The best shared to-do list apps for families and teams (2026)

Updated 15 October 2026

A shared to-do list only works if everyone actually opens it. The right app depends on three things: which phones your people use, how many of them there are, and whether you need to say who is doing each job. We compared ten popular options for families and small teams so you can pick one in five minutes.

The short answer

• Best free pick for an all-iPhone family: Apple Reminders. It's already on your phones, and you can assign reminders to each other.
• Best free pick for mixed iPhone and Android: Microsoft To Do for a plain shared list, or TickOff if you want each job to have an owner and reminders that go to that person.
• Best for a family calendar plus lists: Cozi.
• Best for a quick shared checklist: Google Keep.
• Best for people who love organising: Todoist or TickTick.
• Best for a small team that likes boards: Trello.
• Best for a small crew or tradies who need assigned jobs, repeating jobs and a machine maintenance log: TickOff.

What to look for in a shared to-do app

1. Works on everyone's phone. If one person can't install it, the list dies. Check iPhone, Android and a browser.
2. Assign a task to a person. A list where every job belongs to "everyone" quietly becomes one person's list. Being able to say who owns each task is the single biggest difference between these apps.
3. Reminders that go to the right person. A reminder that only pings the person who wrote the task isn't much help to anyone else.
4. Repeating tasks. Bins, bills, feeding the dog, weekly equipment checks. Set them once and forget them.
5. How many people you can share with for free. This varies a lot, from one other person to ten or more.
6. Simple enough for the least techy person. The whole family or crew has to use it, not just the person who chose it.

At a glance

Apple Reminders

Best for: families where everyone has an iPhone.

Reminders is free and already on every iPhone. You can share a list with other people who use iCloud, and once a list is shared you can assign a reminder to someone, either with the assign button or by typing @ and their name. Each person gets an "Assigned to Me" list showing just their jobs. For an all-Apple household that's hard to beat.

The catch: there's no Reminders app for Android. If even one person in the family uses Android, they're stuck with iCloud.com in a web browser, which is clumsy. Our guide to shared reminders on iPhone and Android covers the options for mixed households.

Google Keep

Best for: a quick shared shopping list or packing checklist.

Keep is Google's free notes app. Any note or checklist can be shared with other people by email, or with your whole Google family group in one go, and everyone can tick things off. It works on Android, iPhone and the web.

The catch: it's a notes app, not a task manager. There's no way to say who owns an item, and reminders are personal, so setting one doesn't remind anyone else. Google Tasks, the to-do app built into Gmail and Google Calendar, is made for personal lists rather than family ones.

Microsoft To Do

Best for: a free, plain shared list that works on any phone.

To Do is free and runs on Android, iPhone, Windows and the web. You share a list by sending an invitation link, and once people join you can assign a task to one of them. Tasks assigned to you show up in an "Assigned to me" list. You'll each need a Microsoft account.

The catch: you share whole lists, not single tasks, and moving an assigned task to another list removes the assignment. It's tidy and simple but doesn't have much more for families or crews.

Cozi

Best for: families whose main need is a shared calendar.

Cozi is a family organiser built around one shared calendar, with shared to-do lists, shopping lists and a recipe box alongside it. The free version has ads. Cozi Gold (US$39 a year, one subscription for the whole family account) removes the ads and adds extras such as a month view on phones, more reminders and a birthday tracker.

The catch: the calendar is the star. The to-do lists are simple, and if your family's real problem is "who's doing which job", Cozi doesn't push that as hard as a task app does.

Any.do

Best for: families who want a daily planner with a shared space.

Any.do combines a to-do list, calendar and planner. Its paid Family plan gives up to four people a shared family space with shared boards and grocery lists, and you can assign tasks, and even single checklist items, to different people. Everyone also keeps a private personal space.

The catch: Any.do's own help pages say assigning tasks isn't available on the Free or Premium plans, so for a family you're really looking at the paid Family plan, and it's capped at four members.

TickTick

Best for: organised people who want lots of features, sharing with one other person.

TickTick packs in a lot: calendar views, habits, a focus timer and smart lists. You can share a list and assign tasks within it. On the free plan, a shared list can have one other member. Premium raises that to 29 members per list, and only the list's owner needs to pay.

The catch: the free plan really only suits two people. A family of four or a crew of five means someone pays for Premium.

Todoist

Best for: people who like building a system with projects, labels and filters.

Todoist is one of the best-known task apps. On the free Beginner plan you can have up to five personal projects and share each one with up to five people, and you can assign tasks in a shared project. It also has team workspaces for businesses.

The catch: there's more to learn than most families or crews need, and some features sit behind the paid plans. Great for the organiser in the house; harder to get everyone else to open.

Trello

Best for: small teams who like to see work as cards on a board.

Trello organises work as cards that move across columns, such as "To do", "Doing" and "Done". You can put members on a card, add checklists and due dates, and see the whole job at a glance. The free plan allows up to 10 collaborators and up to 10 boards per Workspace.

The catch: boards are great on a big screen and fiddlier on a phone, and Trello counts guests and pending invites towards the 10-person limit. Teams that outgrow it pay per user.

Asana

Best for: office teams running projects with timelines and handovers.

Asana is proper project-management software: projects, assignees, due dates, list, board and calendar views, and lots of integrations. It's excellent for running projects.

The catch: Asana's current free Personal plan is for up to two people, so any real team ends up on a paid plan, priced per user. It's also more than most families or small trade crews need.

TickOff

Best for: families, couples and small crews who want every job to have an owner.

This is our app, so weigh this section accordingly. TickOff is a shared to-do list where every task is assigned to one or more people. Reminders go to whoever owns the task, you get a notification when someone adds a task for you or ticks off one of yours, and tasks can repeat daily, on weekdays, weekly, monthly or yearly. It runs in the browser and installs to the home screen on iPhone and Android, so there's nothing to download from an app store, and mixed-phone families work fine.

For crews, farms and workshops there's also an equipment register: log services and repairs on each machine, track hours or kilometres and registration dates, and get reminded before a service is due.

The free plan covers one group of up to 3 people with 30 open tasks, plus one machine in the equipment register. Pro (A$4.99 a month or A$39.99 a year) removes those limits and adds AI quick-add (type or say a list and it becomes tasks), photos, calendar sync and reports. You can try Pro free for 14 days with no card needed (one free trial per person).

The catch: TickOff is newer and much smaller than the big names here, it isn't listed in the app stores, and it has no family calendar view. If a shared calendar is your main need, Cozi is a better fit.

Best shared to-do app for families

Start with phones. If you're all on iPhone, try Apple Reminders first, because it's free and already installed. If you're a mix of iPhone and Android, you need an app that works everywhere: Microsoft To Do for a simple free list, Cozi if the calendar matters most, or TickOff if you want chores and jobs to have a clear owner, with reminders going to that person. For older kids, assigned tasks work much better than a shared "someone do this" list; our chore chart for kids guide shows how to set that up.

Best shared to-do app for small teams

For an office team running projects, Trello (free for up to 10 people) or Asana (paid once you're past two people) are the established choices. For a small crew that works from phones, such as tradies, cleaners, a farm or a workshop, full project software is usually overkill. You need today's jobs, who's doing them, and a tick when they're done. That's where TickOff fits, especially if you also need to keep a service log for machines and vehicles. See our guide to a simple to-do list for small teams for how to set one up.

How to get everyone using it

1. Pick one app and one list to start. Don't build ten lists on day one.
2. Move the jobs that cause the most nagging first: bins, bills, school forms, the jobs that always slip.
3. Give every task an owner. If your app can't assign tasks, put the person's name at the start.
4. Put the regular jobs on repeat so nobody has to remember to add them.
5. Try it for two weeks, then talk about what's working before you switch apps.

Common questions

What is the best free shared to-do list app?

If everyone has an iPhone, Apple Reminders is free and built in. For mixed iPhone and Android, Microsoft To Do is free, and TickOff is free for up to 3 people with tasks assigned to each person. Google Keep is free and fine for simple checklists.

Which to-do apps work on both iPhone and Android?

Google Keep, Microsoft To Do, Cozi, Any.do, TickTick, Todoist, Trello, Asana and TickOff all work on both. Apple Reminders has no Android app.

Can you assign tasks to family members in a to-do app?

Yes, in Apple Reminders and Microsoft To Do (within shared lists), Todoist, TickTick, Any.do (on the Family plan) and TickOff. Google Keep and Cozi lists have no task owners.

How many people can share a list for free?

It varies a lot. TickTick's free plan allows one other person per list, Asana's free plan two people, TickOff 3 people, Todoist five people per project and Trello ten collaborators per Workspace.

Is a shared calendar or a shared to-do list better for a family?

They do different jobs. A calendar is for things that happen at a set time; a to-do list is for jobs someone has to do. Many families use one of each, or Cozi, which combines both.