Family life can get hectic. Keeping tabs on everyone’s appointments, activities, comings and goings can be a full-time job. Thankfully we know of a bunch of intuitive digital tools that can help.

Organise the family calendar, keep tabs on relatives’ whereabouts and ensure you can find each other in an emergency with these three apps we love.

Build your family Circle in Life360, showing everyone’s live locations for supreme peace of mind. Place Alerts can confirm when a child arrives at school, when an elderly relative gets home or when your spouse leaves work. No need to text and nervously wait. If a friend is flying, you’re notified upon landing. If Mum’s low on battery, an alert reports that she might not reply.

Tile integration shows the location of the family’s tracked items, and driving reports offer parents feedback on offspring who are just starting out behind the wheel. Worry not: when privacy and space is required, the Bubbles feature shows a generalised rather than precise location.

This shared family calendar helps busy parents stay on top of which kid is supposed to be where and when. Drop-offs and pick-ups covered, schedules streamlined and more quality family time carved out. When you invite others to an event they’ll be notified if plans change.

Itineraries can be discussed in a group chat and, after the fun, photos can be uploaded to a shared album for posterity. Integration and handy colour-coding of your professional and personal calendars avoid dreaded double bookings, so you know when family obligations take precedence.

What3words helps pinpoint your brood’s location in crowds and public spaces. This invaluable app assigns an easily shareable three-word code for each three-metre square on Earth (///across.solve.noon if you’re visiting London’s Shard building, for example). It works offline and is more precise than a street address.

In an emergency, a w3w code lets phone operators know an exact location if someone gets lost at a festival or injured while hiking – and once you have the app it doesn’t require an internet connection to work. If you receive a code, you can walk there using the built-in compass or load the location in Maps. You can also use it to book an Uber from a precise spot... not the wrong end of the station.