Anyone who has ever had a roommate in college or thereafter can relate to the negligible issues that inevitably arise, from deciding whose turn it is to restock the paper towels, take out the trash or handle the rent that month.

A few weeks after moving in together, Futon CMO Robert Loomis-Norris and CEO Remington Robertson had an idea: since there’s an app for almost everything else, why not develop one to help out roommates?

“We had both dealt with the issues associated with living with others, whether they were friends or acquaintances,” Loomis-Norris said. “[Our app’s] primary function is to dramatically reduce the redundancy that often occurs when roommates communicate and to make the completion of menial tasks around the home or dorm more efficient.”

Robertson wanted to give the app a simple name that would be relevant to roommates everywhere; thus, the framework for Futon was implemented.

With the help of Brian Plemons, designer of a number of mobile and web apps including Couple and Matchup, and the final cofounder, CTO Adam Walker, Loomis-Norris and Robertson managed to create a functioning version of Futon in less than four months.

Version 1.0 of the Futon app will be available for the Android in about two weeks, and will have a wide array of functionalities. These features include: bill splitting to split bills, transfer money to other roommates or your landlord and keep track of expenses for rent, groceries and other housing essentials; messaging to communicate with roommates via a chat-style messaging platform; shared lists to keep track of commonly-bought items, things to do or other important tasks; a calendar to manage events, roommate activities and avoid scheduling conflicts; an optional location feature to find your roommates, and discover when they might be coming home or if they are nearby; and reminders to schedule events and
recurring tasks.

“I believe that Futon will spread rapidly upon launch, and we anticipate nationwide use in the coming months,” Loomis-Norris said. “We have a lot of exciting plans for version 2.0, some of which are already operational, but right now our main focus is making sure that what we already have is exactly what users want.”

Although Futon is primarily geared towards college-aged users, Loomis-Norris sees no reason why the app would not be helpful for families as well, and believes Futon is ultimately useful for anyone in a cooperative living situation.

“Personally, I’m most excited about people I talk to telling me the many ways that it’s helping them out in day-to-day life,” Loomis-Norris said.