8 Must-Have Apps For Living With Roommates

Depending on where you live, having roommates is a necessary evil—at least for a little while—until you (hopefully) start making enough to afford your own place. Rather than letting the living situation devolve into a miserable stew of passive aggressive notes and perpetually filthy bathrooms, do yourself a favor and download these apps. They'll help you avoid a whole crop of chore-sharing, bill-splitting, and generally awkward issues from the get go.

1. Avoid a Craigslist nightmare

The app:Roomi
First things first: find a compatible roommate who won't murder you while you're sleeping. Roomi not only lets you browse verified apartment listings, but also helps you find ideal housemates by matching you with one another like a dating site might, via shared interests and living habits. It's only live in New York at the moment, but should be rolling out to other major cities soon.

2. Fairly divide chores and call out deadbeats for slacking

The app:Homeslice
Spare yourself the passive aggressive conversations about whose turn it is to clean the bathroom (looking at you, Tom), and instead divvy things up and keep track of who's done what with full transparency. Running low on certain cleaning supplies or need to ask the group a question? You can do all of that, too.

3. Divvy up expenses and bills 

The app: Splitwise
Rather than enlist one person to handle splitting up what everyone owes for cable, electric, heat, water, and whatever else you're on the hook for, unload the burden to Splitwise. Anyone can add the balance for a given bill or item they've taken care of, and it'll automatically divide and notify the rest of the house who owes what and to whom.

4. Easily settle what you owe each other

The app:Venmo
Once you know how much and who to pay, save yourself the hand cramps from cutting checks and instead instantly deposit what you owe into your roommate's account from your smartphone. Some people think the whole arrangement is problematic, but that doesn't change the fact that Venmo is ridiculously convenient and worth a free download.

5. Share the streaming love

The apps:Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, Spotify/Apple Music family plans
Rather than each of you shelling out a monthly fee (or splurging on cable), it makes common financial sense to share the burden of these subscription-based services as a household, especially if you have an Apple TV, Roku, or Amazon Fire TV. 

6. Keep your cupboards stocked

The app:OurGroceries
Whether you all pitch in for food or just the household supplies, this app allows anyone to tack on items to a communal shopping list so whoever hits the store knows exactly what's running low.

7. Drown out the dull roar of the after party

The app:White Noise
If you're failing to get your roommate and his rowdy college pals to dial it down when you're trying to catch some shuteye, it pays to have a calming soundtrack to lull you to sleep. This handy noise generator runs the gamut with soothing sounds that will not only distract you from whatever bro-fest is going on down the hall, but help you drift into dreamland peacefully.

8. Get your place in tip-top shape at a moment's notice

The app:Handy
For all those household chores you and your lazy roommates can't be bothered to do yourself (cleaning, furniture assembly, painting, odd-job repairs, etc.), Handy enlists a small army of home cleaners and handymen to get the job done on-demand, making it perfect for those unexpected parental visits.


Joe McGauley is a senior editor at Supercompressor and has never roomed with a murderer, as far as he knows.

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