Add your family

Adding a user is easy: if one person creates an account with Cabin they can send an invite directly from the app. Once accepted, they can view the other user’s location, send messages, and assign tasks.

The group admin has additional capabilities, such as the ability to delete users from the group or freeze their access to the in-app family.

You get a little extra info when you look at someone’s location, such as an exact calculation of how far away they are, and an icon indicating their battery level. So that “I’m sorry I didn’t text you back, my phone died” excuse just isn’t gonna fly anymore. Hone in on one person’s location or see the entire group from a larger Map.

Chat set reminders

The cabin also provides a group chat that makes it easy to keep everyone on the same page. You can also contact individual members, and get push alerts when new messages arrive.

The reminders feature is rather powerful, allowing you to create reminders for the entire group or an individual. You can set reminders to notify the recipient of their task at a given time or location. They can even repeat if someone needs constant pestering to get something done.

When testing Cabin, I was impressed at the minimal impact on battery life; unlike other location-aware apps I have used, it did not shorten my daily charge by a huge amount.

Cabin’s start on Android is likely a drive behind its good use of Android design. The slide-out navigation menu makes it quick to switch between tasks. The cabin also has a very clean look with a good focus on the core content.

The app’s full potential won’t be realized until an iOS version launches. It then very well could be the best cross-platform “track share” app for a family. Until then, the Android version is a solid effort, though may not appeal to those who also want to keep tabs on iPhone-touting friends.