The best potty training apps for parents and toddlers

Full disclosure: we make bao, so weigh our take accordingly. We've tried to be fair to every app here, and we say where another app is the better pick. Prices and features change; check each app's store listing before you commit.

Three kinds of potty training app

• Parent trackers log sits, successes, and accidents so you can spot timing patterns.
• Kids' apps use stories, songs, and characters to get toddlers excited about the potty.
• Hybrids do both: a parent log plus rewards your child can see.

The tracker is what helps you learn your child's rhythm. The rewards keep your toddler engaged. You don't always need two apps.

The research behind bao's potty mode

We built bao's potty mode from what pediatric research says helps toddlers learn, and what backfires. Each part of the design maps to a finding:

• Follow the child, in small steps. The child-oriented approach, developed by pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton, moves at the child's pace, and the American Academy of Pediatrics builds many of its parts into its guidance. bao breaks training into stages: getting comfortable sitting, then peeing, then managing pants, then underwear, then poop. A stage only unlocks once your child has shown they're ready.
• Celebrate success right away. Praising success in positive terms is a core recommendation, and behavioral methods such as Azrin and Foxx's use immediate positive reinforcement. In bao, the celebration and sticker land the moment you log a success, not at the end of the day.
• Never punish accidents. Pediatric guidance is clear that punishment, shaming, and power struggles backfire. In bao, an accident never takes away a sticker or basket your child has earned; at most, the next stage waits a little longer.
• Give poop its own, gentler track. In a study of 482 children published in Pediatrics, 22% refused to poop on the toilet for at least a month during training, and most children who started withholding stool were among them. Pressure tends to make withholding worse, so bao gives poop a separate golden-basket track, and poop accidents don't hold back pee progress.
• Celebrate when they ask. Internal motivation is at the heart of the child-oriented approach, so trips your child starts on their own earn a bonus, and the underwear stage looks for more child-initiated trips than prompted ones.

The clothing stages (bare bottom, then pants without undies, then big-kid undies) follow a sequence popularized by Jamie Glowacki's Oh Crap! Potty Training. Mainstream pediatric advice often moves to underwear sooner, so bao treats the clothing stages as recommended, not required: a real success always counts.

On rewards, the evidence is mixed. The AAP cautions that treats can distract from the real reward, which is mastery. That's why bao's rewards are small and visual, a sticker in a basket your child fills, and are never used as leverage or taken back. bao isn't medical advice: talk to your pediatrician if training stalls or your child is holding in poop.

What to log during potty training

1. Every sit or attempt, even when nothing happens. It builds the habit and shows how often you're offering.
2. Successes, split into pee and poop. They usually click at different times.
3. Accidents, without drama. They show the gaps in your timing.
4. Who started it. Child-initiated trips are the big milestone.
5. What they were wearing. Many families go from a bare bottom, to pants without undies, to big-kid undies.

Started earlier with EC?

If you practiced elimination communication with your baby, your toddler may already know the potty. bao carries the same log from EC into potty training. Read our guide to tracking elimination communication.