# A Cozi alternative for iPhone, Mac and Apple Watch

If your whole household uses Apple devices, Ethos is a Cozi alternative built around the jobs a family repeats: shared routines, turns on the bins, and one shopping list, on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. Cozi is built around a shared calendar and works on Android and the web as well. Ethos has no account and no ads, and each person keeps their own planner beside the family's. Ethos isn't connected to Cozi or to the company that makes it.

## How the two are built

Cozi starts from the calendar. Its App Store page describes a colour-coded family calendar with reminders, shopping and to-do lists, a recipe box, and daily or weekly agenda emails. You can subscribe to other calendars inside it.

Ethos starts from the week. You set what each weekday asks of you once, and Today shows it as a timeline you tick as you go. A family group adds routines you keep together: everyone's face sits under a shared routine and fills in as they tick their part. Ethos doesn't hold appointments of its own. If you turn on "Show calendar events", it shows the ones already on your device beside your tasks, without changing or sending them. The [family organiser](/family-organiser) page has the whole picture.

## Side by side

- Devices. Ethos has apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch, including iPhone Duo. Cozi's UK App Store page lists iPhone, iPad and Apple Vision under Compatibility, and its website says it works on "iPhone, Android & Web".
- Accounts. Ethos has no account to make: groups are shared through each person's own iCloud. Cozi's website says "Everyone shares one account and signs in their own way", and its App Store page says each person uses their own email address with the shared family password.
- Adverts. Ethos has none. Cozi's App Store page lists Advertising under Contains, and its website lists "No ads" as part of Cozi Gold.
- Privacy label. Cozi's App Store privacy label lists Identifiers and Usage Data under "Data Used to Track You", and contact info, purchases, user content, search history, identifiers and usage data under "Data Linked to You". Ethos has no account, no analytics and no tracking, and its developer never receives your planner.
- Chores. Ethos can set a shared routine to take turns, so only the person whose turn it is sees it, and the turn can be passed on, skipped or swapped. Cozi describes chore checklists for the kids among its to-do lists. More in [a chore rota that goes round](/blog/chore-rota-app).
- Lists. Both keep a shopping list the family adds to together. Each item in an Ethos list shows the face of whoever added it.
- Meals. Cozi has a recipe box and its website describes a meal planner. Ethos lets you plan the week's meals and send a meal's ingredients to the group's list in one tap.
- Your own day. Ethos keeps a planner and a habit tracker for each person beside the family's: your own routine, reminders and Rhythm, which the family can't see. Cozi is one shared space for the household.

## Who should stick with Cozi

Cozi suits a household where not everyone has an Apple device. If one parent has an Android phone, or someone wants to check the plan from a work PC, Cozi covers that and Ethos doesn't. Ethos needs iOS 26, iPadOS 26 or macOS 26 or later.

Stay with Cozi too if the family calendar is the heart of how you organise, with agenda emails and other calendars in one place. Ethos reads the calendars on your device but isn't a calendar to share. And if a recipe box matters to you, Cozi has one and Ethos doesn't.

Ethos suits a family on Apple devices whose week runs on the same jobs every week, who want to see who's done their part, and who'd rather not make an account. Each person also gets a [daily planner](/daily-planner) and a [habit tracker](/habit-tracker) of their own.

## Where the Cozi facts come from

Checked on 25 October 2026 from Cozi's App Store page and website:

- "Cozi Family Organiser" by Cozi on the UK App Store, version 2026.08.28: its description, its Compatibility and Contains sections, and its App Privacy label.
- Cozi's own website, cozi.com.

Apps change. If something here no longer matches Cozi's own pages, theirs is the one to go by. Everything about Ethos comes from the app itself.

## Questions

### Is Ethos made by the people who make Cozi?

No. Ethos is a separate app from an independent developer in the UK, and it isn't connected to Cozi.

### Does everyone in the family need an Apple device?

Yes. Each person in a group needs Ethos on their own iPhone, iPad or Mac, signed in to iCloud. If someone in the house uses Android, Cozi will suit you better.

### Do we have to share one login?

No. Ethos has no account at all. You invite people to a group through Messages, Mail or a link, and the group is shared through each person's own iCloud.

### Does Ethos have a shared calendar?

No. Ethos shares routines, turns, lists, notes and countdowns. It can show your existing calendar events beside your tasks, read from your device, but it doesn't keep or share appointments itself.

### Does everyone have to pay?

No. Joining a group is free. Making a group and inviting people comes with [Ethos Plus](/#plus), and one purchase covers your Family Sharing group. Questions go to [support](/support).

Source: https://ethosplanner.app/blog/cozi-alternative