A baby tracker app for grandparents, on a phone or a laptop
Grandma has the baby two afternoons a week, wants to do it properly, and would rather not be briefed at the door or handed your phone.
Can grandparents use a baby tracker app?
Yes, and they should not need your password to do it. On Premium, BubSync gives a grandparent their own account, in a Family role you choose: the afternoon’s feeds and naps, the memories, or both. It runs in any web browser as well as on a phone, so a laptop at the kitchen table is enough.
Their own login
On Premium, a grandparent signs in as themselves. What they see is the role you gave them, and it changes when you change it.
Phone or laptop
BubSync is a full web app as well as an Android app and an iPhone beta, so nothing needs installing on a laptop.
Memories, optionally
Family can be given the baby book and nothing else, or the afternoon log and nothing else, or both.
What does a grandparent actually need to know for an afternoon?
Four things, and none of them should require a phone call: when the last feed was and how much, when the last sleep ended, when the last nappy was changed, and how this particular baby is settled. The first three sit on the baby card the moment BubSync opens. The fourth is the care essentials and instruction manual, written once by you and visible to everyone who helps.
That list is short on purpose. A grandparent who has raised children does not need a manual on babies. They need the specifics of this one, this week, and a place to write down what they did so you are not asking at pick-up.
Why not just text them the details?
Because the details decay. "She went down at two" is useful for about an hour, and nobody texts the wake time. A text thread also makes one person the archive: whoever remembers is the one who gets asked, and it is always the person who has slept least.
A shared log holds the information where it is needed. On Premium, the grandparent logs the 3 pm bottle, it appears on your phone at 3 pm, and you can see it was delivered to you and that you looked, so nobody follows up with a message asking whether the message arrived.
Does it work on a laptop, or without installing anything?
Yes to both. BubSync runs as a full web app in any modern browser at app.bubsync.com, which is how a grandparent at a kitchen table with a laptop uses it. On a phone there is an Android app on Google Play and an iPhone build through the TestFlight beta. For a one-off afternoon there is no need for an account at all: the 24-hour handover link opens the day’s snapshot and your care essentials in any browser, free, for anyone you send it to.
What can a grandparent see, and what can they not?
Whatever role you give them. Family, in BubSync, is the group that sees the baby book by default: milestones, photos and collages. A carer is the group that sees and logs the day: feeds, sleep and nappies for the babies you chose. A babysitting grandparent can be both, and a grandparent interstate who is not doing afternoons can be Family alone, receiving the memories and none of the operational log.
The line moves when you move it. Change what the whole Family group sees and it applies to what you already shared. Give a single memory an audience of its own, including Only me, and it stays that way whatever the group setting says.
- Family: the baby book, with photos and milestones, by default
- Carer: the day’s feeds, sleep and nappies for chosen babies, and the care essentials
- Both: a grandparent who does afternoons and wants the photos too
- Neither, for an afternoon: the 24-hour handover link, no account required
What about grandparents who live interstate or overseas?
For them the log matters less than the memories. On Premium, a photo added to a memory reaches everyone it is shared with the moment it is taken, encrypted, so a first smile in Brisbane is in Perth before the phone is put down. The weekly picture of feeds and sleep is there too if they want it, but the baby book is usually the reason a distant grandparent opens the app, and it is on the free plan for the family that keeps it.
Is it too complicated for someone who is not good with phones?
The grandparent does not configure anything; you set the role when you invite them. What they see is a timeline that reads top to bottom, a card with the last feed, sleep and nappy, and a Quick Log that records the common entries in one tap. The web app on a laptop has the same screens at a larger size. If even that is more than they want, the handover link is a web page with no buttons to press at all.
Set it up
In order, with the plan each step sits on. Everything marked Free stays free.
Add your baby and write the care essentials
FreeHow this baby is settled, what they like, and what they cannot have. Read by every carer, updated in one place.
For a one-off afternoon, send the 24-hour handover link
FreeOpens in any browser with no account and no app. Free for both of you.
Invite them as Family, as a carer, or as both
PremiumFamily sees the baby book; a carer sees and logs the day for the babies you chose. Pick what fits, and change it later.
They open it on a phone or in a browser
PremiumAndroid from Google Play, iPhone through the TestFlight beta, or the web app on a laptop. Their account costs nothing extra; your Premium subscription is what lets it in.
Adjust what they see whenever you like
PremiumA change to the whole group applies to what you already shared. Any single memory can carry its own audience.
Frequently asked questions
- Do grandparents need to pay?
- No. One Premium subscription covers the whole family, including grandparents and every other carer, with no per-seat charge. Their account and their install are free.
- Can grandparents see the photos?
- If you put them in the Family group on Premium, yes: Family sees the baby book by default. A grandparent invited as a carer only sees the day’s log unless you add them to Family as well. Any single memory can carry its own audience, including Only me.
- Can Grandma use it on an iPad or a laptop?
- Yes. The web app runs in any modern browser on a laptop or a tablet. On an iPhone there is the TestFlight beta, and on Android the app on Google Play.
- What if they do not want an account?
- Send the 24-hour handover link. It opens in any browser with no account and no app, and shows the last feed, sleep and nappy change plus your care essentials and instruction manual.
- Can I stop them seeing something later?
- Yes. Change what the Family or carer group sees and it applies to what you already shared, or give a single memory or entry its own audience. Removing someone from the family removes their access in one step.
Keep reading
Written by the BubSync editorial team, who built the product this page describes. Not yet reviewed by an independent clinician. The editorial policy says who writes these pages and how their figures are sourced. Read how we write and check these pages.
General information only, not medical advice. The care essentials you write are your instructions to the people helping you; if a grandparent is unsure about anything to do with feeding, sleep or safety, Red Nose and Raising Children Network publish the current Australian guidance.
