nubi

Your family’s little world.

Sometimes the hardest part is simply agreeing that now, for a little while, we’ll really be together.

nubi is a small web app that helps you agree on time together each week, and keep it. Make time for what matters.

I’d like to try nubi

The first families can try nubi very soon.

Sound familiar?

A weekend morning.The kids are already on their screens. You check your phone for a moment, and before you know it, the morning is gone.
A weekday evening.Everyone is finally home, but each of you is doing your own thing. The TV is on, the phones are out, and the kids are bored.

It’s not that we don’t want to spend time with our family. Everyday life just gets in the way. We’re tired, there’s a lot going on, and it’s not always easy to think of something to do together.

Time together doesn’t have to be a big event. It can be a walk, a board game, a pancake morning, or just a moment when everyone is really there.

But what if time together was already part of the week’s plan?

How does nubi work?

nubi helps you build one simple weekly habit. It isn’t another app to keep an eye on all day. It’s a small agreement that helps you really spend more time together.

  1. You find time together in the week

    On Sunday, or whenever suits you, you take about 10 minutes to look over the family’s week. You pick a couple of moments when you can do something together, around training, work and everything else. nubi doesn’t read your calendar: you know best what works for you.

  2. The kids get to choose

    Each time, one of the kids chooses what you’ll do together. Ideas come from your family’s own ideas and from the activities we suggest. For each activity you also pick a plan B, in case it rains, say.

  3. Time together goes into the calendar

    With one tap, your plans go into the parents’ Google or Apple calendar. A reminder comes 30 minutes before. If you like, you can also print the whole week and put it on the wall.

  4. Now it’s time to be together

    When the moment comes, the kids can let everyone know that family time is starting. Our small suggestion: TV off, and phones in a basket by the door.

  5. Your family island grows

    Afterwards, you mark how it went with one tap: you did what you planned, you went with plan B, or it got skipped this time. Then you can keep building your island.

Your family island

Every moment you spend together adds a square to your family island.

It’s your family’s little world, and it grows with the time you spend together in real life.

  • The kids give the island a name. Every family member, mum and dad too, gets their own figure on the island.

  • Everyone has a say in what gets built. Taking turns, each family member picks one of three options to add next, and where it goes.

  • Nothing is lost when plans change. If a moment together gets skipped, a little mist drifts onto the shore. The island waits for your next moment together, and then the mist starts to lift.

  • The island doesn’t ask for your attention. It only changes when you’ve done something together. There’s nothing to feed, collect or check every day. The island never sends you notifications either.

You start small. Home is in the middle of the island, with the whole family around it.

nubi doesn’t watch what anyone does on their screen, and it doesn’t use screen time as a reward.

Your island grows from time spent together, not from wins or points.

The island can become a real poster. Once a month, you can print your family island and put it on the wall.

Why are we doing this?

We don’t think screens are bad in themselves, or that every family should live the same way. But we do believe that real time together deserves a little more room in our week.

Research gives several good reasons for this.

Worth keeping in mind: the studies below show links and possible effects. They don’t prove that nubi will help. That’s what we’re still finding out.

Children also learn by watching us

In a University of Tartu study of 421 Estonian families with children aged 2.5–4, children’s weekend screen time was linked to their parents’. Less screen time was also linked to better vocabulary and grammar in the children.

What does this mean for nubi? Time together isn’t just about the kids. Parents are part of it too: they plan, choose activities and build the island together with the kids.

Source: Tulviste and Tulviste (2024), Frontiers in Developmental Psychology

A good plan needs a small reminder

A 2021 study looked at the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Family Media Plan. It found that making the plan on its own didn’t help families stick to the rules they had agreed. The authors suggested one possible reason: the plan didn’t come with enough reminders.

What does this mean for nubi? Talking about time together isn’t enough. It has to go into the week, too. That’s why your plans go into the calendar with a reminder, and you can use the same routine again every week.

Source: Moreno et al. (2024), Pediatrics

When you’re tired, it’s easy to reach for a screen

In a US study of 822 parents, stressed parents more often used screens to calm their children, and stuck to their screen rules less.

What does this mean for nubi? We don’t want to give parents one more reason to feel guilty. Not everything has to go to plan. If a plan doesn’t happen, try again next week. nubi is a helper, not a judge.

Source: HealthDay news story on a Family Relations study (August 2026)

Doing things together can be fun in itself

A review of studies found that rewards promised in advance, and tangible ones, can sometimes reduce a child’s own interest in an activity. Researchers have debated how big the effect is, but one important detail is that it may be stronger when the child already enjoys the activity.

What does this mean for nubi? We don’t want to turn family time into one more task you get rewarded for. nubi doesn’t hand out prizes or screen time. The island grows from time spent together, and small surprises turn up without warning.

Sources: Deci, Koestner and Ryan (2001), Review of Educational Research; a sceptical view: Cameron, Banko and Pierce (2001), The Behavior Analyst

What do we still want to find out?

nubi is new, and we don’t have all the answers yet. That’s exactly why we want to start with a small number of families.

For example, we’d like to know:

  • Do families keep planning time together every week once the first excitement has worn off?
  • Are kids still interested in their family island in the second month?
  • Do calendar reminders help families keep to their plans?
  • Does nubi work for families with teenagers too?

We’re starting with the first families and learning from their experience. We’ll also share here what doesn’t go quite the way we hoped.

We’re not only looking for success stories. We really want to understand whether, and how, nubi can help families.

Why I made nubi

In our family, I’ve noticed that the hardest part isn’t thinking of something to do together. It’s much harder to find the moment when everyone puts their own things aside at the same time.

On weekend mornings, or after a long day at work, we often end up back at our screens. Me included.

I don’t want family time to become one more obligation, or anyone to feel bad about using screens.

I just wanted to find a way to plan time together a little better, and to get the kids themselves involved.

That’s how nubi came about: a little world that a family makes for itself.

— Joosep

Would you like to try nubi?

We’re starting with a small group of families. Once the first trials are done, we’ll invite more families to join.

Leave us your email address and we’ll let you know when you can join.

We'll send you a confirmation email, and later one more email when you can join. That's all we'll send. Every email has a link to take yourself off the list. Read more on the privacy page.