Apps you need
Howbout: The best shared calendar app for making plans with friends 🕺
TL;DR - The 2025 guide to easy group planning
Making plans with friends can feel like a nightmare, but it doesn’t have to be.
The biggest problems friend groups are facing are the group chat chaos, juggling multiple apps, and never knowing when everyone's free.
The solution? Use a dedicated social calendar app like Howbout that lets you share availability, create plans in one place, and skip the back-and-forth messaging.
With almost 6 million downloads and maintaining a 4.8-star rating on both iOS and Android app stores, proving it actually works for real friend groups.
What's the real problem with making plans today?
If you’ve ever tried to plan something super simple with friends in 2025, you already know the struggle. A task that should take five minutes somehow turns into a week-long ordeal of unanswered messages, random side quests and confusion.
Here's what's actually happening and why it's so frustrating:
Why group chats make planning impossible
We’ve all been there when you try to plan an event in the group chat. Whether it’s a quick drink or a holiday, it takes (at least) 1,000 back-and-forth messages to find a time when everyone is free.
The real issue? Important details get buried. By the time everyone responds, the original plan is lost somewhere between memes and random conversations. Someone always ends up asking, "Wait, what's the plan again?" even though you've discussed it for days.
When everyone has different schedules (and lives)
That moment when you realise that all your friends have lives and they’re always busy sucks. They don’t answer fast enough (or at all), and you’re left wondering if you should wait for a response or go ahead without them.
The real issue: Because response times are taking forever, you don't know if you should wait or move forward, and by the time you get answers, half the group has made other plans.
The app-juggling nightmare
To make just one plan with your friends, you're probably using:
- Your phone calendar
- Multiple messaging apps (WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, iMessage)
- Social media
- Notes app for keeping track of details
- Maps for locations
- Maybe even creating polls in separate apps
- And that one person in your group who loves making spreadsheets with formulas
The problem: All this information is scattered everywhere, and you're spending more time managing apps than actually hanging out with friends.
Dr. Jenny Davis, digital sociologist at Australian National University, notes: "The cognitive load of managing multiple coordination platforms often exceeds the social benefit of the planned activity itself, leading to social withdrawal."
What's the best way to actually make plans that happen?
Based on behavioural research and feedback from thousands of successful group plans, here's what works better than the group chat chaos:
Step 1: See everyone's availability upfront
Instead of asking "when is everyone free?" (and waiting forever for responses), you need a way to see availability immediately. This eliminates the guessing game and endless back-and-forth.
Step 2: Keep all plan details in one place
Every plan needs a single source of truth. Location, time, who's coming, how to get there… everything should live in one spot that everyone can access.
Step 3: Use dedicated communication for each event
General group chats get chaotic because they mix your ongoing conversations with specific plan details. Each event should have its own focused communication space.
Step 4: Make responding easy
If it takes effort for people to respond or RSVP, they won't. The easier you make it for friends to engage with your plans, the more likely they'll actually show up.
How does Howbout solve these problems?
Howbout’s specifically designed for people who want to make plans with friends without the usual headaches. With over 500K downloads and ranking in the top Social Networking apps on the UK App Store, here's how it addresses each major pain point:
Shared calendars that actually work
You can sync and share your calendar with friends, so everyone can see each other’s availability without asking. No more "Are you free on Saturday?" followed by radio silence. You can see when your friends are free and drop plans directly into their calendars.
Why this matters: The question of who's free when gets answered before you even have to ask.
Every plan gets its own space
When you create a plan in Howbout, all the details stay together:
- Location with direct links to maps
- Time and date
- Who's invited and who's confirmed
- Built-in chat just for that event
- Photos and updates related to the plan
No more: Scrolling through group chats looking for details or asking "what was the address again?"
Smart polls without the hassle
Need to find the best time for everyone? Send polls that automatically show your availability when you vote. Once you've sorted the date, use polls to decide other details like where to go or what to do.
The difference: Instead of manual coordination, the app handles the logistics while you focus on having fun.
Communication that makes sense
Every plan automatically gets its own group chat. This means:
- Conversations stay focused on the actual event
- No important details get lost in random chatter
- Easy photo and video sharing for memories
- No need to create new WhatsApp groups for every occasion
Howbout maintains a 4.8/5 star rating across 50,000+ App Store reviews, with users consistently praising the organised communication features.
Final thoughts
Planning with friends shouldn’t feel like a second job. If you’re tired of ghosted messages, unread polls, and lost plans, it’s time to upgrade from group chat chaos to something that actually works.
✅ Built for your social life
✅ 100% free — with no ads or paywalls
✅ Trusted by hundreds of thousands of real friend groups
✅ Backed by years of product development and user research
Ready to get your plans out of the group chat?
Download Howbout today and start making plans that actually happen.
