Eight Great Apps for Dads on Father's Day

Whether the dad in your life is techie or not, there are plenty of mobile apps geared toward his interests—whatever those are. In any event, if you’re looking for a digital alternative to the standard necktie, you’ll find eight suggestions here. These suggestions strive to engage dads of all ages, and strike at some of American fatherhood universals like cooking outdoors, doling out allowance, and like it or not, playing video games with the kiddos.  

Daddy Up 

For dads-to-be (a pre-dad?) or not-my-first-rodeo dads with a new baby on the way, Daddy Up is a man’s field guide to supporting mom and baby during a pregnancy. The app provides timely reading in connection to the term of the pregnancy, and offers helpful checklists and to-dos week by week. The content deliberately departs from the ubiquitous clickbait materials that populate web searches on pregnancy topics, which dads should appreciate.

SKYPE app on XBOX

Many long distance dads or those who travel a lot sometimes find it challenging to engage their children over the phone. Here’s a great alternative. XBOX ONE comes with apps like any phone or tablet. SKYPE is one that you can add, and with it you can use the gaming console to chat while you play. Dads that have a tough time keeping young ones’ attention on a phone call routinely find it easier to connect over a co-op round of Minecraft, Destiny, or whatever games their kids like.

Flight Radar 24

It’s hard to articulate the allure of watching 15,000 passenger aircraft in flight at any given moment. Whatever it is, it’s totally a dad thing and dads love it. Perhaps he likes to track flights that his loved ones are riding, or perhaps he’s a business traveler. Maybe he’s an all-around enthusiast of modal transportation in every variety. Regardless, there’s something inherently zen about watching the patterns and data made available here.

The FIFA App

This year Father’s Day coincides with opening weekend for the FIFA World Cup. There are several apps for following the action this time around. Take a direct kick right from the source: The official app of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia helps dad experience the greatest tournament in the world. It delivers real-time notifications of breaking news, highlights, interviews, and feature content.

Dad Jokes

Is anything more fatherly than a good (or bad?) dad joke? If you’re not too concerned with arming dad with more cringe-y stand-up material, this Dad Joke apps is a winner. It offers an encyclopedia of punchlines and gags that are, for the most part, good clean puns, er, fun.

The Bank of Dad

If your dad is the house CFO, this app will help streamline the accounts payable and accounts receivable processes. The Bank of Dad is designed to help parents teach kids about financial responsibility. It provides simple tools that encourage saving, and drive home how allowance is tied to work and chores, with cash advances and rewards tallied in separate accounts for each child.

Weber Grills App

Dads love to cook outdoors. Enable your dad with recipes, skills-related content, and useful tools like timers and grocery lists so he can up his grilling game. Bonus points if dad has a smart watch—it means he won’t have to set down his beer to operate it. In any event, the Weber app will inspire and instruct; and if dad is less than stellar behind the grill, a few touches in the application and you’ll find product manuals and customer support.

Army Knife

Granted, you can’t tweeze or pick your teeth with a mobile phone, but you can do a ton of useful stuff with the Army Knife app. It contains a set of tiny digital tools great for tackling everyday tasks. With it you can turn a mobile device into compass, a bubble level, a ruler, flashlight, and more. Army Knife wins kudos for an ad-free, privacy-friendly user experience, possibly the top selling point for some dads.