For couples expecting their first baby
Yolk helps the two of you decide who does what, from leave and money to the 3am feeds. You each answer on your own, compare, then agree. A short weekly check-in keeps it working through the first year.
Free during the beta. Built in Melbourne, for Australian parents.
71%
of the care in the first year is done by the birth parent, in Australian couples.
39% 16%
is how far the birth parent's share of the couple's paid work falls, from the year before the birth to right after it.
Source: HILDA survey, reported by the University of Melbourne.
Nobody sits down and chooses this. It happens one night feed and one "I'll just do it" at a time. By the time you're both exhausted enough to argue about it, the pattern is set, and every reset turns into a fight about who carries more.
The fix is boring and it works: talk about it early, while you both still have the energy, and keep checking in.
Four habits, one app, both phones.
1 · Decide
Short conversations on the things couples wish they'd talked about sooner: leave and pay, the birth and the first two weeks, nights, who you'll lean on. Each of you answers privately. When you've both finished, you break the egg and see your answers side by side.
Where you agree, it's settled. Where you differ, that's the conversation worth having.
2 · Own
"He helps when I ask" is the sentence behind most of the resentment. In Yolk, owning a job means noticing it, planning it and doing it. You also agree who decides each one, and whether the other gets asked first.
3 · Do
Tell Yolk how you're feeding, how you'll split nights and who's back at work. It lays out the day hour by hour, one column each, with protected sleep for both of you. Plans change at 3am, so swapping a job for tonight takes one tap.
4 · Review
Each of you checks in on your own, then you read it together. How was your week, what would help, which jobs need re-dealing. You agree one change for next week. Small, regular resets beat one big blow-up.
It's a fair worry. Couples apps that make you read each other's answers can do exactly that. Yolk is set up to keep it calm:
For dads and partners
Most pregnancy apps are written for one body, and give partners a to-do list: build the cot, pack the bag, be supportive. Plenty of dads arrive at the birth knowing less than they'd like, and then every question sounds like second-guessing.
In Yolk you answer every question too, from the first conversation. You own whole jobs and you have your own say in decisions.
And Yolk asks how you're going. Up to 1 in 10 new dads have depression or anxiety, and it often shows up months after the birth, as irritability or long hours at work. The weekly check-in asks both of you, and points you to help when the answer is "running on empty".
Sources: PANDA; fathers and antenatal care, 2024 review; Paulson and Bazemore, JAMA 2010.
The best plan you make at 30 weeks won't survive week three untouched. Feeding changes, sleep changes, someone goes back to work.
Yolk checks in at the points where plans usually break, and asks if they're still working. One tap rebuilds your day and night plan. "Not really, we need to talk" is always an option.
Planning
Kids: if, how many and when. Health checks for both of you. Who you'll lean on.
Expecting
Leave, pay and work. The birth and the first two weeks. Nights. Telling family.
First year
Feeding, sleep, solids, going back to work, and the turning points that reshuffle everything.
Yolk links to trusted Australian guidance like Raising Children Network, Red Nose and Pregnancy, Birth and Baby. It never gives medical advice.
Before our son was born, we spent a whole day planning who would own what, on a whiteboard we designed ourselves. Nothing off the shelf did the job.
It worked, until it didn't. There were no reminders, our two versions drifted apart, and in the sleepless months every reset became an argument about who was carrying more. The most useful part turned out to be writing our answers down separately first. Reading the same question, we'd assumed different things, and neither of us knew it.
Yolk is that day, turned into an app that keeps going after it.
Akaash and Darsh, Melbourne
Yes. Each of you answers on your own phone, and Yolk keeps the two in sync. You can also share one phone to start.
No. Yolk is for any two parents. Questions talk about the birth parent and their partner, and you choose who leads what.
It's the best time. Yolk starts with planning: whether and when, health checks for both of you, and who you'll lean on.
No. A two-minute set-up asks where you're up to, marks the past conversations as behind you, and starts with what's coming next.
Nothing during the beta. If we ever charge, beta couples will hear first, and nothing you've set up will be locked away.
On servers in Sydney. Your answers are shared only with your partner. Read the privacy policy.
Not yet. Beta couples use it from the home screen of their phone while we finish the iPhone and Android apps.
We're inviting a small group of couples into the beta. Leave your email and we'll be in touch.