A personal assistant app developed by a Māori mum of two has overtaken dating app giants Tinder and Hinge in the New Zealand app store.
PAM - AKA Personal Admin Manager - hit No 2 in the NZ Apple Store Lifestyle rankings two weeks ago – beating dating app giants Tinder and Hinge, as well as Pinterest and Google Home.
The inspiration behind the free app, which was launched in February and is free to download, came from developer Nicole Retter’s real life.
Coming out of Covid in 2021 with two preschoolers, a husband who was injured in a building accident and about to start a demanding new marketing job, Retter was drowning in family logistics.
Talking with friends, Retter - who has whakapapa to the Muaūpoko iwi based in Levin – realised she wasn’t alone and started looking at what was available to help sort her busy home-life schedule.
“I was losing my mind on a regular basis trying to keep on top of the school requirements and the extracurricular activity for us,” Retter told the Herald.
“I also saw friends who were incredibly capable women all suffering like me.
“I thought stuff this, there’s 101 project management tools at work so started looking for something similar for home but couldn’t find anything available.”
Co-founder Diogo Freire - who didn’t know Retter previously - built the app after seeing the potential it had.
PAM won a Tipu Innovation 2025 Matihiko Award in June. The annual awards celebrate the Māori contribution to the digital field.
The app uses AI to read communications: from an email, to a screenshot or even a crumpled birthday invite - which then becomes an event, assigned to the appropriate family member.
Retter said her app made it “easier to rebalance the load, loop in partners, whānau, and build a more sustainable support network” during busy times.
What started as a personal solution has become a movement
“PAM does the thinking for you and makes the invisible mental load visible – so it can finally be shared,” Retter said.
She believed the app showed how “technology can make home life fairer, calmer and more joyful.”
PAM is still pre-revenue and pre-investment, meaning Retter and Freire are yet to gain financially from it. They hope that will change.
Retter, 42 is married to Tyler Kendall and mother to Meihana (9), and Bowie (7).
Asked if there has been bias against her because she is female and a Māori in the tech industry, she replied: “Looking back on some aspects, it may have been easier if I was a white male, but I want all women to have space and not be overwhelmed.
“Plus, there is a Te Ao Māori aspect where you are brought up by a village in whānau support.”
She said online feedback has been heart-warming.
That included from a widower who said PAM had been invaluable to him and his three children after the death of his wife.
Caroline Pearce, who has two children and works in a corporate role in Auckland, also told the Herald how it had changed her life.
“I work in a corporate role, so my work life is linked up, but my personal calendar always felt like more work,” Pearce said.
“It was so much effort to maintain and then PAM came along and has made my life easier and has taken the mental load and effort required to maintain a personal calendar.
“I have my own personal assistant, and I can send invites and emails to PAM and then forget it as it will file and remind me.”
Joseph Los’e joined NZME in 2022 as Kaupapa Māori Editor. Los’e was a chief reporter, news director at the Sunday News newspaper covering crime, justice and sport. He was also editor of the NZ Truth and before joining NZME worked for urban Māori organisation Whānau Waipareira.