CustodyProof vs co-parenting apps: different jobs
Search for a “custody app” and most of what you find is a co-parenting app: a shared platform both parents join to communicate and coordinate. Custody Proof shows up in the same searches, but it is not one of them. The two solve different problems, and picking the wrong one wastes months.
Co-parenting apps are shared communication and coordination tools. Both parents create accounts. The point is a single, on-the-record channel: documented messages, a shared calendar, shared expense requests, and often access for family-law professionals. That design is genuinely useful — when both parents will participate.
Custody Proof is a private documentation app for one parent. There is no shared account. The other parent is never invited and never notified. The point is a timestamped record of your parenting time, your incident log, your evidence vault, and your expense ledger — exportable when you want to hand something to your attorney.
If a court has ordered you onto a shared communication platform, that order is about how you talk to each other. It is not automatically a system for your own evidence file. Some parents use a shared app and keep their own record. Some only need one of those jobs.
This page compares the jobs, not brands.
The job-to-be-done
| If you need… | A shared co-parenting app | Custody Proof |
|---|---|---|
| A documented message thread both parents use | Yes — that is the core of the category | No. There is no in-app messaging with the other parent |
| The other parent to have an account | Required — the design assumes both parents join | Never. There is no invite |
| A shared calendar both parents see and edit | Typically yes | Not the core job. You keep a calendar of your plan and your actuals |
| A private incident and evidence file the other parent cannot see | Not the design — it is a shared space | Yes — that is the design |
| Overnight vs. timed-visit math, planned vs. actual, one-parent percentages | Not the category’s job | Yes |
| Expense tracking | Usually shared: both parents see requests and balances | One-parent ledger with receipts and a reimbursement balance |
| Court-ordered communication | Shared apps are what such orders typically name | Not a communication tool; never a substitute for an order to use one |
Read that table as a filter, not a scoreboard. A shared channel can be the right tool. A private record can be the right tool. They solve different failures.
When a shared co-parenting app is the right tool
Use one when the problem is the channel:
- A judge, mediator, or attorney has told both of you to put parenting communication in one documented place.
- You need a message thread neither of you can quietly edit later.
- You want schedule-change requests and shared expenses settled where both sides see the same numbers.
- You want your attorney or a parenting coordinator looking at the same thread you both used, without forwarding screenshots.
If that is the job — and especially if a court has named a specific platform — do that job with the tool the order names. Custody Proof will not replace a court order to communicate on a shared platform.
When Custody Proof is the right tool
Use a private documentation app when the problem is the record, and especially when shared participation is the thing that already failed:
- The other parent will not join a shared app, will not answer on it, or only uses it as another venue for conflict.
- You need a file they cannot see, comment on, or refuse to populate.
- You need overnight counts and planned-vs-actual, not a shared chat history.
- You are paying an attorney by the hour to reconstruct a timeline from your camera roll, and you want that timeline to exist before the next invoice.
Custody Proof is built for that. You subscribe as one person. Nothing is sent to the other parent. You log time, flag incidents on your own calendar, attach evidence in an encrypted vault, and export PDFs and CSVs when you choose. More on the approach: Private custody documentation.
It is not a way to dodge a communication order. It is not a second secret inbox for talking to the other parent. It is a notebook with structure.
How the two differ in daily use
Onboarding. A shared app’s setup involves the other parent — that is the point of it. Custody Proof’s does not. If “they will find out I started an app” is the constraint, these are not the same decision.
What gets timestamped. Shared apps document the communication: who said what, and when. Custody Proof timestamps the documentation: custody nights, visits, violation flags, vault entries, and expenses. If your hearing is about who said what, a communication record is the relevant object. If it is about who had the children, who missed the exchange, and what was spent, a documentation record is the relevant object.
Who can see it. A shared app is, by design, visible to both parents (and often to invited professionals). Custody Proof is one login. Help-center fact: “The other parent never has an account and can never see anything you record.”
Counting. Custody Proof counts parenting time the way family courts commonly discuss it — overnights, with timed day visits in a separate column — and runs the same engine across the calendar, dashboard, statistics, and PDF exports. See How courts count parenting time.
AI. Custody Proof’s Vera (on the Case Builder plan) turns notes, screenshots, and voice memos into drafts that you review before anything saves. She is a documentation assistant, not a messaging coach.
What Custody Proof costs
Standard plan: $14.75/month or $144/year, charged at signup, one subscription for one parent. Case Builder ($29/month or $278/year) is an in-app upgrade that adds Vera, exhibit reports, and priority support. No trial; your first charge carries a 30-day money-back guarantee. Shared co-parenting apps price differently — often per parent, by feature tier — so check the specific product’s live pricing rather than a comparison page.
“Court-admissible” and other words to be careful with
Shared apps market tamper-resistant communication records; that category has real standing with courts, which is why orders name those platforms.
Custody Proof markets organized, dated documentation. We do not claim a judge must accept a Custody Proof PDF, and we do not claim to substitute for a platform a court has ordered you to use. Admissibility and compliance with an order are attorney questions.
If anyone sells you any product — theirs or ours — as “the app that wins custody,” they sold you a story. No software should be used that way.
Can you use both?
Yes. A common split:
- The shared app (whatever the order or agreement names): the channel you are required or agreed to use with the other parent.
- Custody Proof: the private file of time, incidents, expenses, and attachments that does not depend on their participation.
If you are leaving another app and want your history in Custody Proof, see Importing your history. That is about bringing your past records over — never anyone else’s account.
How to choose in one paragraph
If the failure is communication — you need one documented thread, and both of you will (or must) be on it — use a shared co-parenting app. If the failure is documentation — you need a record that does not depend on the other parent — use a one-parent tool. Custody Proof is built for that, and you can start a private record today. If you have both failures, you may need both tools. Read Why co-parenting apps fail for the category argument, and How to document custody for court for the documentation system.
Custody Proof is a documentation tool, not a law firm. Nothing on this page is legal advice. Whether and how a record is used in a case is a question for your attorney.