What OurPath isn't

Most product pages tell you what something does. This one is the other list — the things we've been asked for and decided against. It's the more useful list, because it tells you what kind of product this is going to be in two years.

It isn't surveillance #

No location tracking. Not off by default. Not built. An app that knows where a separated parent is, is a stalking tool waiting for a bad relationship, and no amount of settings makes that safe.

No GPS check-in at handover. We've been asked. The answer is no, for the same reason.

No phone numbers shared between parents. Communication runs through OurPath.

No read-receipt games. You'll see when a message was first opened. That's the whole of it — no "seen and ignored", no online status, no last-active timestamp.

It isn't ammunition #

No conflict scores. No tone ratings, no "your co-parent has been flagged this month", no dashboard of the other parent's behaviour. The moment behaviour becomes a metric, it becomes something to farm.

No selective exports. An export covers a date range and contains everything in it, including the messages you'd rather weren't there. A record you can curate isn't a record.

No call recording. Other apps offer it. We think recorded calls escalate far more than they resolve, and the Family Justice Council's 2025 guidance on covert recordings is worth reading before anyone assumes a recording helps their case.

If you want a tool for building a case against your ex, this is the wrong app, and we'd genuinely rather you used something else.

It isn't a lawyer, a bank, or a mediator #

Not legal advice. We'll explain what a consent order is. We won't tell you whether you need one — ask a family law solicitor.

Not a bank. No wallet, no payments between parents, no touching your money. We keep the ledger; you settle in your own bank.

Not a mediator. We're not a party to your arrangement, we don't arbitrate, and we don't take a view on who's right. When you need a mediator, OurPath helps you get to one.

It isn't a family organiser #

There are good shared calendars for intact families. Cozi, TimeTree and the rest do that well and we're not competing with them.

OurPath assumes two households, asymmetric trust, and the possibility of a court date. That assumption shapes everything — why history can't be edited, why drafts are private, why there's no group chat. On a family that doesn't need it, all of that is just friction. We'd rather be exactly right for the families who do.

It isn't finished #

We're new. The core — records, calendar, messaging, exports — is built the way it will stay. Plenty of the rest is rough and being fixed weekly.

If something doesn't work, tell us: hello@ourpath.app. We answer, and we fix things faster than you'd expect.