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Parenting is tough. When you have a healthy, happy, family, you can feel some serious parental guilt for any frustrations you may bump into as you raise your littles. Fortunately, there's an app that proves that, even in the low points, you're not alone in this wild world of raising tiny humans.
Air Out! is a judgement-free app for parents to brag or vent as they need.
In a time when many other apps reward users by encouraging them to seek engagement, reactions, comments, and spark discussions, Air Out! goes the opposite way.
The Anti-Social Parenting App
How is it possible to have a judgement-free place on the internet? Much less something that, at first glance, looks like a social media timeline? Well, this "anti-social app" (their lingo, not mine) makes it impossible for anyone to interact with you or comment on your posts because everything is completely anonymous and there is no way for users to comment on other people's posts.
Instead of bottling up the way you're feeling, you can put thumb to screen and, well…air out!
Type out your most true and honest thoughts, release them into the world, and, suddenly, there's a little less weight you're carrying through your day.
Pick a Chat…Any Chat!
The app is organized in different categories (called chats), so you can hit the most relevant area, depending on the mood you're in.
Air Out! Active Chats
- Moms The daily lives and inner-most thoughts of busy mothers.
- Dads Fathers uniting over fun dadding and frustrations.
- Work When you don't want to unload on your spouse or your HR rep about your workday, visit this space for a welcome release.
- Love Becoming a parent doesn't mean you're no longer a partner, and this area can provide that important reminder.
- Brag Worried your friends are sick of hearing about your amazing fam? Save it for here!
- Vent This is a cathartic place to share your frustrations, big or small, or to take a quick scroll to see you're not alone with problems in parenthood.
This layout of chats is a thoughtful way to organize the experience in the app. If you're having an absolutely fabulous day and want to share about why you're so darn proud of your kid, spouse, or even yourself, then you can head right to the brag section! Because, on a day you wanna brag, you may not want to see a post from an overworked dad struggling to balance family time in the dad chat.
On the flip side, if you've just had a bowl of Zoodles flung in your face by a toddler and you want to take your frustrations to the Vent area, you're not going to want to see the parent-of-the-year-nominees bragging about their veggie-eating vagabond.
The Air Out! Experience
The app costs 99 cents per month and starts with a free period to test the experience.
The beauty of Air Out! isn't any one aspect on its own. It's more the cumulative experience that delivers what you want, when you need it.
As outlined earlier, there are different types of chats. Some days, you might be on the app because you want to get something off your chest after a meltdown at bedtime or a tense moment where you and your spouse disagreed about a parenting point.
Other times, you might be there just to scroll and see what other moms or dads are going through.
The app can serve as a reminder that other people are feeling and dealing with very similar things to you. And this knowledge might bring comfort because you realize you're not the only person feeling a certain way. And sometimes, you read a post from a parent who is having a completely different set of struggles, and you might even feel better about your situation because, compared to what other people may be facing, your situation feels more manageable.
Also, I think there's an age-related feeling of nostalgia for people 35+, who may have spent some time in a chat room at some point in the early 2000s. There are equal feelings of finding a relevant chat room as there are posting to social media. But unlike those other types of platforms, you can't get torn apart by comments from strangers for feeling the way you feel, because there is no ability for anyone to comment on your post.
It's just a feed of thoughts, flowing down a stream, and you choose whether or not to throw your own into the water as it travels by.
Plus, the tendency to go on a tirade doesn't exist, because each post has a 100-character limit.
The Air Out! Story
The app was created by a mother of three, Courtney Stanfield. A Canadian broadcaster and parent of twins and a singleton, Courtney says the app recognizes that people aren't always looking for advice or solutions, especially when it comes to parenting. They just want to be heard.
"I realized there wasn't a place where people could quickly and effectively put their thoughts without judgement," says Courtney. "Air Out! Is a virtual diary, of sorts, that's easily accessible, fast, and effective at releasing thoughts and feelings when emotions run high."
The idea and development began in March 2024. And in January 2025, the app launched in Canada in the Google Play and App Store for Android and iPhone users. It's now available everywhere to help parents celebrate, vent, and find camaraderie in one of the most fulfilling, but sometimes challenging, roles many adults experience: parenthood.
Ready to Air Out!?
The more time I spend with the app, the more I appreciate the Air Out! Experience.
Obviously, we tend to see things through our own lens first. And in the case of a father of twin two-year-old boys, that's where I first was coming from with this app experience. I found it equally helpful to scroll through the Dads chat to see what other guys were going through, even with kids who seemed like they're older than mine, because it helps me feel like I have a bit of an inside scoop into what's coming.
As far as posting, I spend more time in the Work and Vent chats. And it is nice to be able to concisely post somewhere about the little things that could add up over time if they're not expressed somewhere.
There are no usernames, so posts are anonymous. And, while I haven't experimented fully with the extent of the filters, there are protections in place, so the language used in the app maintains a certain quality of discourse without devolving into profanity. I haven't fully tested these limits (unlike I would have with the filters in place in the high score section of an N64 game circa 1997), but I do think this is a thoughtful detail.
Air Out!
For parents who want to share their thoughts without feedback or judgement Air Out! can provide the perfect release. It's available for Android and iPhone users, and is free to try.
Any company who writes their privacy policy in such plain English has a level of transparency in place that makes me feel confident that my anonymous posts will truly be anonymous.
Whether you feel like you need it or not, the Air Out! app is worth giving a try. Whether you're a first-time parent, or a recent empty nester, it's nice to have a place to release or review some of the private thoughts of parents just like yourself.
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