Free Pet Medication Apps vs Paid Household Plans: What You Actually Get

Can you get a shared pet medication log for free?

Yes, for a small household. As of October 2026, Pet Feeder App is free and lets you share pets with up to 3 family members, and PetPilot is free and shows who logged each event. Once you have many pets, a sitter, or you want a log built around "who gave the pill," sharing usually moves behind a subscription. That's the trade-off this article explains. I checked the iPhone store listings below; listings change, so confirm limits before you commit.

What do free apps actually give you?

Free apps cover one household's basic needs, with limits on people or pets.

• Pet Feeder App is listed as free with ads and no subscriptions. It allows profiles for up to 3 pets and sharing with up to 3 family members. It logs medication with recurring reminders and push notifications. It's mainly a feeding tracker, and it has too few ratings to show an overview.
• PetPilot is free on the listing. It says household members can see logs from other family members in real time via iCloud sync, and its activity history shows who logged each event. Its medication description is thin: it lists medication as something you can log with a quick tap and doesn't describe reminders or dosing fields.
• Medika is free with in-app purchases and shares a pet profile by QR code, but I couldn't confirm from its listing whether family members can add entries.

A free app is enough if you have one or two pets, one or two caregivers, and mostly need a reminder. The cap is on people (3 family members in Pet Feeder) or on pets, not on price.

Where does sharing move behind a paywall?

In several medication-focused apps, sharing is the paid feature.

• PetPill starts free with one pet, one medication and one vet visit. Unlimited pets and medications and household sharing (via iCloud) are in PetPill Pro. Its listing shows monthly, annual and lifetime options.
• Pet Care: Dog and Cat Tracker lists iCloud pet sharing as a premium feature, along with vet PDF reports. It has medication names, dosages, times and reminders. Its listed Estonian-storefront prices (about €1.99 monthly, €20.99 yearly) are lower than Flock's US prices, though storefronts differ.
• AllTails Care and Fed? were described in search summaries as free for one person, with sharing or medication tracking likely paid. I couldn't verify those on their own pages, so check before relying on that.

The pattern is consistent: one pet and one person is free, and the "whole family sees it" feature costs money.

What does Flock's Household plan include?

Flock: Multi Pet Meds is a free download. Its Household plan is an auto-renewing subscription, billed monthly or yearly, with a 7-day free trial on the yearly plan for new subscribers. The listing shows Household Monthly at $9.99, Household Yearly at $49.99, and a Household Lifetime purchase at $79.99. The listing doesn't state how many pets the free version allows.

What the plan covers, per the listing:

• Unlimited pets, shared with a partner or sitter.
• A Today screen listing every due medication.
• One-tap Given, which records who logged it and when. Open doses also have Snooze and Skip. As of version 1.0.3 there's a timeline of who gave which pet what, and when.
• Care due dates for things like vaccines and flea treatment.
• Local reminders.

Flock states plainly that it isn't a vet diagnosis app. It logs and reminds; it doesn't give medical or dosing advice.

Where Flock is strongest is the exact problem in the search: "did someone already give the pill?" The shared log and timeline are the product, and pet count isn't a limit once you're on Household. Where it isn't the best pick: it has 0 public ratings so far, it's a new app (first released September 2026), and if your needs fit a free tier, a free app costs less. Pet Care's listed prices also look lower.

How do you decide between free and paid?

Ask three questions.

1. How many pets? One to three pets fits free tiers such as Pet Feeder's 3-profile cap. Four or more, or a mix of pets with different meds, is where "unlimited pets" starts to matter.
2. How many people give meds? Pet Feeder's cap is 3 family members. A couple plus teenagers plus a sitter can pass that. Check this before you invite anyone.
3. How bad is a missed or doubled dose? For a chronic medication given twice a day, a clear "given by Sam at 7:42 a.m." matters more than a low price. Screenshots for Flock show examples like carprofen, methimazole and heartworm prevention. Only your vet can tell you about dosing; the app just records what you gave.

Also check phones. These apps are iPhone-focused, and several share through iCloud, so a family member on Android won't be able to join. I didn't verify Android availability for any app here.

What's the no-app option?

A shared Google Sheet or a shared Apple Note works on any phone and costs nothing. Use columns for date, time, pet, medication, dose and who gave it. The weakness is that nothing nudges anyone: there are no reminders, no "due now" view, and people forget to write the entry down, which defeats the purpose.

Recommendation by use case

• You want free and have up to 3 pets and up to 3 family members: try Pet Feeder App. Remember it's feeding-first.
• You want free and everyone is on iPhone with iCloud: try PetPilot, which shows who logged each event.
• You want a medication-only tracker and one pet is enough to start: try PetPill's free tier, and upgrade only if you need sharing.
• You want a lower-priced premium option with dosage fields and vet reports: look at Pet Care: Dog and Cat Tracker.
• You have several pets and several caregivers, and your main worry is double or missed doses: pick Flock. Start with the 7-day yearly trial, check the shared timeline with your family, and keep it only if it settles the "who gave it" question.
• You want zero cost on any phone: a shared spreadsheet.

Details checked against store listings in October 2026. Prices and limits change, so confirm them on the listing before subscribing.