TalkingParents: Co-Parent App

TalkingParents is a court ordered communication system that has created an impossible catch-22 that knowingly puts vulnerable parents and children in danger. This is long, but please read, especially if you are a financially struggling parent and/or having to deal with a high-conflict, litigious, or abusive coparent. My experience with TalkingParents has been profoundly disappointing and frightening, and I believe anyone dealing with a high-conflict co-parent should think very carefully before relying on this company. TalkingParents is not simply an optional communication app for many of its users. In my case, use of TalkingParents is court-ordered to as a means to help me stay safe due to the co-parent's history of abusiveness. When our parenting plan was entered in 2022, TalkingParents offered a free tier, which are utilized up until recently. In June 2026, the company arbitrarily eliminated that free option, turning what had been a free court-ordered service into an ongoing financial obligation that I cannot afford. That distinction matters enormously when you are dealing with a high-conflict or personality-disordered co-parent. When communication is court ordered to occur through a specific platform, losing access isn’t merely inconvenient. A high-conflict co-parent can seize on any perceived technical or procedural violation and attempt to turn it into an allegation of noncompliance or contempt of court. When someone is already looking for opportunities to weaponize the parenting plan, being unable to access the court-ordered communication platform can have serious consequences, legally and logistically. I explained those circumstances directly to TalkingParents’ "support" team, trying to get the company to understand. I repeatedly asked for supervisors or higher ranking individuals to discuss the situation that myself and many women are in, and was refused any sort of higher contact. There is no publicly available phone number, and the company relies solely on email to the "support" team. The "support" team responses were devoid of any meaningful assistance, empathy, or a feasible solution. Instead, I was given the proverbial runaround - again and again. This has gone on for months at this point. TalkingParents told me that, despite me providing ample documentation of financial hardship and providing my parenting plan with the provision that court ordered the use of TalkingParents, I still needed an "indigency ruling from the court" in order to obtain a fee waiver. I then went through the lengthy and complicated process of seeking that ruling from the court, only to be told by my court that, in a nutshell, no such ruling exists. Here is the part that TalkingParents’ marketing and customer-support responses fail to adequately acknowledge: The “hoop” they are asking financially struggling subscribers to jump through (a standalone "ruling of indigence") is not a realistic or available option in many Superior Court jurisdictions. In my jurisdiction, the court specifically explained that it could not issue the generalized indigency determination TalkingParents was demanding because there was no active matter to which such an order could be attached. I personally provided TalkingParents with the documentation from my superior court explaining that what they are asking for simply doesn't exist. The response I got was… **Crickets.** And, they still continue to assert that this nonexistent ruling as is a requirement to obtain their fee waiver, and that there are no exceptions. In other words, TalkingParents directed me to obtain something that my court does not have a mechanism to issue under these circumstances. And this isn’t a minor technicality. For subscribers who had pre-existing court orders requiring TalkingParents before the company eliminated its free tier, this creates an impossible situation. These parents did not voluntarily choose a paid service. They entered into parenting plans when TalkingParents was available without a subscription fee, and then the company unilaterally changed the economic terms of complying with those court orders. Now the company’s proposed solution is essentially: “Get a court order declaring you indigent.” But what if your court does not offer a procedure for obtaining that type of standalone order? What exactly is the parent supposed to do then? The answer I received was effectively: too bad. Pay us or lose access and be in contempt of your parenting plan. Full stop. That is not a meaningful fee-waiver program. It is a purported accommodation built around a prerequisite that many of the very people who need the accommodation the most cannot feasibly obtain. And that is particularly disturbing when you consider who is likely to be affected. Parents using court-ordered communication platforms are not necessarily in ordinary consumer circumstances. Many of us are escaping abuse and dealing with high-conflict litigation, coercive behavior, financial hardship, harassment, threats, or vindictive co-parents who will exploit any opportunity to allege noncompliance with a parenting plan. I am one of those people. My son and I have - quite literally - been put in grave danger due to an inability to attain TalkingParents' "fee waiver," which I'm now convinced does not even exist. I explained to TalkingParents’ support team that I am dealing with a highly contentious and dangerous individual. I explained that I had already been threatened when I was locked out of my TalkingParents account on June 1 for my inability to pay. I explained and provided proof that my access to their platform was court ordered. I explained and provided proof of the financial circumstances preventing me from maintaining the newly imposed subscription. And and, as mentioned above, I provided them with my superior court's finding which explained that the type of court ruling they are requiring does not even exist! There was no meaningful empathy and no actuall

Not recommended

I tried this app with my ex as an alternative to Our Family Wizard (as that app had plenty of problems of its own). This was SO much worse. The UX is awful; you can’t save a message that you’re writing (it just disappears), there is no way to file or categorize sent or received messages into groups (so you remember to respond), and my ex also said it kept crashing on him. These are the issues we have noticed after using it for less than 24 hours. I immediately canceled my subscription.

This is the worst app ever. The design is horrible and it doesn’t even count for anything to hold up in law. You can take screenshots and record everything on your phone that this thing does except it doesn’t cost you $100 a year. It’s not worth the money, and not worth the time to deal with it. My lawyer talked me into it at mediation and said it was five dollars a year. Don’t let lawyers for you. It’s not worth it and it’s not legally binding in any way shape or form.

Just renewed my Subscription now it says They cannot find an active subscription kind of crazy because this is a court-appointed app and today I get to FaceTime my daughter, but I can’t because I have to wait two business days for them to get back to me five thumbs👎🏿

Can’t even see my kids face when I talk to him because for some reason the video call button never connects.

No phone number for customer service. They encourage to use the chat option. However when you chat, you receive an error message saying they’re too busy and to email them. Once emailing, they state someone will get back to you in 2 business days. I haven’t been able to reach anyone and it is a horrible experience if you need to get in touch with anyone with this company. Good luck trying!

Over priced. No customer service. Glitches. Now it’s 40 a month 😂

I have been unable to log into my account for 3 days now and the only way to contact customer support is via chat messaging or email I have received only emails telling me they have a higher than normal volume of customer issues and they have not responded with help for three days I have no contact with my co parent besides talking parents this the worst experience I have ever had with a customer support system in my life. I would give 0 stars if I could.

The app is great for simple messaging (photo attachments are cumbersome)and recording calls but the calendar is clunky and feels very outdated compared to OFW and even AppClose.