Huckleberry is one of the most popular baby tracking apps out there. But it's not the right fit for everyone. Maybe you don't want to pay for a subscription. Maybe you only need a breastfeeding timer, not a full baby dashboard. Maybe the interface feels too cluttered when you're trying to start a feed at 2am.

Whatever the reason, you've got options. Here are five Huckleberry alternatives worth trying, each with a different approach to baby and breastfeeding tracking.

Quick take: If you just want a breastfeeding timer, try MilkMode (free to download, $4.99 after trial). If you want a full tracker and don't mind a subscription, try Baby Connect ($4.99/mo). If you want something free, try Nara Baby (but know it's funded by a formula company).

1. MilkMode
Top Pick
The fastest breastfeeding timer. Nothing else.
MilkMode takes the opposite approach from Huckleberry. Instead of tracking everything about your baby, it does one thing: breastfeeding. And it does it faster than any other app we've tried.
The Home Screen widget lets you start, switch sides, pause, and finish a feed without ever opening the app. Live Activities put the timer on your Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. There's no account to create, no data leaves your phone, and it's a one-time purchase after a 7-day free trial.
One-tap widget control Live Activities on Lock Screen No account required One-time purchase, no subscription Data stays on your phone Beautiful, calm design

Best for: Parents who only need a breastfeeding timer and want it to be incredibly fast and simple.

Pricing: Free 7-day trial, then $4.99 one-time purchase.

2. Baby Feed Timer
One-time
All-in-one baby tracker with Apple Watch
Baby Feed Timer started as a breastfeeding timer but has expanded into a full baby tracker covering feeds, bottles, pumping, diapers, sleep, and growth. It has left/right tracking, trend reports, and Apple Watch support. Recommended by NHS midwives in the UK.
The interface is more utilitarian than polished, and the expanded scope means more to navigate when you just want to start a breastfeeding timer. The free version after the trial is ad-supported (Google AdMob) with reduced functionality.
Apple Watch support Left/right tracking Trend reports NHS-recommended

Best for: Parents who want a no-frills breastfeeding timer with Apple Watch support.

Pricing: 7-day free trial, then $9.99 one-time purchase. The free version includes Google AdMob ads.

3. Glow Baby
Subscription
Full-featured tracker with a community
Glow Baby is part of the Glow suite of apps with over 20 million users. It tracks nursing, pumping, diapers, sleep, and growth. The community forums are a nice touch if you want to connect with other parents going through the same stages.
The downside: the free tier has frequent, intrusive ads. Users report ads popping up "every time I try to do anything," even mid-feed. Removing ads requires a premium subscription ($69.99/year), and each caregiver needs their own subscription. The app requires an account and syncs data to the cloud. Worth noting: in 2020, the California AG reached a $250,000 settlement with Glow over security flaws that exposed users' personal health data. Mozilla rates their privacy practices as "pretty bad."
Community forums Comprehensive tracking iOS and Android Part of Glow ecosystem

Best for: Parents who want an all-in-one tracker with community features.

Pricing: Free with ads. Premium $69.99/year, family $90/year, or $100 lifetime. Each caregiver needs their own subscription to remove ads.

4. Baby Connect
Subscription
The power-user baby tracker
Baby Connect is the app for parents who want to track everything and customize how it all works. It has a web interface (not just mobile), Siri integration, and the best multi-caregiver sharing in the category. If you have a nanny or grandparents helping, everyone can log data in real time.
It's not the prettiest app, and the learning curve is steeper than most. But once you set it up, it's incredibly powerful. Note: Baby Connect moved from a one-time purchase to a $4.99/month subscription model in 2021, which caught some long-time users off guard.
Web interface Multi-caregiver sync Extreme customization Siri integration

Best for: Data-driven parents who want full control and multi-caregiver support.

Pricing: $4.99/month after 7-day free trial ($59.88/year). That's 12x what MilkMode costs.

5. Nara Baby
Free
Free baby tracker — but why?
Nara Baby is genuinely free with no ads. It tracks breastfeeding, pumping, diapers, sleep, and medical info. It also supports multiple children, which is great for parents of twins or siblings close in age.
The catch: Nara Baby is made by Nara Organics, an infant formula company backed by $32 million in venture funding. The app is a marketing funnel for their formula products, giving them access to 1.5 million parents. The postpartum tracking is a thoughtful addition, but understand that the business model is selling formula, not selling software. When the product is free, the user is the product.
Completely free No ads Multi-child support Postpartum tracking for mom

Best for: Parents who want a free, ad-free tracker with multi-child support.

Pricing: Free. Funded by Nara Organics (infant formula company).

How they compare at a glance

Here's the quick version if you're trying to decide:

  • Just need a breastfeeding timer? MilkMode. Fastest, simplest, free to try, $4.99 one-time.
  • Want Apple Watch support? Baby Feed Timer. Solid and reliable.
  • Want community + tracking? Glow Baby. Big ecosystem, social features.
  • Want full control + customization? Baby Connect. Power-user favorite.
  • Want everything free, no ads? Nara Baby. But know it's funded by a formula company.

Why people switch from Huckleberry

After talking to a lot of parents, the most common reasons people look for a Huckleberry alternative are:

  1. Subscription fatigue. Huckleberry's free tier is a funnel. The features that make it stand out — SweetSpot nap predictor, schedule creator, insights, AI logging — are all paywalled. Even Home Screen widgets and Live Activities require a Plus subscription ($9.99/month). You get a 14-day trial to get hooked, then it's $5–$15/month. Some parents don't want another monthly bill for a baby timer.
  2. Promotional notifications. Huckleberry pushes "tip" popups directly into the tracking list, displacing your most-used tracker. Users report accidentally tapping these promotional elements instead of their trackers. The app also forces you to visit the Messages page for every new message, even mid-feed. These aren't traditional ads, but they're advertising.
  3. Too much tracking. When all you need is a breastfeeding timer, having sleep, diapers, growth, milestones, and more in the same app adds friction. You end up scrolling past features you don't use every time you want to start a feed.
  4. Buggy widgets. Even parents who pay for Plus report widgets that don't link correctly into the app and informational dialogs that keep reappearing. One reviewer called the widget paywall "a blatant cash grab."
  5. Privacy concerns. Huckleberry requires an account and syncs data to the cloud. Apple's privacy labels show Health & Fitness data, Contact Info, Identifiers, and Usage Data all collected and linked to your identity.
  6. Speed at 3am. When you're exhausted and holding a fussy baby, every extra tap matters. Apps with simpler interfaces and widget-based controls are faster when it counts.

None of these make Huckleberry a bad app. It's excellent at what it does. But it's designed to be everything for everyone, and that's not what every parent needs.

The real cost of "free" apps

It's worth thinking about what you're actually paying when an app is "free." Most free baby trackers make money through ads, data collection, or aggressive upselling to premium tiers. Glow Baby shows ads between feeds. Huckleberry's free tier gives you basic tracking but locks the best features (nap predictor, insights, AI logging) behind subscriptions, gives you a 14-day trial to create dependency, and then shows you UI elements for features you can't use until you pay. Many of these apps require accounts and sync your baby's feeding data to their servers.

MilkMode takes a different approach. Free to download and use for 7 days, then $4.99 once. That's it. No ads, no account, no data leaving your phone, no upsells, no premium tiers, no "upgrade to unlock" screens. Your feeding data is yours and stays on your device. The business model is simple: we make a good app, you pay once, and nobody's baby data ends up in a cloud database funding an ad platform.

For context, here's what a year of breastfeeding costs with each app:

  • MilkMode: Free for 7 days, then $4.99 total. Forever.
  • Baby Feed Timer: $9.99 total. Forever.
  • Glow Baby (no ads): $69.99/year. Every year.
  • Baby Connect: $59.88/year ($4.99/month). Every year.
  • Huckleberry Plus: $58.99–$119.99/year. Every year. Widgets require Plus.
  • Nara Baby: Free (but you're the product — it's a formula company marketing funnel).

Our recommendation

If you're reading this because you just want to track breastfeeding without all the extra stuff, MilkMode is what we built for exactly that problem. One-tap timer, Home Screen widget, Live Activities, no account, no subscription.

But honestly? Try a couple of these. They all have free trials or free tiers. The best app is the one that fits your life, not the one that has the most features. For more on this topic, check out why we think most breastfeeding apps do too much.

Try MilkMode free for 7 days

One-tap timer. Widget control. No clutter. No subscription.

Download on the App Store