UPDATE: Following the publication of this story, BarrieToday learned that unspecified issues had arisen with the app.
The following message is posted on the company's site:
"Due to unforeseen circumstances our service is no longer available. We understand this may come as an inconvenience, and we sincerely apologize for any disruption this may have caused you," the message reads.
When asked by BarrieToday if the app had been shut down permanently, designer Gerry Henstra said, "unfortunately, yes."
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Longtime Barrie resident Gerry Henstra is hoping the new household organizer app he has created will be able to help busy families balance work, family and personal life a little more easily.
Henstra, who has worked in the information technology (IT) field for about four decades, including owning his own software company, recently launched Our Family Dashboard, an app dedicated to simplifying and enhancing the lives of busy families by combining multiple household management tools into one convenient platform.
After selling his software company just prior to the pandemic, Henstra told BarrieToday he was trying to figure out what to do next and ultimately landed on the idea of creating something that would help families.
“I know my son and his wife were struggling with mortgage payments and just trying to manage all the things that are going on in their lives," he said. "When my wife and I started off we had challenges, but when you look at what's happening today with young families the delta between the income that they're getting and the cost of housing and food … it's much tighter than it was when we grew up.
"Things are a lot harder for families these days I believe,” Henstra added.
Realizing the tough times families were experiencing trying to not only balance their budgets with the increasing costs but also busy schedules, Henstra said he decided to try to create an app that went beyond just a calendar, reminders and simple grocery list.
“My cousin and I (have) been working on it for a while now, trying to add as much functionality in it as we can. We've got basically 18 tools built into Our Family Dashboard,” he said.
Those include everything from shared calendars, reminders, to-do lists, grocery lists, meal planning, chore management, expense tracking, password management and contact management.
The app will run on any Apple or Android device, he said, and can also run on a Windows laptop and notebook as well. Subscribers can have up to 10 family members using and managing the app at once.
The idea is the app will serve as a shared experience where everybody works together and is informed of what's coming up and what needs to be done, Henstra said.
The app also features a special mode for tablets, so users can put it in a common area in their house and everyone can interact with that tablet.
That mode, he said, includes all the family level items: the kids' chores which they can check off when they're completed and they get a confetti explosion on the screen. They can see what homework they've got and what's coming up. They could use it to add resources for their homework.
Each user can be assigned their own colour and avatar, helping to make using the app a more custom experience, Henstra added.
“We've tried to put as much into the app as we can to help the household so that you're not using four or five different apps," he said.
By using one app, everything is integrated, Henstra noted.
"As an example, when you're in the grocery store there's a mode for doing your shopping for your grocery list. When you're finished you put in the amount of what you're what your grocery bill was and it immediately gets assigned to your grocery budget," he said. "It is all done together and that's the type of integration that makes things efficient and makes sure that they get done.
"If you've got to go to another app later on to do something then there's a chance it's not going to get done. It's just too disconnected.”
Users can try the app through a 30-day free trial. A subscription is $5.99 a month or $59.99 a year. It's is available now in the App Store and on Google Play.
