified. If the order says only that communication must go through a documented platform, Braidly generally satisfies it — confirm with your attorney before switching.

Does Braidly give legal advice?

No. Braidly is a documentation and communication tool. It does not provide legal, financial or therapeutic advice and does not replace an attorney, mediator or therapist. Its role is to produce a clean record of what happened.

Still stuck?

Email support@braidly.co and a person will answer. Braidly is small enough that it is usually the founder.

Your children deserve to just be children.

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