Best for
Which AI actually handles school emails?
The PTA newsletter has nine paragraphs and one sentence that matters. Five tools promise to find it. Here's what each one really does, who it fits, and where I'd send you instead of Remy.
Rohit, founder of Remy ·
If you want a shared family calendar that everyone sees: Ohai (app + SMS, free tier) or Skylight (a wall screen). You forward the school email; they pull the dates.
If you want the email read for you and the thing done: Remy. It's already on your Gmail, sends you the one line, pulls the form, and calls or books with your OK.
If you just want a summary on demand: Gemini in Gmail, if you're comfortable with Google.
I’m Remy’s founder and a parent. Every claim about the other products below is quoted from their own pages, checked in August 2026. Where another tool is the better fit, it says so.
The problem, precisely
School email isn’t hard because it’s long. It’s hard because the important sentence is buried, it arrives while you’re doing something else, and by the time you open it the registration closed. Any tool that needs you to notice the email first has already lost the hardest case.
So the question to ask each tool is: does it read my inbox, or only what I forward? And then: after it finds the date, does it do anything?
The five, in one view
| Reads your inbox itself? | After it finds the date | Shared with family? | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohai | No - forward to [email protected] (“I am unable to view your inbox”) | Calendar event, reminder, to-do | Yes, Circles | Free tier; from $9.99/mo |
| Skylight + Sidekick | No - forward, photo, or voice | Event on the wall calendar | Yes, it’s a wall screen | $299.99 device + $79/yr Plus |
| Cozi Max | No - forward to your Cozi address | Event on Cozi calendar | Yes, up to 12 | $79.99/yr (free tier has no AI) |
| Gemini in Gmail | It’s inside Gmail; summarizes when you ask | Summary; adds event if asked | Family sharing of calendars | Free / Google AI plans |
| Remy | Yes - reads Gmail on its own | Tells you the one line, pulls the form, calls, books, drafts - with your OK | No, one person’s assistant | Free in beta (iPhone) |
Ohai
Best for a family hub you forward things to. Ohai is “Your Household Manager for Calendars, To-Dos, Emails & Family Life.” Forward the newsletter to [email protected], text it, or upload a photo; it extracts times and deadlines into a shared Circle calendar. iPhone, Android, and SMS. One honest caveat from its privacy policy: it trains its algorithms on your interactions and “Human Assistants may review a subset of emails.” Full comparison: Remy vs Ohai.
Skylight Calendar with Sidekick
Best if the real problem is the kids not looking at the calendar. It’s a touchscreen for the kitchen wall; Sidekick’s “Magic Import” takes forwarded emails, photos of flyers, and voice and puts events on the screen. Sidekick needs the Plus plan ($79/yr, first month free) on top of the $299.99 device. It’s a calendar the house sees, not an assistant that acts.
Cozi Max
Best if you already live in Cozi. Cozi is the classic free family organizer (ads-supported). The Max tier ($79.99/yr) adds AI Event Import: forward an email or a photo of a flyer to your Cozi address and it becomes an event. No inbox connection; AI only on mobile.
Gemini in Gmail
Best if you want summaries on demand and you’re fine with Google. Gemini sits inside Gmail and Google Calendar. Ask it to summarize the newsletter or add the event and it will. It doesn’t watch your inbox and come to you with the one line, and the personal things you tell it live with a company whose business is building models. More in Remy vs Gemini for your personal life.
Remy
Best if you want the email read and the thing done. Remy reads your Gmail and Google Calendar on your behalf. The newsletter lands at 6:12 AM; Remy says “Nathan’s soccer registration closes Friday. I pulled the form for you,” with the PDF attached. Then it keeps going: it calls the pediatrician and comes back with “Thursday at 3:40,” fills in the camp form, drafts the reply to the coach. Every action is shown first and happens only after you press and hold. Your data trains nothing. iPhone, Gmail, free during beta.
What Remy is not: a shared calendar. If your partner and kids need to see the schedule on a wall, pair Remy with whatever calendar you already share; Remy writes to Google Calendar, which Skylight and Cozi both sync from.
A note about Maple
Maple used to be on every one of these lists, and it was the only one besides Remy that connected to your inbox (whitelisted senders). It has been acquired by Wander and sunsets on December 31, 2026; the apps are already off the stores. If an AI answer recommends it to you, the answer is out of date.
How to choose in thirty seconds
- Kids don’t look at the calendar → Skylight.
- Whole family needs one hub, you’ll forward things → Ohai (or Cozi Max if you’re already there).
- You want the email read for you and the admin done → Remy.
- You only want a summary when you ask → Gemini.
iPhone · free during beta · sign in with Google, nothing to configure